March at Atworth
I have some good news to share……
Bel has been promoted to Deputy Head of our Pre-school room. She is just so amazing and I am really proud of everything that she does. She has been recognised as the star that she is and has been promoted as a Senior member of our Atworth Team!
Go and give Bel a high five (socially distance of course) and a pat on the back!
Meet our Younger Toddler Team…
This month we will be focusing on our younger toddler team here at Atworth which consists of the very lovely trio of Kim, Helena and Lara.
Kim - Nursery Nurse
This is Kimberley but you may know her as Kim! She has worked at our Atworth nursery for 4, almost 5 years! She has worked in every room of the nursery.
Lucky Kim started with myself (Christina) in the Pre-school room and even interviewed in the room with me when I was the Deputy Manager and Head of pre-school! I remember telling her ‘don’t be fooled as we aren’t always this quiet!’ as it was a half term and lots of children were on holiday! How times have changed.
Kim had children when she was young and now has a teenager. She is now focussing on her career in childcare. Since starting with us she absolutely flew through her NVQ3 and passed with flying colours. She is home grown, just like our vegetables in the Forest Garden.
Most recently she is working in our younger toddler room; our room with children who are 18 months to 2 years old. She has always had a passion for Sunshine circles. She has been an ambassador for Sunshine Circles (TheraPlay) at Atworth and has trained up twice to lead these sessions with the children! Feel free to ask Kim about how she leads Sunshine circle sessions in our younger toddler room or even ask her to sing you the Toody Ta song - with actions of course!
Helena - Graduate Apprentice
Helena is one of our newest recruits to Atworth! She joined our setting just after we re-opened after the first lockdown - many moons ago…..
She started in our baby room and learned the ropes from our baby room team. She then moved to the younger toddler room as we started to form bubbles for each room and is now a key member of the younger toddler team. Helena is the most happy, easy going and caring person we know. Nothing phases her and her voice calms the children and staff. Helena works alongside Kim and Lara and they make up our famous Atworth younger toddler trio! Helena is the perfect person to take care, teach and have fun with the younger toddlers. She really has found her niche in the younger toddler room!
Helena has a degree in Early Childhood Studies and has a vast amount of experience with Early years children and completed many placements during her degree. She is pretty clued up about all things Early Years!
In the pipeline, Helena is due to start her Early Years Initial Teacher Training with us. We are just awaiting to hear the news that she is starting this in September! Please do wish her luck with this and we will update you all when she is due to start her training - please do ask her lots of questions about this when you see her!
Lara - Nursery Nurse
Lara started a few years ago as our 1:1 support for our children with additional needs. She is our ambassador for the nursery in all things SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities). She works closely with myself (Christina) as the SENDco and she has built really strong relationships with professionals at other settings and specialist settings to support all children with SEND.
You may not know this but Lara has a little boy who also attends Snapdragons Atworth. Lara is experienced as a practitioner but can also give practical advice as a parent so please do see her as a font of knowledge for all things SEND, parenting and practical advice.
You might to see Lara around the nursery a little more as she is joining us for some more hours at the nursery. She just can’t keep herself away from all the fun at Atworth.
She is currently busy supporting the teams to understand ‘bucket time’. This is an attention activity which encourages the children to hold their attention longer which she is amazing at - ask her if you’d like more details about this!
What has been happening in Atworth this month…
World Book Day 4th March
World Book Day is a brilliant opportunity for everyone to celebrate the joy of reading and the children here have been doing just that! We have been snuggling down, getting cosy, reading books with each other and even creating our very own story books with our friends. Have a look at some of our favourites stories that we have been reading…
Spring has finally sprung!
We have been loving the start of the warmer weather and the glorious sunshine the last few days. The children have been getting in the spring mood by looking at all the spring colours around them, getting messy and painting daffodils and enjoying being out in the garden, swinging, climbing and jumping all around!
World Water Day
It has been World Water Day this month and the children have been having fun learning and exploring the importance of water. Often we take water for granted so it was important that we turned this into a teachable moment, guiding the children to appreciate how lucky we are to have clean, safe water from a young age and talking about how we can reduce our own water usage.
Available courses from Spurgeons
Self Care and Independence with children 0 - 5
It has been reported nationally and locally that due to the lockdowns; children’s Self care and Independence are areas that have been affected and families might need extra support. Spurgeons have organised an online One off event on the 28th April 2021 where they will share the importance of this and how parents can build their children’s confidence in becoming independent and making their own choices, especially in every day skills. They will talk through all ages (0-5y) and will finish focusing on the very important skills that children need starting school.
To book a space please click on the following link;
Ready to Start School
As we all know; children need more support in transition to school than ever. Splurgeons are offering their first Ready to Start School One off event which will be held on Wednesday 21st April 2021. This is an online session and all families will be offered one to one support in how to join.
Snapdragons will also be posting information about how we get children ready and prepared for school in the next coming months, so please watch this space for more information.
Dates to remember…
April Fools Day - 1st April
Good Friday - 10th April
Easter Sunday - 12th April
Easter Monday - 13th April
St George’s Day - 26th April