Our August - September blog
Hello everyone,
What a lovely summer we have had. I have seen and had such lovely moments over the last few months of the summer, it really felt like we made the most of the last bit of sunshine. We are now in full autumn mode and have enjoyed celebrating the Autumn equinox with the children so keep your eyes pealed on our social media and next months blog on what we have got up to. Just a reminder that as part of our harvest celebrations we are collecting for the local food banks and would very much appreciate your donations.
With the start of the new school year we welcome a new face to the team, Ellie has joined our pre-school crew this week as head of room and also joining myself as part of the senior team taking on the role of deputy manager. She is really looking forward to meeting you all and is busy learning names, playing and getting to know us all.
What a wonderful day of dancing, musical magic and artistic joy we had. I think you can see from the clip above everyone involved had the best time. A little personal shout out to my eldest Seb who came in and played the guitar and drums with the children. I look forward to the next one!
We were not done with the animals here at Atworth just yet!
The children have been fascinated by observing the life cycle of our own caterpillars. Through this experience, they have learned about the stages of metamorphosis—from caterpillar, then chrysalis, and finally emerging as butterflies. This hands-on project has helped develop their understanding of growth, change, and the natural world. They have also practised patience and care by feeding and watching over the caterpillars, while enhancing their vocabulary with words like "cocoon," "metamorphosis," and "emergence." This activity supported their curiosity, observation skills, and respect for living creatures in a nurturing and engaging way.
Our book of the month has been The Gingerbread Man. The children have thoroughly enjoyed listening to the story and exploring the character’s adventurous journey. To bring the story to life, we held a baking activity where the children made their own gingerbread men. This hands-on experience helped to develop their fine motor skills, encouraged teamwork, and sparked creativity as they decorated their biscuits. As you can see they created some very yummy treats.
Big, colorful art helps babies learn by catching their attention and encouraging them to explore. Large pieces are easier for babies to see and follow with their eyes. Babies can move around and touch the art, which helps their physical skills like crawling and walking. This kind of art also teaches babies about shapes, colors, and patterns, which supports early thinking and language skills. It can also make babies feel calm and happy, helping them understand emotions. In a nursery, big art inspires creativity and curiosity, building a strong base for learning and self-expression.
Nicole and the team set up the wole room as their own little art studio which keep the children entertained for ages. They explored using all sorts of objects to paint with but looking at what would happen if they dropped a car from the top and splatting the paint with their hands and feet were firm favorites.
The children were very excited to get on the bus for their special trip to Bath. They talked happily with their friends and watched the countryside pass slowly by the windows. How brilliant is it that we have a bus stop just outside of the nursery! I think the bus was the most exciting part of the trip but they also looked around the shops and even bought back something to enjoy at nursery. We look forward to making the most of the bus over the next few months so keep your eyes pealed.
Up and coming events and dates for the diary
6th October- Our big day outside. Could you please ensure that your child has
20th October- we will be celebrating Diwali with the children so we would love to see the children in colorful clothes to help us celebrate. The traditional colors are red, yellow and purple.
3rd November- Our spooky and sparkles party 4pm-5pm this is an open invite to all our families to come and join us for a fun filled evening.
11th November we will be taking the children up to the local war memorial to take part in the minutes silence and to pop down our own tribute.
10th December pre-school nativity, pop it in your calendar pre-school parents and I will confirm timings soon.
Class of 2025
Well what a wonderful send off we had for our class of 2025, the sun shone and it was wonderful to see all the children together. For those of you who will be having children of to school next year please see details of the local school open days below.
Local school open days for September 2026.
Keep an eye out online for any school open days coming up soon:
https://www.stonarschool.com/
https://churchfields.wilts.sch.uk/events/
https://www.shawprimary.com/
http://nestonprimary.co.uk/
Do you know a Snappy Super Star?
Is there a member of my team that has stood out to you that you think deserves a special mention? It means the world to the ladies to recieve a nomination so if there is someone who you would like to give a special mention to please follow the link below.
We are a Millie’s Mark accredited nursery. This means that all Snapdragons Atworth staff are paediatric first aid trained and are confident in how to respond to a paediatric first aid situation. This is a huge achievement and hopefully further reassures you all that your little Snappies are in safe hands. Please let me know if you would like any further information about this.
Permissions
As you may now notice we are putting together a monthly newsletter and I just wanted to reach out to check if you would like to change your childs permissions for photos to be included in these. The link is only sent to the parents who attend our nursery and these photos are not then included on social media. If this is something you would like to check or amend please feel free to email on in and we can get this changed for you. If you would also like to change your childs permissions for social media then again feel free to email in, this is a different permission to the one for our newsletter.
Dietaries
If your child has a dietary and you have recently made any changes could you please contact the office.
Mobile Phones
Can I kindly remind you of our Mobile phone policy here at the nursery- when dropping off or collecting your child could please leave your phone in your car in a pocket. You must not take any photos inside the nursery as this is against our safeguarding policy. Many thanks in advance for your co-operation with this.
Bank Holidays
Just a reminder that we are not open for bank holidays.
Medication and Illness policies:
If your child has been prescribed medication then they will need to have had been taking it for 24hrs before returning to nursery.
Please do not leave any medication in your child’s bag, it must be handed to the office and a medication authorisation form must be filled out.
When Calpol or any temperature reducing medicine is given to your child prior to nursery, they are not able to attend nursery until they are 4 hours clear of the medication.
A little reminder about some of the more common illnesses and the exclusion periods:
Conjunctivitis - They have to have been treated for 24hours and the child has to be comfortable.
D&V - 48 hours clear of the last incident.
Chicken Pox - Children can’t return to nursery until the spots have all scabbed over and are completely dry.
Hand, Foot and Mouth - Children can return once all symptoms have subsided.
Thank you for your help and understanding. If you have any questions or are unsure of anything, please do get in touch with the office