September 2023
Updates
Staffing update…. Damian has moved to Rising 3’s, he is enjoying working with a different age group after supporting the preschool children, Lucie has moved to deputy head of Preschool 2 and Chantelle has moved into Babies, both are really enjoying their new roles and getting to know their key children.
We would like to say a huge congratulations to Khadeega who has just completed her Early Years Initial Teacher Training. Another congratulations to Iona, Aimee, and Millie who have passed their Early Years Diploma. Finally, congratulations to Katie who passed her chef qualification!
Phase 1 of the building work across the 3 preschool rooms is now completed, we will be in touch shortly with more details regarding phase 2. The children were excellent and coped well with the movement of rooms. They have been intrigued by the building work and have been making their own buildings using various construction.
Our baby room display family photos in their room, we would love to do this in each room, please could you email in a family photo to cribbs.causeway@snapdragonsnursery.com so we can display them in each of our rooms.
Star nominations- has a staff member gone above and beyond to support your child, if yes then please let us know, staff members can exchange nominations from parents for rewards such as vouchers and treats.You can fill in a slip on the front desk or send an email to let us know why you think a staff member is a star!
The Hungry Caterpillar!
The Baby and Preschool 1 room joined together to enjoy the story of ‘The hungry caterpillar’, after tasting the different foods from the story, they spoke about their likes and dislikes.
Preschool 1 continued their love of the story through using their fine motor skills to make butterflies using scissors and various mark making tools to decorate them.
Toddlers decided to do some delicious fruit exploration whilst looking at the different fruits alongside and exploring them by using their hands and their mouth. They then continued the activity on by making some butterfly prints, using mark marking tools and paint to create different marks on their butterfly.
Mini Chef’s!
Preschool 2 have been developing their chef skills! With the support of our nursery chef Katie they carefully cuts vegetables to make their own pizzas. Talking about what foods are healthy the children selected different toppings for theur yummy pizzas.
Rising 3’s have also been baking, making some delicious vegan biscuits. Each of the children carefully added the ingredients into the bowl, using the wooden spoon to mix. Afterwards they carefully rolled out the dough and used different cutters to make a variety of different shapes.
Dates for the year…
Spooks and S’more’s on Thursday 16th November. Please join us from 5:30- 7:00pm for some spooky activities and some s’mores around the camp fire, the whole family are welcome to join us.
Preschool parents evening-Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th Novemeber, a chance to meet with your child’s keyworker and discuss their start to preschool. Please make an appointment at the front desk.
Preschool Nativity peformances on Monday 4th December, times to follow.
Snapdragons Christmas Party on Wednesday 6th December, more information to follow.
August 2023
Staffing Update
Another huge welcome to Megan and Serreah who will be working in our Toddler room and Ashleigh and Hannah who will be joining us in the Baby room.
We have to say a sad goodbye to Rebecca who has been working in Rising 3’s, we wish her the best of luck in her new venture. Rebecca’s last day will be September 20th.
Babies Big Day Out!
The babies have been exploring the world and community around them. They have been on listening walks, trips to the park, picnics, the mall, library, and sensory walks. During these walks the babies have been using their senses to touch and smell the world around them.
Oliver’s Vegetables…
Pre-School 2 have been reading the book “Oliver’s Vegetables”, this has encouraged the children to explore the different vegetables from the story. The children chopped carrots, wilted spinach to have with their lunch, they made a rhubarb crumble, chopped cabbage to make coleslaw, and tried beetroot. The children made pea soup and especially enjoyed digging up potatoes to make chips. The children enjoyed this so much they decided to explore the sequel ‘Olivers Fruit Salad’, in this story Oliver discovers a whole new world of fruit at the supermarket which he then turns into a fruit salad. The Pre-School 2 made a shopping list and went shopping just like Oliver and then made a fruit salad with their purchases.
Forest School with Toddlers!
This month Toddler’s have had an introduction to Forest School, they watched Jodie as she demonstrated how to use a bow saw, they then had a turn themselves, sawing a log. The Toddler children thoroughly enjoyed this activity and had great fun using their upper bodies to push and pull the saw back and forth, they talked about the different parts of the saw and how to use it safely.
Hello Doris!
Preschool 1 had a lovely surprise from Emma when she came with her horse Doris to nursery for a visit. The children were able to touch and feel Doris, they thought of questions to ask Emma, learning all about what she ate and how Emma looked after her, they even got to look at Emma’s helmet and saddle. The children then drew pictures of Doris and built stables for her using the wooden bricks. Thank you Emma!!!
Teddy Bear Picnic…
The Rising 3 group read a lovely story all about teddies, this prompted the children to create a picnic tea in the garden and they invited their Teddies to a Teddy bear picnic.
School Admissions 2024!
If your child turns 4 between September 2023 and August 2024 then you will need to apply for a school place ready for September 2024. Please check your local council for applications and your local schools for open days.
July 2023
Staffing Update
A warm welcome to Sarah our new administrator and Rachel who will be working in our Pre School 2 room.
We have to say a sad goodbye to Tracey and Celia who have been supporting in our Preschool class. We also say goodbye to Jaz who has been working in the baby room, we wish them lots of luck in their new ventures.
Dates for the diary
4th September - The new funding term starts.
11th September - Literacy week, over the course of the week children will have lots of opportunities to engage with literacy rich activities, more details to follow.
16th November - Smores evening, after the success of last years ‘smores’ event, this exciting evening will return this year. You and your children will have the opportunity to engage in some smore making around the camp fire and exploring some spooky activities, times to follow shortly.
4th December - Preschool nativity, more details to follow.
22nd December - Nursery closes for Christmas.
There will be a Christmas party for children and parents to attend we are just currently working on the perfect date. Date will be announced in the next newsletter.
Can you feel it?
Babies have been investigating all their senses throughout the month, we have focused on a different sense each week. They have fully emersed their selves with a variety of materials and activities.
Ready, Steady, Bake!
Toddlers and Rising 3’s have shown an interest in pretending to bake in their indoor and outdoor environment, using the mud kitchen, pots, pans, microwaves, and other utensils. Following their interests each room baked some non-sugar biscuits and a lime cake to eat for dessert after tea.
Class of 2023…
Thank you for joining us at our preschool graduation, the rain didn’t dampen our celebrations! We wish all the 2023 school leavers exceptionally good luck for starting school in September! It has been our pleasure to look after the children and they will all be missed.
Parent Information
Although we should be enjoying our summer, the weather has not been consistent as we like. Please can we ask you to provide suncream, sunhat, wellies, and all in one suit. This has influenced the children’s health and well-being, so we ask you to familiarise yourself with our health hygiene and illness policy.
August 2022
Welcome to our August 2022 Newsletter…
Snapdragons Cribbs Causeway
So much has happened around the nursery since our last Newsletter! We have had a fun filled summer, spending lots of time in our beautiful gardens, taking trips to the local park in amongst celebrating different festivals and events! More recently our Pre-School leavers have headed on to their next adventure at Primary School, however, they didn’t leave without a jam packed Graduation ceremony….
Graduation - Class of 2022
We had the best time celebrating the newest adventure for our school leavers, on Saturday 6th August. Thank you to all of the families who came to join us and the BIGGEST thank you to the Pre-School team who have worked so hard the past year, and who organised this amazing Graduation ceremony. The children enjoyed garden games, face paints, a yummy buffet and even an ice cream station. We wish all of our school leavers the best of luck in this new chapter and will miss each and every one of you!! Please do feel free to pop by and say hello!
Photography around the nursery
You may have noticed a lot more lovely photographs of your children around the nursery emerging on our social media platforms. We have been very lucky in welcoming Royce to the Snapdragons Media Team who has been spending time in all of the nurseries capturing lovely moments and goings on around the nursery.
Here is a little message from him;
"Hi! My name is Royce.
I am the new Social Media & Marketing Assistant for Snapdragons. I will be spending time at all of the nurseries capturing magical moments and, permissions allowing, sharing them on our media platforms for parents and guardians to see. So don’t be alarmed if your children ask you if you saw the man with the camera in the nursery garden, it’s just me.
To see these moments please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Or head over to our website for even more!"
Useful information / updates;
School Applications
For those of you who have children heading to school next year (September 2023), the school application deadline is January 2023. We currently do not have any further information about this from South Gloucestershire Council but once we hear more, will share this with you (including exact application deadline dates).
Staff changes
As you may by now know, I (Ella) am sadly leaving Snapdragons at the end of September. My final day will be Wednesday 28th September. I will be so sad to leave but thank you all in being so wonderful over the past year I have spent at Snapdragons Cribbs Causeway. On a positive note, we have a fabulous new manager starting with us on Monday 5th September! Her name is Samantha and we are lucky enough to be having a whole month handover before I go. I’m sure you will start to see her around the nursery next week and I will be sure to introduce you all.
We will also be saying a sad goodbye to Beth, our Head of Pre-School 1. She will be leaving us half way through September and we will be so sad to see her go, but wish her the best of luck in her new adventures!
We will be welcoming a few other new staff members to the team!
Jodie will be joining us from our Keynsham nursery as our Head of Toddlers. Jodie has been working with Snapdragons for the past year and is a qualified Early Years Teacher. We cannot wait to welcome her on board the Cribbs Causeway team.
We will also be welcoming Aimee who will be joining us to take over the role as Head of Pre-School 1. Aimee will be joining us in September and has a wealth of nursery and room leader experience!
Alongside this, we welcome Jade to our team! Jade is joining us as an Early Years Teacher in our Pre-School room and has experience working as a Teacher in Primary Education.
Last but not least we are welcoming Lauren to our Rising 3s team! Lauren has a degree in Education and will be completing her Early Years Teacher Training while with us.
We cannot wait to welcome all of these new faces to Cribbs Causeway!
Dates for the Diary;
We have a few things coming up over the next few months, so here are a few useful dates for the diary;
Tuesday 11th October - Parents Evening
We will be hosting our next Parents Evening on Tuesday 11th October 6pm - 8:30pm. We will be releasing timeslots soon so please keep your eyes peeled (these will be at the front desk). Slots will be on a first come first serve basis as we will not be able to fit everyone in. The only staff member who is unable to attend this date is Chloe (our Head of Babies), therefore if she is your child’s key worker we will be releasing a different time and date for you to book (TBC).
Wednesday 12th October - Concept Photography
Concept photography will be visiting again on Wednesday 12th October. They will be at nursery from 9am until 3pm. If your child attends nursery on this day, feel free to provide them with an outfit change as all children will have their photo taken. If your child does not attend nursery on this date you are more than welcome to book in a time slot to bring them along for their photos. Again, this will be on the front desk and we will be releasing these time slots shortly.
Staff Superstars
As you may already be aware, we are always looking to reward and praise our staff for the ongoing hard work and care they are constantly providing. We have our written nomination sheets at the front desk, which we upload onto our Superstar portal, however, if you feel a member of staff has been amazing and you want them to be recognised for this, then you can nominate them via this link also;
Snappies Superstar — Snapdragons Nursery
The staff are rewarded via stars which they can then spend towards a variety of different treats, ranging from sweet treats, vouchers and even days out.
November / December 2021
Merry Christmas!!
Welcome to our November / December newsletter - it has been a busy few months of celebrations and festivals! Back in November we celebrated Diwali and learnt all about the Festival of Light, celebrating in lots of colourful and interesting ways. Most recently the staff and children have been preparing for Christmas and carrying out some wonderfully festive Winter activities, not to mention our annual Pre-School Nativity! If you are a Pre-School parent and would like a digital copy of the Nativity and have not yet paid or received one, please do let us know at the office or send us an email and we can get a link sent out to you! (digital links are £5).
Diwali!
Back in November the children and staff learnt all about and celebrated Diwali, the festival of light! Lots of our families here at Cribbs Causeway celebrate Diwali and brought in lovely gifts for their friends. All across the nursery, the different ages carried out activities such as firework painting, firework shaving foam and coloured playdough! Take a look at our photos below!
National Elf Service…
This year we dressed up as elves to raise money for the Bristol and Weston Hospitals Charity! The charity provides support to improve the health and happiness of every patient in 10 NHS hospitals across Bristol city centre, South Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. If you would like to find out more please follow the button link below.
Everyone at the nursery got involved and the children loved showing off their outfits to their friends, we have included some lovely photos of our elves at work below. If you still wish to donate to the charity please use the QR code below or follow the link to the website.
Christmas Dinner Day…
We were all lucky enough to be treated to a home cooked Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings last week! The children helped to lay the tables, make party crowns to wear while eating and all sat and ate their lunch ‘banquet’ style! We even had all the vegan, vegetarian, meat and dairy free options available to meet any dietary needs!
Christmas Crafts
Alongside all of our other festive activities the children have had a month full of Christmas cheer! Making Christmas cards, decorating gift bags and getting messy with Christmas and Winter themed tough trays and messy play. Babies created a snowy winter wonderland using shaving foam and small world toys as well as Snowman pictures with cotton wool and glue. Toddlers used their senses to make yummy Gingerbread playdough while Pre-School have been using crafts and junk modelling to create their own versions of Father Christmas and Snowmen. All rooms have been creating their own salt dough decorations, mixing the ingredients together, moulding these into their desired shapes and baking these to create Christmas tree decorations.
Rights Respecting Links:
As you may already know we are a Rights Respecting Nursery, all that we do is underpinned by the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Celebrating all cultures links to many Articles within Rights Respecting but mostly;
Article 29; Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights, as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.
Article 31; Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural activities.
If you would like to find out more about Rights Respecting please follow the link below or ask when you come into nursery!
Useful Information:
Christmas Closure
Please note that our last day open this year is Friday 24th December and we will re-open on Tuesday 4th January.
Clothing
Please can you ensure your child is sent to work with appropriate Winter clothing such as;
Warm coat
Waterproofs
Wellies
Hat, scarf and gloves
Jumpers if necessary
We still take the children outdoors in all weather so need to ensure they are wrapped up warm and appropriately dressed.
Lastly…
We hope you all have the very best Christmas and Happy New Year and for those of you who have already finished we will see you in the new year!
October 2021
Autumnal Adventures….
Pumpkin patch…
We have been getting in the Autumnal spirit across the nursery, integrating Pumpkins into our play in various ways!
Toddlers have been ‘digging’ for Pumpkins using soil in their sand tray, talking about what the pumpkins feel like and the different colours they can see. They have also been exploring pumpkin themed playdough, colour mixing and using insects to create shapes in the dough!
Babies have been Pumpkin painting outside, using paintbrushes and paint to decorate their pumpkins!
Pre-School have been helping to wash our pumpkins today ready to carve next week!
Plant a Tree for the Queens Jubilee!
Earlier this month we were lucky enough to be visited by Badminton Trust, they are a luxury living facility for the elderly. They came to nursery to plant a tree with the children for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, both trees were kindly gifted by their foundation. They brought along 2 of their residents, Bob and John, to meet the children and the children helped to dig the holes and plant the trees at the side of our car park. We are hoping, as a nursery to build up a relationship with Badminton Trust and to organise more visits in the future, as the residents love meeting and talking to the children.
Both trees have been planted on the bank in our car park nearest the exit gate - please take a look when you next drive / walk past!
A few reminders;
Session Times;
Please can we remind all parents that the nursery closes at 6pm, this is also the time that staff end their shift. To ensure that you are able to receive a thorough handover about your child’s day please can you ensure you get here 5-10 minutes before the end of their session. If you arrive at 6pm or later, we cannot guarantee a detailed handover, so please bare this in mind when collecting. Alternatively, if you are going to be late please do call the nursery before 6pm to let us know, late fees do apply.
Please can we also remind parents not to arrive before the start of your child’s session, as you may be asked to wait until the start of the session. The earliest nursery sessions and staff shifts start at 8am, with some sessions starting at 9am or 1pm. If you are unsure about your child’s sessions please do check with the office.
Illness;
Just to reiterate, children need to be 24 hours temperature free before returning to nursery. Please do not bring your child to nursery if they are not well enough to be here, even if they receive a negative PCR test result.
Outdoor Clothes;
Now that the weather has taken a turn for the colder, please can you ensure you are sending your children in with weather appropriate clothing such as wellies, waterproofs and a warm coat. As the weather gets even colder, children will need to bring in hats and gloves as we will still be heading outside twice a day and want to ensure the children are warm enough when doing so.
Dates for the Diary;
Please remember that this Friday (22nd October) is our PYJAMA DAY! We are raising money for charity to support Breast Cancer Research via ‘The Pink Ribbon Charity’ the link to donate is here; Snapdragons Nurseries is fundraising for The Pink Ribbon Foundation (justgiving.com). Unfortunately we are unable to accept cash at the moment.
We are also hosting our staff meeting around Rights Respecting this Thursday (23rd October); 6:15-7:30. We have extended this invitation to ALL parents to join us, if you would be interested in learning about UNICEF Rights Respecting and the possibility of being a parent ambassador then please do come along! (Please can we ask that no children attend if possible on this occasion).
Friday 29th October - Spooks and Sparks party; 6:15-7:30. All are welcome and fancy dress is highly encouraged. We will be holding this party in our garden area at the back of the nursery so please dress in weather appropriate clothing. Parents are required to stay with their children during the party.
Wednesday 3rd November - Concept Photography - Concept will be visiting on this date to carry out a photography session for all children. If your child does not attend on this date but you would like to book in a photography session please do speak to Reception to get booked in.
Thursday 4th November - Divali - We are really passionate about celebrating all cultures in our nursery and understand that a lot of our families celebrate the festival of Divali. If you and your family celebrate Divali and know of any ways that we can do so at nursery, please do speak to Ella or Chloe to give us some activity ideas!
September 2021
Welcome…
Welcome to our Snapdragons Cribbs Causeway Newsletter! We will be sending a monthly newsletter to all parents letting you know what we have been up to within the nursery and highlighting any important updates!
Young Chefs….
Across the nursery the children have been really busy cooking up a storm with our new Chef Jo!
Pre-School have been making some delicious wrap pizzas, working on their independence using child-safe knives to cut various vegetables and using spoons to spread tomato sauce onto their pizza bases.
Toddlers helped to create their own bread for tea, helping Jo to measure out the ingredients and mix these together, then using their hands to knead the dough before Jo popped the bread into the oven ready for tea time!
Even Babies have got into the cooking spirit and have been role playing with their dollies, cooking in our role play kitchen and feeding the Babies all of the yummy food they have made!
New staff
As our nursery is rapidly growing and expanding we are gaining some great new staff members here at Snapdragons Cribbs Causeway! You may have seen some new faces around. the nursery when dropping off or collecting you child / children.
We are in the process of updating and creating our staff board in the foyer. Hopefully this will help you to put a face to the name when talking about the adults around the nursery!
Drop Off and Collection
As many of you have now experienced, we are allowing parents to collect from the rooms! This has been a bit trial and error over the past week but overall a lovely experience for parents and children! We are still remaining with drop offs in the foyer at this time and upon pick up we will still be continuing to radio through to the rooms for consent before sending any parents down.
Please can we ask that parents continue to wear masks when dropping off and collecting their children and that only one parent collects from the room.
Please can we remind parents / collectors that we do not allow mobile phones in the nursery. Please can mobile phones be kept in the car / turned off in pockets for the duration of the time that anyone is inside the building.
Medication / Illness Policy
Please can we remind all parents that currently our policy still states that children cannot attend nursery if they have been given fever-reducing medication within 4 hours of arriving. This is in line with our Covid-19 Safer Operating Procedures. Please can we also ask that children who have had a temperature do not attend nursery until they have been fever / temperature free for 24 hours.
Dates for the Diary;
Parents Evening; Thursday 14th October
We will be holding a face to face parents evening on Thursday 14th October, we will release sign up sheets soon for parents to reserve a 10 minute slot with your child’s key worker. If you are unable to make this date and would like a parents evening with your child’s key worker, please do let us know and we can arrange a separate date for you to have a telephone call.
Festivals and Events;
We are in the process of updating our festivals and events for the upcoming academic year. If you and your family celebrate any particular festivals we would LOVE to celebrate along with you in nursery, all while teaching our children about different celebrations and cultures. Please come and let us know what festivals and events you celebrate and how we could celebrate these within our nursery!
Oral Hygiene in the Early Years
Did you know that 1 in 4 of all 5 year olds have some form of tooth decay?
Currently within our Statutory Framework there is a huge emphasis on good oral hygiene in the Early Years. We are working on promoting the knowledge of oral hygiene within our settings by talking about healthy eating and why we should care for our bodies and teeth.
We have printed a useful guide around brushing your children’s teeth document outlining the best way to take care of children’s teeth from children ages 0-7+ and popped these at Reception. Please feel free to take one if you would like some new tips and tricks to get your little ones to brush their teeth!
June Newsletter
Our new climbing frame
Healthy Eating
The week of the 14th June the children participated in Health Eating Week, the Baby room made some delicious carrot and apple muffins, the Toddlers made frozen yoghurt bark with berries, they also looked at healthy and non-healthy food in the role play corner. The Pre-School children made fresh fruit smoothies and talked about healthy eating and the importance of eating at least five portions of vegetables and fruit a day! This week, babies were back in cooking mode with a no added sugar banana cake, which they enjoyed for their afternoon snack. Delicious!
Healthy Teeth
Our staff are taking part in CPD training by the Oral Health Promotion charity to help them support children’s understanding of good tooth brushing and other good oral health habits. Our policy is that we only offer water to drink throughout the day and milk at snack times. We have noticed that some parents are providing squash in the children’s named water bottles. Can we ask that you bring water instead to encourage all the children to form healthy tastes and protect their teeth for the future.
Car Seats
We politely ask that all children use a car seat; it is the law that children must use a car seat until they are 12 years old or taller than 135cm (exceptions are only in emergencies/unexpected journeys). Children must use a rear-facing car seat until they are 15 months, after this they can use a car seat facing forward. We understand some families may live locally but the rules must still apply; we have a duty to ensure the children are using a car seat to and from nursery. The safety of the children is paramount and we will speak to anybody who we see who does not use a car seat for their child. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. For more details go to www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules
Concept Photos
We’ve enjoyed seeing all the beautiful photos of your beautiful children and hope you have now picked up your contact sheet. Please remember to return the sheet with or without your order by 30th June. Concept will be coming back in November so you’ll get another chance to get photos. Hopefully by then we’ll be able to allow appointments to include siblings not at nursery and nursery children not attending on the day, Covid allowing!
The Garden is Growing!
We are extremely excited to inform you that the second phase of the garden development is complete and ready to be inspected and signed off by RoSPA (Health and Safety). Jim, who is part of our brilliant maintenance team, has been working hard to get on top of the mowing and tidy up the grass! We can not wait for the children to be able to explore the many different areas. There are some challenging climbs and a slide for older children, shady quiet storytelling or picnic areas. a relaxing swing, a mud kitchen and a winding cycle track running throughout as well as wildflowers and planting areas and lots of natural grass to roll on!
And the Team is Growing Too!
Now that you are able to come inside the nursery (at least as far as the front desk), you will be seeing more different staff. We also have some new recruits as the nursery is getting busier! Just to help you put names to faces, here are some photos of the team…
