I just want to start this months newsletter with a massive thankyou to all the parents and families that attended our Spooky Sparks Party - we were blown away with the amount of you that showed up and got stuck in with all the activities on offer as well as being so understanding regarding the carpark being the fullest it’s ever been! We just want to say a massive thankyou and we hope that you all had a lovely time.

This months newsletter will be us catching you up on everything that has happened over the last two months, it’s flown by so quickly that we forgot to complete a September newsletter and we still can’t believe we are already in November!

Baby Barn

This month in the Baby Barn, we have been getting ready for halloween! We have been on a couple trips to Waitrose, venturing out of nursery - finding some diggers, cars, lorries and friendly people along the way! We got some pumpkins from the shop, carved them and painted them - ready for spooky sparks. Afterwards, we made some pumpkin pies, using the seeds from the pumpkins we bought. The babies have enjoyed observing the changes in seasons and finding leaves and concers which have fallen from the trees. The babies have loved painting, creating and exploring this month.

They also enjoyed dressing up to raise money for Down’s syndrome day, showing us their amazing outfits!

Baby Cottage

Over the past few months the Baby Cottage have been enjoying finding out about and exploring lots of activities relating to different celebrations. We celebrated Diwali by creating firework pictures and used coloured salt to create rangoli patterns. We painted bats and used cutters to create Halloween pictures. The babies also absolutely loved the pumpkins at Halloween they enjoyed; rolling them, washing them and even painting them! We also made some Halloween sensory bags and the babies explored the different textures. This month has been all about water play in the Cottage, the babies have thrived on exploring water and making big splashes! The children have enjoyed making potions, washing the babies and jumping in muddy puddles. We have been learning some new songs such as; Jumping Beans, Way Up High in the Apple Tree and The Tractor song. We have also spent lots of time outside, exploring the seasonal changes, collecting and exploring the leaves, jumping in puddles and we even went on a local walk to Waitrose to buy our pumpkins!

Rising 3’s

This month Rising Threes have enjoyed exploring how the seasons have changed by creating leaf kebabs as well as searching for different bugs in the garden. We have enjoyed Halloween activities such as pumpkin carving and making ghost pictures. Additionally, we have been exploring our musical instruments.

Preschool

This month Preschool have shown a real interest in babies and role play, which has involved bathing them and having tea parties with different items. We even made some lemonade for our dolls this week too. Also this month we have been learning about the upcoming events such as Halloween and Firework night, which involved the children creating their own fire work pictures with some coloured salt and flour and also creating our own halloween pictures drawing different faces on them.

Preschool have also spent time in the Forest Area where they have been working together to create their own dens.

Sign of the Month

Books of the Month

Whatever Next,
Goodnight Moon

Staff News

Our lovely Beth in Preschool has now started her maternity leave! We wish Beth all the luck in her new adventure of parenthood and we will keep you all posted when the new little addition has arrived!

We have also said some sad goodbyes this month to our lovely Ella (Rising 3s) who is planning to return to University to study and Milly (Preschool) who will be joining a school as a Teaching Assistant.

We will be saying Hello this month to a few new faces, which include Hannah who will be joining the Housekeeper team and Ali and Sansanee as our Lunchtime Assistants. Ali will be based in our toddler room and Sansanee in our Baby Cottage.
We also have Sophie rejoining us next month. Some of you will previously know Sophie from working in the old Butterfly room - Sophie has taken a break away from childcare but has decided it’s time for her to make a return she will be joining us but will now be working within our Toddler Room. Please say hello if you pass these new faces.

Reminders and Updates

Clothing

With the weather getting wet and colder - can we please remind parents to bring suitable outdoor clothing which includes winter hats and wellies where you can! The children access the garden in all weathers so making sure they are warm and dry is super important to us!
With all clothing please remember to ensure this is all labelled correctly.

School leavers 2023.
If your child is due to start school in September 2023, I just wanted to remind you that you should complete school applications by 15th January. If you need any further support or guidance with this then please do not hesitate to ask and we will be happy to help.

Extra sessions
Unfortunately for the next two months we will be unable to accommodate any additional sessions, as our staff continue to take their remaining annual leave for the year and with lots of events coming up it can be a busy couple of months. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause but we will hopefully be able to accommodate more in the New Year.

Illnesses
As the weather gets colder, it normally means the bugs and winter colds start to spread. Can we please remind our parents about our Illness and Medication policy which can be found at
https://www.snapdragonsnursery.com/illness
This includes a list of Illnesses with different exclusion periods.
As always we just ask that children are well in themselves when attending nursery.

Books

Are you about to do a Pre Christmas Clear out? We are on the hunt for some books to join our sharing library and some baby books to add to our collection within the rooms. If you would like to donate any to us then please hand them in to reception so we can find them a nice new home.

Upcoming Events

Children in Need
On Friday 18th November we will be raising money for Children in need - we are also going to be having a pyjamas/cosy day to celebrate so please remember to bring your children in their Pyjamas and any donation small or little will be going to a great case.
Across the week from Wednesday 16th - Friday 18th November we will also be holding a Bake sale - so bring in your change when you come to collect and you will be able to pick up a sweet treat! Any cake/bake donations for this would be great appreciated we just ask that you disclose the ingredients list.

Christmas Parties

We will be holding our annual room Christmas parties on Tuesday 6th December this year. They will be from 3.30pm - 5pm. This will be chance for you to come and join in with some Christmas activities within the room along with enjoying a little mince pie.

Nativity

The rehearsals for Nativity are in full swing now and the Preschool team have started to hand out invitations for this event! This will be held on Tuesday 13th December. There will be two shows! Please can you make us aware if you are struggling to find a costume for this and we can see if we can get a costume sorted before the big day, as well as letting us know how many parents will be attending.

End of the year

Our Christmas break is fast approaching the last day of the year for us is Friday 23rd December and we will reopen on Tuesday 3rd January 2023.
For our Term time only children the last session they will attend will be Friday 16th December 2022.

Concept Photograph

The proofs have now been returned and you will be able to collect them from your child’s room - just a polite remind that we ask all proof sheets to be returned to the office by Monday 14th November, even if you don’t wish to purchase them this time.

September & October 2022