October 2024
Throughout the month of October we have been celebrating and raising awareness for ‘Positive about Down Syndrome’ as our chosen charity.
We had Pyjama days, dress up days, a bake sale and even learned new signs. Thank you for your kind donations, we raised just under £300!
Baby Cottage have been developing their fine motor skills as they place the shapes into the correct spaces, they enjoyed using sponges to create different marks and lots of fun outdoors - mud kitchen, chalk mark making and splashing!
Baby Loft have had a very busy October and have been getting in the spooky spirit! We’ve been exploring the pumpkin patch, celebrated black history month by creating our own peace doves using our kind and gentle hands as well as relaxing in support of our mental health!
Toddlers have had a great October, we started by caring for the babies and understanding the importance of hygiene. We took a spooky turn and headed to our very own pumpkin patch where we discovered a variety of pumpkins and we also made our own spiders out of play dough. Toddlers have been developing their physical development by jumping off logs, practising turn taking with our friends and enjoying the sunshine.
Preschool made some yummy banana bread this week! We have been focusing on our well being this month as it has been well being week so we have had some calm yoga sessions and spent some time outdoors doing bug hunts(photos to come from Roz) and exploring the muddy puddles too making big splashes and watching each other laugh at how high we can jump and how big a splash we can make.
Mental Health Day Throughout the nursery we took part in activities that allowed the children to express their feelings and label their emotions to help achieve and maintain our Mental wellbeing, these included a baby spa day, lots of yoga, natural collages as well as treating our staff to a yummy breakfast.
Teaching Toolkit Theme
Our teaching toolkit (Our curriculum) is set across ten themes, each month we focus on a different area. This months teaching toolkit focus was - Making Maths Meaningful (to be motivated and able to use Mathematics everyday)
Parent Reminders and Events
Gas Work - Work starts outside the nursery from 25th November for 10 days, Please be aware this could cause traffic and delays.
Spooks and S’mores - On Monday 4th November 4:00pm-5:30pm please join us for fun spooky activities, dress up as well as a sweet treat on the fire. Please can we just ask that if you are planning to attend additional for this event that you let us know to ensure that we can ensure there are Smores for all!
Nativity - This years Nativity show will be ‘Ralph the Reindeer’ - Our show will be held on Tuesday 10th December (Preschool only) - Invites will be going out over the next week for Morning and Afternoon Shows.
Christmas Dinner - 17th December for all children that attend on this day.
Christmas Party - 20th December - More information will follow in next months newsletter.
New Preschool Room - As some parents will be aware we will be opening an additional Preschool Room as of January 2025 - We are currently in the process of interviewing for a new Head of Room to over see the new space - We will update you next month on the progress of this and also hopefully share some photos of the new space as it comes together.
Car Park - Please can we remind parents to drive and park safely within our car park - Parents to park in the big main car park.
Little Pickles Market
If you are expecting a new baby then it is great for the planet and your pocket to shop secondhand. Or if your little one is growing quicker than you can keep up with then go along to see what treasures you can find.
Sign of the Month
Makaton uses signs and symbols to help people communicate. It is designed to support the development of spoken language.
Makaton signs are based on the gestures used in BSL (British Sign Language). However, unlike BSL, Makaton signs are used in conjunction with speech at all times and in English grammatical word order.
Nominate a star - Is there a staff member that you would like to be acknowledged for all their hard work this year or someone who you would just like to thank? At Snapdragons we run a reward scheme for our employees, nominations from parents mean stars for the staff that can go towards a range of different rewards and prizes which can include sweet treats, hampers, meal vouchers and even a trip to the spa, so if you would like to reward the staff remember to fill in the online form sharing your lovely words. Snappies Superstar — Snapdragons Nursery.
