June Newsletter 2021

Welcome back Liv and hello Amelia!

Liv came back from Cribbs nursery earlier this month and has now decided to stay with us. Liv will be based in our Willow room and is our baby deputy room head.

Amelia has started with us too, she is our new preschool apprentice, she will be based in oak and elder, Amelia is doing her level three apprenticeship in Early Years. Please give her a big hello when you meet her.

We have babies on the way…

Big congratulations to two members of staff who are expecting babies! Daria from preschool is now 21 weeks pregnant and is due November 6th. We can’t wait to meet her little boy! Jenna, our nursery manager, is also pregnant. Jenna is 17 weeks and is due 10th December. Jenna does know what gender the baby is but is keeping it a secret for now.

We also have rabbits!

Tayla was so kind to buy us two rabbits as our new nursery pets! We have two rabbits named Nibbles and Munch, the children have absolutely adored getting to know the rabbits and are helping with taking care of them.

What have we been up to this month?

Babies:

This month we have been super busy, we have been to the park, and we have been super excited settling in our new rabbits. The babies have been so excited to meet their new friends and getting to see them every time they go to the garden. The staff have used this as a chance to teach the babies about gentle hands. The babies have made the most of the nice weather recently with lots of water play and messy activities. Puzzles seem to be a new favourite in babies too so the staff have been helping the children to complete simple puzzles.

Toddlers:

This month toddlers have enjoyed tasting different fruits and vegetables. Next month we are going to build on this by doing some cooking. We will be making some fruit kebabs and looking at what vegetables go in different soups. We have enjoyed reading some new stories this month such as “The kind little lion” and “Panda says please,” we used these stories to talk about our emotions and why we need to be kind to our friends. We have been talking a lot about health and self-care and have been washing our babies and taking care of them and talking about our routines at home. We have seen a massive increase in our toddler’s self-help skills.

Toddlers have also been as busy as ever with all their fun messy activities. Elm have really enjoyed exploring different textures. They have been mixing shaving foam with different coloured paints so the children can experiment with colours too.

What a busy month, we can’t wait to see what they get up to next month!

Elder (Younger preschool):

This month, younger preschool have been combining playdough with a range of resources such as: bamboo, pinecones, and acorns. They have also used both fresh and dried herbs. We have enjoyed lots of books including Chapatti Moon, Aliens Love Smelly Jelly, Oliver's Vegetables and more! We would love to know what stories your favourites at home are, please feel free to bring these in and they can be read at circle time. The children have shown an interest in volcanoes this month too, so we looked at eruptions on the iPad, painted some of our own using the colours of lava and even took part in a science experiment where we saw a real-life eruption! Next month we will continue to provide activities and experiences based on the children's interests, we're so excited to see where that will take us!

Oak (Older preschool):

This month pre school have been learning some number songs to help practise counting forwards and backwards. We have been continuing to develop our fine motor skills and have had fun practising our name writing. We have read several stories, including Handa’s surprise, Over the meadow, The Gruffalo and many more. We have been creating more cozy spaces for children to relax and read in and have been enjoying using these new spaces in our play. Next month we are hoping for a bit more sunshine so we can continue developing our forest school area. We would also like to do a bit more cooking so if anyone has any yummy healthy recipes please let us know, we would love to build up a recipe book of some of your favourite recipes!