We enjoyed our last Forest School of the year this week and celebrated Sophie and Jackie completing their Level 3 Forest School award. This is a huge commitment as it takes a year and is a lot of work so we are really lucky to be able to run our Forest School weekly for the children with Sophie and Jackie in charge. The children get a huge amount out of learning outside and by being in our back garden which is a wonderful space.

Home corner role play has been really popular this week with the children making a pretend TV and watching it, pointing the remote control at it and chattering away about what they would like to watch! Paw Patrol was the main choice.

We have been practising our graduation song ready for the celebration next week Thursday and Friday afternoons.

The St Andrew’s children enjoyed two visits to school this week and next week it is Willowbank’s turn for two stay and play sessions.

Outside we have been working in the garden and listening to Fairy Tales outside and writing them up on the wall too, lots of dressing up and role play and craft and exercise outside too.

Our circle times for the Stars have involved lots of music and songs and story sacks and ring games and cosmic yoga!

The Sun and Moon groups have loved their last Forest School sessions all together and have also been matching sounds, made little models of themselves with their new school jumpers on, worked hard in an exercise session lifting heavy things across the room and transporting them, and made insects with shapes and taken part in a treasure hunt in the back garden, listening to clues, finding objects and counting them too.

A lovely week and we have also met more of the children that are starting with us in the Autumn too.

Next week we will have a visit to the setting from an animal experience which will be really exciting for the Sun and Moon children as a treat before they go to school!

We would love it if any parents would like to buy us any of the following items to help us save a few last pennies!

Cornflour, herbal tea bags, shave foam, food colouring, buttons or any craft items! Thank you.

What a wonderful week we have had, the children have been fantastic despite the heat and we have been talking about how to stay cool, to drink lots, have sun cream on and sit in the shade and wear a sun hat outside. We have created some shade in the garden and we have the back garden shelter as well and all our doors and windows are open and we have lots of fans but the pre-school does get quite hot on a very sunny day. It is great weather for our caterpillars who are now turning into cocoons as I write so our Hungry Caterpillar party will be happening a few days after they turn into butterflies.

All 3 groups have been learning about fairy tales and we have also linked our growth/life cycle theme into literacy by reading Jack and the Beanstalk – we even have the Giant’s Boots coming down from the ceiling! The work the children have put into the craft and artwork and chatter is fantastic and we can’t wait to see how high our magic beans will grow! We watched a time lapse video of a bean growing and the groups were fascinated.

The Sun and Moon groups are working well on all their topics and have made progress in blending sounds and hearing sounds of letters, they have developed their rhyming skills, and linked numerals to quantities and will enjoy a visit from Robot Reg this Friday afternoon.

The Star group have been counting ladybirds, identifying shapes, matching cars and a race track using numbers on the track and on the car and the Stars have loved their Forest School experience on the Thursday and Friday morning, exploring free access to the water tap and the hot chocolate mainly!!

Outside we have our own garden centre and cafe role play which has been really popular, lots of play and language and money and tills and shopping and a lovely moment where we were pretending to order in the cafe – “Can I pay by cash please?” I said – “No we only take cards” a child said…”Oh no I haven’t got my card! How can I pay for my lunch?” “Don’t worry said another child, I’ve got my card I can pay for you!” – so sweet!

We are racing towards the end of term already – only 4 weeks to go and a lot to fit in! We have our first ever grandparents coffee mornings next week on a Tuesday and Wednesday and you will all have had an invitation to pass on, please RSVP so that we know how many biscuits to buy! Graduation photos have gone really well, there are some gorgeous pictures – we take the photos here using a nice camera so while they are not taken by a professional they certainly capture your child’s personality which we love! We hope you will enjoy seeing the proofs as they come out to you and all money raised goes straight into the fundraising pot for us to spend on the children and resources.

Next week we would love donations of little plants please as we are going to make mini fairy gardens to decorate the preschool ready for graduation, large flowers pots for them, plain flour, food colouring and pompoms please!

We are now full for September 2022! We can’t believe it but things do often change around at the last minute but we are very surprised to be so busy this year. Please do encourage anyone you know who may want to come to complete a registration form so that they can be placed on our waiting list.

our week has been full of weddings and party celebrations and there have been some wonderful photos from our construction play outside. Large scale construction is brilliant for imaginative play and solving problems and conflict when working together in a small space that you have made!

We have also been playing games outside and have only had the bikes out a few times – we have followed a long line to develop our balance, we have been tyre rolling, scooping and carrying balls with ladles, painting the fence and obstacle courses with lots of climbing.

The Star group have been planting peas for our garden and have enjoyed lots of physical exercises and a feely box, guessing the objects in it and paying listening and attention games.

The Sun and Moon groups have swapped over and Suns are going into the circle time first at the moment while the Moons enjoy some free play before snack and have their circle time after snack. They have learnt about clothes from around the world, adding some amazing drawings to Andrea’s display. They have also done some planting choosing from different seeds, talking about the size and colours of the seeds and our cress is already growing! Music from around the world and some brilliant hula hoop skills and talking about feelings have all contributed to a busy week of learning.

We have really enjoyed welcoming parents to the Forest School sessions and the groups have loved the Bear Hunt theme.

Next week we will be having two Jubilee tea parties for the children – please send them in wearing red/white/blue or a combination or just in usual pre school blue! We will be doing face paints and having a street party with games in the garden, dancing and then our snack street party style along our path for a change (with the gate firmly locked)!

Donations wise we would love any lollipop sticks you can buy at Tesco in the craft section, plain paper plates, rice, any jubilee celebration party items you see around and doilies please!