Saturday 14th December was our annual Christmas Party at Westbury on Trym Village Hall. We had so much fun and we were spoilt as Father Christmas sent an official North Pole representative to join us for the big moment! We love celebrating the magic of Christmas with all of our children, siblings and wider families and rounding off another wonderful year.
Thanks to all who attended and Merry Christmas!
We are all going Halloween mad at Once Upon a Time! The theme has been impacting our arts and crafts, reading and writing and we're excited for the big day on the 31st!
We all love a PJ Day, but we managed to get out of bed long enough to raise money for a wonderful charity which has been close to our hearts for a number of years!
Yesterday was World Mental Health Day so we all spoke about looking after each other, making kind choices and why it is important to talk about things we find tricky. The children made heart pictures for people of their choice with reasons why they love them written on it. Ella put some lovely little gifts in the shed for each member of staff and gave them all a note with something she thought makes them they amazing written on it just to make them smile.
We try to do the little things that make a big difference!
We are delighted to have a new deputy manager in the Once Upon a Time family! With her children growing up and changing schools, our former deputy, Sam, needed a job closer to home. As if magic, we met Charlotte who had recently finished her degree in Early Childhood Studies and was looking for her first managerial role. With a large family including a new baby brother at home, Charlotte has a wonderful way with children and will fit in to the team perfectly.
Her degree further enhances our offering as a small, deeply caring nursery which offers the best care to our children and families.
Charlotte feels strongly about the importance of cultural awareness and expanding children's knowledge of life a around the world. As our children (and us) experience an ever more multicultural society this is an exciting passion to share.
Welcome to the team Charlotte!
September is always a time for change in childcare and we are thrilled to have some new members of the Once Upon a Time team! Carys Wilson, Amy Osbourne and Lashantai Ayton have joined the team and will become familiar faces around Once Upon a Time very quickly! If you see them please say 'Hi' and make them feel as welcome as possible!
Each year we say goodbye to another cohort of children and it never gets any easier! We had a large number of children leave us this year, some of whom had been with us since they were 2 months old! What a wonderful group of children they were and we will miss them all dearly and hope to see some pop in to collect their younger siblings or walking past our windows in the years to come!
We had a great time in the sunny garden and were even joined by some special friends!
Our children moved to a range of different primary schools including Elmlea, Henleaze, Westbury on Trym, Stoke Bishop, Bristol Grammer and Badminton as well as many others. We aim to build close links to these and all other local schools to smooth the transition from nursery to primary.
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Childcare costs can be a significant expense for many families. At Once Upon a Time we are proud to have a diverse range of children, families and staff and we offer as much support to our families as possible. There are many Government schemes to help with the cost of childcare. The internet is full of information and it can be daunting - please get in touch and we can help you to understand what it all means!
Childcare costs can be a significant expense for many families. At Once Upon a Time we are proud to have a diverse range of children, families and staff and we offer as much support to our families as possible. There are many Government schemes to help with the cost of childcare. The internet is full of information and it can be daunting - please get in touch and we can help you to understand what it all means!
Getting ready for a summer of sport with the Euros and the Olympics among many others, we have started regular visits from a company who provide coaching across a range of sports and activities from rugby to Pilates! The children absolutely love it and the staff sometimes get involved too...reluctantly!!
Our team has been hard at work over the weekend cleaning, scrubbing, gardening, tidying, de-weeding, and generally doing whatever is needed to make the nursery look its best and ready for (hopefully) spring!
After a long, dark, wet winter we have been working hard making the front garden a working space for the children. We now have lots of veggies, potatoes and herbs that the children can watch grow and then use to cook with and eat. We have themed our front garden with the Supertato stories and made the stories come to life!
Thanks to all of the children for their hard gardening work! Everyone can see the changes when they arrive at the nursery!
We are so lucky to have been part of the wonderful local community for 25 years now, and we get out and about whenever we can. We have our own branded high vis jackets and puddlesuits and nursery pushchairs. We stick to a strict staff to child ratio when leaving the nursery to make sure we are all safe and ready to explore!
Inspections are always dauting, but our recent inspection from the Food Standards Agency resulted in a 5 Star rating and a glowing review from the inspector! At Once Upon a Time we serve high quality, nutritionally balanced meals and we are proud to have a 5 Star FSA rating.
Every year a number of our children move on to start their school lives. Over the years our children have left to go to many schools, especially Elmlea, Henleaze, Westbury on Trym and St Ursula's. We have close links with all of these schools and many others to ensure the transition from our nursery to school is as smooth as possible for the children. We try to stay in touch with as many as possible - some have siblings who remain with us and some live locally and pop in to say hello (some of our first ever children have even returned with children of their own 20 years later!!).
Our staff are experienced in working with preschoolers to ensure they are as ready as they possibly can be for the big day when they put on their uniform and head through the gates!
Every year we hold a graduation ceremony (mortar boards included) for those heading off where children, parents and staff can get together and celebrate their time with us!
We have some big news here at Once Upon a Time. After over 7 years with us and more than 5 years as our manager, Toni is going to be leaving us in the summer. She has decided to take some time away to spend more time at home with Theo and the rest of her family, and after everything she has done for the nursery over the years we think she deserves a break!
This was Toni’s first ever nursery manager role and she has done the most incredible job through some very difficult circumstances including Covid and, of course, the birth of her own child, Theo. The role of manager at Once Upon a Time is like no other job – in one day you can be a cook, a cleaner, a handyman or many, many other things which mean no two days are the same! Toni grasped the opportunity with both hands and has worked wonders. Anyone who knew the nursery 5 years ago will have seen first hand the work that Toni has done. Her passion to make the nursery the best it can be is inspirational. She has built a team of passionate and devoted staff who provide a level of care we are so proud offer to our families. She knows every child and every family and she has built the nursery family into the wonderful community it is today.
How to replace the irreplaceable? Well, we are in luck! I am delighted to announce that Ella Coles, who many of you will already know, is going to take the role of Manager from the start of July onwards. Ella has been with us for six years and has worked in senior positions for the last two. She is currently finishing her level 5 qualification in Nursery Management and has already shown that she has what it takes to continue Toni’s incredible work and push on to put her own stamp on things. We are delighted that Ella has chosen to accept the role and continue her career with us, and we certainly believe the opportunity will help her to fulfill her incredible potential.
As Ella has worked with us for 6 years and already works very closely with Toni, we do not expect any significant changes when Toni leaves at the end of June. The staff remain very supportive and happy that there will be a natural continuation.
Toni is not leaving for a new job, and as a reflection of her dedication to the nursery, she has offered to remain in a support role to help Ella during the early months of her new position. As you can imagine, it may be a daunting prospect both for Ella and for everyone else in the nursery so it is a great comfort that Toni will be present on a part time basis from July onwards until Ella finds her feet.
We appreciate that this is big news for everyone and if anyone has any questions then please get in touch. In the meantime, please join us in congratulating Ella on her new role and in thanking Toni for all of her efforts over the years. We will be in touch closer to the time regarding further details and plans for a send off!
Childcare costs can be a significant expense for many families. At Once Upon a Time we are proud to have a diverse range of children, families and staff and we offer as much support to our families as possible. There are many Government schemes to help with the cost of childcare. The internet is full of information and it can be daunting - please get in touch and we can help you to understand what it all means!
Childcare costs can be a significant expense for many families. At Once Upon a Time we are proud to have a diverse range of children, families and staff and we offer as much support to our families as possible. There are many Government schemes to help with the cost of childcare. The internet is full of information and it can be daunting - please get in touch and we can help you to understand what it all means!
Childcare costs can be a significant expense for many families. At Once Upon a Time we are proud to have a diverse range of children, families and staff and we offer as much support to our families as possible. There are many Government schemes to help with the cost of childcare. The internet is full of information and it can be daunting - please get in touch and we can help you to understand what it all means!
We regularly post on our Facebook page - like our page to keep up to date with the latest news!
We are all delighted to hear the news that two of our longest serving members of staff, Tash and Holly, are both expecting babies later on this year! We already have Holly's daughter Ivy with us at the nursery and she is very excited to become a big sister!
With Toni back from maternity leave and baby Theo happily settling in to life at Once Upon a Time we are delighted to have our old team back together! Toni has been us for 5 years, most of which as manager, and has done an incredible job at making the place her own. She is a passionate and extremely talented member of staff who we are incredibly lucky to have leading our team.
Toni is supported by Jemma, our deputy manager. Jemma has been with the nursery for many years and stepped up to be the deputy manager in 2020. Jemma works tirelessly to help the nursery develop into such a lovely place for our children to enjoy.
We are incredibly lucky to have a very settled team here at Once Upon a Time. The children are happy, settled and calm and each child knows every member of staff and vice versa which is something we are incredibly proud of and forms part of the ethos of the nursery which has remained unchanged for over 20 years.
It's great to have the team back together!
We are delighted to announce that Sarah Dungey has joined us for the start of the new term as our new deputy manager with a view to becoming the manager while Toni s off on her upcoming maternity leave.
Sarah joins us from an Outstanding rated nursery nearby where she was a key member of the management team taking a direct lead in all aspects of staff development and training and nursery development and improvement. Looking for that next step in her career Sarah says she was attracted to Once Upon a Time by our reputation for being a lovely place to work and for having such strong links with our children and families, something we are incredibly proud of and very lucky to have.
The deputy role is a key link between the manager and the staff and one that has been performed wonderfully by Sarah's predecessor for years so we wanted to ensure we made a top quality appointment to replace her. Sarah is a graduate of Bath University specialising in Early Childhood Studies and brings a wealth of experience with her. In a few months time when Toni, our current manager, goes on maternity leave, Sarah will step in to her shoes as her maternity cover and we know that the nursery is in safe hands with her at the helm!
Sarah has brought her young son along with her so a warm welcome to him also!
We are delighted to have you on board Sarah and we welcome you to our team!
In line with Government guidance the nusery is once again open to all. Things will operate slightly differently as we work to maintain social distancing by using a bubble approach to restrict contact between various children and staff. Other changes include no parents on site, restrictions to our normal 'free flow' approach and a twice weekly deep clean and disinfecting process among many others. We beleive we have done everything we can to adhere to the latest guidance and will continue to make changes as further guidance is released.
We are excited to have our full complement of staff and children back and looking forward to getting used to the 'new normal' and hopefully back to the 'normal normal' soon!
On Wednesday 18th March the Government announced that all schools would close and all nurseries would be ‘expected’ to close from the end of Friday 20th April except to enable the provision of care for ‘vulnerable’ children (defined as those with an EHCP or who have a social worker) and children with either both parents or the sole parent are considered a key worker(s). If you have any questions regarding this please get in touch. We will be actively monitoring ours emails during this period and we can provide an emergency phone number if required.
We are all in this together and we don't know how long this will last, but we will keep everyone as up to date as possible. In the mean time please look after yourselves and we look forward to putting this all behind us and getting back up and running as soon as possible!
We are actively monitoring the escalating Coronavirus situation. We have spoken to local authorities and we are keeping parents fully informed with any information they may find useful or any guidance which may be relevant to them inclusing isolation requirements for those experiencing any symptoms or for those who have recently travelled abroad or who are planning to in the coming weeks.
Please speak to us as soon as possible if you have any concerns at all and we will do our best to help.
This August the whole nursery went on a special visit to the Beach at the Mall Cribbs Causeway, some parents and carers also joined us with their children who had the summer off! A fun day had by all.
We took the bus and the children were able to chose their seats and ask the driver for their tickets! We love getting out and about around our city and exploring new places!
We held our annual graduation ceremony to say good bye to those children moving on to school, many of whom had been with us since they were tiny! In order to prepare the children for school a number of local primaries have donated old uniform to the nursery so the children can practice getting ready!
We are hugely grateful to the schools who have donated. The children absolutely love dressing up as big kids!
This year we have had children move on to a number of local schools including Elmlea, Henleaze, Westbury on Trym and Clifton College. We pride ourselves on our close links to all the schools our children move on to as a way of best preparing them for the move and making it as easy as possible for them.
We have restarted our Forest School sessions run by our qualified Forest School teacher Charlie. The school runs every other week for our preschool children and their families to attend.
The first session was based on the book "supertato" as children have been interested in the story at the setting and the second session was based around the wet weather as the forest was very wet and muddy.
Our next session is Thursday 10th October.
Once Upon a Time is celebrating its 20th Birthday! We opened way back on Monday 6th September 1999 when Helen and Trish had more staff than children (the current staff think that is a ratio we should try to bring back!). Over the last 20 years we have proudly cared for hundreds of local children and become a integral part of the thriving Westbury on Trym community.
While the nursery has changed a lot since 1999 we have always stayed true to our core values of offering a home from home environment for our children and their families.
Once Upon a Time remains a proudly independent nursery offering the best in early years childcare. We are still owned by the same family who started the nursery and we are blessed to say that the current team of staff led by Toni is the best we have ever had.
We are celebrating by having a party on Saturday 26th October so get the date in your diaries and ask us for details. We will be celebrating the last 20 years and saying 'Here's to the next 20'! Hoverboard parking will be provided.
Toni attended a training day with Anna Ephgrave, the award winning academic and author who popularised the practice of 'in the moment planning' which we use at Once Upon a Time. Toni was able to show what we have been doing at the Nursery over the past year and Anna said how impressed she was with the team's practice. She then proceeded to use some of our work as a example for over 300 other early years practitioners in attendance! This is amazing news for the whole team who are dedicated to enhancing all our children's development.
We are delighted that our own Chanel Miles will soon be graduating from her foundation degree in Early Years Education and is moving on to her BA Honours degree in Early Childhood Education. This is a fantastic achievement especially as it was done alongside a busy day to day job in the nursery! We are committed to building a team of staff who are dedicated to self development. We support our staff in any education, training and qualifications they wish to pursue and we are so proud to have such a highly skilled team serving our children and families. This passion for learning and drive to achieve to the best of one's abilities is inspiring for our children. Our staff work incredibly hard so to find the time to do another qualification is commendable - Congratulations Chanel!
A new school year and ever growing numbers of children joining our family means we are welcoming 2 new members of staff this month.
The highly experienced Amber Davies has started in to the Cubs room. Amber is grade 4 Makaton trained with years of experience in early years working in a range of settings. Also in the Cubs room we are delighted to have Natasha Edwards joining us. Natasha has lots of experience in reception aged children and is going to be highly valuable in helping at this pivotal stage as children blossom and get prepared to become preschoolers!
We welcome both Amber and Natasha to our team. Please say 'Hi' if you see them in the nursery!
We are absolutely delighted to announce the setting has been validated as achieving the Bristol Standard! The Bristol Standard is recognised nationally as an outstanding self-evaluation framework and the benefits and impact of its approach have been well evidenced. Through team reflection and discussion, the strengths of the nursery are celebrated and future priorities become clear. The Bristol Standard enables practitioners to talk more knowledgeably about what they do, why they do it and the difference it is making for children and families in their care. A huge amount of work went in to our application and the most importnt thing of all was that it reflected the work and the efforts of every member of staff in the whole nursery. We are very proud to have such a great team here at Once Upon a Time and we're proud of the recognition we achieve!
In May we came runners up in the Westbury on Trym wheelbarrow parade competition! We had lots of support in the parade for our families so thank you for everyone who turned out and helped us to raise money for our chosen charity, the Crackerjack Foundation.
In June we held a forest school stay and play session for all of our children and families which we will be doing termly. Children listened to Julia Donaldson’s Stick Man story, made mud pies and had a picnic.
Our deputy manager, Charlie, was invited by Bristol University to present to students in their first year of their Early Childhood Studies degree that Charlie recently completed herself. She shared our journey of using the space in the front garden and taking it from an unloved and unutilised space to winning the Gold Bristol in Bloom award. She focussed on why she undertook the challenge and what the children learned from the project. We are proud to have Charlie representing Once Upon a Time at such a prestigious institution.
Once Upon a Time has been invited to take part in a major new study of boys' early years development. Our focus is the promotion of literacy in the setting and home learning. we have introduced Book Bears to take home along with many other changes in the setting that have enhanced children's literacy skills. Our findings will be posted on Bristol Early Years Research website (https://bristolearlyyearsresearch.org.uk/) for other settings to learn from.
Led by Toni and Charlie who have shown hugely impressive levels of subject knowledge, application and, most importantly, dedication to delivering the practices they believe in, our nursery was showcased in a video interview which was shown on the big screen at the annual Nursery World Conference in London in February 2018, at which Toni and Charlie represented us in person.
We are committed to delivering top quality childcare and we value collaborative working with the council, other settings and the children and familes who attend Once Upon a Time.
With a gold medal score of 86% we are absolutely delighted to have won a gold medal in this year's Bristol in Bloom competition.
The judged comments read as follows:
Once Upon a Time Day Nursery & Pre-school ~ 86% Gold
An outstanding start to this first-year entry, this small space was used to its best advantage and to its fullest extent; it is a pleasure for neighbours and passers-by to see.
The enthusiasm and commitment to outdoor learning, led by Charlie, was an inspiration. The evident involvement from the community and parents and the affirmations of the effect the gardening has on the children were highlights of the excellent garden portfolio.
Every attribute of the garden was well thought out and innovative, the use of up-cycled and recycled materials was great to see. The level of maintenance, quality of plants (sown from seed) and visual learning aids that were hung in the trees all enhanced the learning experience.
A most enjoyable first visit.
This achievement is testament to the selfless work of our wonderful team who have created something truly special for the children to enjoy. Charlie saw potential in the outdoor space in the nursery and had lofty ambitions from day one. Well she proved any doubters wrong like she always does! For our little nursery to win such a prestigous award is something truly special and we are so proud and grateful for Charlie's hard work and determination. And of course, none of this would have been possible without the help of our children and familes who helped with planting, donations of gardening equipment and some rather small but certainly green fingered helpers!
Each week we go to Patron House, a local specialist residential care home for the elderly with a focus on dementia. From the moment we started going we have had the most incredible, heart warming experiences and to witness the bond between the residents and our children is something that we could never describe. The children love sitting with the residents, playing with them and hearing their stories. The skills they learn and develop though thi process - such as patience, clear communication and empathy - are some of life's most important and will stand the children in good stead for the future. We hope to continue this special relationship for years to come.
We have made many new friends and have received great feedback on the behaviour, conduct, attitide and most importantly happiness of our children!
Charlie has been making the most of the nice weather by givinbg the front of the nursery a well needed revamp! It's lovely to have a safe front garden for children and families to walk through as they come in to nursery so it's only right that we make it look great! Thanks Charlie, and thanks to everyone who helped too!
Kirsty and Toni have been busy spending their weekends making improvements to the garden! The children now have lots of exciting new areas to explore ensuring that there are lots of opportunities to learn outdoors. These areas include a dinosaur park, a mud kitchen, a writing area and a water area! We have also made a potion making station and some sensory tyres full of herbs for smelling and tasting. Spike and Gizmo, the nursery's resident Guinea pigs, have moved outside for the warmer months and are also enjoying their new surroundings! There are still lots of exciting things to come and the children have loved exploring it so far! Watch this space……………
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We are delighted to announce that Toni has been promoted to the role of deputy manager and will formally assume her position at the start of Kate’s maternity leave on 18th March. Since joining us as Cubs leader she has transformed the room into somewhere we are truly proud to offer to our families and she has it running fantastically well. We hope Toni can take this focus and drive to the next level in her new role.
Toni has over 10 years of experience working in day nurseries and is working on her level 5 qualification. She will work closely with Kirsty to lead the nursery and we are confident that the two of them will make a great team!
Lucia qualified as an early years teacher in Spain before making the move to Bristol in 2014.
Since joining Once Upon a Time Lucia has been hugely influential in developing our preschool into a wonderful asset to the nursery and something we are truly proud to offer our children and their families. Working alongside our experienced preschool worker Paige and our Early Years Practitioner Rebecca Lucia completes a very strong team in our preschool and we are incredibly proud to have such a strong team. All three have experience of working in schools and use it to best prepare our children for the step up to primary education. All this while still remaining true to the spirit of the nursery of providing a small, intimate setting and a truly personal learning experience for each of our children.
We are delighted to have Lucia in such an important role and we encourage all of our parents to say hi and talk to her about her plans for our preschool!
The children at Brentry have been learning about vegetables. They set up their role play area as a greengrocers shop where they could buy and sell fruit and vegetables to their friends. On Tuesday they used peelers to peel the vegetables and knives to chop the vegetables into smaller pieces to put into a soup for tea! We all sat down and ate it and it was yummy!
They added all of the ingredients into the slow cooker and covered them in some vegetable gravy which they ate for their tea.
Once they had finished making soup, they cut up the spare vegetables into different shapes and used them to dip in paint and make some vegetable picture.
Following the launch of the Shaun in the City trail on 6th July 2015, the children have had a fab-ewe-lous time visiting Cribbs Causeway, the Downs and Whiteladies Road in search of the model sheep. The children have been very excited to put on their jackets and take the bus - they even had time to take a selfie!
On Tuesday 21st July, all of the children attending the morning session took the bus to see the sheep called Bumble on the Downs. Whilst there they had a picnic lunch and took part in a Stretch and Grow session with our regular visitor Linda. The children went baa-rmy and had lots of fun!
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On Thursday 2nd July we had a routine Ofsted inspection at our Downs Cote Drive nursery. We are proud and absolutely delighted to announce that we received a ‘Good’ rating which was backed up by a hugely positive report that can be read here. As with our nursery at Passage Road a lot has changed in the last year or so and to have an official tell us that she is astounded at the speed of the changes and the positive impacts that have resulted, and that at the current rate of change we should aim to be rated as Outstanding soon is a massive boost for the team who have been working so hard. We are already acting upon the inspector’s recommendations that were around further embedding the changes that we have introduced and looking to take that next step towards becoming an Outstanding nursery.
We now have both nurseries with a Good rating which is testament to the team and the efforts they have all put in. We love to hear your feedback on any aspect of our nurseries so please let us know any comments you may have. Our interaction with parents and the closeness with which we all communicate and work together was something that inspectors at both nurseries praised and it is these relationships that help make Once Upon a Time what it is.
Our thanks go out to the parents who have supported us through the changes (and those who were questioned by the inspector on the doorstep!). We are all so proud of our nursery and we are excited to share it with the children as we move into the future.
Best regards,
Rob, Lorraine and the team
On Tuesday 14th July our nurseries went quiet as children from both Westbury and Brentry made a trip to the Downs to watch a special performance of Gorilla Gardening! The show had recently completed a hugely successful run at the Tobacco Factory and we were lucky enough to be invited to a one off al fresco performance specially for benefactors and other key people who helped make the show happen. The nurseries’ co founder Trish has a wonderful garden at her house next to the Downs and she is also the proud owner of one of the original gorilla statues that were displayed around Bristol back in 2011 so she was the perfect host!
On a day that thankfully stayed dry the children were treated to a performance of the show and a workshop all about planting seeds before having afternoon tea in the garden! There was a huge garden, an amazing wendyhouse and not to mention Doris the Gorilla! We had so many parent helpers that we would like to say thank you to all of them – The children (and us grown ups!) had a wonderful time and it wouldn’t have been possible without you!
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The beautiful weather we had for most of April has meant we have spent as much time as possible outside – well we’ve got to make the most of it while it lasts!!
On one lovely sunny day our intrepid children and staff decided to go for a picnic on the Down. They packed a picnic with sandwiches, home made flap jack and lots of fresh fruits and travelled by bus - in itself an adventure. The children loved travelling on the top deck for a prime view out of the windows. They played lots of games to work up an appetite and enjoyed watching the butterflies and birds. Some picked daisies (yes there were daisies) to make a daisy chain.
On other days we also arranged excursions to Blaise Woods and Canford Park. The children really enjoyed putting on their sun hats and chatting as they walk crocodile style (we can easily walk to both destinations). Lorraine, our Westbury-on-Trym manager, is a fully qualified Forest school teacher and Blaise is great for doing Forest School activities with the chidren. We also visited Canford Park - a wonderful leafy park with a great children's play area. They love playing in the sand and taking turns on the round about, the slide and the swings.
Being small means we can be spontaneous and take full advantage of the wonder British sunshine - whenever the opportunity arises. We are all looking forward to many more outings over the coming months.
In April we welcomed the newest addition to the Once Upon a Time team – Lucia Vasquez Martinez. Lucia is originally from Spain where she attended the University of Santiago de Compostela and became a fully qualified primary and early years teacher. She went on to teach in both Spain and Sweden before coming to live in Bristol last year.
Lucia's skills and experience are going to be invaluable to the team as we build for the future and her passion and enthusiasm are already proving to be infectious! She will work closely with Abby Goddard, our fully qualified Curriculum Leader, to help assess practice and support our staff in planning and delivering exciting and meaningful learning experiences for the children. Lucia is planning to start giving the children regular Spanish lessons in May – no doubt with the help of our Spanish children at the nursery!
After a break over winter our manager and fully qualified Forest School teacher Lorraine is taking another group of children into the forest at Blaise Woods to gain first hand experience of being in the wild and learning about nature.
Forest School gives our cildren the opportunity to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands-on learning experiences in an outdoor environment. To have Blaise Woods within walking distance of both nurseries is a huge asset and we do our best to make the most of it! It's great for the children to get out and about and enjoy the fresh air. The shade of the trees helps ensure that they don't get over heated when running about too.
We like to introduce the children to local businesses and show them about some of the different things that people do in their working lives. To do this we sometimes we arrange a visit out into the community for example to visit the local bakery, a dentist and the library. We also have a Special Day programme here we invite people in to talk about what they do.
As part of the programme, on Friday 24th April we had a visit from George’s grandmother and grandfather who came along to talk about their jobs. Georg'e Grandmother is a paramedic and she talked about what ! It was really exciting as she let the children try out some of her equipment - they particularly enjoyed wrapping each other up in bandages! They asked some really interesting questions about what a paramedic does and what things she enjoyed about her job.
After all of that excitement it was time to stand in line and play by the rules as George’s granddad took us out into the garden and talked to us about his career as a referee! There were whistles, flags and red and yellow cards – we were certainly on our best behaviour! The children really enjoyed this - especially blowing the whistles!
We will let you know who we are planning to invite in next - and please feel free to send us any suggestions that you have.