Author: Hope Pre School

[gallery ids="1313,1310,1309,1312,1307,1306,1305,1311,1304,1303,1301"] Last week the children were visited by Leanimals Mobile Zoo. What a wonderful way to learn about the natural world, with real life animal encounters in our setting! Leanne introduced each animal in turn and all of the children were able to touch/hold/stroke the animals, and even feed some of them. We met: Amber the corn snake, a particular favourite with all the children; Alba the barn owl who showed us her flapping wings, she was only a baby! Millie the giant millipede with the quivering legs; Queenie the little brown mouse; a crested gecko called Kiwi who climbed up several child arms; Flower the skunk, only a little bit smelly; Cookie the skinny pig who had no fur; Colin the guinea pig who was extremely fluffy and…

Hope Pre-school was inspected by Ofsted on Monday 17th July and we are happy to announce that we achieved a "Good" rating overall, with "Outstanding" ratings for The Quality of education and Behaviour and Attitudes. The report details "that staff have skills and knowledge they need to support children to make exceptional progress and achieve the best outcome;" "The manager fosters a strong ethos, where all staff work together and are fully committed to providing high-quality learning experiences;" "children are confident, capable and extremely settled in this welcoming setting;" "staff provide exceptional support to enable all children to become confident communicators" and "Parents value the dedication of the team in helping children to achieve the best outcomes." The full report can be accessed online:- https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50226373  

We break up for summer holiday on Wednesday 19th July, which will be our party morning and Leavers celebration gathering for parents to attend. All children are invited to the party, even if they don't usually attend Wednesdays! The children are working hard to put together some entertainment items for the delight of parents. Also, I hope you've all been looking after your Pre-school sunflowers at home as we will be running a competition for the tallest/widest sunflowers! An information sheet will be sent home next week for you to complete with your child. Good luck!            

Last Monday, the children made another trip to Caroline Court Day Centre. It was perfect weather for a springtime walk! This time we were performing Easter/Spring-themed songs for the delight of the Day Centre visitors. The children wore their Easter hats that they'd decorated themselves and we were greeted with a round of applause as soon as they got through the door, even before commencing the performance! The children sang Chick, Chick Chicken, Little Green Frog and Mrs. Bunny. It was nice to look around the room; the children spotted Easter crafts on display and a woodland animals collage. They practised their conversation skills with our friends at the Centre. There were introductions of names and excited comments from the children. What a lovely morning!   During the week all…

[caption id="attachment_1207" align="alignleft" width="300"] Walking back from Caroline Court[/caption] Last Monday we visited Caroline Court Day Centre again, to meet up with the older people of the village. It was nice for the children to see again the friends they made on our last two visits before Christmas! This time, some of the older children practised introducing themselves and asking the names of the residents there. There was time to explore the room and chat, then sing some of the songs we have been practising involving parts of the body: Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Tommy Thumb, This Little Piggy (the middle little piggy had chips today, suggested by one of the children!) and Round and Round the Garden. Lots of the older people joined in with the familiar tunes.…

[caption id="attachment_1196" align="alignleft" width="226"] Dragon mark making[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1199" align="alignleft" width="300"] Dragon dancing![/caption] [caption id="attachment_1200" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ribbons and dragon![/caption] The children have been learning about Chinese/Lunar New Year. It has been fun to share in the celebrations and to compare the customs with their own memories of Christmas festivities. We watched a video about a boy called Ian and how he and his family celebrate. In response to this, the children have enjoyed a number of different activities at Pre-school. These include dragon picture mark making, finger painting dragon scales, creating vegetable spring rolls, dragon dancing with our dragon puppet, ribbon dancing, hearing the story of The Twelve Animals and how the new year got its name, making an animal mask to help act out the story, taking home…

[caption id="attachment_1187" align="alignright" width="225"] Working together.[/caption] This morning at Forest Fun the children learned how to build a structure using sticks. First, we found a flat area on the ground. Then we collected some sticks and sorted them into long ones and shorter ones. We used the longer sticks to make a square shape on the ground, then to build on top of these to increase the height. We were able to gradually use shorter sticks to create a pyramid shaped tower. The children collected and built enthusiastically, taking turns to lay their sticks and co-operating with each other to work as a team.

  We are looking forward to welcoming all the children back to Hope Pre-school on Monday 9th January! There will be a few new children and also a new member of staff: Alex will be joining us on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Last term we were amazed by raising a whopping £415 from raffle ticket sales to go towards Pre-school funds. Local businesses Carbolite and Cambion also made generous cash donations. We were able to provide a super bouncy castle and presents from Father Christmas. Festive activities last term included practising and performing a Christmas nativity to parents and carers. We also visited Caroline Court Day Centre to sing our nativity songs and were rewarded with smiles, cheers and biscuits! We made a special visit to see vicar Louise at…

Goodbye and good luck to our fabulous leavers, off to their primary schools in September. They have been a wonderful group, each one unique in their own individual ways. We hope you all enjoy your next life adventure. We will miss you!

Last Friday, the children made themselves very useful once more by spending time collecting the village litter, honing their manipulative skills at the same time! They worked in teams, taking turns to look for litter and to litter pick. We found that the most common type of litter was cigarette ends, closely followed by a variety of pieces of plastic and scraps of paper. Our thanks go out to the adult team of litter pickers who do this every Friday!