Category: News

Just before the Easter holidays, we were lucky enough to visit Watsons' farm again. The children were very excited to see the animals and farm machinery! We walked down together, practicing our road-crossing skills, and were met by Mr. Watson. We enjoyed looking at the sheep with their new baby lambs - the children noticed the numbers painted on the sheep's coats which matched their lambs. The big shed had large pens with pregnant sheep and many small pens holding the new mothers with their babies. The children had the chance to stroke a new baby Jacob lamb! They asked lots of questions about what they observed and made comments.     Next, we visited the pigs of different sizes. The youngest ones were only three months old! The children…

We decided to devote a week to Maths to promote Hope Pre-school’s commitment to developing a strong grounding in number and spatial reasoning skills in all areas of Maths including shape, space and measures. Becoming great mathematicians should be fun and maths experiences should encourage children to “have a go.” In session we included many opportunities to explore resources promoting mathematical activity; we have a maths corner which is stocked with easily accessible manipulatives and trays with various numbers of compartments to encourage counting and comparing amounts, Shape games were played that involved shape recognition and colour comparison, We created our own floor snakes and ladders game, using animal counters to travel around the board and large, bouncy dice! We had five soft speckled frogs and a real log to…

At last, the children found signs of spring during Forest Fun last week! Snowdrops have sprung up and it was interesting to look inside the flower heads to find that there are green petals as well as white. The daffodils are also on their way. The children learned about the different parts of the plants, how to distinguish the buds, stalks, leaves and petals. The puddles were just as interesting of course. Jumping in the smaller ones and wading through the larger ones was fun. We talked about where all the water came from.

The children hung up the bug hotel that had been made at home by one of them with their clever mum! Lets hope the bugs use this cosy home to keep them warm and dry during the winter months. The children are fascinated by the different mini beasts they find and observe in the woods so it is great they can do something to help look after their Hope environs' neighbours! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone and every living thing!

  All the children took part in "Show and Tell." They were asked to bring an item to Pre-school to show the group and tell us something about it. They were practising their communication and conversational skills and using a variety of vocabulary. Their audience took turns to ask questions or make comments. The week after we were lucky enough to be visited by some of the children’s parents, to also take part in show and tell! On Monday, Hannah came in to show us how she makes things out of recycled objects. She showed us corks, pebbles and sticks she had found when out on the beach or on walks, and how to turn them into beautiful Christmas artwork! We watched two corks and some wire transform into Rudolph,…

Hope Pre-school helps the fight against litter pollution! We have invested in child-sized litter picking sticks to help Hope litter picking group keep our village tidy. The children practised on picking up leaves, then looked for real litter; finding tin cans, plastic, cigarette ends, tissues and drinks cartons, to name but a few. Please help us to keep Hope tidy by taking home your rubbish and re-cycling where possible. Thank you!

  [caption id="attachment_1068" align="alignright" width="300"] Pumpkin messiness![/caption] Lots of fun was had in preparation for Halloween. The children enjoyed the messiness of scooping out the pumpkin innards to make a lantern. [caption id="attachment_1065" align="alignleft" width="300"] Scissor skills[/caption] They could choose to make their own spider or pumpkin decoration to take home. Painting, sticking and cutting skills were practised, which of course included tool gripping and manipulation.   The witches den was popular, with dressing up, spell concocting and having fun scaring each other! [caption id="attachment_1069" align="alignleft" width="300"] Making potions[/caption]

Hope Pre-school said goodbye to our 7 fabulous leavers today! They will be moving on to big school in September. We wish them and their families well and the best of luck in the future. We also said goodbye to our fabulous deputy Debbie who will be enjoying a bit more free time from now on. We will miss you all!

The children enjoyed a super Forest Fun end of year party in the woods! They followed a trail of stick arrows to find the hidden treasure. They decorated wooden medallion keepsakes and were presented with a photo of their Forest Fun group. It has been a brilliant year of outdoor escapades and nature experiences. The girls and boys have blossomed while exploring the awe and wonder of their natural surroundings.

[caption id="attachment_1019" align="alignright" width="211"] Egg and spoon help[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1020" align="alignright" width="208"] Hurdles [/caption] [caption id="attachment_1021" align="alignright" width="300"] Quoit relay start[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1022" align="alignright" width="300"] Quoit relay exchange [/caption] [caption id="attachment_1025" align="alignright" width="300"] Goal shoot[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1029" align="alignright" width="300"] Goal shoot[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1030" align="alignleft" width="213"] Egg and spoon[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1031" align="alignright" width="300"] Bean bag throw accuracy[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1026" align="alignright" width="225"] Hurdling success![/caption] [caption id="attachment_1034" align="alignleft" width="300"] Egg and spoon start[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1035" align="alignright" width="300"] Egg and spoon catastrophe![/caption] [caption id="attachment_1027" align="alignright" width="300"] Quoit relay enjoyment[/caption] [caption id="attachment_1028" align="alignleft" width="300"] Bean bag throw [/caption] [caption id="attachment_1037" align="alignright" width="200"] Quoit relay determination![/caption]