Our Blog

Wednesday 20th February 2019

We hope that you are enjoying the half term break. The nursery is having a good deep clean while the children are off, the floors have been polished, carpets cleaned and the garden area tidied. Today how about getting out into the local area for a “colour hunt”. Children love to spot things in the environment and what better way to practice colour recognition than looking for something purple, something red, something blue etc. You could even make it more specific and draw pictures for your child to tick off as they spot the items, for example can you find red berries, a yellow flower, a blue car, a purple hat etc.

If you want to go further afield you could try a trip to an art gallery such as the Tate Modern, walk across the “wobbly bridge” and enjoy the views of London and click on the link below to see the half term family activities on offer.

https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/visit-tate-modern-family

Whatever you decide to do today have fun. Half term is flying by.

Tuesday 19th February 2019

If you are stuck indoors during half term how about having a go at making salt-dough? You may find that your child knows exactly how to make this, as it is one of the earliest skills we teach the children in nursery. Salt dough is a wonderfully quick and easy modelling material that keeps children occupied for long periods.

Add any accessories you have at home such as rolling pins, biscuit cutters, birthday candles etc. and let their imaginations run riot.

Recipe

2 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 cup of water

Food Colouring

You can also add glitter or lentil if you want an interesting texture.

Method

Place the dry ingredients in a bowl add enough water to form a firm dough. Mix together with your hands.

You can see children making salt-dough in the video section of our website. Have fun.

Monday 18th February 2019

This week is supposed to see some unseasonably warm weather, so why not take advantage of it and get out and about in Tower Hamlets. We are fortunate to live in London as we have so many amazing things to do right on our doorstep or just a short bus or train ride away.

Tower Hamlets in particular has plenty to offer children and much of it is free.

Why not hop on the D8 bus to Victoria Park? Take a picnic or have a snack in the café, explore the grounds and enjoy the many birds and ducks that visit the pond.

Greenwich is a short hop on the DLR, alight at Bow Road and get off at Cutty Sark, here you can admire the Cutty Sark Ship, the Old Naval Colleges and the Maritime Museum. You can walk along the river and even go mud larking or visit the park, where you climb the hill and see the meridian line. You can even visit the planetarium.

Tower Hamlets also has the V&A museum of childhood, take the children and show them the toys you enjoyed as a child. The Ragged School museum is fun for older children and if you love animals Mudchute City Farm is a short trip on the DLR, here you can meet sheep, chickens, llamas, pigs, rabbits, donkeys and many other farm animals. There are also lovely views of Canary Wharf.

Whatever you decide to do have fun, get outdoors and enjoy the wonderful area we live and work in.

Friday 15th February 2019

This half term has flown by and what a busy six weeks it has been. Staff have welcomed and settled 36 new children, who we are pleased to report are all doing well. Therefore, we would like to say a big thank you to parents/carers for working with staff to ensure a smooth transition into nursery life.

 The nursery has also achieved two major awards this term, QISS and QES from Canterbury Christ Church University for the quality of teaching and the quality of extended services.

All staff have started to learn British Sign Language and have had deaf awareness training and updated their child protection certificates.

Children have been ice-skating, met police officers and a firefighter, enjoyed forest school and dance club, had lunch in China Town and have learnt about traditional tales from around the world.

However, it is not only the children who have had rich learning experiences, there were plenty of opportunities for parents to engage with the nursery and learn how to support their children at home. During the last six weeks we held the following courses; Early Words Together, Emotional First Aid, Phonics Play Bags and Internet Safety.

We also welcomed parents into nursery to read and cook with the children. A big thank you to our parent literacy champions we could not run Early Words Together without them.

Nursery starts again on Monday 25^th February, we have many exciting things planned for the children, so do look at how you can get involved.

Have a safe and enjoyable break.

Thursday 14th February 2019

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day when people show their affection for another person by sending cards, flowers or chocolates. In nursery the children all made and iced special heart shaped biscuits to take home as thank you to parents/carers. The day gets its name from a famous saint but there are several stories of who he was. The most popular belief about St Valentine is that he was a priest from Rome in the third century.

Other activities today included children retelling the story of the Billy Goats Gruff. This activity was carefully differentiated so that all children could participate. Some children put picture cards in order, others drew their own pictures and older children added written captions to their pictures.

The two year olds enjoyed the story of Mrs Wishy Washy’s tractor. They also came down to play in the main garden and enjoy the lovely early spring like weather.

Wednesday 12th February 2019

Wednesday and an action packed day at Children’s House!

 At 9.30 children, parents and volunteers set off on the DLR for the idea store where everyone registered with the library and had an introduction to all the activities on offer.

Another group of children set off with Karla for adventures in Forest School and took advantage of such lovely unseasonal weather. Meanwhile out in the garden children organised a puppet show for their friends.

They designed and made their own tickets, decided on the price, collected the money, made signs and posters and even provided biscuits and hot chocolate in the interval. There were some excellent retellings of the story of the Billy Goats Gruff and everyone agreed that it was great fun going to the “garden theatre”.

Indoors children were using clay to make goats and trolls to add to their bridges.

Upstairs the two year olds enjoyed cornflour and making ramps for their vehicles.

We finished the day with our weekly “talking about children” meeting

Tuesday 12th March 2019

At Children’s House, we encourage children to make their own props to use for storytelling and role-play. The workshop area is always fully stocked and available to children.

You will never see “conveyor belt” art and craft in nursery, where all children are helped to make the teacher version of something. Instead, children are encouraged to think deeply about what they want to make, the materials they need and the colours they will use.

Each child is taught how to mix paint, to use scissors safely and encouraged to experiment with a wide range of materials.

Today children were busy making puppets to retell the story of the Billy Goats Gruff. Each child had their own idea of what a troll would look like, some trolls were green, some were purple, some were large, others small, some trolls were smiley and some were fierce but most importantly each troll was unique and represented the imaginings of each child.

Look out for our videos as children retell the story to their friends.

Monday 11th February

This week we are continuing with our work around traditional tales. The children listened to the Norwegian tale of the three Billy Goats Gruff on their quest to the nice juicy grass on the other side of the river, and the nasty Troll under the bridge who tries to stop them.

The children love this story and after listening, they were presented with an open-ended challenge. Using whatever materials they wanted children were asked to construct a bridge strong enough to hold a goat.

Children experimented with card, paper, and blocks and out in the garden with wood. They discovered that although they could construct a strong cardboard bridge it wasn’t much good once it became wet. A task like this leads to children engaging in sustained shared thinking with adults who are skilled in helping them to think through and to solve real life problems.

Friday 8th February 2019

All week the children have been working on making a giant dragon’s head to use as part of our annual Chinese Dragon Dance.

Today the children were able to use it for this traditional dance and despite the high wind, a long snaking dragon was observed dancing around the playground accompanied by drumming and chanting;

“Chinese dragon, Chinese dragon

breathing fire, breathing fire

happy, happy new year, happy, happy new year

kung hei fat choy, kung hei fat choy”

Have a lovely weekend, next week we will be continuing with traditional tales and remember we finish for the half-term break on Friday 15^th February.

Thursday 7th February 2019

Today all the children took part in workshops to learn about the traditional Dragon dance. The Dragon Dance is a form of traditional dance and performance in Chinese Culture. Like the Lion dance, it is most often seen in festive celebrations like Chinese New Year. A team of experienced dancers perform the dance; they manipulate a long flexible figure of a dragon using poles positioned at regular intervals along the length of the dragon. Chinese dragons are believed to be a symbol of luck, therefore the longer the dragon dances the more luck it will bring to the community.

The dragons are believed to possess qualities that include great power, dignity and wisdom.

Salma and Shakila let the children explore the artefacts, try on the dragon’s head and then they all learnt some simple steps and put it altogether to music to perform a traditional dance.

Guthsna was out today on a leadership conference in Hertfordshire. We are looking forward to hear the new ideas she will bring back.

Wednesday 6th February 2019

Children, parents and staff had a lovely treat when a group set off to explore China Town. They travelled by tube to Leicester Square and spent the morning exploring China Town and visiting the shops and supermarkets. Everyone bought a red dragon and chose some delicious Chinese fruits and vegetables to bring back to school. After shopping and looking at all the festive decorations everyone was hungry and in need of lunch.

They visited a traditional Chinese restaurant where everyone used chopsticks and tried vegetable stir-fry, Chinese noodles, egg fried rice, prawn crackers and sweet and sour sauce. Everyone said it was a delicious meal.

Children returned to school tired but well fed and happy to have had such an interesting experience.

Chris and Guthsna were out yesterday at St Peter’s Docklands Primary School where they were part of a Peer –Review looking at curriculum. They had a stimulating and thought provoking day.

Tuesday 5th February 2019

Today the children were learning about the tradition of giving red envelopes during Chinese Year. During this period, married people or the elderly give red envelopes to children or unmarried juniors. A red envelope is called yasui qian, (supressing Sui money)

 According to legend, this money brings good luck and keeps away the demon Sui. Red envelopes always contain money and are given most commonly to children from their grandparents as a Chinese New Year Gift.

Red is seen as a symbol of happiness, energy and good luck. It is a tradition to put new bills in the envelopes.

In nursery, children looked at traditional envelopes and then were asked to work out how to make their own (real life problem solving). It’s interesting to see how children tackled the problem and how everyone ended up with their own unique envelope.

Monday 4th February

This week the children are learning all about Chinese New Year.

In 2019, Chinese New Year falls on the 5^th February and celebrates the Year of the Pig. The main Chinese New Year events take place in London's Chinatown, the West End and Trafalgar Square on the 10th February.  Why not go into town and watch the colourful Chinese New Year parade pass through the streets of the West End and Chinatown London.

Today in class, we were delighted that M’s mother came to cook traditional Mongolian food with the children. They made a potato salad, which everyone said was delicious. They also looked at traditional Mongolian Clothing.

In addition, the children listened to the traditional story of the Chinese Zodiac.

 A long time ago, Buddha decided to have a grand race and he invited all the animals in the kingdom to take part. Unfortunately, only twelve animals showed up to the event. Grateful for their efforts, Buddha rewarded them by naming each year of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar after these 12 animals. He arranged the calendar in the order of their arrival.

The twelve animals who came for the race were a rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. These are what we now know as the Chinese zodiac animals.

When cat heard of the invitation to the race, he invited his best friend the rat to join him and they agreed to go together. The cat overslept and the rat forgot his promise to go with his friend and went without him. When the cat woke up, he was too late for the race. Hence, there is no year in the Chinese Zodiac named after Cat. This is why until this day the cat will always hunt the rat”

As well as listening to traditional stories, children had a go at using chopsticks to pick up slippery noodles, explored artefacts from China and started to make the traditional red money wallets and painted exciting dragon pictures.

Friday 1st February 2019

The children had a wonderful treat today when two of our mums came in to tell the children a traditional tale from Bangladesh. Everyone enjoyed the story of the fox and the crocodile who struggled to work out the best way to get along and share their food equally.

The children enjoyed listening and acting out the story, handling real objects such as a coconut and joining in with some real life problem solving. A huge thank you to our parents, everyone agreed it was an excellent session and the children loved it especially Z and AR who were very proud of their clever mums.

A big thank you to them both.

If you would like to come in to read or tell stories with the children do please speak to your key person.

Have a lovely weekend and do stay warm.

Thursday 31st January 2019

Today was week two of our Emotional First Aid Course for parents. We run this course because often when we become parents our priorities change. We can become so focused on the responsibility that we have for another human being we can forget that we are still a person in our own right.

The aim of parents/carers emotional first aid is to help parents to rediscover themselves. It can sometimes feel as if you are the only person in the world that feels the way you feel. Parent’s emotional first aide aims to help parents recognise that we all share similar, thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviour to varying degrees.

This course helps parents to gain strategies to identify stress factors in their own lives, gain a better understanding of themselves and promote a healthier sense of well-being

It helps parents to identify early signs of emotional distress, recognise and understand their own emotional needs, develop positive emotional health, explore the risks we pose to ourselves, develop and enhance self-esteem, gain strategies to manage our own emotional well-being and most importantly to develop a support network of other parents.

It was full house today and the feedback is excellent.

In nursery, Will was helping the children use the community play blocks to retell the story of Goldilocks, they made different sized beds and chairs to fit the three bears and spent most of the afternoon acting out the story.

The two year olds are settling well and had a lovely afternoon exploring sand, water and the small world toys.

We finished the day planning our Chines New Year Activities for next week.

Wednesday 30th January

Children are really enjoying the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears; it has really captured their imaginations and has sparked all kinds of conversations about listening to adults, staying safe, not touching other people’s property etc. Children are also showing interest in real bears and their habitats, size and of course they are interested in porridge, many of the children have never tried it.

There has been opportunities all week to explore oats in the classrooms and forest area and today children made and ate real porridge with Shakila.

Porridge is easy to make and the children all said it was “delicious “so why not try to make some at home?

BBC Perfect Porridge

Ingredients

50g porridge oats

350ml milk or water

Greek Yoghurt, thinned with a little milk

Clear Honey (optional)

Method

1. Put 50g porridge oats in a saucepan, pour in 350ml milk or water and sprinkle in a pinch of salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes, stirring from time to time and watching carefully that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan
2. To Serve, pour into bowls, spoon Greek Yoghurt, thinned with a little milk, on top and drizzle with honey.

You can vary the recipe by adding favourite fruits such as sliced banana, blueberries, stewed apple or even raisins. Be inventive!

Enjoy

Tuesday 29th January 2019

Tuesday was a busy day. In the morning, Chris and Guthsna met with Claudia on of the North East Locality Health Visitors to discuss the possibility of some of the integrated two-year-old reviews taking place at Children’s House.

If you are not sure who your health visitor is or how to contact them, there is a list on the parent notice board. The current team is based at St Andrews Health Centre but each GP practice has their own named health visitor.

In nursery children were making the three bears, some made 2D bears with paper and paint whilst others were busy at the woodwork bench. Out in the garden, a group of children were on a bear hunt and others were busy in the mud kitchen mixing up “porridge”.

We were all waiting for the promised snow but it never materialised.

Stay warm!

Monday 28th January 2019

We hope that you all had a nice weekend and managed to stay warm and dry.

This week we have snow predicted so are looking forward to lots of spontaneous wintery activities. In the meantime, children are learning about traditional tales including tales from other cultures. We would like to invite parents/carers/grandparents in to nursery to read or share stories from your own cultures/childhoods.  Please do see your key person if you are interested and we would love to welcome you to nursery. Reading to and sharing stories with children is one of the most important things we can do to support language development and the development of early literacy skills.

The day finished with off with our popular dance club led by Salma.

Friday 25th January 2019

This week we have been welcoming and settling thirteen new two year olds who have joined Orange Class on the top floor.

They have been keeping the staff busy but it’s lovely to see how well the children have settled in and how busy they are exploring their new environment and making friends. This term we are delighted to have opened a provision for deaf children under five and we welcome Alison and Judy the teachers of the deaf to the school.

All the staff have been busy learning British Sign Language and all children are picking up some useful signs.

We hope everyone will enjoy their time at Children’s House.

Have a lovely weekend.

Today was an important day as we had our assessment for reaccreditation of our QES Award by Canterbury University. The QES Award is given for quality in extended services and we are pleased to announce that Linda Leith (Cantebury) and Fiona Stokes (LA) were delighted with our work and we achieved the award.

We were also delighted to achieve the advanced QISS Award for the quality of our study support.

The QiSS Recognition Scheme is an integral part of the drive to promote quality in study support. It provides public recognition that the standards embodied in the Extending Learning Opportunities; a framework for self-evaluation in study support (ELO - revised 2013) are being met
Parents/carers will be invited to our award presentation later in the term. Thank you for your ongoing support to help Children’s House to continue to offer an outstanding education to your children.

In nursery, children were learning about tally charts through their work on emergency vehicles. Children were asked to find emergency vehicles around the nursery, categorise them, count how many they found in each category and then record their findings on a tally chart. Later they will have the opportunity to look for real emergency vehicles in the community.

In Orange Class we continue to welcome new year olds and are pleased to say that they are all settling in well.

Wednesday 23rd January 2019

Wednesday saw the first session of this term’s Early Words Together Programme, as always a big thank you to our wonderful parent Literacy Ambassadors we would not be able to run this course without you.

During the morning session, we had a visit from a teacher from a Newham Primary school who came to look at how we promote good behaviour in the nursery. She took away our guidance and policies and an action plan to try in her own nursery.

In the afternoon, we welcomed ten recently qualified teachers from primary schools in Newham and Tower Hamlets. The teachers came for a learning walk to look at good practice in the early years and left inspired and filled with new ideas to try in their own schools and settings.

Out in the front playground Karla and children were involved in a wonderful sustained role-play where children acted out being fire fighters, they built their own fire engines and used the fire paintings and props that they had created earlier in the week.

We also welcomed new two year olds to Orange class and in the first floor class children were making biscuits with Rina.

It was a busy productive day and so pleasing to observe how well the new children are settling in.

Tuesday 22nd January 2019

Today was a very cold day therefore a quick reminder to all parents/carers to provide children with a suitable coat, hat and gloves clearly labelled with their name. Children enjoy playing outdoors in all weathers but need to be warmly dressed. At Children’s House, we believe there is no such thing as “bad weather” just unsuitable clothing!

All the children were inspired by Monday’s visit from Fireman Khan and role-play continued out in the playground with many children choosing to make props to support their play. There was also huge interest in the few fleeting snowflakes of the year, which turned into a real snowfall after nursery had finished with the result that many staff were caught out on their journey home.

Monday 21st January 2019

This term we have been learning about “people who help us”. The topic began with a visit from local police officers with their horses and then last week we were delighted to welcome one of our fathers who is a practicing doctor. He spoke to the children about his job and they were able to use a stethoscope and learn all about the role of a doctor.

Yesterday we had a visit from firefighter Khan, he is the uncle of one of our children and their was great excitement as children learnt about the role and got to try on the uniform, later we will be having a visit from the fire engine crew who will demonstrate how to put out fires.

Out in the playground children were painting on a large scale and producing some dramatic pictures of fire and flames.

The day finished with dance club, which has now moved to Monday evening. This is to allow staff to continue with their signing lessons on Tuesdays.

Friday 11th January 2019

Children were busy out in the playground today practicing their ball skills with Rina; they were learning how to throw, catch and pass a ball and had great fun working out and keeping warm. Indoors our detectives were busy solving the mystery of the missing doll’s house furniture and other children were practicing their writing skills as they drew up lists of suspects.

We also welcomed two potential future teachers who came for a day’s school experience.

Next week our new children start and we are looking forward to welcoming them all to Children’s House.

Have a good weekend and please don’t forget we have Parent Voice next week. Yours views are really important to us.

Thursday 10th January 2019

Today was an extremely busy day at Children’s House. In the morning, we welcomed twenty trainee teachers from LETTA (London East Teacher Training Alliance). Chris and Guthsna led a training session on record keeping, observations and assessment in the early years and the students had an opportunity to go into class and try observing learning themselves. All the students were very complimentary about the nursery and the children as usual were amazing.

A group of children, parents and staff went off to Canary Wharf on the DLR for ice-skating and Sam reported just how confident the children were on the ice.

Out in the playground, children were busy designing and constructing their own police vehicles, which they used in their imaginative play.

The day finished with all the staff planning together for next week’s teaching and learning. Because of the high level of interest shown by the children, we are continuing with the theme of people who help us and the children will be finding out about doctors and nurses and learning how they can help to keep themselves healthy.

Wednesday 9th January 2019

When children and parents arrived at nursery today, they had a big surprise. The doll’s house was overturned, all the furniture had disappeared and there were muddy footprints leading up to the crime scene. This was clearly a job for our young detectives.

Armed with tape they secured the scene, donned their uniforms and set about looking for clues.

They drew the pattern of the tread on the footprints, measured the size of the print and concluded that the criminal clearly had large muddy feet with a distinctive pattern on their shoe.

From this information, our police officers could deduce that it was clearly an adult who had committed the crime. They could then set about eliminating all the adults in the nursery by checking the pattern on their shoes and measuring their feet.

They also found other clues at the scene, which were then carefully documented.

Watch this space to see if our detectives solve the mystery of the missing furniture.

Staff were also busy with home visits and helping children to find out about all the different ways the police help us.

Tuesday 8th January 2019

Happy New Year and welcome back to nursery. We have a busy and interesting Spring Term ahead of us so do read letters home and check the notice boards.

We hope you all enjoyed a good holiday; staff returned to school yesterday, refreshed and full of ideas for the weeks ahead.

We started this week with an INSET day; all staff updated their child protection training and then later went off in pairs to visit the new children who are starting in January.

Today we were happy to welcome everyone back to nursery and hear holiday stories and Christmas News.

This week the following on from the police horse visit the children are learning about people who help us. Today children made police badges and mobile phones and enjoyed using them out in the garden where they had fun acting out adventures as police or firefighters.

Chris and Guthsna were part of a Peer Review at Lansbury Lawrence Primary School but returned at the end of the day in time to see the children and wish everyone a Happy New Year.

The end of term Nativity Play is now on the website. Hard copies are available to purchase from the office. We were so proud of all the children who did a wonderful job.

Thursday 20th December 2018

Today is the last day of the long autumn term and what an amazing term it has been. We have welcomed and settled over 70 new children and families and expanded our two-year-old provision. We’ve enjoyed many trips, visits to museums, galleries and theatres and had some fun special days; including Children in Need, Super Hero Day, Biker’s Breakfast, and our very own Great British Bake Off.

All the children have learnt many new things and our tracker indicates that children’s progress continues to be outstanding. We are proud of each individual child.

Today parents, carers and family members saw our amazing children in action as they performed our annual Nativity Play. Children drummed, sang, danced, acted, and gave a magnificent and memorable performance.

We hope that we are giving children many happy memories that they will cherish in future years.

We also bade farewell to 13 wonderful leavers who are off to Primary School in January. We wish each child every success and remind you all that when you leave you will still always part of the Children’s House Family.

All that’s left now as we take down the tree and tidy the classrooms is to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday, a merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful 2019.

We will see you all next year on Tuesday 8^th January.

Wednesday 19th December

If you were out and about in Bruce Road today, you may have noticed reindeer flying overhead as they carried a very special visitor to Children’s House.

We were delighted to welcome Father Christmas who came to see if everyone had been good. I’m delighted to report that everyone had been so he left a sack of presents for all the children who were very excited to meet him in person.

We then had Christmas parties and welcomed our new two year olds who also got to meet Father Christmas. It was a very special day and a lovely finish to the term.

Well done to everyone and thank you to all our parents/carers for your ongoing support.

Tuesday 18th December

Today our thirteen leavers had a lovely trip to the Stratford Theatre Circus theatre to see the Gruffalo live on stage. Everyone, children, parents and teachers thought it was an amazing performance and everyone enjoyed the end of term treat.

The Gruffalo Song

He has terrible tusks, and terrible claws,

And terrible teeth in his terrible jaws

. He’s the Gruffalo! Gruffalo! Gruffalo!

He’s the Gruffalo!

He has knobbly knees and turned-out toes,

And a poisonous wart at the end of his nose.

He’s the Gruffalo! Gruffalo! Gruffalo! He’s the Gruffalo!

His eye are orange , his tongue is black,

He has purple prickles all over his back.

He’s the Gruffalo! Gruffalo! Gruffalo!

He’s the Gruffalo!

He’s the GRRRRRRRRR………Gruffalo!

He’s the Gruffalo!

Monday 17th December

We had a very busy day today and fortunately, the weather turned milder after the freezing wintery weekend. At 10 O’clock  parents and children led by Guthsna and Shazna set off for Tesco where they entertained the public with a medley of Christmas songs and rhymes, this went down very well and the children returned to nursery with a bucket of generous donations.

After lunch, we welcomed two special visitors from the borough who are doing research into what it is like to be a child growing up in Tower Hamlets. They had completed many interviews with older children and today it was the turn of some of the youngest members of the community.

As usual, the children did us proud as they discussed with Elizabeth how they keep themselves safe and, how they stay healthy. Children also informed Elizabeth what they would like to do when they grow up.

As Elizabeth said, Tower Hamlets is in safe hands when our children become adults, they had plenty to say and their behaviour was exemplary. Well done children, it is never too early to hear what you have to say!

Friday 14th December

Today children were busy designing, making and writing Christmas cards, it was lovely to see our leavers confidently sounding out words and forming letters correctly. We have thirteen children leaving us at the end of term to take up places in reception class and we are proud of all of them.

Other children had been reading books about monsters and aliens and decided to paint their own creations.

 Chris and Guthsna had a meeting to renew our advanced QES Award for the quality of our extended services. We are proud to be the first nursery school in the country to obtain the award at the advanced level.

In the evening staff headed off to Brick Lane for a well-deserved end of term meal. It has been an enjoyable and productive term and it’s good to have time together to celebrate our achievements as a team.

Thursday 13th December

If you went shopping in Tesco today, you would have heard the Children’s House Carol Singers greeting customers with a medley of Christmas Songs and Rhymes. Everyone enjoyed the performance so much that Tesco invited us back next Tuesday. If you would like to help by accompanying the children, please do let us know. A big thank you to the parents and grandparents who helped today.

In the afternoon, we welcomed our new two year-olds who will be starting in January. They had a lovely time making new friends, baking and exploring the activities on offer.

Wednesday 12th December

An exciting day to day, everyone including staff came to school in their Christmas Jumpers and what a lovely selection they were; everything from Father Christmas and reindeers to festive pug dogs and kittens.

We also welcomed Stephanie our community police offer who spoke to the children about the role of the local police force and then out in the playground were two very special visitors; police horses Penny and Scrumpy. These beautiful horses behaved impeccably and everyone was able to pet and stroke them. Some children were even brave enough to feed the horses carrots or their favourite treat extra strong mints.

A big thank you to the police officers for a lovely morning.

At 12 O’clock all the full time children sat down with staff for a delicious Christmas Lunch, there was turkey or a vegetarian roast, stuffing, roast potatoes, parsnips, sprouts and sweetcorn followed by Christmas pudding or ice-cream, chocolate coins and of course crackers and party hats.

Everyone enjoyed the lunch and felt very sleepy afterwards.

In the afternoon, we welcomed the new children who are starting in January 2019 for a stay, play and learn session. We also met LETTA students Becky and Abby who will be working with us from January when Kamran leaves us for 5 weeks to complete his second teaching practice.