Category Archives: Newsletters

13. Summer Term 2017 – mini-beasts

Monday, August 14th, 2017

Mini-beasts

During the year, many of the children had shown a lot of interest in mini-beasts.  With this in mind we decided to  explore the topic further and develop their knowledge of some small creatures.  To start our project off we went on a bug hunt and we found worms, slugs, snails, millipedes, centipedes, woodlice, spiders and beetles.  The children brought some inside and used magnifying glasses to look at them more closely.

We were surprised at how long a fairly small looking slug can become when it stretches itself full length and the snails, we discovered, were escape artists capable of scaling  the tallest of our containers.  In the following weeks we learnt many interesting things including the difference between millipedes and centipedes and it is not the number of feet each have!  We learnt that spiders turn the insides of their prey into mush before sucking them up and that ladybird larvae don’t look anything like the adults.

We also found hundreds mini-beasts on our willow den.  Maike brought us some caterpillars and in the course of a couple of weeks we watched them  grow into enormous caterpillars before becoming pupae hanging from a thin thread.  Before butterflies emerge, the pupae shake so we were able to watch some of the butterflies as they wriggled their way out.  It was lovely to set them free on a fine afternoon and to watch them settle on clover and honeysuckle to feed on the nectar.

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Of course lots of our arts and craft work centred around the creatures we were learning about.  We printed pictures of spiders with the cut ends of toilet rolls, painted pebbles to look like ladybirds and made caterpillars by folding strips of paper  together.  The children loved walking spirals we set out on the floor using a rope and they enthusiastically moved around the room pretending to be slugs, caterpillars, butterflies and bees!

When the Nursery was closed in June for Polling Day we went to Roessa’s for a nature walk in the woods.  We listened to the birds and the sound of the wind in the trees.  We made magic potions and gathered flowers, leaves, sticks etc to take back to Roessa’s house and create natural collage pictures.  During our walk we also made colour charts, observing the infinite variety of colours in the environment around us.

In July, Lorna very kindly organised Sports Day for us again and the children were able to demonstrate some of the skills they have been practising in their Playball lessons this year.  They also participated in an obstacle course and some parachute games, always a favourite.  It was one of the hottest days of the year and we completely forgot to invite parents to participate in running races!  However, nobody reminded us!

At the end of term Amanda and Jacqui organised a tea party for the leavers and made delicious cakes for us all to enjoy.  As always, we are very sad to say goodbye to our children starting school this September.  We wish them success and happiness and very much hope that they will visit us and let us know how they are getting on.  We look forward to the start of another year in September and to welcoming new children and parents.

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12. Spring Term 2017 – birds

Monday, April 24th, 2017

Birds

This term we  learnt to identify some of the birds that visit our gardens.  Very soon the children were naming the birds they saw at home and Nursery.  They quickly learnt what the different birds like to eat, where you are most likely to see them and interesting information about their habits and appearance.  Maike gave us a basket full of pine cones which we turned into robins.  We hung them from the rafters in Nursery where they look quite realistic! If you want to read more on this topic, please press the button

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During the winter months we regularly fed the birds outside with sunflower hearts.  We made our own feeders using fir cones that we rolled in lard and seeds.  The birds loved them and we were delighted to see, nuthatches, blue tits, great tits, goldfinches, robins, blackbirds, chaffinches and pigeons enjoying the fayre.  One day a group of long-tailed tits dropped in and on two occasions we were lucky enough to see a yellow hammer – our first sightings of this bird.

World Book day

In March, as usual, we celebrated World book Day.  The children dressed as favourite characters from books and brought stories to be read in Nursery.   Some of their parents came and read too.  We made flower banners for Mother’s Day and pot covers for our daffodils that we planted in the Autumn.  Despite our best efforts they failed to flower in time for the Horticultural Show but we managed to make them look  very attractive and colourful.

Nicola, Georga and Noah’s Mum, brought some of her lambs in and the children loved cuddling them and bottle feeding them.  We held a traditional Easter Egg Hunt and although we found lots of eggs, no-one spotted the Easter Bunny!

At the end of the term we said goodbye and a huge thank you to Christina and Fay who are leaving us to work in other schools.   We are however, really pleased to welcome Matilda who was one of our pupils many years ago and is currently studying part time at Alton College for her teaching qualification.  We are also very pleased that Maike is staying and increasing her hours with us.  We are looking forward to a happy and sunny summer term!

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11. Autumn Term 2016 – Tea party fundraising

Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

Tea party – fundraising

In September we organised a tea party not only to welcome the new children and parents to our Nursery but also  to take part in the annual fundraising for Macmillan. We baked cakes with the children in Nursery for our tea party and asked parents to bake too. The result was that we raised the best part of £100, enjoyed vast quantities of delicious cake and had lots of fun during our tea party.

The star of the show was the biggest and most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted, made by Lisa, Chloe’s mum and sold to the highest bidder on the day.  Fortunately, the buyer was generous enough to share some with us, which is how I know it was delicious!

Later in the term the staff decided to take part in the Country File Ramble in aid of Children in Need. We set off  from Hall’s Hill in Buriton one Saturday morning  in October, with  husbands, children and various dogs and walked cross country to Chawton.  We arrived a couple of hours later in time to drop in to the Red Lion Pub and enjoy a well deserved lunch before setting off back to Buriton via a different and slightly shorter route.  Morale was high throughout and the weather was mostly very kind to us.  Not even a sudden downpour just before we made it it home could dampen our spirits.  Including gift aid, we are currently nearly half way to our annual fundraising target of £1000.  Privett Montessori My Donate page is open until the end of February!  https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/katepritchard1

As the Autumn leaves began to fall, we gathered a variety of oak, sycamore and beech from our garden and used them to make some beautiful  leaf prints.  For harvest, we made soup and bread rolls and the children enjoyed kneading dough and cutting up leeks and potatoes.  The firework models the children made in November were very effective – pipe cleaners and sparkly pompoms stuck in a lump of clay!

In December, we invited Zoolab to bring some of their animals to our Christmas party and many of the children enjoyed touching and stroking some of the animals including a rat, millepede, snaked and snail.  We all learnt some interesting facts about their habitats and diet.

Jane Rothery from the Horticultural Society has given us daffodil bulbs and each of the children has planted one in a pot. Once they start to grow we will definitely decorate them.  We are  currently nurturing them ready to show in the Spring Show at Privett Village Hall in April when we look forward to seeing them on display.

For our Christmas Nativity the children learned songs written by Brian Beresford and they sang them with great enthusiasm to their parents on the last day of term.  It was lovely and at times very funny too so there were plenty of tears and laughter – just how it should be.  The village hall looked particularly festive this year with all the beams adorned with holly, ivy and fir.  Our Christmas tree was especially admired by some of the youngest members of the group who also helped decorating it with us!

We look forward to seeing everyone in 2017 for the start of term on Thursday 5th January.

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10. Summer Term 2016

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016

Summer

It never really felt as though summer arrived this term but looking back through the photographs taken outside, we certainly enjoyed some sunny days!  Our project work was based on “Growth and Change” and we started by looking at plants.  We planted bean seeds in pots in nursery and over the course of the following fortnight we dug them up so that the children could see the process of germination.  The children each took some cress seeds to grow at home and we asked them to record the changes that they observed. Each child also made a pot from newspaper and planted a sunflower seed.  We planted out all the seedlings in our garden to make a sunflower display.

Fortunately, we had a lot more success with our caterpillars!  They ate, grew, shed their skins and finally hung in their chrysalis states in “j” forms from the top of their net home.  After at least another 2 weeks, our first butterfly emerged followed quickly by the rest.  We gave the butterflies a sugary solution . The children were absolutely fascinated to watch them uncurl their long proboscises to suck it up.  After a couple of days we released the butterflies into the garden and the children experienced the wonder and pleasure of having a butterfly rest on their hands before flying away.

We asked the children to each bring a photograph of themselves as babies to show us and it was fun to try and guess who the babies were.  The children were knowledgeable about the differences between a baby and a 3 – 4 year old child.  They loved showing us some of the toys, clothes and other  bits and pieces that they had had as babies.  We set up a “baby corner” and the children enjoyed bathing, changing, feeding and caring for the baby dolls.

We were very pleased to be able to welcome back Mill Cottage Farm for our Open Morning.  They brought a variety of their animals for the children to stroke and observe.  This year the pigs were especially popular with the children.   They loved scratching the pigs’ backs and tummies.

When the Nursery closed on Thursday 23rd June because the hall was in use as a Polling Station for the Referendum, we went to Alice Holt for the day. Children, parents and dogs enjoyed being out and about together and the climbing apparatus at Alice Holt is plentiful and varied.  We were very lucky with the summer weather too, because  the rain held off until lunch time and Keri (Sorcha’s Dad) had offered us use of the “Go-Ape” covered picnic area which we gratefully accepted.

On the last day of the summer term, Lorna and Bollie from Playball organised our Games Day for us and the children impressed us all with their willingness and their enthusiasm to participate in all the events.  There was of course  a race for the parents who, as usual, entered fully into the spirit of the occasion!

Maggie, Christina, Fay, Annaliese, Lorna and I would like to thank all the parents involved in organising and catering for the summer barbecue held in Emma and Sam’s lovely garden for the children leaving Nursery this year.  We had a lovely time!  We wish all our leavers lots of luck, fun and success in their new schools and we look forward to the beginning of our new school year on Wednesday 7th September. Have a lovely summer holiday!

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9. Spring Term 2016 – Health

Wednesday, April 6th, 2016

Health

There might have only been just over 10 weeks in the term but we certainly managed to do a lot!  Our project work was based on Health and we had some interesting discussions about exercise, diet and a healthy lifestyle.  The children really got into healthy foods and learnt to identify which food belongs to which food group and why and how much of it we need to eat it.  We also looked at sugar and we were all quite shocked by the amount of sugar in so called healthy drinks and snacks that many children regularly have in their lunch boxes.  One drink or snack seems to contain more than the recommended intake of sugar for an entire day!  We made a decision to cut down on some of the sugar we consume by only drinking water at lunch time in Nursery.  The children enjoyed trying some different fruit and vegetables at snack time and they especially enjoyed occasionally having a bowl of cereal instead of a biscuit.

We celebrated World Book Day on 3rd March by inviting parents to come and read stories to the children who had dressed up as a character from one of their favourite books.  There were pirates, princesses, bees, ladybirds and many other wonderful creations.

 

For Sport Relief the children decided to wear their pyjamas to Nursery and we provided breakfast for everyone before the games began.  Lorna organised an obstacle course and three activities that the children rotated round involving ball skills and team work.  The children also enjoyed a treasure hunt and parachute games.  We raised over £100 and had a huge amount of fun doing it.

We were, as usual,  invited to take part in the Froxfield and Privett Horticultural Spring Show and this year parents and grandparents came into nursery to help make Wind Catchers.  The result was quite extraordinary – so many different materials and designs and each one unique.

 

Just before the end of term we held an Open Morning for current and prospective parents to come and see the huge range of activities, materials and resources our children regularly have access to.  As a one off, we also invited parents to join the children doing Yoga with Roessa.  At the end of January we had said goodbye to Rachel who left us to manage her own dog and cat caring business.  However, we are delighted to welcome Fay who joined us at the beginning of the term and took over where Rachel left off!

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8. Autumn Term 2015 – blackberries

Wednesday, December 30th, 2015

Blackberries

The Autumn Term was filled with blackberries and apples. We made crumbles, apple prints and our own blackberry juice paint, which Beatrice discovered was very tasty too!  We tasted and learnt to identify popular types of apples and studied the life-cycle of an apple tree.

On 19th October an inspector from Ofsted arrived to carry out our re-inspection. She spent the whole day with us and at the end we were relieved and delighted when she pronounced us “Outstanding” in all areas!

In November we enjoyed making rocket pictures and dancing to firework music during our weekly lessons with Annaliese.

We celebrated Christmas with the children by learning and practising lots of traditional party games.  At our Christmas party we played our favourite ones and enjoyed a delicious lunch provided by parents.  To the children’s surprise and delight, Santa dropped in, despite the lack of snow, and delivered each child an early Christmas present.

Our Nativity on the last day of term  was enjoyed by all of us, including parents and grandparents.  The children sang and danced to some very catchy tunes and Emilia was superb as our very own “whoops-a-daisy” angel.

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7. Summer Term 2015 – Science Centre and Planetarium

Friday, July 31st, 2015

Science Centre and Planetarium

For me, the highlight of the term was our visit to the Winchester Science Centre and Planetarium because it was both fun and educational. We all enjoyed “The Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” show which tied in beautifully with our project work on the solar system.  After the show, we had the Science Centre and Planetarium virtually to ourselves and the children and parents were able to enjoy all the hands on exhibits without any cues or worries about other people!

The summer term is always extremely busy because of the number of teacher who visit and the extra paperwork involved in the preparation for our children moving on to school in September

Our Games Day at the end of June was organised by Kerrie and Lorna from Playball. They organised a circuit of different races and activities for the children to participate in and move round in teams.  The children had a great time and impressed parents with their ball skills and their agility on the obstacle course.  After the children’s races and some parachute games, parents participated in running races and their competitive spirit and desire to win or at least run as fast as they could was remarkable!

In music, Annaliese introduced the children to Holst and the “Planets”. We also had a go at “The Volcano” from Write Dance which combines movement and music specifically to develop children’s gross motor skills in preparation for reading and writing.

During the term many parents came and offered their time and expertise to us. Our thanks go to Amanda who grew and helped the children plant sweet peas in our garden, Maike who led several experiments involving “floating and sinking”, Charlotte who brought Dinky her Shetland pony to see us and Simon who brought in a multitude of different instruments for the children to try.  Several parents also came into Nursery to see some of the things that their children have been enjoying and practising.

We have entered our water colour paintings of Planets in the Froxfield and Privett Horticultural Show which takes place in Froxfield Village Hall on Saturday 22nd August. We hope to see some of you there.

We look forward to seeing everyone again in September and are planning to invite our leavers to the naming of our Wendy House. Annabel and Merryn are creating a name plate for us. We are also expecting Ofsted for our re-inspection and we are working hard to make sure that we are ready.   Your willingness to speak out through your messages on Parent View, your letters to Ofsted and the local press has been what has kept us going through what has undoubtedly been a very difficult time.  We cannot thank you enough!

 

Please use the below button to read more on the Science Centre and Planetarium

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6. Parent View

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015

Parent View

The end of another school year is approaching and we would love to hear what you think of us as a parent!  Your views could help other parents decide whether they should send their children to us.

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3. The great new Wendy House

Monday, May 4th, 2015

Wendy house

 

We would love the children to name our long awaited new Wendy House.  Please write your child’s suggestion on a piece of paper, bring it to Privett Montessori Nursery by Friday 15th May and we will choose the most popular name or pick 3 to vote for! We are looking forward to the event.

Do you want to know more on its history and origin? Please press the Read more button

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5. Spring Term 2015 – Dinosaurs

Wednesday, April 8th, 2015

Dinosaurs

This term we welcomed 2 new children to the Nursery, Thomas in January and Mary-Lou in March.  Our project was based on dinosaurs and it was  received with great excitement and enthusiasm by the children and their parents.  We learnt some very interesting facts about the different dinosaurs, such as the Diplodocus, Triceratops, Stegosaurus and Tyrannosaurus.  The children were particularly impressed by the size of these dinosaurs which we were able to demonstrate by comparing their length measured by the children lying on the floor, head to toe.

We also  talked about how fossils are formed and  excavated our own dinosaur nest.  We made pictures of different dinosaurs using finger paints, sponges and stencils, hand printing and collage.  Annaliese based her music sessions on a dinosaur theme too and the children enjoyed making dinosaur sounds and moving like dinosaurs

Snow

In early February the only significant snowfall for us this year prevented some children from getting into nursery but for the rest of us it was an opportunity for some free entertainment making snowballs and snow angels!  The following week, we participated in the RSPB annual Birdwatch and the children became experts in identifying the birds that visited our feeders.  We were particularly pleased to see some long tailed tits and goldfinches for the first time this year.

At the beginning of March we held a Montessori Evening for adults which was very well attended by many of our current parents and some prospective ones.  The evaluations of the evening were extremely positive.  Everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves and most importantly to have learned more about Montessori methods and philosophy.

World Book day

We celebrated World book day on 6th March by inviting children to dress as favourite book characters and parents to come and read their favourite stories.  We supported Comic Relief on Friday 13th and Pamela generously gave up her time to come and paint the children’s faces in exchange for donations.  We and  many of our parents sponsored Sarah to have her face “made up” by her children and to carry out her normal daily routine of shopping etc!  We think she was incredibly brave although we do also think that Joyce and Jacob did a great job!

On 18th March, just before the start of spring, Mill Cottage Farm brought some of their animals, including turkeys, a donkey, rabbits, guinea-pigs, goats and pigs, to the Nursery for the morning.  It was a wonderful opportunity for the children to get up close to some animals and overcome any fears or anxieties they had.  We opened the Nursery for the morning and invited current parents to bring friends to see us.  We were delighted by how much the children and parents enjoyed the morning and also by the huge number of visitors who came.

We invited parents to come and help their children make dinosaur models for the Froxfield and Privett Horticultural show and were very impressed by their creativity and the variety of natural materials they used to make the models.

For Mother’s Day, our children produced some beautiful water paintings of daffodils and made dinosaur biscuits.  I’m not entirely sure that many mothers actually had a chance to eat their biscuits but the children definitely enjoyed them.

We are very grateful to all our parents who have come into Nursery this term, to read, bring us their rabbits or dogs to meet, make Easter baskets and dinosaur models and face paint.  It is always lovely to have their help and support.

We have now installed a beautiful new Wendy House (photo to follow) and need to find a suitable name for it!  Suggestions from parents and children would be most welcome.  Perhaps we could vote for the most popular name?  We also have a new table sandpit which we think will provide a lot more fun than our previous one which was rather small and meant that the children got very wet and muddy when they knelt down to play.

During the term Kate and Maggie both achieved level 4 in Safeguarding and we would like to encourage all parents to read our Safeguarding Policies and Procedures.  These are available here on our website and also in our Policy booklets which are in Nursery.  Kate has updated her First Aid and Health and Safety training. Christina has achieved level 2 in Food Safety and Annaliese attended a music course.

This Summer we are looking forward to welcoming some new children and their parents, a new project based on our Solar System and some fine weather to get our garden planted and our willow den rejuvenated!  We would love to have some regular help with the garden if there is a parent who would like to volunteer?

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