OCTOBER 2026 Update

A New Term

We were excited to welcome 10 new children starting with us this Autumn. They have settled in extremely well and we are very proud of each and every one of them.

It was also lovely to also see our returning children. We have loved hearing about their holidays and the things that they have been doing over the summer. Thank you to the parents for posting photos of their summer on Tapestry, our online learning journal. We have enjoyed viewing the photos with the children and sharing their experiences.

The first few weeks of term is always focussed on settling the children and supporting them in building relationships with one another. It is lovely to see their confidence grow as they start to make new friends.

The children are gradually learning our Pre-School routines. For circle times, we play our ‘roll the ball’ game which involves choosing a child to roll the ball to which helps children to learn each other’s names. We have also been doing a lot of singing, reading stories and some music and movement to practice our gross motor skills.

We have also been familiarising the children with some basic Makaton signs, visual symbols, cue cards and the ‘now and next board’. This helps to prepare the children for transitions into different activities or snack time etc and can also be used with children on the quieter side who prefer not to communicate verbally.

The children have been throwing themselves into a range of different activities. Our role play is currently a ‘home area/baby corner’ for the children to look after and feed the babies or prepare food in the kitchen.

Our new cohort have enjoyed lots of painting, playing with the car garage and especially, our Paw Patrol resources. Outside, they have been playing with the sand, bats and balls, mud kitchen and using mats and play food to create an outdoor Teddy Bear’s picnic. They have also enjoyed lots of water play while the weather is still warm. We would like to thank Isobel Clark for her kind donation of Aqua Play toys to enhance our water play further.  

Library

On Monday, Pre-School had their first weekly visit of the year to the village library. This is always enjoyed by the children and they are often amazed that the door from our main Pre-School room opens directly into the Library!

The lovely library volunteers read the children a story and the children then spend some time choosing their own books to look at. Every Library visit earns a stamp in their ‘Library Passport’.