Little School House

Festive fun during December at LSH

by

Firstly, congratulations to Loretta who was our December Employee of the Month. Loretta won the award for making sure that she checked in on her colleagues, cheered them up if they were feeling a little low and supported her team when the Rom Co-ordinator was off on holiday. Thank you, and well done!

May be an image of 1 person and text

Olivia gained her Level 3 Qualification in style passing her End Point Assessment with a distinction grade. Olivia worked hard to achieve this and we’re all very proud of her. Well done Liv!

May be an image of 1 person, smiling and text

On Friday 15th December, we held our Pre-School Christmas Concert at St. Chad’s Church. The children did a fantastic job singing Christmas Carols, using props that they had made, and Makaton that they had spent time learning. Afterwards, they were rewarded with a lovely treat hot chocolate station – yum!

May be an image of 4 people, people studying and violin May be an image of 2 people

Toddlers held a Christmas workshop in December that parents, children, and staff all thoroughly enjoyed. We had a range of different activities; children enjoyed creating their own baubles for their Christmas trees at home, decorating their own biscuits (which most of them ate before the icing had set!), making some reindeer food to sprinkle outside on Christmas Eve, and even making reindeer hats and paper plate wreaths to take home.

It was Christmas Party Day in December too, and we had lots of fun playing Pass the Parcel with our friends. We did some dancing and played musical chairs. We didn’t have a ‘normal’ nursery lunch on this day, instead we enjoyed lots of yummy party food! Once we were ready to go home, we got a special present to take home and put under our tree.

 

On Monday 18th December, our Baby Room enjoyed having their very own Elf Day where the staff and babies all dressed up in their elf clothing and had lots of fun taking part in different elf activities.

 

All the children enjoyed a Christmas lunch cooked by the lovely Abi in the kitchen. The children enjoyed eating their lunch while listening to Christmas songs, and having different conversations about what we would like Santa to bring us for Christmas.

May be an image of 1 person, baby and gingerbread biscuit May be an image of 1 person and gingerbread biscuit

We also held our termly staff training sessions. We spent time refreshing our knowledge on the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning, before spending time on Loose Parts. As always, a great opportunity for quality practice sharing and bonding across the branches.

May be an image of 6 people, people studying, table and gingerbread biscuit

We loved wearing our Christmas jumpers for Christmas Jumper Day, supporting the charity Save the Children. We designed our own Christmas jumpers on paper and decorated them with different creative resources.

We enjoyed our session of Superstar Sports, where we played different games with the balls. One of these games was rugby, where we balanced the rugby ball and kicked the ball so we could see if it was different from kicking a football. We then played a game of What Time Is It Mr Wolf? to end the session.

That’s the end of our December, and the end of 2023! We can’t wait to see what 2024 brings for us!

Summer Fun at The Little School House!

by

We had a jam-packed July here at The Little School House, with plenty of fun and exciting activities taking place!

Congratulations, The Little School House!

We started July off super-proud as we received our official Day Nurseries Award, placing us in the top 20 Nurseries in Yorkshire & The Humber! We were over the moon to get this award, as it is a great reflection of our hard-working staff and management. Thank you too all parents and carers that voted :)

Goodbye Pre-School!

Next, it was that time of the year for us to a say a very sad, but extremely heart-warming goodbye to our amazing Pre-Schoolers who are off to ‘big school’ in September. We had a red carpet and balloon wall set up in the garden, as well as personalised t-shirts and graduation caps for all our little stars to wear. It was an emotional day for us, and the parents (!), but we are all very proud to wave them off onto their next chapter – we know they’ll all do so well!

Before we said our final goodbyes, we thought it only right to treat them all to a bit more relaxed fun. First we took a trip to the farm; we saw lots of animals, including goats and alpacas – what a fun day out!

We had to throw in one more party before we could let our Pre-Schoolers go so, lastly, we hosted a leaving party at The Jungle Indoor Play Centre. They had lots of fun climbing and exploring the play equipment as well as enjoying a cooked lunch before getting the bus back to nursery.

Forever exploring in Baby Room!

In Baby Room, we love to explore! So, this month, our Babies explored new foods during a food tasting day. They tried a range of new things, including prawn crackers, onion bhajis, samosas, olives, and even lemons and limes! They really enjoyed trying different textures and flavours, the samosas in particular went down a treat!

And they didn’t stop there! Also in the Baby Room, they additionally took part in Rhythm Time! Our Babies got to sing songs, play instruments and have a good old boogie together! They also got to discover bubbles and different materials. It was so much fun!

How tall are our Toddlers, and how well can they bake???

Over in the Toddler Room, they’ve been measuring how tall they are, against our ‘How Tall Am I?’ wall. They found this to be super interesting; they compared heights with their friends, and checked to see how much they’d grown by the end of the month! Our staff are always keen to incorporate Maths wherever possible and this was another perfect opportunity. It provided the chance, not only for recognising numbers and counting, but also for comparison and discussion of ‘bigger than’ and ‘smaller than’, as well as differences.

Although July is supposed to be Summer, I think we can all agree that we haven’t had much of the weather we would expect! Although they’ve still spent plenty of time outside this month, Toddlers also decided to make the most of the time they spent indoors by baking! They helped measure out and mix all the ingredients together, before rolling out and cutting our cookies. Then they got to decorate them with icing and sprinkles – how tasty!

Learning something new every day…

It’s not just the children who have the opportunity to learn, we also like to continuously update our staff team’s knowledge too. July was the month where we hosted the fifth and final Company in-house training session of the term. This session was dedicated to reviewing updated Company policies, with a real focus on safeguarding. Carefully prepared interactive activities took place, with lots of opportunities for all our staff, of all different branches, to demonstrate their wealth of knowledge. A very pleasant, informative and successful evening of training!

We’re looking forward to seeing what August brings now…

Reason to celebrate at The Little School House!

by

We were all so very excited, & proud, to hear that The Little School House were being honoured by daynurseries.co.uk.

Their annual Nursery Awards 2023 recognises 20 of the top-rated Nurseries in each region of the UK based on reviews from parents/individuals responsible for a child. In the category for the ‘Top 20 nurseries in Yorkshire & the Humber’ there were a mere 3 settings featured from South Yorkshire, 2 of which are from Sheffield, & 1 of those is our very own Woodseats branch.

We’d like to take the opportunity to thank all the lovely parents for the reviews that they have submitted on this forum for us; it really does mean the world to us to hear how we impact so positively on you & your children.

As a Company, we thank the wonderful staff team based at The Little School House – for the dedication they show each & every day, for the care & education they provide to each & every child, & for the teamwork & fun they bring to our organisation – a highly valued group of fantastic individuals, so beautifully led by Nursery Manager, Beth Softley! We also can’t forget the supporting infrastructure of staff that contribute to the team too – our amazing Quality Practice Manager, Anna Cam, our brilliant Company SENCO, Clare Hough &, overseeing everything our Area Manager, Lisa Mapley.

February at LSH

by

Valentine’s Day

This month at The Little School House we have had lots of fun creating our own Valentine’s Day crafts to send to the special people in our lives. The children had different ideas about the cards they would like to create in each of our rooms, in Pre-School we loved trying to write our own names. On the different hearts of our cards, we wrote different reasons why we love our special people.

Mark Making in Sensory

The Toddlers and Pre-Schoolers have loved making different marks in the shaving foam this month, we used paint brushes, glue spreaders and our fingers to make the different marks. We also used different cards to try and copy the patterns we could see.

National Apprenticeship Week

In February we celebrated National Apprenticeship Week – an opportunity to raise awareness of such a great scheme & also, more importantly we think, to celebrate the hard work & achievements of all the wonderful staff we have training towards their Early Years qualifications. We hope you agree with our view that they all deserve a treat which we’ve been happy to provide! 👏👏👏

Rhythm Time for Babies & Toddlers

We loved our sessions with Rhythm Time this month, we enjoyed banging the drums that are shaped like lollipops, shaking the ribbon, and feeling the different textures. We met a rabbit this time! He was white and he sang with us.

Pre-School School Readiness

In Pre-School we have done lots of different activities, getting us ready for going to big school in September. We practiced putting on our own coats and zipping them up, washing and drying our own hands – making sure that we used soap to clean off all the germs and continuing to blow our own noses, putting the tissues into the bin and then re-washing our hands.

Babies Winter Walk

Our Babies loved the Winter season so much that they went on one last walk to look at the conkers, crunchy leaves and acorns that were left over before the seasons changed and Spring began.  We also kept our eyes peeled for some squirrels but unfortunately we didn’t see any.

September 2022 at The Little School House

by

Now the weather is getting cooler again, we have really been focusing on our activities linking into the new season of Autumn; take a look at some of them – this includes crafts, as well as the children putting on their outdoor clothing themselves – well done to our Toddlers for learning to put the puddle suits on!

Super Star Sports

In September, we had the lovely Simon from Super Star Sports come to show us some football activities. Our Toddler Room & Pre-School children spent lots of time learning to balance the ball with their feet, legs, hands & on their heads!

Rhythm Time

Our Babies enjoyed a Rhythm Time session; they danced with fabric, banged on drums & shook tambourines to the music. They also learnt some new nursery rhymes with actions. We showed the teacher our Makaton songs too.

Toddler Parent Workshop

Our Toddler Room held their first parent workshop since Covid. It was so lovely to have parents back inside nursery. The children & their parents experienced messy sensory activities, leaf printing, & making playdough. Lesley also demonstrated our group time; they enjoyed a story that linked to our Word of the Week. Parents gave us some lovely feedback; they really enjoyed seeing examples of what their children get up to at nursery. Thank you to all of the parents who attended.

April at The Little School House

by

During April, we learnt about the life cycles of plants. The Toddlers had lots of fun planting runner beans & flowers for our growing garden. They enjoyed using the spade to fill up the little plant pots with soil, adding some seeds & then watering our flowers and runner beans to help them grow. Our Baby Room planted sunflowers & gave them to their families to enjoy at home.

We had more fun visits from Superstar Sports & Rhythm Time.

Simon from Superstar Sports came to help us participate in physical sport activities. We ran to different colour cones, practiced our kicking skills & he encouraged us to run while avoiding obstacles.

Rhythm Time came to deliver us a music & singing session, we learnt how to play instruments at different speeds & volume levels. We also learnt our different emotions through songs.

Now the weather is getting warmer, all the rooms have been spending a lot of time in Graves Park, we are very lucky to have it on our doorstep. Here are some pictures of the Toddler Room. They really enjoyed throwing pebbles & splashing their feet in the stream. They then had fun on the roundabout & the slide.

Another of the loose themes that ran throughout April was ‘Minibeasts’. The children spent lots of time in the garden searching for insects; we used the magnifying glasses to search high & low. We talked about what we found & created our own pictures of it. We spent time talking about how the weather can effect when we see different insects too.

Last, but by no means least, we gave congratulations to PAIGE CAUDWELL & GRACE SOUTHGATE (Toddler Room) for being picked out for their efforts during the Spring Term by our Quality Practice Manager. WELL DONE, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!

November 2021 @ The Little School House

by

Rhythm Time & Super Star Sports

During November at The Little School House, we have had lots of fun with outside companies. Simon from Super Star Sports came to see us to host a variety of sporting activities to build our physical & fine motor movements, hand-eye co-ordination & self-confidence. The children really enjoyed all the ball games & are looking forward to the next session.

Rhythm Time also came to do some activities with our Babies & Toddlers. They had lots of fun singing, dancing, playing instruments, waving ribbons, & playing games with a parachute. The children really loved lifting the parachute up & then quickly running underneath it to hide. They also enjoyed running around with the ribbons waving them in different directions to look at the pretty colours.

Fun in the Snow

In November, we were blessed with lots of thick white snow, which meant we were able to explore it outside on lots of occasions. We got wrapped up warmly in our outdoor suits, hats & scarves & we ran out into the garden. The children made 1 big, & 2 little, snowmen with some help from our grown-ups. We enjoyed rolling the snow into smaller balls & then throwing them around the garden, being careful that we didn’t hit our friends. The best bit was sliding down the snowy hill!

Remembrance Day

In Pre-School we have been talking about Remembrance Day, we have also been doing activities to remember all the brave soldiers. The children have been using their fine motor skills to make pictures, paintings, & play dough poppies. The children & teachers also took part in the minute silence at 11 o’clock.

Parent’s Evening

In November we saw the return of our in-house parent’s evening. It was great to hold this as a face to face event again. We will continue to hold parent’s evening twice a year, but do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to speak to your child keyworker in between.

Children in Need

We had lots of fun raising money for the Children in Need charity. The children & teachers wore their pyjamas to nursery & enjoyed some yummy cakes which the children made. We also got very messy in our themed sensory trays & craft activities. Thank you to everyone who donated & bought a bun from our cake sale, we raised £98 for Children in Need!

June @ The Little School House

by

We enjoyed another busy month at The Little School House in June.

One of our favourite activities across the board was our planned England-themed day to support the England football team in the Euros Tournament. We dressed up in our football kits, or red & white, & held our very own football match in the nursery garden. Not only did the children make the most of the physical aspect of this day, they also had fun with the creative side; they made England flags with a range of craft materials & continued the theme into their sensory trays with a England flag made from coloured spaghetti & flour, & a football pitch made from rice with miniature goals!!

The Pre-School group took the opportunity for a lovely trip to Graves Park Farm. They enjoyed seeing the pigs, guinea pigs, chickens, goats & ducks. Our favourites were the ducks because they were very noisy, although we gave them a good run for the money!! We enhanced our trip by talking about the places the animals live, the noises they make & the different names when they are baby animals.

We were lucky enough to have had a fun visit from Super Star Sport. Simon, the instructor, came along & hosted a range of sporting activities with the children. These different challenges help to build our physical skills; gross & fine motor movements, hand-eye coordination & self confidence. Simon taught us lots of ball games which included throwing, catching, kicking & dribbling. Well done to Ruben who received the Super Star Sport Certificate for all his hard work :)

We’re now looking forward to the rest of the Summer & beyond!

Excited about bubble time!

September at The Little School House

by

It has been an exciting start to Autumn. September at The Little School House started with a visit from the ever popular Mini Movez; they come into the setting to engage our Toddler and Pre-School children in fun physical activities. These sessions consist of some themed activities; this time it was ‘Safari’ which saw the children involved in creating their own unique variations of different animal sounds and movements, followed by some excellent cheer-leading involving pom poms and lots of energy and enthusiasm!

 

Our loose theme of ‘Space’ has seen all our age groups participating in numerous activities surrounding the planets; Pre-School learned about the different names and their climates, as well as learning about different methods of space travel and constructing the planets for a display. The children thought it was out of this world!! While our budding astronauts were busy upstairs, the Babies and Toddlers also had fun creating their own unique space designs such as stars, galaxies and their own interpretation of the planets. These messy activities were another great way for our early learners to explore different sensory experiences and learn through play.

 

We also took the time to host a Princess and Pirates day charity event in aid of  Cracker Jack Children’s trust which was a great success. The children came in their fancy dress and really got into their characters. They enjoyed making props for their costumes and demonstrated some fantastic role play.

 

So what’s next for The Little School House? The children and staff are all looking forward to our Pre-School Autumn workshop & activities for Road Safety Week, as well as lots of upcoming festive activities including our Christmas Concert, Christmas Party, Christmas Jumper Day for Save the Children, and Baby Room Christmas workshop.

’17-’18 End of year review

by

However unlikely it may seem to be, we’re suddenly in August drawing the year to a close! Although I usually leave the blogging to others, I’ve decided to proffer this in addition.

Firstly, I’d like to start by congratulating our four fantastic settings and their Managers on what has been an amazing first year to our new and improved Company. We’ve seen an abundance of visitors into nursery, trips out for the children, workshops which lots of our current families will have participated in and enriching extra-curricular events such as Zoolab, Mini Movez and pottery painting. We’ve introduced our Facebook pages which have had a brilliant reception across the board, particularly in terms of keeping parents informed of upcoming occasions and being able to see photos in a timelier fashion. We’ve also, obviously, released our new website with this blog feature!

A year ago, the owner made the decision to employ me as an Area Manager – I am the person who monitors progress in all our branches and provides support to the Managers in all areas of administration, staffing and the general running of the settings. Together, we then decided to employ an overarching Special Educational Needs Coordinator to support the many children we cater for with additional needs – we found Clare Hough who slotted in so perfectly and is now considered invaluable. Next on the agenda in our bid to boost our quality was to find a Quality Practice Manager to spend time in each of the branches evaluating the environments we have on offer and the practice of our staff – Anna Cam came onboard and superseded our hopes and expectations. She does all of what we wanted as well as supporting staff with feedback, targets and tailored training, making her priceless.

We’ve presented a multitude of enriching aspects to how we run our settings over the year – the majority of parents now take advantage of being able to pay their monthly fees by BACS transfer; a termly newsletter is now sent out keeping the information streamlined, more relevant and up to date; ‘Fresh Fruit Friday’ is on offer in each branch on the last Friday of each month providing a tasty, free snack and a great opportunity to model healthy eating choices; a lending library is in operation in each of our settings encouraging children and parents to share literary opportunities together at home; the nursery menus had a huge overhaul which gave the children the chance to experiment with lots of new and exciting dishes that all take into account the recommended nutritional values and portion sizes; we’ve extended our opening hours to 7am-7pm Mon-Fri assisting greatly with many of our working families’ needs; last but by no means least, we’ve undertaken an enormous amount of maintenance and improvements across all four of our branches to ensure the environment is kept to a high standard for each and every one of the children we care for.

There’s been a definite move towards striving for quality and, in that vein, we’ve been making conscious efforts to let our staff know just how valued they are. We’ve introduced Room Coordinators to enable people who’d like to progress in their career with us; several staff incentives to boost morale and keep motivation high have been introduced; and an amazing Christmas celebration which ended 2017 beautifully. Perhaps best of all, July saw the EYCE staff team embark on a ‘seaside jolly’ to Scarborough for the day! The trip was a treat from the owner to thank us all for an extremely successful year and to celebrate a year of the newly branded Company. It was a really lovely day with gorgeous sunshine, beautiful scenery and a relaxing boat trip, all perfectly topped off with an amazing fish and chip lunch!

As I look forward to the new academic year, and more success for Early Years Care and Education Ltd, I’d like to say a huge thank you to all our wonderful employees and to all our existing families for their continued support.

Lisa Mapley – Area Manager