31 March 2013

We're delighted to say that all the new children have settled into our Pre-school routine and we continue to receive new enquiries. Places are fast being filled so, if you would like your child to attend Sherington Pre-school, please do register your interest using the contact details below.

Over the last few weeks the children have been very industrious indeed. Activities have included making delicious rock cakes which were enjoyed after a super healthy snack of baked beans with toast. We continue to offer a variety of fresh fruit and other healthy options at the snack bar and we ask that our parents consider contributing to this through our Wishing Tree scheme.

At the snack bar, children are heartily encouraged to choose what they prefer to eat and to pour their own drinks. This helps them become independent and assists in their physical development and coordination.

We are pleased to report that we recently had a visit from Miss Angela Lea of Sherington CE School. Miss Lea, who herself attended Sherington Pre-school in 1998, popped in to introduce herself to the children, join in the mornings activities and read them some stories. During the summer term, we intend to make plenty of visits to the local schools which will enable our older children to become accustomed to their new environments ready for a smooth transition to big school in September.

Our theme, 'Under the Sea' has been a huge success and has presented us with some wonderful new experiences for learning and discovery. Large wooden blocks have been turned into boats of different shapes and sizes. The story, 'Rainbow Fish' allowed the children to understand the importance of sharing and inspired creative work which subsequently developed into a beautiful collage now displayed in the hall. Children were encouraged to paint their hands in different colours and use the prints to make colourful rainbow fish. Lentils, sand and rice introduced them to textures similar to those of star fish and sea urchins. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring lovely bubbly water and playing with a variety sea creatures. The latter really helped to develop and expand their vocabulary and it was pleasing to discover that sharks are still everyones favourite!

For Mother's Day, the children created wonderfully individual art work by drawing pictures of their Mums. The children showed an abundance of creativity and imagination and went into great detail, some drawing their Mums in a garden filled with beautiful flowers. The activity was observed to see how the child held the pen and in which hand. Such observations are an important part of the EYFS and serve to highlight and help us record each child's stage of Physical Development.

Upon return from the Easter holidays, we will venture out to Tom's Garden to prepare our buckets for planting. We plan to base our 3rd year of, 'Homegrown in Sherington' on the story, 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. This will be reinforced as our main theme for the first few weeks of term. We aim to develop many areas of the children's learning using this story so will be exploring; how the children react to a new learning environment, using elements of a new story to introduce children to new vocabulary, whether the children are able to handle gardening tools and encouraging them to make marks (e.g leave a letter or a picture for the Giant in the garden). This theme will further develop numeracy through counting, for example, how many beans we are planting. Importantly, we will be observing how the children show care and concern for the living things they may find in the garden such as worms, spiders or lady birds. They will also be exploring the colour and texture of different materials they experience in the garden.

Finally, a huge thank you to all the marvellous egg-heads who supported our Sherington Easter Fundraising Quiz. More than 50 people took part as teams competed to win an egg-celent prize. A total of £383 was raised for Pre-school funds and the winning team, 'The Olney Baloneys' looked very pleased to be awarded special chocolate medallions for their efforts. Thanks to everyone who took part and made it a super evening all round. We hope to be planning similar events in the future so don't worry if you missed out this time.

Should you wish your child to start Pre-school at Sherington, you are invited to telephone Jo Tough on 617685/07866409169 or call in to Sherington Village Hall, Church Road, Sherington any term-time morning Monday to Thursday between 9:15 and 12:15

16 February 2013

As the second half of the Spring term commences, we would like to welcome Preston, Amberlie and Saoirse. We hope you enjoy your time playing and learning at Sherington Pre-school.

Our recent theme, 'Winter Wonderland' really captured the children's imagination. They enjoyed making a big collage from materials such as sand, cotton wool, glitter, tissue paper, tinsel and paint and the finished art work is currently on display at Sherington Village Hall. The weather duly supported the winter wonderland theme and there were many trips outdoors to play in the snow. Th children delighted in sledging in the park and excitedly embarked upon a Gruffalo foot-print hunt. Back in the setting, we made delicious Gruffalo Crumble to enjoy at snack time. The wonderful story book, 'Stick Man' further inspired the children to make stick men and flags. These little stick models were then used in the children's experiments to make a variety of stick-shadows on the outside walls.

Our recent open morning on the 14th February invited prospective parents and children to, 'Fall in Love' with the Pre-school. We were pleased to welcome so many visitors and see many new faces. Our visitors were warmly greeted, shown around the setting and tempted with home-made heart shaped biscuits and other refreshments. Love was most definitely in the air as the children made Valentine cards and created some impressive collages using a selection of red materials.

We were also excited to welcome Karen Cox from Osborne, a family-owned construction, civil engineering and property services company, operating from Mercers Manor Barns in Sherington. Karen very kindly presented the Pre-school with a cheque for £575. We are very grateful to Osbourne for this incredibly generous donation. Thank you again to everyone involved.

The children have been celebrating Chinese New Year and the Year of the Snake. They enjoyed eating noodles and and making slithery snake book marks. Some of the children also helped to made a brilliant snake head from a painted card board box. They all took great delight in covering themselves in a green cargo net as they slid and crawled along the floor pretending to be snakes! The play and learning about different cultures and festivals was nicely rounded off by watching a 'Wendy Woo' holiday promotions DVD kindly supplied by Cambourne Travel in Newport Pagnell. On the run up to Easter, our themes will include 'Dinosaurs' and 'Under the sea'.

Our student, Jenny, leaves us to continue her college course with a placement at Lavendon Nursery. We wish her every success with her future studies. We are pleased to report that Jenny has said she would like to return in summer term and has enjoyed, 'learning through play' with the children.

The children have been busy setting our seed potatoes to chit. The varieties we have chosen this year are 'Rocket' and 'Lady Chrystal'. We intend to visit Tom's Garden soon so we can make the necessary preparations for the next round of planting.

Our letter sounds activities continue to prove very popular. The special, 'Silly Soup' song is a huge success and has led to some of the children writing letters and drawing pictures for a new alphabet line which will to pride of place in the setting.

The brand new Sherington Pre-school Facebook page has proved popular with parents and carers; it is most rewarding to get parental feedback and to share more details of what the children are engaged in during their daily play and activities. We take feedback very seriously as it promotes a rich thinking and learning environment for the children, the staff and the commitee who work hard to make our Pre-school such a success.

Should you wish your child to start Pre-school at Sherington, you are invited to telephone Jo Tough on 617685/07866409169 or call in to Sherington Village Hall, Church Road, Sherington any term-time morning Monday to Thursday between 9:15 and 12:15

8 February 2013

Christmas may be a dim and distant memory but we celebrated in style at Sherington Pre-school. The children performed 'Our First Nativity' learning quite a few new songs brilliantly, I think all of the Families knew them in the end! They learnt their lines and delighted in dressing up putting on a wonderful performance as ever. The following day we had a party with lots of fun and games and of course a visit from Santa himself, many thanks to all those who supported our raffle the main prize a meal for 2 donated by the White Hart Sherington which was won by Ally, thanks to Keith and Giles for the donation.

We begin the Spring term by welcoming Georgie, Arthur, George and Ralph. Our theme of Superheroes and Favourite Stories in January leading with our present children's great interest in Spiderman, Batman and Buzz Lightyear, it is difficult to recognise our children most mornings as they arrive in their costumes. We will be having a Super Hero snack Bar connecting being strong and Healthy with fruit and Veg and the children will be enjoying a 5 Fruit & Vegetable challenge which will earn them a Super Hero certificate!

During February we will be exploring Winter as a theme with the snowy and frosty conditions and we will visit Tom's Garden and go on walks around the Village exploring the Wintery environment. We look forward to preparing our big black Tubs and planting Potatoes as well as other seeds that will produce food for our Snack Bar. During a recent visit the children were able to see the beautiful Crocus Bulbs which have flowered and our red onion crop.

The Staff continue to attend training on Ecat and Letters and Sounds and we are developing our Sherington Pre-school Facebook page which will provide regular updates of our themes, displays and everyday activities.

We are holding an Open Morning on Thursday 14th February 'Fall in Love with Sherington Pre-school' between 9.30 -11.30, please come along and see us in action and enjoy a coffee and a look at our displays and chat with the Staff.

18 December 2012

We would like to begin by extending a very warm welcome to Victor who recently joined us at Sherington Pre-school. We look forward to getting to know him, and his family, over the coming months.

We are also fortunate to have some more new faces this term including students Jessica Reid, Jennie Lynes and Annie Cook. We always enjoy having student placements here at Pre-school and look forward to working alongside each of them and learning from each other. Our existing staff have been very busy with more training to include a course entitled, 'Ready Steady Music' and new committee members are soon to receive essential EYFS training from Supervisor, Jo Tough.

Our recent project, 'My Favourite Bear' took us all on another rather big, and very exciting, adventure to Central Milton Keynes. It was fantastic to have the opportunity to take the children out of setting to the 'Build-A-Bear Workshop' where they each made a special teddy-bear. The children took turns to choose a ted, stuff it with fluff and add a little heart before bringing their new furry friend back home on the mini-bus.

Thanks to the parents who made this possible by supporting our efforts and providing lots of extra pairs of hands and eyes - it was a morning to remember!

Our next theme of, 'Rockets and Space' is sure to be very popular with the children and, with Christmas well on the way, we're already busy with our preparations for the festivities.

Do make a note of the following diary dates and help support activities and fundraising for your local Pre-school. On the 30th November 6pm 'till 8:30pm, Pre-school is attending the Sherington Christmas Bazaar. Please join us and browse the stalls, have some refreshments and participate in the Christmas fun and games.

Our next Open Morning is to be held on the 27th November (9:30-12:00) and will provide prospective parents with a chance to see us in action. Places at this small village Pre-school are limited so please get in touch at the earliest opportunity should you wish to visit us - it's not always necessary to wait until Open Day and we welcome children from all areas.

Looking ahead to the New Year we are planning a 'January Nearly New Sale' so please look out for further information as it becomes available.

We would like to send our thanks to all those involved in the village, 'Festival of Light' celebrations which took place on 9th November in the grounds of Sherington CE School. We were delighted to see so many of our Pre-school children in procession with their individual hand-crafted lanterns. It was a wonderful night enjoyed by all who attended. Paul Noble's album of photos of the event can be seen here: http://www.wikialbums.com/?vsnWNMjCem4wDRJyN4A

Should you wish your child to start Pre-school at Sherington then look at our NEW website at www.sherington.org.uk/preschool, telephone Jo Tough on 617685/07866409169 or call in to Sherington Village Hall, Church Road, Sherington any morning Monday to Thursday between 9:15 and 12:15

Finally, let us wish you all a very happy festive season and all the best for 2013!

31 October 2012

We would like to warmly welcome Imogen, Samuel, Will, Maxim, Harry and Oliver to Sherington Pre-school. We look forward to learning and playing together as we all get to know each other.

During October the theme of, 'Senses, Creative Art and Mark-making' engaged the children in a good deal of exciting work and play. A variety of media were explored and many of the children joined in a marvellously messy creative activity with Anita. Anita encouraged the children to use glue and sand, sponges, feathers, lolly sticks and to squirt paint across the canvas using a water pistol! The end result was a fantastic, and very large, picture of which the children were extremely proud.

Other mark-making activities included chalk pictures, playing in shaving foam, drawing with charcoal and making magic pictures by rubbing wax crayons on paper and brushing over it with watered-down paint. I'm sure all parents and carers have been very pleased with the art work coming home after each session, albeit still wet and gluey!

The final theme before we break up for half term is, 'Shapes and Halloween'. The children have been making spider webs in their imaginative play and are becoming very aware of the shapes in their environment.

Our recent visits to Tom's Garden have seen the children tidying the dying stems from our beans and putting them into the wormery. The bean poles have now been taken down and stored in the shed and the sunflower heads have been cut off to save the seeds for next year. Whilst our tomato plants have had all the fruit removed, the children checked the onion sets they sewed a few weeks ago and were delighted to see the first signs of growth. They also planted crocus bulbs and labelled all the new buckets.

After the recent high winds, the children have been spending time collecting conkers. One day, just ten of our children collected a staggering seven hundred and thirty one conkers from the outdoor play area. This provided an ideal opportunity for investigating both weighing and counting, and for listening to the sounds that conkers make when rolled down a tube or simply rubbed together. We also spent time threading them to make an abacus, pressing them into stretchy dough and making musical instruments by putting them in plastic milk containers.

Our thanks to PCSO Pam Finn who called in to see the children and allowed them to try on her helmet and very heavy vest. They children very much enjoyed her visit.

We're delighted to say that our AGM was well attended. Twelve parents and visitors listened to Anita and Aimee's presentations about our excellent progress over the last twelve months. Moreover, guests watched the Pre-school staff deliver a special PowerPoint presentation demonstrating how they observe the children and how this information is used and recorded. This was a remarkable insight into how our very experienced staff use their observations to plan sessions and maximise the learning and enjoyment for each child.

Furthermore, the staff put together a display of photographs and other informative and significant pieces of information from the EYFS. The business side of the evening went smoothly and the new committee will soon meet and continue the good work of the previous committee. We are very pleased to welcome new committee members Fay, Linda, Emily and Stefanie and look forward to working with them over the coming months. It was with some sadness that our AGM saw Anita Thatcher stepping down from her position as Chair. We are very grateful for all her hard work and commitment over the last two years. The committee now warmly welcomes Lauren Scott as new Chair and wish her the very best in her new role.

Sherington Village Pre-School celebrates its 40th Birthday

On Friday 7th September almost 100 adults and children took part in special celebrations and activities to mark the 40th anniversary of Sherington Pre-School's opening.

The Pre-School, held at Sherington Village Hall, was started in 1972 by two local mums, Halcyon Hinde and Christine Bearman.

Both these ladies were teachers taking a break from work to look after their young families. As they discussed how they were going to amuse and stimulate the girls in the years before starting school, the subject of Playgroups came up.

In the past, Sherington had an informal group run from Arbour House, but this group was no longer in existence. Their subsequent conversations made it abundanty clear that Sherington needed its own organised Playgroup. As such, they held a meeting of interested parents to which a local Playgroup Adviser was invited and explained the aims and objectives of a Playgroup. They were informed that a Playgroup (later to be known as the Pre-School Movement) should provide an opportunity for young children to meet, play and learn social skills in preparation for starting school. Back then, parents would be encouraged to attend Playgroup sessions and any formal teaching was absolutely discouraged! There would be no requirement to set targets, fill in forms or to record anything other than keeping an attendance register (oh, how things have changed!). The outcome of those very first meetings resulted in the firm decision that there was a real need for a playgroup in Sherington.

Christine and Halcyon themselves made generous donations to buy the equipment required to start up the venture, in addition to using their own children's old toys, books and puzzles.

After a great deal of organisation, preparation and further generous support from the community, Sherington Playgroup was opened in September 1972.

Over the last 40 years, it's taken the dedication of many parents and villagers to run the Pre-School as a viable business on a voluntary basis. Thanks to this unswerving commitment from the local community the Pre-School continues to thrive.

On the 40th anniversary, existing Pre-School staff, always keen to excite and stimulate their pupils, set up an amazing array of toys and activities both inside and out.

Karen and Annette from Toddler Time also joined the birthday celebrations, leading the children, staff, committee members and visitors in a fabulous session of party music and movement.

The Pre-School committee Chair, Anita Thatcher, lit 40 candles on the birthday cake, proposed a toast and led an energetic chorus of "Happy Birthday".

Visitors on Friday included many former pupils and staff as well as Mr Colin Storey, Assistant Head of Sherington C E School with 20 pupils, most of whom had attended the Pre-School.

During the celebrations the visitors were able to view a gallery of photographs and reminisce about their time at Pre-School. These photographs will be on display again at the next Sherington Historical Society Open Day, so if you missed your opportunity to have a look please come along to Sherington Village Hall between 12 and 4.30pm on Saturday 6th October.

In the meantime, if you'd like your child to play, learn and thrive in a small, friendly, village-based Pre-School, please telephone Jo Tough on 617685/07866409169 or call in to Sherington Village Hall, Church Road, Sherington any morning Monday to Thursday between 9:15 and 12:15. We look forward to meeting you.

31 July 2012

Welcome once more to the final instalment of Sherington Pre-School news before the long holiday. Sherington Pre-School has had a great year which has simply flown by. The closing themes of 'Mini Beasts' and 'Sports, Exercise and the Olympics' have been very popular with our children and have brought a great deal of opportunity for new experiences, learning and development.

For the second year running, the children have made regular visits to Tom's Garden. Sadly, in this the wettest of summers, our runner beans and sunflowers have been slow to show signs of growth and we are still waiting for the blueberries to go blue and for the tomatoes to ripen. The salad leaves were also rather disappointing but the children still enjoyed rubbing the mint leaves and smelling the spearmint scents. On the upside, it has seemingly been VERY pleasant weather for snails and the children found plenty to transport back to the Village Hall for closer inspection. Moreover, a clew of worms has also been given a temporary new home and we have been lucky enough to oversee the care of five fat, green, very hairy caterpillars.

Thank you to Oscar's Mummy and Daddy for bringing them to Pre-School for the benefit of all the children. The caterpillars have provided a great talking point and learning opportunity and, very excitingly, we have it on good authority that they will eventually, after munching their way through an abundance of willow leaves, metamorphose into stunning Emperor butterflies. Our thanks also extend to Bill and Pearl, members of Sherington Bowls Club, for their expert help and advice, and for the loan of a caterpillar-friendly home.

On Thursday 5th July, the children proudly walked out onto the football field next to the Village Hall with their Olympic torches aloft. They were all ready, and most keen, to take part in the very first Sherington Pre-School Olympics event. We divided into four teams and prepared to engage in a number of different sporting activities including catch-tastic, egg and spoon, relay and obstacle races. There was a good deal of catching, running and jumping as the children completed each event. When the event drew to a close, each child was awarded a wonderful hand -made medal for their efforts.

After a refreshing drink, all the children, and some lucky siblings, were escorted around the village to follow a trail of balloons in support of the annual Barnado's Big Toddle fundraising event. The morning exertions were followed by a well- deserved picnic in the sunshine. This year's event was very well supported and we hope to raise a significant amount of money for this worthy cause.

Earlier, on this day of great achievements, the children had been awarded a lovely Change 4 Life sticker after successfully completing the 'Five Fruit Challenge' at our healthy snack bar. Each child had to choose and eat five pieces of fruit, some of which the children had helped to prepare.

The fruits were melon, Satsuma, blueberries, pear, apple and kiwi. The children enjoy helping themselves at snack-time which allows development of self-care, offers them choice and helps them to become increasingly independent.

Our Exercise theme continued at pace when George from, 'Groovy Movers' came into Pre-School on Monday 9th July and ran a special Olympic themed physical activity, movement and music session. For well-over three quarters of an hour, the children were guided through activities relating to the Olympics. They ran like athletes, flickered like a flame and enjoyed counting and jumping exercises relating to the five rings. The session was simply wonderful and really kept the children on their toes. Our thanks go to George who also took time to show the children photos to stimulate their understanding during each activity.

The end of the summer term is a busy, but rewarding, time. The older children make visits to their new schools in preparation for the new term in September and their soon-to-be teachers visit to the Pre-School in order that everyone gets to know each other in a familiar environment. We also begin the preparations for our annual leaver's performance. This year the children put on a wonderful performance acting out the much-loved tale of, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. They delighted in making their own props and practised and rehearsed their lines and songs. This year we were saying goodbye to seventeen children who will go on to their local Primary School, and another two who will be moving to Pre-Schools closer to where they live. This is always an emotional time for us; many of the children have been in our care for a considerable time, and we are fortunate to get to know all the children extremely well. That said we also appreciate that it's time for them to move on and to continue to develop and thrive in a new learning environment. In order to make this transition, we are kept very busy completing each child's record and, 'Transfer to School' form so that their new teachers will have a good understanding of the child's preferred playing and learning styles. Furthermore, in preparation for changes ahead, the staff and some of the Committee members have undertaken additional training in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum update which is due to roll-out in September.

The Pre-School staff and Committee look forward with excitement to the new term in September when we return to a slightly smaller group.

So, if your child is two and half or over and you would like them to socialise, learn and prepare for big school in a small, friendly village Pre-School with highly experienced staff, then please contact us using the details below. We start the new term with the themes, 'All about me' and, 'Pets' which help us get to know all about the new children and it won't be long before we're moving towards our scary themes for Halloween!

Do find out more about joining the fun and learning at Sherington Pre-School by telephoning Jo Tough on 617685/07866409169 or calling in to Sherington Village Hall, Church Road, Sherington any term-time morning Monday to Thursday between 9:15 and 12:15. If your child is not yet funded (i.e. under three years old) then a three-hour session will cost £10 and financial support may be available for eligible families.

Please remember to save the date for our next Open Morning on Tuesday 2nd October between 9.30am and 11.30am and finally, thank you to everyone who supported our stall at the Sherington CofE School Open Day Fete. It was a fabulous day and we are grateful to those who continue to help us in our desire to make Sherington Pre-School one of the very best.