Spring 2024 Highlights
Little Lancing saw its fair share of rain but the children went outdoors as much as possible.
With Little Lancing at the busiest it has ever been since we opened four years ago, there is now a real buzz about the nursery. With the new funding coming in after Easter, the demand for places has never been higher and it was lovely to see so many younger siblings coming through to join their older brothers and sisters at the nursery.
Our Employee of Month nominations are now well established. It is heartening to get such positive feedback for our staff from parents, and their peers, and this has certainly contributed to maintaining staff wellbeing. It’s so nice to be appreciated and good to see votes coming in for staff right across the nursery.
We began 2024 with a dusting of snow which transformed our Forest School field and garden. The children were very excited to see it, even if it didn’t stay for long!
Our babies in Explorers have been out in their triple buggies whenever it’s been possible to brave the elements. We are looking forward to the new road and pathways being completed later in the summer term so that we can begin to explore our surroundings and connect with the nature around us.
The Investigators children have enjoyed their books with story time being a real favourite. Everyone dressed up for World Book Day and we hope that they are using their book vouchers to try something new. Our ‘book nook’ in the foyer is proving popular for the children to take a book to read at home and return.
Pre-School have had a fabulous time in Forest School, making bird feeders from pinecones, candles. They loved cooking in the firepit, specially making heart-shaped pancakes to mark both Pancake Day and Valentine’s Day! With Easter approaching, they enjoyed their egg hunt around the field and making nests out of twigs and leaves. The children always look forward to their sessions with great enthusiasm and can’t wait to get out into the field for their activities. A small group had a special visit in a College minibus to Lancing Prep Hove, where they carried out a bug hunt in the school garden before enjoying a snack and story time. For those leaving us this summer, we are continuing with school readiness activities, and we are looking forward to finding out soon which schools they will be attending in the autumn.
The highlight of the term must be the arrival of an incubator and a clutch of chicken eggs, ready for hatching! They were installed in the Pre-School creative space and small groups of children from Pre-School and Investigators were very excited to see the chicks start to emerge from their shells and fluff up. Our youngest children from Explorers also enjoyed popping in with their staff to watch the chicks running about in the brooder box. There were lots of lovely teaching moments about life cycles and everyone was a little sad to see the chicks go back to the farm after ten days.
Some of our Preschool children had a wonderful time visiting Lancing Prep Hove for a ‘Green Fingered Gardeners’ session, along with groups from two other nurseries in the Hove area. The children loved the adventure of arriving in a College minibus for their bug hunt in the school garden. They then put their creative skills to work to decorate and assemble paper daffodils in the Reception classrooms. They enjoyed their fruit snack before heading back to Little Lancing for lunch.
For Red Nose Day, we wore red to raise funds for Comic Relief, a wonderful charity that we know is actively helping families in our local community. With poverty and injustice impacting so many people in the UK and around the world, we’re proud to support a charity that helps to put food on plates, roofs over heads and keeps little ones safe.
We’re looking forward to Easter, and hopefully the warmer weather approaching will give the children opportunities to explore the signs of Spring arriving.