The staff at Abbeywood Tots Day Care and Nursery work hard to keep parents and carers up-to-date with what has been happening at their children’s nursery. We update our website with monthly Nursery Newsletters for each one of the Abbeywood Day Care Nurseries we have open across Bristol.
10 things to consider when choosing day care for your children When it comes to researching the different day care options available for your children in your area, there are a few approaches that you can take. Firstly, you can use the Childcare and Family Services Finder to find a list of nurseries that are located close to where you live, ask other parents that you know if they have any recommendations, or simply spend some time searching for them online. Once you have got your list, it’s then a good idea to take a look at each nursery’s website to get a feel for what they offer, and then once you’ve narrowed your providers down it’s time to phone them and book a time to pop in for a visit. Taking the time to visit a nursery before making a decision about day care is so important – but while you’re there, what questions should you ask and what things to do you need to keep in mind to ensure it’s the right option for you and your child? To help you, we’ve put together a list of 10 things to consider when choosing day care for your children – we hope you find it useful! 1. Trust your first impressions Listen to your gut instinct – when you arrive, what are your first thoughts as you step through the door of the nursery? How were you greeted? Does the nursery feel in a good state of repair? How secure does it feel? Do the children and staff appear happy? These are all things you should be taking note of. 2. Find out the number of places available When you start your
What a busy few months it has been at Abbeywood Tots!Now that the weather is getting colder and the nights are getting darker, we’re excited for our upcoming Christmas parties and Christmas dinner days, as well as the chance to make some beautiful decorations with the children too. To find out more about these upcoming events and how you can get involved, parents should speak to a member of their nursery team – we hope you’re as excited to get into the festive spirit as we are!With winter fast approaching, in our latest blog we thought we would take a look back at what our staff and children from our nurseries in Filton, King Street, Stockwood, Knowle and Station Road have been up to over the autumn months. Read on to find out more!FiltonA recent topic for the preschool children was “all about me”, which provided opportunities for them to discuss their individuality and celebrate their own cultures and differences. The tadpoles have also been busy learning about Halloween, and engaging in lots of fun activities such as pumpkin carving and making spiders out of egg boxes. In addition, the bees, caterpillars and butterflies have been finding out about Diwali, and had the chance to create their own rangoli patterns by experimenting with lots of different coloured paints.King StreetThe caterpillar and butterfly babies been having lots of fun making sensory bottles using glitter, conditioner and hair gel – they especially loved mixing all of the ingredients together! The pre-school children have also been busy pretending to be knights recently, and created their very own knight castle, coats of armour and shields to protect them – they even had the chance to look at a real
Abbeywood Tots Graduates day All of the staff at Abbeywood Tots were delighted to see so many parents, carers and children at our graduation ceremonies in July. Although we were only saying goodbye and good luck to a small number of children at certain nurseries, it was fantastic to have so much support from their loved ones and we hope that you enjoyed the performances as much as we did. We would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of our graduates the very best for their new journeys in September – we can’t wait to hear how you get on as you will all be very missed! With the summer almost at an end, in our latest blog we thought we would take a look at the different ways our staff and children from our nurseries in Filton, King Street, Stockwood, Knowle and Station Road have been having lots of fun in the sun over the last couple of months – read on to see what they’ve been getting up to! Filton The tadpoles have been going on lots of walks recently, where they have been recording the different types of transport that they have seen. The bees, caterpillars and butterflies have also been having lots of fun exploring natural materials, and during a visit to Wild Place they collected different objects which they had lots of fun painting back at the nursery. King Street The caterpillar and butterfly babies have been learning how to keep themselves cool on hot days by making their very own ice lollies – yum! The pre-school children have also been spending plenty of time outdoors in Queens Square, playing different sports and taking part in
At Abbeywood Tots we really enjoyed celebrating May Day with the children, and would like to thank everyone that came along to our special dance on 2nd May – we hope that you had as much fun as we did with the colourful scarves and ribbons! Now that we are well into spring and summer is just around the corner, we thought it would be the perfect time to look back and see what the staff and children from our nurseries in Filton, King Street, Stockwood, Knowle and Station Road have been up to over the last few weeks – read on to find out about all of the fun they’ve had cooking, getting creative and developing some green fingers during May! Filton At Cooking Club the children made some delicious chocolate rice crispy cakes! They measured out their own rice crispies and then learnt how to melt chocolate in the microwave, before mixing the ingredients together and spooning into paper cases – yummy! King Street The Caterpillars and Butterflies have been dancing along to lots of different types of music this month. The babies in particular enjoyed expressing themselves through clapping and physical movement, and it was great to see them having so much fun! Knowle The babies have been busy planting some sunflower seeds in our garden. They have really enjoyed watering them and watching them grow bigger and bigger – we can’t wait until they grow into big sunflowers which will make our garden look really pretty! Station Road This month the Frogs have shown a great interest in drawing. They spent some time outside in the garden and at the allotment, where they had the opportunity to draw pictures of
The sun has started shining and the evenings have started getting lighter – at Abbeywood Tots we think it’s safe to say that spring has officially sprung! Over the last few months the staff and children from our nurseries in Filton, King Street, Knowle, Station Road and Stockwood have been having lots of fun getting hands on with nature, and in our latest blog we thought it would be the perfect time to look back at what they’ve been up to! Filton Preschool learnt about new life, and enjoyed planting sunflowers, lettuce, radishes and cress, as well as observing how they grow by drawing and painting pictures. King Street The Frogs and Tadpoles had a great time at this term’s zoological school, where they learnt about mini-beasts, creatures that live under the sea and different habitats. Knowle The Butterflies began to notice that spring has arrived when they explored the nature garden and saw some daffodils! Station Road The babies enjoyed visiting our allotment and seeing the different plants and vegetables that we are growing. Stockwood The Tadpoles have explored lots of herbs, flowers and gardening tools in their play, helping them to develop some very green fingers! If after reading about what the Abbeywood Tots gang have been up over the last few months you feel inspired to get out over the weekend with your little ones and explore the great outdoors for yourself this spring, we’ve put together a couple of suggestions for some nature-themed activities that we think the whole family will love! Create a bug B&B This is the perfect way to introduce your kids to the creepy crawlies that live in your garden! To get started you just need
Stockwood Nursery The frogs have been welcoming some new friends by learning about each other using ‘all about me’ sheets from home. The frogs have been exploring all of the new areas in pre-school as well as exploring resources in our tuff spot trays such as creating and following patterns in peg boards, exploring textures of flowers and emptying and filling coloured rice using measuring spoons in our ‘funky fingers’ area. Welcome new starters We are welcoming some new children this term. Please bring in any family photos that may help to settle your child. This can also help the children to learn about each other and the similarities and differences in their lives. Our trip to the local library We visited our local library and enjoyed reading and leafing through the different kinds of books. We met the librarians and people from the local community. What's been happening The new tadpoles have been settling in well, the children have been having increased small group times with key people to help develop social, emotional and communication skills. The tadpoles have been investigating what happens when we add water to skittles, noticing changes in colour and shape. The tadpoles have been talking about their summer and have created a ‘seaside’ area where they can make sandcastles and explore shells and rocks. The butterflies have been enjoying the story of ‘the gruffalo’, mostly the animals which has led to a fascination with ‘dear zoo’ and farm animals. The babies went on a trip to the zoo and met lots of baby animals. The butterflies have been exploring the mud kitchen and allotment too. Forthcoming Events at Stockwood nursery September Parents network meeting – 19th September from 6.30pm Cook-a-book course - 22nd, 29th
