Mrs Differ's Daycare

We would like to wish all our Graduates an amazing summer and all the best when they begin their new chapter at school. We cannot begin to express how immensely proud we are of you all and we will miss you all so much.

A massive thank you to the families for choosing us and allowing us to make wonderful memories with your children…we are truly grateful.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Jodie for making the beautiful unique frames and for her support. Thank you also to Rhys for doing our official Graduation 🧑‍🎓 photographs again.

Before we sign off for some summer sun 🙏🏻☀️💛 we would like to say a massive thank you to Mr Differ we certainly keep him busy with jobs 😬 and appreciate everything you do and to Tracy for her support with Graduation.

Have a great summer ☀️🥰☀️

Joyce and Rosie ♥️♥️

Just like that it is the end of yet another academic year!

What a term it has been packed full of adventures, children achieving their ambitions and lots of exciting new discoveries.

The Daycare children have enjoyed exploring and learning about Farming and Minibeasts amongst many other activities and experiences.

On one of our adventures some children were lucky enough to watch sheep dog training at Alva from Farmer Kevin who kindly invited us for a visit Auchingarrach Farm. Safe to say we had a fantastic day with lots of added surprises. We would like to thank all Auchingarrach staff and Farmer Kevin.

Some children went on a brilliant visit to The Scottish Deer Centre while others enjoyed The Japanese Gardens just to name a few amazing adventures we have been on this year.

All children have developed immensely with their bikeability skills with some children having set aspirations of cycling pedal bikes before going to school which they all proudly achieved....well done to all our children on these achievements.

Bug hunting for both Daycare and After School Club was a very popular activity and the children learned through this counting, pattern, matching, how to care for living things and the names of minibeasts.

We are so grateful for another amazing year with our Daycare and After School Club Children and cannot begin to thank all the families for choosing our Daycare, we are truly humbled.

We hope everyone has an amazing summer and we look forward to welcoming back some of our families, welcome our new families and wish all our Graduates success in their first year of school .....we will miss them all very much!

Joyce and Rosie xx

Preschool have travelled through ‘Space’ this term! The children loved learning about this interest through so many activities and experiences. They even had a visitor from another planet………very exciting!

The children loved singing ‘I know the Planets’ amongst many other songs and rhymes to deepen their knowledge but hearing them sing this would melt your heart! They have loved this interest so much they will excitedly now share all about this with everyone they meet and their families and friends! A favourite mini bus game is "What planet are you?".

The children have also been learning 2d and 3d shapes, letters and sounds, they have been developing their early writing skills, celebrating World Book Day and learning about other cultural celebrations. A very busy, fun and exciting term ending with lots of Easter Fun!

After School Club have been exploring local history trying to find the new undiscovered ruins at the Stirling University along with a very lucky visit to the Well which has been restored in Bridge of Allan. They received a very informative and interesting talk from Dave, again we cannot thank him enough for his time and teaching us and showing us some local history, and we can't wait to return with another group.

The children have been on many outings, had lots of fun creating and making various things and have had so many great adventures together finishing off with a fun and challenging Easter Egg Hunt.

We hope everyone has a lovely Easter break and we are looking forward to the eggciting times ahead!

Happy Easter love from Joyce and Rosie xx 🐣🐇💕

It was brilliant

We were very privileged to have the opportunity of visiting the Bridge of Allan Wellhouse (a historical landmark in Bridge of Allan) and receive a very informative and interesting presentation from Dave.

The children had lots of questions and they were very lucky to be shown around and given some very special gifts which we can't thank Dave enough for. Please look out for their open days as it is well worth the visit. Well done to the Restoration Team on such an amazing job!

We were very privileged to have the opportunity of visiting the Bridge of Allan Wellhouse (a historical landmark in Bridge of Allan) and receive a very informative and interesting presentation from Dave.

The children had lots of questions and they were very lucky to be shown around and given some very special gifts which we can't thank Dave enough for. Please look out for their open days as it is well worth the visit. Well done to the Restoration Team on such an amazing job!

We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Mrs Differ's Daycare. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Daycare families for choosing us to care for their beautiful children it truly is an honour. Joyce and Rosie xx

Just like that the end of the year is upon us and what a wonderful Autumn/Winter term we have had. We have been on outings, been exploring, had so much fun with lots of learning both with Daycare children and After School Club. Looking forward to what next year has in store. Joyce and Rosie xx

We would like to thank all the families that kindly donated items for Start Up Stirling. Your kindness and generosity was very much appreciated ♥️

What a fantastic first term!

We had a lovely start to our new academic year welcoming new children and families in to our Daycare family and welcoming back our existing children and families. The Daycare children (under 5 years old) have been focusing on ‘All About Me’ and have been creating self-portraits, using loose parts to represent themselves and their families, sharing their likes and dislikes with their friends and building up friendships. The children have also been learning some French vocabulary and some Makaton signs, been developing their cycling skills and they have been learning how to keep their bodies healthy through exercise as well as taking time for some relaxation, mindfulness sessions and yoga. The children have been helping to prepare snacks and lunches using the home grown produce they planted in their garden patch and have been using lots of the apples from our apple tree in the garden to create some delicious dishes!

The After School Club children have chosen various activities and experiences and we have supported them as they achieve their aspirations and follow their interests. The children have been mini beast hunting, playing team games, working together to create a large domino run, went to one of our Daycare Grandparents Apple Orchard (where they collected apples to bake some delicious dishes at home) and had visits to various places of their choice.

All children have been involved in the developments within the Daycare and through their interests and wishes they now have a large easel for outdoors, My Art and Craft Boxes for individual outdoor use, changed and developed their mud kitchen and den area and gathered and added lots more loose parts both indoors and outdoors.

We hope you all have a great October holiday and we are looking forward to our Winter term and the fun, learning and excitement it brings!

Joyce and Rosie xx

We are closed for the summer holidays. We will be back in line with the Stirling Council Schools in August. Enjoy summer and see you soon! Joyce and Rosie xx

Graduation 2023

"Oh the places you'll go,
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So get on your way!"
- Dr Suess

A very emotional graduation yesterday to finish off our academic year. We have loved and treasured every minute with our 5 graduates and could not be anymore proud and honored to have watched them grow and been a part of their pre-school years. Have a great summer and good luck in Primary One...We love you all very much!

THANK YOU - firstly a massive thank you to the families we truly are very grateful for allowing us to be part of their pre-school years. Thank you all for your kind words, cards and gifts it mean's the world.

Secondly thank you to Jodie for making our memory frames again for the children and for supporting us. Thank you to Rhys for the Graduation photographs and Louise for our party balloons. We would also like to thank Mr Differ and Tracy who has helped us prepare behind the scenes.

Have a great summer!

❤👩‍🎓👨‍🎓💙

Love our job 💞

Another amazing academic year full of fun, laughter, adventures and lots of learning!

Some of our highlights have been a visit to Forth Valley Royal Hospital meeting some of the amazing staff there, joining Dunblane Nursery for a Forrest School session, litter picking in our local community, visiting different farms both locally and a little further away, mini beast hunts and learning life cycles.

We are so proud of all the children achieving their ambitions whether it was to progress from balance to pedal bike, learning Makaton or learning how to tell the time …. it has been an honour supporting and helping them achieve their dreams in every way we could!

Some of our developments this year have been a new sandpit cover, new outdoor wash stations, building our stage and making a new minibeast den.

Thank you to all our lovely families for choosing us to care for your child/children and allowing us to make amazing memories with them.

We hope you all have a lovely summer.

Joyce and Rosie xx

It has been a very busy last few months!

The children from Daycare have had an interest in learning about Doctors, Nurses, and Hospitals. The children all loved role playing, participating in exercise classes with Doc McStuffin, playing games and researching to further their knowledge and understanding through books, media and visits. They visited the pharmacist, paramedics and some children were very lucky to be able to visit the hospital wearing the little uniforms (kindly borrowed by one of our mummies for them to wear for the day). They prepared questions to ask and taught the nurses and paramedics some Makaton signs and some French vocabulary. We were very grateful for the time the nurses and paramedics gave up to see the children.

The children have also been investigating and observing seasonal changes by going on walks, listening to stories and engaging in various STEM activities. The children have engaged in various activities for World Book Day celebrating this all week with some children being invited to a storytelling session at Fairview School and with some children going to a Play, Talk, Read session with other local childminders and their children.

After School Club have been planning, designing and buying materials as they all work together on refurbishing a Victorian Dolls house. Some of the children participated in a First Aid Awareness Course and were awarded certificates from Daisy First Aid. Library visits, walks, historical treasure hunts, learning about different cultures and lots of FUN has been some highlights of the last few months with Easter Egg Hunts finishing off another term.

We hope you all have a lovely Spring break.

Joyce and Rosie xx 🐣💕🐰

We are very excited to begin our Easter holidays going to see Jodie perform at the Tollbooth and during our holidays doing some garden makeover with some maintenance and construction work in preparation for the summer term🌼

stirlingevents.org/tolbooth-event/hunter-mcmustard/?fbclid=IwAR222CHDHjtlqYswKts4Kpa-jpjuYADaKscx5BgTatFvtLuf5_9pjRmQ1B8

Hunter + McMustard - Stirling Events special guests Jodie Differ and Scott Ashworth

We hope everyone had a lovely half term holiday!

We have had a very busy and productive half term holiday. We have been refreshing our Paediatric First Aid Training with Kirsty from Daisy First Aid (who comes highly recommended), been self-evaluating and implementing plans for development after reading the documentation 'My Active World' and finally we were invited for a visit to Fairview where we enjoyed a show around and we have been kindly invited along with our preschool children for a visit on World Book Day.

We have previously visited and have been visited, by other local nurseries and childminders as we begin building relationships to benefit each other sharing good practice which we look forward to continuing.

We are looking forward to the Spring Term and all the exciting adventures and learning!

Joyce and Rosie

We would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Much love Joyce and Rosie xx

On a personal note, I (Mrs Differ), would like to thank all the families and my friends for their support, understanding, kind messages, cards, flowers and gifts on what has been, and is, a very difficult and sad time for myself and my family following the sudden loss of my beautiful mum. Your thoughtfulness and support has been very comforting ....... Joyce xx

Another amazing fun filled year of learning, laughter and adventure. The children have had a very busy Winter term ending with great fun at their Christmas Parties. x

Another great beginning to a new term as we welcome back most of our families and children and welcome some new children and their families.

The children began the term settling in for the first time, or settling back in, after the summer break. It has been lovely watching the children building up relationships with new children or forming new friendships with children previously attending. We have loved hearing from the families of the children who have transitioned to school about how much they are loving and embracing school…although we miss them all very much and loved having them return to visit us!

There has been no end to the explorations and adventures! The children have been busy building a new bug den, participated in cooking, baking and tasting experience using some of the home-grown food from their Daycare Garden and making their own lunches and snacks. Following some of the children's suggestions they began changing the den by adding some resources to create ‘"a little school" in their outdoor den area.

Some of the learning, experiences and activities the children have participated in has been ........ being healthy and their bodies, wellie walks, treasure hunts, exploring seasonal change, continuing with our Makaton and French, measurement and size, cycling, den building, letter recognition and sounds, problem solving skills (as they work together on different activities) and Jump Around with Karen. We are looking forward to what our next half term has in store.

Have a great half term holiday.

Joyce and Rosie xx