Saltdean Pre-School

☀️What a fun end to term we had at pre-school last week.

🎼🎸🎤🎉We had so much fun at our festival party. The children really enjoyed singing and dancing along to Music with Mike thank you Mike!
We had flag decorating, ice play, party games and face painting. Such a fun morning for children and staff and lovely to see so many happy faces.

🐛We have been celebrating the lovely story of the hungry caterpillar this term. It is really quite true to nature and there is so much to learn from it. It has day and night, days of the week, colours, patterns, counting, healthy and unhealthy food and so much. It also inspires lots of colourful art and maybe a nature hunt in the garden?

🦋 It inspired the children to make some lovely caterpillar and butterfly paintings for our graduation ceremony. Thank you so much to the families who came along. It was really special to see all the children on the stage singing the songs we have been learning over the last term.
We are so proud of every single one of them and we will miss them all so much.

🙏🏻 Thank you for all our gifts and cards, they are really appreciated.

🧸Wishing you all a wonderful summer. We have an open morning for new children on Tues 3rd Sept and return fully on Weds 4th Sept ☀️

🧸 We have had a lovely few weeks at pre-school enjoying lots of garden time in sunshine ☀️

📚 We went on a trip to Saltdean Library. The children really enjoyed walking through the oval park and of course looking at all books.

🫧 We had lots of fun practising mark making and letter formation in our shaving foam tuff tray.

🎨 We have done lots of printing with paint and made animal prints and also butterfly wings.

🚀 We hope all the Pre-School Dads enjoyed their Fathers day card. The children worked so hard with their cutting and fine motor skills to make them.

🏃‍♀️ We also made a huge obstacle course in the hall for the children to navigate. They loved crawling, jumping and balancing through each section.

Looking forward to more fun this week.
🧸

🎭 Last week at Pre-School we had our own puppet show. The children loved watching each other act out stories and they really enjoying making each other laugh. We were so impressed with their attention and imagination skills, it was a joy to watch!

🗼We had fun using the duplo bricks to make super tall towers. The children enjoyed measuring their height against them and counting all the bricks.

🎾 We enjoyed lots of tennis in the garden and practiced our hand eye coordination and gross motor skills.

🏡 Lots of children enjoyed the village small world play which encouraged lots of amazing communication skills.

✈️💻 Our role play corner was set up as a travel agent this week. The children enjoyed looking at maps, mark making on clipboards and talking about transport and different types of holidays.

🌿 We also made an amazing den for the children to explore using our new cargo net and frame.

Looking forward to more fun this week 🧸

This is tonight, come along

Ravi is a Brighton boy who has a brain tumour. He was named as the Pride of Britain Child of Courage for his fundraising efforts, bravery, determination and positivity.

He's reached the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent which will be on tomorrow and screened at St Nicholas' Church Hall. All welcome. Good Luck Ravi.

You can read more about Ravi and his fundraising campaign here: https://www.givewheel.com/fundraising/3292/ravis-dream/

🚀 Last week at Pre-School we enjoyed using our new stomp rockets. The children enjoyed working out how hard they need to jump to make the rocket fly.

🏡 Our home role play corner was very popular and lots of children enjoyed playing with the dolls and using their imaginations to create role play scenarios with their friends.

🎶 The children really enjoyed the adult led music sessions and exploring a variety of different musical instruments and the sounds they make.

🏎️ We used the guttering pipes to race cars, vehicles and balls.

🚂 The children had fun using the village in our small world play.

🎨 We did lots of painting and the children were very proud of their creations.

Wishing you all a lovely half term.
Just a reminder that Monday 3rd of June is an inset day so we will be open again on Tuesday 4th June 🧸

🎨 Last week at Pre-School the children made lots of big art together using lots of different materials. We also did a lot of painting, drawing, chalking and sticking.

🎭 The children enjoyed dressing up in lots of different outfits which led on to amazing role play.

🚶‍♀️On Tuesday afternoon we walked up to Saltdean Primary School. We had a look at the gates and building and remembered what we had learnt from last week to keep ourselves safe crossing the roads. Lots of the children were excited to look at their new school.

🦖 We enjoyed playing with dinosaurs and shaving foam in the tuff tray.

🎶 We used percussion sticks in our music session and the children had to listen carefully to each other to keep the rhythm

What will we be getting up to this week? 🧸

🧸 Last week at Pre-School we enjoyed lots of outdoor play.

🥔 The children dug for potatoes that were hidden in the soil of the tuff tray. They had so much fun transporting them in the wheelbarrow and washing them.

🍳The children also really enjoyed exploring and playing in the mud kitchen.

🌻 We planted some sunflower seeds in pots and watered them. We are looking forward to watching them grow tall!

🎶 Everyone enjoyed a music session with Tracey. The children showed great listening skills and had to follow a rhythm with their percussion sticks.

🔍The children also played a lotto game which involved listening to lots of sounds and working out what they were by using the pictures on their boards as clues.

🧱The children worked together as a team to build large structures out of bricks. They made lots of amazing creations including towers, a house and a stage to perform on.

🌎 Over the past week we celebrated Earth Day by painting our own planet earths including mixing the right colours for them. We learnt about what the green and blue areas were. We also used blue and and green playdough to create 3D planet earths.

🪴Our role play was set up as a garden centre this week. The children enjoyed using the wheelbarrow to transport objects around and learning about parts of a plant.

🏀 We all enjoyed testing our balance and practising our physical skills with an obstacle course in the garden.

🌻 The children practised their cutting skills by making collages from picture of flowers and plants.

🫧 we all loved our brand new giant bubble wand. The children were so excited to watch the giant bubbles float.

Looking forward to more fun this week 🧸

🧸 We have had a really great week welcoming everyone back from the Easter hols.

🩺 Our role play corner was a teddy hospital. We talked about people that help us and learnt new words like ‘medicine’, ‘X-ray’ and ‘syringe.’ The children enjoyed wrapping bandages and exploring the medical sets.

🏥 We also practised our cutting and sticking skills and cut out a hospital scene.

🦆 On Wednesday we played ‘hook a duck’ and we were so impressed by the children’s hand eye coordination and their perseverance.

☀️ We enjoyed lots of garden play such as football, balancing and tennis.

🌱 We also planted some flower seeds and have been watering them all week. We learnt about the things plants need to grow and we are all looking forward to seeing the first shoots appearing.

Looking forward to more fun this week 🧸

Ofsted recently completed a routine inspection of the Pre-School, and we are very pleased to have received a grading of ‘Good’ in all areas. ⭐️

The full report has now been published online if you would like to read it - https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50242076 🔍

The staff and committee work so hard to create a welcoming, safe and nurturing learning environment for all the children so it’s lovely that this has been recognised by the inspector 🧸

files.ofsted.gov.uk

🐣 Happy Easter everyone! 🐣

🐰 Yesterday we all enjoyed a visit from the the Easter bunny and the children worked together to complete an egg hunt.

🥚We also enjoyed an egg and spoon race and the children showed a lot of concentration as they carefully balanced their eggs.

🐇 We used the hoops outside to practise our hopping and jumping skills.

🐣We also made lots of crafts this week including easter bonnets, cards and rabbit baskets.

🏴‍☠️This week we have enjoyed lots of pirate small world play and dressing up.

👶 Our role play corner had lots of opportunities for baby role play and lots of children enjoyed using the buggies in the garden.

Wishing you all a lovely Easter break and we look forward to welcoming you back on Monday 15th April 🧸

Indoor car boot sale today at the church hall! Refreshments available too

This week the children have been creating their beautiful Easter bonnets ready to take home next week. The children enjoyed designing them and choosing what they wanted to stick on them 🐣

🥾Our role play corner was set up as shoe shop this week and the children enjoyed being shopkeepers, measuring their feet and choosing which shoes or boots they would like to wear.

🧘We enjoyed a yoga session together and were so impressed by how well the children listened and followed our instructions.

🌈 We had fun learning about science and worked together to make a rainbow. We also made fizzing colours by mixing bicarbonate of soda with white vinegar. The children really enjoyed the process of this.

🪲 Our interest table was set up with a mini beast theme and we all enjoyed learning the names of different insects and looking at their differences.

Rachel was very touched with your messages and collection. We will miss her so much.

Charlie starts her role as deputy manager on Monday and we are looking forward to welcoming her to the team.

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend 😊🧸

Hello everyone and happy Friday. The children have had a super week with lots of fantastic playing and learning.

🪺We have enjoyed searching for eggs in the hay tuff tray and having to collect them with tongs. The children were amazing at controlling the tongs and enjoyed counting the eggs in their baskets and matching it to the right number card.

❇️ We made lovely collages using different materials. They were all green which was our colour of the week. Children practised their cutting skills and were proud of their art.

🥚 We had egg races using our guttering pipes. The children enjoyed guessing which egg would race down first.

🩺 Our role play corner was set up as a vet clinic and we had lots of cuddly toy patients. The cuddly animals were given lots of bandages and medicine and one puppy even caught playdough pox!

🍪 The children also enjoyed decorating a face biscuit with a red nose for comic relief.

It was lovely to welcome Becca to our team and we hope you all get a chance to meet her soon.
Wishing everyone a lovely weekend 🧸

📚Last week the children loved dressing up for World Book Day! It was wonderful to see their costumes and I think the children enjoyed seeing the staff dressed up as well 😊

🐻 The focus for this week was the story ‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’ the children enjoyed finding lots of cuddly bears at Pre-School, listening to the story and loved doing the actions to the story as well.

🎾We set up our new guttering pipes and stands in the garden and the children loved exploring them by pouring water and balls down the pipes.

🎨 The children made lovely Mother’s Day cards for Sunday by doing celery printing to make flower shapes. We hope you enjoy them. A few cards got accidentally left at Pre-School unfortunately which we will send out this week and some children haven’t made one yet due to illness - we will carry on with this activity next week to give everyone a chance to make one 😊

🧸 This Thursday is World Book Day so all of next week children are very welcome to come dressed as their favourite book character or just in fancy dress. We are celebrating WBD all week, not just on Thursday.

📚We had a lovely visit to Saltdean library on Friday. A small group of children walked down with the staff and some parent helpers and really enjoyed looking at the books and listening to the stories. We will carry on with these trips to give every child a chance to visit. The new library is wonderful to visit and very child friendly 😊

💧We really enjoyed using our new water measuring jugs and cylinders in the water tray. The children loved filling them up and exploring them.

🐥🌼 We have made beautiful painted chicks and flowers for the display board.

💐 We had a go at pressing spring flowers and discussed how seasons change and how flowers grow.

🧑‍🍳 We talked about St David’s day and made our own leek and potato soup. The children impressed us with washing the vegetables (fresh from the allotment) and chopping them into small pieces.

🎾 We also enjoyed tennis and football in the garden.

This week we have had so much fun making pancakes!

🥞We enriched our home corner with playdough and the children really enjoyed making their own pancakes and choosing toppings to put on.

👩‍🍳 The children also got the opportunity to follow a recipe and to work together to make their own vegan pancake batter. This led to children having a go at flipping them in cold frying pans - the children showed us what amazing physical skills they have 😊

🚨We also had emergency role play set up and the children enjoyed dressing up and creating their own play scenarios.

🐑 In our small world section we had the farm. Children loved matching the parent animal to the baby one and we added hay and sawdust to enrich the experience.

🧲 We have bought some new magnet tiles for the children to build with and it has really supported their imagination and also maths skills.

Wishing you all a lovely and relaxing weekend,🧸

We still have some space if you and the children would like to come and see a film this afternoon. Hot chocolate and popcorn at the interval!
https://www.saltdeansaintnicholas.org.uk/events/holiday-club/registration-form/

3️⃣0️⃣🎈We ended this half term with a surprise party for our truly remarkable member of staff, Marianne 🥳

⭐️ Marianne has been with Saltdean Pre-school for 30 YEARS! Although back when she started we were known as St Nicholas Playgroup.

🎖️30 years of caring for and educating the preschoolers of Saltdean and surrounding areas.

🌟 30 Years dedication to the children and families of our amazing community!

🍀 We feel so lucky to have her. Thank you to everyone for her gifts and treats. She was thrilled with the surprise and the children all loved the balloons and bubbles at the party 🎈🎉🥳

🎆🐉🐲 Happy Lunar New Year! 🐲🐉🎆
This week we’ve had lots of fun learning about Chinese culture and Lunar New Year.

🍜Our role play corner was set up as a restaurant and children used real noodles and stir fry vegetables to use and explore in their role play.

🐉 The children worked together as a group to colour and decorate their big dragon art work. Each day it was added to and the final result was very colourful with lots of different materials used.

🧑‍🍳 We made our own crispy seaweed using Kale. The children enjoyed the process of this but most weren’t keen to taste it. The few that did really liked it.

🏮On Thursday the children made and decorated their own paper lanterns.

⚽️ we also explored our brand new hula hoops. The children enjoyed having rolling races with them and using them as a target to throw balls into.

Wishing you a lovely weekend and half term. We are back as normal on Monday 19th Feb. 🧸😊

Stalls are just £10 plus booking fee.
You will get a 6” table and plenty of space to display your goods, and you can bring a clothes rail. Sellers can arrive at 8am to set up on the day.

Money raised is all going towards improvements to the Church hall.

Doors open at 9am on the day for buyers and entry is just £1. Refreshments will be available.

It's just two weeks until our next Indoor Car Boot. If you would like a stall, please book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indoor-car-boot-tickets-796741263567 They cost just £10 plus booking fee for a six foot table and there is plenty of space if you want to bring a clothing rail.

On the day, doors open at 9am for buyers and entry is just £1. We are raising much needed funds to improve the Church hall so we hope for plenty of support. Refreshments will be available!

The Indoor Car Boot is on Saturday 24th February and there will be one more in March.

We had a very busy week with lots of lovely activities set up for the children to explore.

🏡 The children have loved playing with the small world village and train set - creating lots of lovely play opportunities with each other.

💖 We have been been getting messy and creative to make hearts for Valentine’s Day. We used shaving foam and paint to make patterns and then printed our heart shapes.

🔢 we set up lots of maths activities and puzzles on Friday as it was NSPCC’s number day. The children had fun building models from shapes and blocks and also spotting and jumping on the numbers which were on the floor.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Our tartan painting was so popular last week we did it again but with more colours - don’t they look beautiful 😊

🏕️ The pop up tents and tunnels have been very popular with all the children and they even made a camp with food and a bbq 😊

We are looking forward to having more fun next week 🧸

We had a great week learning all about Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 to celebrate Burns night!

🎨 We have been busy painting Scottish flags and on Friday we even painted our own tartan.

🎶 We listened to lots of Scottish music and had a toy bagpipe to play with. We had lots of circle dancing and practised all moving together in the same direction.

🧑‍🍳 We also baked our own Scottish shortbread and worked together to follow a recipe.

👷‍♀️ We had lots of fun in our role play corner which was builder themed. We learnt to use tools and enjoyed dressing up.

🧑‍🔬We also set up a science activity and explored which objects would sink or float in our container. We had really interesting conversations about weight and density

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! 🧸

Following on from our bird themed week, this would be a lovely activity to try and do at home with your child between 26-28 Jan…

Big Garden Birdwatch is only a few weeks away, so we've created a guide of the top 10 birds you're most likely to see, whether you're watching from a balcony or a garden!

Sign up for so you can tell us which ones you see: https://bit.ly/488srm4

We have had a wonderful week at Pre-School learning all about birds in lots of different ways! 🐦 🦜🪺🪶

The children had an opportunity to make their very own bird feeders using pine cones, coconut oil and bird seeds. We talked about why it is important to feed birds in winter and what we can do to help our wildlife 🌍

We also had a bird hunt in the garden using our new binoculars- the children have loved exploring the setting with the binoculars and we learnt the names of lots of birds. We put our bird feeders in the garden and managed to spot magpies, pigeons and seagulls - the children really enjoyed this 👀

We then had a go at being birds ourselves by building our very own nests and we used tweezers as a beak to make it challenging and to help strengthen fine motor skills 🪺

On Friday the children worked together to make made their very own huge egg - it was messy and lots of fun! 🥚

We are hiring for 2 positions!
Are you Level 2/3 qualified? We are seeking someone fun and passionate about early years to join our lovely pre-school team on a daily basis, term time only. We are also looking for an experienced practitioner who we can call on for bank/cover, term time only.
Please see info in the latest Early Years Education & Childcare JOBS in Brighton & Hove and get in touch if you are interested, we would love to hear from you.