New Ofsted website

Ofsted have launched a new website, where you can give your views on your child's school at any time during the year. 

The link is: http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/

Measuring

One of the children asked if we could measure each other, so thats what we did!

We found out who was the tallest, smallest and who was in the middle. 

Biscuits and ducks!

Yesterday the children made some biscuits.  They used the electric mixer (with support!) to blend the ingredients together.  They made lots of lovely star-shaped biscuits to take home. 

This morning Chris took some of the children to the duck pond to feed the ducks and to check on the cygnets.  There were 2 of them there again today. 

Facebook page

We have just set up a facebook page so if anyone has facebook it would be great if you 'liked' the page!

Its: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Home-from-Home-Childminding/301520343194803#!/pages/Home-from-Home-Childminding/301520343194803?sk=wall

I have also added it to the link list on the right.

Thanks.

Its week 1 this week

Parents evening Tuesday

Just to let you all know that we have parents evening for William at 5.05pm on Tuesday this week, so please could you all try to be on time that day.  Thank you :)

Operation Christmas Child

We have decided to collect items to send a few shoe boxes for the above charity.  I have requested some leaflets from the charity which will hopefully be sent over the next few days.  It would  be fantastic if you would all donate some items for this worthwhile cause.  Please see the following link for what items to include: http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/what-to-pack

More details to follow when we get it. 

Thanks very much. 

Week beginning 10th October is week 3

Apple crumble

The children made a delicious apple crumble today.  They peeled and chopped the apples, added a little bit of sugar and then cooked them until soft.  They then sprinkled crumble mixture on top and cooked the crumbles in the oven.  They had them with ice cream for pudding.  Yum!

Apples

We picked a lot of apples from our tree today.  We planted a pip when Charlotte and Alice were young and are now getting apples from the tree that grew.  There were some that were very high up, so Chris had to help!

We collected them all in the trolley.

Afterwards, Joel had the important job of counting them all.  There were 14!

Later this week we are going to peel and chop them and then make an apple pie or crumble.

Autumn leaves

We have been talking about the trees in our garden and the colours of the leaves.  We talked about how they change colour and then will eventually fall off.

We then made our own beautiful autumn pictures using sticky foam leaves.

This week is week 2 of our menu

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Water play

We are making the most of this beautiful weather and have had the water in the garden this morning. 

Spare clothes

Please send spare clothes for your child that still fit them in case they do have to change into them.  :-)

Walk to the prom

We had a walk to the promenade this morning to have a look at the illuminations.  The children had a good run/walk alongside them, stopping to get a better look every now and then!

Safeguarding - next steps

Siobhan is on a 6 hour training course over 2 evenings this week - Tuesday and Thursday.  It will cover aspects of safeguarding children and detail what happens once social services become involved. 

This week is week 1 of our menu

Fairhaven Lake

We visited Fairhaven Lake today.  We took some bread to feed the ducks and we visited the RSPB centre, where we listened to different bird songs and saw lots of different sorts of birds.  We had a lovely walk around the lake before going out for lunch.

After lunch, we visited Pets at Home to look at all the animals.  We saw rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and lots of fish.  We bought some wild bird food and came home to feed the birds in our garden. 

Stammering awareness training

I am attending a course on Monday evening at the City Learning Centre which will provide information about stammering.  If anyone has any questions about this subject please don't hesitate to speak to me.