February 2022

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Sharing the love at Westwood Day Nursery

Love was in the air at Westwood Day Nursery in Coventry as children and practitioners marked Valentine’s Day with a series of themed celebrations.

At the Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ Day Nursery on Westwood Business Park, pre-schoolers were delighted to showcase their creativity by designing cards for their loved ones and discussing the people that were special to them, before exploring sensory trays filled with items including hearts and petals.

Meanwhile, in order to show appreciation for her fellow colleagues, Westwood Partnership Councillor, Sarah White, arranged a spread of sweet treats for all to enjoy, as well as using her culinary talents to bake biscuits, which were sold to nursery families with all proceeds going to charity partner, Bliss.

Westwood Day Nursery Deputy Manager, Lyndsey Matthews explained;

“We had a lovely time celebrating Valentine’s Day and letting the people around us know just how much they mean. We are also thrilled to be raising money for Bliss this year who do incredible work for premature babies, and are looking forward to all the fundraising opportunities this will bring.”

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Imaginations run wild at Cedars Day Nursery

Children from Cedars Day Nursery in Leighton Buzzard have been showcasing their creativity with a series of exciting activities and festivities at the setting.

In anticipation for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the summer, children from the Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ Day Nursery on Mentmore Road were delighted to create their very own pudding to enter into the Fortnum and Mason competition, which encourages members of the public to design a dessert for Her Majesty.

Complete with raspberries and blueberries in the design of a Union Jack, pre-schoolers made a honey and tea flavoured tray bake, before watching a video about Queen Elizabeth and learning more about how the fruits they used were grown.

Inspired by National Storytelling Week and the new Chinese ‘Year of the Tiger’, children were also thrilled as Cedars Day Nursery Quality Manager, Jessica Price, transformed herself into a tiger for the occasion and re-enacted the beloved story of ‘The Tiger who Came for Tea’ for her captivated audience to enjoy.

Cedars Day Nursery Quality Manager, Jessica Price explained;

“The children had a brilliant time designing their Platinum Pudding and it was wonderful for them to see their ideas come to life, whilst also learning basic mathematical messages through weighing ingredients and baking. It was also great to role model an awe and wonder storytelling experience in such an engaging way.”

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Celebrating Chinese New Year at Windmill Hill Day Nursery

Festivities were well underway at Windmill Hill Day Nursery in Swindon as children took part in a range of themed activities to celebrate Chinese New Year.

From creating their very own ‘red pockets’ which are placed under pillows to bring good luck and fortune, to tasting an array of traditional foods including fortune cookies, noodles and prawn crackers, pre-schoolers from the award-winning setting on Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way were immersed in the festivities.

To further the learning experience, children were inspired to research tigers and their habitats to welcome ‘The Year of the Tiger’, before making Chinese bracelets.

Windmill Hill Day Nursery Manager, Lora Worthington explained;

“The children had a brilliant time celebrating Chinese New Year and this provided endless opportunities to showcase creativity. We believe it’s important to teach the children about a broad range of cultural events to give them a greater understanding of the world around them and celebrate diversity within our local community.”

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Greengables Day Nursery children inspired by Big Schools Birdwatch

Children from Greengables Day Nursery in Owlsmoor were captivated as they took to the garden to identify wildlife visitors, inspired by the RSPB Big Schools Birdwatch.

At the award-winning setting on Yeovil Road, pre-schoolers identified and marked down a variety of birds, the most common sighting being of pigeons and starlings, before showcasing their creativity by making their very own bird feeders and houses to encourage biodiversity, as well as finding out more about nests and feathers.

Greengables Day Nursery Manager, Lyndsey Burns explained;

“The children were delighted to take part in the bird watching exercise and this provided so many valuable learning opportunities. We are now hoping to extend our activities around this topic and welcome some rarer breeds into the garden.”

At Greengables, children take part in sustainable activities all year round, from planting and growing vegetables to crafting with natural and recycled materials, leading them to earn a prestigious ‘Green Flag’, the highest accolade in the internationally-recognised Eco-Schools programme, which is awarded for exceptional environmental awareness and conservation practices.

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Grasshoppers Day Nursery introduce Bliss as new charity partner

Having spent the past two years raising vital funds for Cancer Research UK, dedicated colleagues from Grasshoppers Day Nursery in St Albans were delighted to embark on a new charity partnership with Bliss, for babies born premature or sick.

After raising a triumphant £3,234.29 for CRUK through initiatives such as fancy dress days, sponsored walks and bake sales, the team from the Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ Day Nursery on York Road introduced the new year-long charity drive to supportive families with bespoke Bliss biscuits and information on the worthy cause.

To kick-start proceedings, Grasshoppers Business Administrator, Hannah Miller and Team Leader, Lauren Ringrose have been selflessly knitting hats for premature babies which will be donated to a local neonatal unit, whilst upcoming fundraisers have been planned to tie in with Valentines and Mother’s Day celebrations.

Grasshoppers Day Nursery Manager, Jenny Pratt explained;

“Raising money for charity has always been incredibly important to us as a team and we are so grateful to our nursery families who are always generous in their support. Despite the past few years being tough all round, everyone has shown such kindness and consideration for those less fortunate, and we are now looking forward to seeing what we can achieve to help Bliss, who are such an important charity.”

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Lego Day at Green Park Day Nursery

There were smiles all round at Green Park Day Nursery in Reading as children enjoyed ‘Lego Day’, filled with themed activities and learning experiences.

From building design competitions and colour matching games to an experiment which saw pre-schoolers create Lego cars, before testing their travelling distances in a race using balloons, there were exciting opportunities at every turn for children at the award-winning day nursery on South Oak Way.

Meanwhile, as a thank you for their hard work and dedication to the children in their care, colleagues were treated to a ‘Chocolate Cake Day’, complete with homemade cake from Area Manager, Emma Kemp and other treats, as well as non-uniform day.

Green Park Day Nursery Deputy Manager, Grace Critcher explained;

“We had a brilliant time celebrating all things Lego with our pre-schoolers and this provided endless opportunities to showcase creativity, as well as build fine motor skills and practice basic mathematics. All the children were hugely engaged and it was great to see their imaginations run wild.”

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Cultural celebrations at Knowle Green Day Nursery

There were learning experiences at every turn for children at Knowle Green Day Nursery in Staines as they marked a range of cultural occasions at the setting.

Inspired by Grandmother’s Day and Grandfather’s Day which are celebrated the day after each other in Poland during January, children from the award-winning setting on Knowle Green were delighted to create greeting cards for their own grandparents, whilst listening to traditional Polish nursery rhymes at they made their masterpieces.

Following this, creating traditional hats, food tasting and using chopsticks were just some of the themed activities children enjoyed as they celebrated Chinese New Year. To welcome the Year of the Tiger, pre-schoolers also practiced Chinese letter and number formation, before writing a group letter to a sister Childbase Partnership nursery in China to form pen pals and find out more about their way of life.

Knowle Green Day Nursery Manager, Jen Ralphs explained;

“We’ve had a wonderful time celebrating this calendar of events, which has provided the children with so many rich learning opportunities and a wider understanding of the world around them. We are now looking forward to hearing back from our friends in China and finding out what we can learn from each other.”

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Getting close to nature at Windmill Hill Day Nursery

Inspired by the RSPB Big Schools’ Birdwatch, children from Windmill Hill Day Nursery in Swindon were delighted to make their very own bird feeders.

Having spotted an array of species in the garden, as well as squirrels and other creatures, pre-schoolers from the setting on Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, were keen to create bird feeder baskets, bottles and balls using lard and seeds in order to encourage more wildlife into the outdoor spaces for all to observe.

Using their fine motor skills, children crafted the feeders, before learning all about life cycles and how birds hatch from eggs to further the learning experience. The group went on to create ice balloons in different sizes to represent eggs of various animals.

At Windmill Hill, children take part in sustainable activities all year round, from planting and growing vegetables to crafting with natural and recycled materials, leading them to earn a prestigious ‘Green Flag’, the highest accolade in the internationally-recognised Eco-Schools programme, which is awarded for exceptional environmental awareness and conservation practices.

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Childbase Partnership employee owners raise £240,000 for charity

Childbase Partnership employee owners in 45 award-winning day nurseries are celebrating a record £240,000 for vital, life-saving cancer research following another year of active fund-raising for Cancer Research UK.

The largest single cash donation in Childbase Partnership fundraising history follows a £90,000 donation to Cancer Research UK in 2021 when employee owners agreed to adopt the charity for a second year running due to the pandemic.

Clare Lappin, Partnerships Manager at Cancer Research UK said in a message to employees and nursery parents:

“Over the last two years, your support has meant more than ever. Thanks to you we’ve continued funding the research that will save lives for years to come. COVID-19 may have slowed us down, but together we never stopped making progress.”

With the pandemic restricting usual fund-raising activities in nursery and Head Office, employee owners donned their running kits to take on a series of solo long-distance and ‘muddy’ challenges; shaved their heads and organized bake sales and children’s ‘Race for Life’ events to boost funds raised.

The charity was chosen to benefit from a fund-raising and awareness campaign following a company-wide vote and was accompanied by a range of other programmes to support NHS workers on the front-line of the pandemic and local food banks.

Lucy Thompson, Head of Charity Fundraising at Childbase Partnership in thanking colleagues and nursery parents for their extraordinary generosity, said:

“We always aim to make a real difference with our fundraising and awareness campaigns and this has never been more important than during the pandemic. We know that important breakthroughs in the field of cancer research are possible if the dedicated research teams get the financial support they need and so richly deserve.”

Childbase Partnership employee owners and nursery parents have raised over £3.3 million for charities and worthy causes since the company was founded in 1989.

Month: February 2022

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Sharing the love at Westwood Day Nursery

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Imaginations run wild at Cedars Day Nursery

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Celebrating Chinese New Year at Windmill Hill Day Nursery

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Greengables Day Nursery children inspired by Big Schools Birdwatch

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Grasshoppers Day Nursery introduce Bliss as new charity partner

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Lego Day at Green Park Day Nursery

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Cultural celebrations at Knowle Green Day Nursery

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Getting close to nature at Windmill Hill Day Nursery

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Childbase Partnership employee owners raise £240,000 for charity

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Cedars Day Nursery - Leighton Buzzard