And just like that another academic year is done!

 We have fitted in so much and it has been so much fun!

We returned after the half term holidays to discover that our tadpoles had legs and it wasn’t long before they lost their tails and we had some tiny frogs looking for a new home. Boxted St Peter’s primary school offered them a lovely new home in their pond, so we had a little trip out to release them, they hopped away happy! Our beanstalks have continued to grow, as have our marrow plants, so some of the Little Owls team are going to nurture them over the summer and hopefully we may have some vegetables to harvest.

Our Little Owls loved sharing preschool with their Mummy’s and Daddy’s at our parent open week. It is great to watch the children guide grown ups to their favourite activities and share them together. Thank you to everyone that came, not just into preschool but to our forest school sessions too, we really enjoy seeing you all.

Part of our topic over the last term has been People That Help Us, we looked at so many different occupations and had a variety of role play set ups – Vets and Hospital being the favourites, but by far the most exciting event was the visits from the Police and Fire service. The visits were so interactive, the children could try on uniform, use some of the equipment and they got to share their knowledge of who to call in an emergency. During this topic we also talked about the dentist and good oral health, something that is so very important. We practiced brushing teeth, shared our experiences of dentist visits and experimented the effect sugar has on our teeth.

Our forest school sessions continued this half term with a variety of activities and new skills learnt – hapa zome, clay creations, bark rubbing, bug hunting, digging, swinging, climbing, balancing and of course campfires. Some of our younger children enjoyed sessions this term too as our slightly older Owls were enjoying school transition days.

Yes, some of our Little Owls are about to fly the nest. During their time at Little Owls we have been preparing them for the next part of their adventure – reception class! These children leave us with a variety of skills, including being independent, curious, resilient learners! We have welcomed teachers, teaching assistants, we have visited schools and as a team we love telling them how far each individual child has come on their journey. It is a big change for them and there may be a few wobbles, but they are all ready. To celebrate our leavers, we had a lovely ceremony with their families, drinks, cakes, photo opportunities and of course the song that they have all been practising so hard (the team may also be singing it in their sleep!). We really do wish them all the best for their next adventures and we will miss every single one of them.

We have lots of new Little Owls coming to join us in September and we spent a morning getting to know them and their families, we look forward to them starting their journey with us.

We would like to say a big thank you to all our families for your support, appreciation, kind words, gifts and cards, it really does mean so much to us as a team. We hope everyone has a lovely summer whatever you have planned and we will see you in September!