The summer holidays have arrived! And yet again we have fitted so much into this half term, busy, busy, busy!

We literally hit the ground running at the beginning of the half term with our fun run. A great event supported by all our families and the fantastic Boxted Runners. The Little Owls were incredible and it was mentioned a few times how fast they were! They enjoyed the warm up and cool down but the excitement of the race, the cheering and support was what really spurred them on! Thank you to all of their sponsors, they raised an incredible amount to enhance our provision.

 We had a wonderful visit from Essex Therapy Dogs. It was such a wonderful experience, Maisy and Geoff really showed the Little Owls the benefits of therapy dogs, they laughed at their tricks, smiled at their cheekiness with treats and relaxed with them to create a really calm environment. We also had a visit from tiddles the tortoise, the Little Owls enjoyed watching him move around slowly and munch on his lettuce, they were all very calm and gentle, so they didn’t scare him.

We saw some warmer weather this half term and the garden was a hive of activity. We kept the plants hydrated so the flowers blossomed, and we watched our tomatoes ripen, they were delicious for snack. The Little Owls also enjoyed staying hydrated with lots and lots of water play, splash pads, fishing, tipping, pouring, floating, sinking, splashing and squirting are just some of the ways they enjoyed the water. The garden also saw the Little Owls getting creative and taking risks, they have really enjoyed building their own obstacle courses, challenging themselves and their friends, sometimes the courses trailed all around the garden, a real collaborative effort.

This half term was also about getting some of our Little Owls ready for their transition into their reception classes. We had lots of activities about feelings and emotions, playdough faces, puzzles, self-portraits and stories. We included some book bags and uniforms in our dressing up, always promoting and encouraging their independence. We had lots of visits from new teachers and the Little Owls team also visited some schools with the children to offer a smooth transition. It is always quite a sad time for us, but we are also incredibly proud of them all. We had a wonderful leavers celebration, that we shared with our 2025 leavers and their families. The Little Owls sang their leavers song beautifully and I’m not sure there was a dry eye in the house. We also said goodbye to some of the Little Owls team, Lisa, Sarah and Caroline, they are leaving us to spend some more quality time with their own families, we will miss them and hope they come back to visit.  We are lucky enough to be welcoming 2 new members to the Little Owls team, Sue and Seren come to us with lots of experience and they have been coming into preschool over the last few weeks to get to know our Little Owls and their families and they are both excited to start their new roles in September.

At the end of term, we welcomed all our new Little Owls and their families into preschool for an “All About Me” morning. The team met their new key children and got to know all about them, and everyone had the chance to play and see the wonderful activities preschool has to offer. It was a lovely relaxed morning and left everyone really excited for September!

I could write so much more but I will leave it with just the highlights!

We hope everyone has a fantastic summer, don’t forget to add your adventures to tapestry, we love to share them with the Little Owls when we return.

We return on Monday 8th September 2025, see you then!