Firstly a quick update on some staff news.

As most of you are already aware Helen has been very poorly over the last couple of months. We (staff and children) have all missed her and were very sorry that she was unable to be at the Christmas Play. We hope that Helen has a restful Christmas and look forward to seeing her again in the New Year. Marie has also had to take some time off but we are delighted that she is now back with us. We had all missed her cheerful smile.

Now to bring you up to date with all the Playgroup news.

With both Helen and Marie off we had lots of new faces helping out at Playgroup. The children have been excellent at coping with the changes which for them must have been very unsettling. We were so lucky that we could call upon Jane, Natalie, Gina, Vix and Joy at such short notice. They have all been fantastic to work with and have helped us to keep Playgroup running so well. We are also delighted that Jane and Natalie will be staying on as members of the Playgroup team next year. Gina and Vix, who work at the After School Club, will also be helping out as bank staff. Thank you to all the parents that offered help and support and a big thank you to the rest of the staff for all their hard work and support.

Now to find out what we’ve been doing:

Our first topic was “me” - we found out about our bodies, favourite food, television programmes and toys.  We looked at our village with trips around Kineton, looking at new houses being built. We moved on to nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The children loved learning how to play a fiddle. The role play area turned into the three bear’s house which, being a painted cardboard box proved very popular. The witch’s house in the Hansel and Gretel story was also a favourite - Battenberg cake and liquorice allsorts!

The topic after the half term break was Light and celebrations. We looked at different sources of light - found out about electricity and what people used before electricity. We looked at traffic lights and street lights. The children loved the sensory area filled with cushions and mirrors. Bonfire night also featured during this topic. We made a 3D bonfire, rockets, pictures of sparklers and learnt how to be safe with fireworks.

We then moved on to look at the moon, planets and stars. We almost made a 3D moon (which never quite got displayed in the quiet room), lots of planets and lots and lots of stars. We made star gingerbread biscuits, sparkly stars, and spray painted the Milky Way with a special treat of milky way stars at snack time.

The highlight for the children learning about space was using cardboard boxes as rockets – although one then turned out to be a tortoise shell and another box made a good place to hide during the tidy up line. Dressing up in the spaceman outfit was also very popular.

We then started to look at celebrations. We discovered why and how Divali is celebrated, what happens on St Nicholas day and started Advent. We have a lovely “Around the World” Advent calendar given to us by Helen. It is really testing my language skills – thank you Helen!

In the middle of our Christmas topic we had a visit from Zoo lab with a ‘Nativity Show’. We discovered what animals the shepherds and Wise men might have seen on their way to Bethlehem and what might have been in the stable. There was a frog, a cockroach, a snake, a tarantula spider and a rat. The children loved being able to touch the animals, we couldn’t touch the spider. Some staff members were not so sure about the snake.

The highlight of the celebrations topic was the Christmas Nativity Play – Special Star written by Rebecca Lawrence. We are so lucky to be able to have a play specially written for us. The children loved the songs as did the staff and parents. We had wondered how we would get all the children on the stage but you’ll be surprised what Carol can do on that stage. The children were absolutely amazing on the day. The costumes were wonderful - I had been looking forward to see how someone was going to make a duck costume. Baby Jesus appearing from the windowsill behind the curtain did cause a little laughter, but he was then well looked after by Mary.

  After the excitement of the Christmas play we could all relax at the Christmas party. The entertainer was ‘Mr Whizzy’ and he had all the children joining in. One of the children’s favourite tricks starred the rabbits – how do they get the rabbits to stay so still?

Following Mr Whizzy, Kat had some games for us to play - crossing a river with two pieces of paper that we then turned into snowballs. Then time for some excellent food prepared by Vicky, Lorna and Alison, who made all the cakes and biscuits to allergy-free recipes so that all the children could enjoy the same treats. Thank you all - the children and staff loved the food, especially the chocolate éclairs. It was then time for the highlight of the party; Father Christmas arrived with a box of presents. All the children spent time chatting with him as he gave them their presents - there was even time at the end for some Christmas songs.

We have also been busy making Christmas Cards and have started making presents. Then there are decorations to make – oh, when will it be Christmas?