Education - NorthHantsMum

NHM Readers recommend: Cooking classes for six year olds

Posted by juliet on 22nd February 2018 in Basingstoke, Children, Classes, Education, Food, NHM Readers, North Hampshire, Older Children, Things to Do 0 Comment

An NHM reader asked “Hello! I’ve been hunting for cookery workshops/classes to attend with my nearly 6 year old son. I’ve found options for preschool age but can’t seem to find anything in the area for his age range. He wants to make real food, not just decorate biscuits or cakes now. Do you know of anything out there? Thanks!!”

Thank you to all of the NHM readers who responded, these are listed below, in no particular order! Thank you also to Juliet who put this post together!!

Tot Cross Buns

Michelle said “Tot Cross Buns run by Allison Woolford. And now they’ve got Kerry on board too.”

Louise said “Tot Cross Buns is awesome!”

Kerry said “Please send us a message and we would be happy to talk to you about our Saturday kitchens which you and your son can come along too, we have lots of fun and are passionate about cooking and want to pass on this passion to children – giving them confidence with food and encouraging them to try new tastes and have fun in the kitchen with mum and dad. We look forward to hearing from you”

Cookery Doodle Doo North Hants

Alison said “My daughter loves Cookery Doodle Doo.. Highly recommended”

Katie said “Hi, I run Cookery Doodle Doo. For primary school aged children we offer the monthly Sunday Pudding Club. Drop your child off with us for 2 hours in Laverstoke and collect them proudly bearing a large pud to share at your family Sunday dinner. I also offer affordable private cookery lessons for any age child (and a group of their friends if liked) – why not get a group together for ad hoc or regular Saturday morning sessions?! They could make their own tea!”

Inspero

Becky said “Check out this page, it’s a charity that does fab cooking and gardening clubs”

Sarah said “Check out inspero. Kids gardening and cooking”

Newlyns

Lyndsey said “I’m not sure if they do many kids classes but Newlyns Farm Shop in Odiham have a cookery school & run some kids events that might be worth looking into”

Marie said “We struggled with this for my youngest. As a cake baker and decorator, and old school home cook, she needed more than the basic stuff at that age. Didn’t find anything, but stuck it out til this year, her 8th birthday, and she has a cookery class at Newlyns cookery school in Warnborough. My eldest has done classes there, and they’re amazing. 2/3 course meals!”

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NHM Readers: Suggested iPad Apps for 2 to 4 year olds

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 29th January 2018 in Education, Games, NHM Readers, Things to Do, Toddlers 0 Comment

In response to a question from a NHM Reader, I asked the Friends of my “Louise nhm Smith” profile on Facebook “What suggested iPad Apps (Free or Paid) for 2-3 year olds and 3-4 year olds do people recommend? Specifically educational ones, not games.” . (Thank you very much to everyone who responded!)

Please note, these are in no particular order!

1. Minion Rush

Despicable Me: Minion Rush on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

Lisa says “If you put in children’s number games there is one kids can trace in the number, there’s the same one for letters…. My son likes Minion Rush it helps with hand eye co-ordination”.

2. Todo Math

Todo Math on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

Claire says “Todo Math is brill”.

3. Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds App – Jolly Learning Jolly Learning

As recommended by Jason.

4. Bugs and …

Bugs and Buttons on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

Bugs and Numbers on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

Bugs and Bubbles on the App Store – iTunes – Apple

As recommended by Susan.

5. Pirate phonics

Buried Treasure phonics game – Phonics Play

As recommended by Susan.

Basingclog

Posted by juliet on 15th January 2018 in After School Clubs, Basingstoke, Children, Exercise, Group, Older Children, Things to Do 0 Comment

Basingclog is not a dance school, but more of a club.

We’ve been dancing in the Basingstoke area for the last 25 years, and although we mostly have adult members, we do welcome young people from age 14.

During the autumn and winter months, we practice at Sherfield on Loddon village hall on Tuesdays, 8-9:30 pm, and in the spring and summer we dance out at area pubs and the occasional festival.

We welcome beginners and can teach people all they need to know about morris dancing. Our website is www.basingclog.org.uk

Looking back at 2017 on NHM

Posted by webmaster on 31st December 2017 in Family, My Experience, NorthHantsMum, School, Year One 0 Comment

2017 has been a tough year. This year has challenged me more than I ever expected. I’ve learnt many, many lessons during this year.

I’d love to be doing a positive post about how awesome 2017 was, and it was in many, many ways but it was also one of the toughest years that I’ve been through since I started NHM. I thought 2016 was really tough but it was NOTHING compared to this year.

There is so much that I want to say about 2017 but it’s too personal to share. I’m still processing a lot of things that have happened this year and it feels like this is going to take a while longer.

But, I’m still here, so are you and so is NorthHantsMum and I’m very, very grateful for that.

2017 on NHM

January

“Joyful January”. I’d love to try this again in January, so if you are interested, please let me know!

I was asked to be a sponsor again for Basingstoke Track Party, I finally got around to putting together an FAQ for the site, and this heartbreaking post was sent to me by a local Mum.

February

Miss NHM and I were verbally attacked by another parent on school property. It wasn’t a very nice experience but I’m very proud of myself for not swearing at her. Miss NHM was very shaken up after this for a long while after. I wanted to blog about this but we had too much going on at home.

March

With everything going on in my personal life it was a struggle to publish every week day. I am incredibly grateful to the AWESOME NHM Support Ladies who have really come into their own this year and helped me out immensely on NorthHantsMum.

April

I dealt with a Domestic Abuse situation via NorthHantsMum. This was waaaay beyond what I ever expected to be covering on NHM and I found it a very stressful situation, even when it wasn’t happening to me.

May

Miss NHM was diagnosed with a lifelong autoimmune disease. The floor fell out from under our family.

June

NorthHantsMum turned 6 years old.

Mr NHM was the best man at his best friends wedding and we had an awesome day!

July

We discovered that Miss NHM was being subject to abuse by one of her Teaching Assistants. The schools behaviour in response to this, particularly the Head teachers, was despicable.

My friend Sue took Miss NHM and I to see our first #SittingwithJane bench.

The school holidays started. NEVER have I needed the school holidays to start than I did this year.

August

Miss NHM started to heal and wasn’t quite as anxious or stressed as she had been, mainly because she wasn’t at school.

I came up with the inspired idea of keeping a #SittingwithJane bench in Basingstoke. The irony is, this was one of my goals at the start of 2016, to have a bench in a public place that Mum’s and their children could use to meet at.

Unfortunately, with everything going on in my personal life, I dropped the ball in 2016, so when it fell into my lap in August 2017 it just seemed so perfect.

The whole bloody project nearly broke me.

Next time I decide to take on a project of this size, with a seriously sick child, a full time job in part time hours and the summer holidays – will someone slap me please?

September

In the first week of September. we removed Miss NHM from her school as it was clear they weren’t going to listen to us or the medical profession, my Mother had what they now think was a mini-stroke, we moved Miss NHM to another local school, the washing machine, boiler and my car all broke and on the Friday I had the #SittingwithJane auction, which the Teaching Assistant who had been subjecting my daughter to abuse was also at.

It was a very, very, very stressful week.

But we got the bench. YAY! Congrats again to those winners of the competition.

Huge thanks again to everyone who donated. I’m still waiting for the Basingstoke Discovery Centre to put up the plaque…

October

I sent out the first NHM Survey in over a year and had some AMAZING feedback from you all. Thank you!

It meant even more after everything that’s happened in the past two years, to know that my time isn’t being wasted.

I started the “Inspirational Mum’s” programme.

November

Myself and a couple of the NHM Awesome Support Team were very kindly invited to review Absolutely Karting. Which reminds me, I really need to write that post up! Opps!

December

I FINALLY sorted out the “subscribe” option on the NorthHantsMum.co.uk website. I’m not technical so this was a huge step forward, to work it all out and get it all sorted. So you can now receive all of the posts published in your emails. Double YAY!

I published a post about Y2 Autumn Term.

Final Thoughts

Normally I’m so upbeat and positive on NHM but I’m not very well today which isn’t helping and it has been a really, really, really tough year.

But I’m very grateful and thankful that as a family we are coming out of it and that you are all still here supporting NorthHantsMum.

I have no idea what 2018 will bring for any of us, but I do wish you all an AWESOME 2018.

For those of you celebrating tonight, have a great one! For those of us who will be in bed long before midnight, sweet dreams :-D.

My Experience: Y2 Autumn Term

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 22nd December 2017 in Additional Needs, Children, Education, My Experience, School, Year Two 1 Comment

I am absolutely delighted to say that Miss NHM’s Y2 Autumn term has been…AMAZING!!!!! She is THRIVING at her new school.

Finally, finally, finally she’s had a positive experience of school. WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Moving Schools

At the beginning of this term (September 2017), 4 days into the new school year, we removed Miss NHM from The Prison.

It became blindingly obvious that The Prison weren’t going to listen to anything that we, and the medical profession, were saying needed to happen for Miss NHM.

In May 2017 Miss NHM was diagnosed with a lifelong autoimmune disease. I’ve not discussed it on NorthHantsMum because it’s not something that should be discussed in a public forum and Mr NHM and I are still processing what this means. It was a massive shock and it’s been incredibly difficult to deal with.

In the final months of Miss NHM’s Y1 at The Prison, she was subject to bullying and abuse (I don’t use those two words lightly) at the hands of one of the members of staff (again, not going to discuss details in a public forum) and the school made things as difficult as they possibly could.

So, we made the incredibly tough and difficult decision to remove Miss NHM 4 days into the new term. I wanted to give The Prison one last opportunity to rectify things and they screwed it up massively.

Finding a new school

I spent a morning phoning round all of the local schools asking if they had any places left. Based on The Prison’s history I’d already gone to look at two local schools in June 2017. I was extremely disappointed to find that two other local schools that I phoned that Monday morning in September were quite rude to me when I mentioned Miss NHM’s disease and implied that they would not be able to support her effectively.

I was EXTREMELY delighted to find that there was one place left at a local school that I’d visited earlier this year. I was really, really impressed when I went to see the school which only a few years ago was under special measures. It was very obvious that the team in place were extremely passionate about what they were doing and their main objective was to ensure that children had fun at school, that they enjoyed school and that they learnt lots, not just educationally but emotionally and spiritually – the whole package.

I did a little dance when they told me that Miss NHM could start the following day. Actually, I did a REALLY LONG dance because I was sooooo relieved!!!!

They advised that Miss NHM could start the following day but I didn’t have time during the work day to get to the shops to get her the new school cardigan so she started on the Wednesday.

Starting a new school

Both of us were obviously quite nervous but the new school bent over backwards to ensure that both of us felt very welcome. The complete opposite of what we’d experienced before!

Within a week Miss NHM had made lots of new friends, including a best friend that she is “thick as thieves” with, as the teacher said at the first parents evening in October! lol.

Miss NHM settled in far better than I ever imagined she could. The difference in her behaviour after the first week was astounding. I had no idea what a negative effect The Prison was having on her.

Things just got better and better. The school have been soooo understanding and soooo supportive and everyone is so lovely and welcoming and HUMAN! Empathy and compassion is normalised (even with the reception staff!), which has been a massive shock as that’s definitely NOT the experience that we’ve had before.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!!!

Miss NHM’s reading has gone off the charts, she’s improving with her maths, her mental health has improved dramatically and although she is still showing signs of trauma and anxiety the new school have bent over backwards to support her.

I have been wracking my brains for the past term to try to find something that I don’t like about the new school and I just can’t! I love it ALL! I cannot praise the new school enough. This may be because of the dreadful experience that we had at The Prison so my expectations were very low already but I’ve spoken to several other parents at the new school and they love it too.

I’m so delighted, after an incredibly tough year, to say that we’ve ended on a real high. I no longer have to battle for an hour every morning to get Miss NHM to school, she happily skips in. No more dragging her through the door with the teacher’s help, she skips straight in without even looking back to say bye!

To see her happy to go to school every day has been a real revelation and to see her receive the support that she has needed since she first started school in 2015 has been such a relief.

So, FINALLY, I can report that we’ve had a very happy experience of Y2 so far. YAY!!!!!

Good Infant Schools vs. Bad Infant Schools

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 10th October 2017 in Education, My Experience, Reception Year, School, Year One 1 Comment

Before I start this post, I need to make it VERY clear that this post is a bit tongue in cheek, is based on my experience of only 2 schools (and therefore cannot be taken too seriously) and is entirely from my (a parents) perspective…

Mr NHM and I moved Miss NHM to a new school 5 days into the start of the September 2017 academic year.

I won’t go into the details on NHM, for obvious reasons, but we now refer to Miss NHM’s old school as “The Prison” and I will continue to refer to it as such, regardless of feedback from anyone. The way they treated my daughter and my family was despicable.

Needless to say, I’ve learnt a LOT about what a “good” infants school is like and what a “bad” infants school is like.

Several points below aren’t based on my actual experience, they are based on what I have seen and heard from other parents and children.

Good Infant schools vs. Bad Infant schools

A good infants school will have large, naturally lit classrooms.

A bad infants school will have tiny classrooms, the same size as my kitchen, which will be expected to seat 32 children in and will be very, very dark with barely any natural light. (Top tip, if visiting a new school for your child, ALWAYS go during day light hours so you can see what the natural light will be like for your child when they are imprisoned in the classroom for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week.)

A good school will allow children to play on the field.

A bad school will have a field that is entirely for show and sports day. Children will NOT be allowed to play on it, for their own safety (!!!).

A good school will give a 5 year old in YR1 two pieces of homework a week and will realise that family time is more important than more work outside of school.

A bad school will give over 6 pieces of homework to a 5 year old in YR1 and when your child doesn’t do all of this homework they are punished.

A good school will give a child the chance to get off the “thundercloud” and the child will not be permanently punished.

A bad school will put the child on the “thundercloud” for the rest of the week and the child will miss the most exciting part of the school week, “golden time” if they don’t do ALL of their homework.

A good school will not have the “thundercloud”, “sun” or “rainbow”.

A bad school will use the “thundercloud” to inflict intimidation and fear into small children.

A good school will give children the opportunity to move around during their “free” time.

A bad school will play films during “golden time”.

A good school will send messages to parents about things like nits and harvest festival collections.

A bad school will send weekly emails about the attendance levels for each class, messages that if you park in the wrong place you will be arrested and about how several children are wearing the wrong coloured coat to school.

A good school will have teachers who send the children in their class Christmas cards.

A bad school will not have teachers send the children in their class Christmas cards because the “personal touch” is not encouraged.

A good school will care more about the welfare of the children than children wearing EXACTLY the correct uniform, including the colour of socks and outdoor coat.

A bad school will NOT care about the welfare of the children and will only care that the children are wearing the CORRECT uniform and god forbid those who don’t have logo’d uniform.

A good school will have a variety of different classes including music and arts for all years.

A bad school will have only english, maths and science classes, with one class per term of “fun” stuff from YR2 onwards.

A good school will allow children to have their classes outside when the weather is over 28 degrees.

A bad school will force children to remain in a classroom that has no air conditioning when the weather is over 28 degrees, including no playtime or lunchtime play outside, because it is for their own safety as it’s too hot to be outside (!!!!!).

A good school will realise that children of infants school age require a rounded experience of life.

A bad school will only concentrate on attendance at school and will send you a “delightful” red letter each half term if your child’s attendance is below their requirements, regardless of whether your child has a serious medical condition which means they are more sick than “normal” children.

A good school will have extra classes after school like “forest school”, which are run by teachers and are free to attend.

A bad school will only have classes after school that cost an absolute arm and a leg for your child to attend.

A good school will have guitar lessons, Spanish lessons and rock steady lessons which will all take place during the school day.

A bad school will have NOTHING other than lessons for children to attend during the school day.

A good school will bend over backwards to ensure that your child is treated the same as other children in their class, regardless of their situation.

A bad school will single out a child if they have any extra requirements or special needs that don’t fit in with the schools vision of a “normal” child.

A good school will care greatly about a child’s emotional wellbeing.

A bad school won’t give a rat’s fig about a child’s emotional well being and will actually do everything they can to ensure that the child conforms to their expectations of what small children should be like, regardless of that child’s situation.

A good school won’t focus on the costs associated with supporting children with extra needs.

A bad school will ONLY focus on the costs associated with supporting children with extra needs.

A good school will have lovely receptionists that are also Mum’s who TOTALLY get it.

A bad school will have very grumpy receptionists who raise their eyebrows and grumble at you, for example, when you forget to bring paperwork back in on time and then proceed to make you feel like it’s you that’s back in infants school when you return said paperwork late.

A good school will have lots of pictures of happy smiley children on their website.

A bad school will have only have a picture of the head teacher on their website.

A good school will allow children to bring in anything they like for “Show and Tell”.

A bad school will ONLY allow your child to bring in something for “Show and Tell” that is related to the subject they are studying at that exact moment and if they try to bring in something else to show their classmates it will be confiscated.

What would you add to this list?

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Applying for a reception place (Year R) for September 2018

Posted by wendy on 8th October 2017 in Basingstoke, Children, Education, North Hampshire, Organising, Pre School, Reception Year, School 0 Comment

If your child was born between 1 September 2013 and 31 August 2014, they will be eligible to start school in the school year beginning September 2018.

Below are some useful links and information for those in the Basingstoke area that we hope will help make the whole process a little less daunting.

For more help and advice we have a Facebook group where you can ask questions and chat to other parents who are applying this year – Basingstoke 2018 YR R (NorthHantsMum). If you would like to join please email me at NorthHantsMum@gmail.com.

Applications are submitted via the Hampshire County Council website. They have all the information you need about the process here – How to apply for a school place

This post may also be useful for you if you have a summer born child: Summer born children (those born between 1 April and 31 August)

Dates for Open days for Schools Admission Sept 2018

Below is a list of schools in Basingstoke & Deane and the dates for the open days they have planned. Some schools may not be listed. If no dates are listed or the open days have already happened please contact the school. Please assume you need to book open days by phone.

School	Dates
Bishopswood	Nov 24^th 9.15
Bramley	1st November, 9.30-11.30
Burnham Copse	Oct 6^th 9.30
Castle Hill Greenbank (Winklebury) & Rooksdown	Oct 17^th 13.15 Nov 15^th 9.30 & 13.15 Nov 28^th9.30 & 13.15 Dec 6^th 17.00
Chalk Ridge	Open Days already completed
Chiltern
Cliddesden	By appointment
Fairfields
Four Lanes	Open Days already completed
Great Binfields	Oct 12th am Nov 7^th & 29^th pm
Hatch Warren	Tours at 9.30 & 13.45 Oct 10^th , 12^th , 17^th , 20^th , 31^st Nov 1^st , 7^th , 8^th , 13^th , 17^th , 21^st , 22^nd
Hook	Nov 9^th – 9.15
Kempshott	Oct 16^th 9.30 & 14.00 Oct 31^st 14.00 Nov 14^th 9.30 & 14.00 Nov 27^th 9.30 Jan 9^th 9.30 & 14.00
Kings Furlong	Oct 6^th 10.00 Oct 11^th 14.00 Nov 2^nd 10.00 Nov 17^th 14.00
Limington House
Manor Field	Oct 19^th 19.00 Nov 14^th 14.00 Dec 5^th 11.00
Maple Ridge
Marnel	Private appointment
Merton
Oakley	Nov 13^th or by Private appointment
Oakridge	Nov 7^th 9:30 Nov 14^th 14.00 Nov 24^th 9:30 Nov 29^th 14.00 Jan 16^th 9:30 Jan 18^th 14.00
Old Basing	9.15 – Oct 18^th Nov 24^th
Overton
Park View	9.30 & 13.45 on Oct 18^th,19^th Nov 2^nd18.00
Rucstall	Nov 7^th 9.00 & 13.00 Nov 9^th 17.00 Nov 10^th 9.00 & 13.00
Saxon Wood
Sherborne St John	By appointment
Silchester	Nov 7^th & 15^th
South View
St Anne’s
St Bede’s	9.15 – Nov 7^th, 15^th, 24^th
St John’s	10.00 & 14.00 – Nov 2^nd & 7^th
St Mark’s	Oct 12^th – 10.00 Oct 18^{th –}10.00 Nov – 1^st – 19.00 Nov 8^th – 10.00 Nov 13^th – 19.00 Nov 14^th – 14.00 Nov 16^th – 10.00
Tadley
The Priory	By appointment
Whitchurch
Whitewater	19.30 – Oct 18^th 9.30 – Nov 22^nd, 29^th, Dec 6^th
Winklebury	Oct 12^th 9.15 & 19.00

NHM Readers Recommend how to find out about primary school open days 2018

Posted by juliet on 29th September 2017 in Basingstoke, Children, Education, Family, NHM Readers, North Hampshire, Organising, Parents, Reception Year, School 0 Comment

An NHM Reader recently sent the following message “I was wondering if you could post on the NHM page asking fellow NHM’s how to find out about primary school open days for kids starting September 2018? I’ve no idea so we’d like to visit a few and don’t want to miss out!”

Many thanks to the NHM Community for your replies, which are below.

A Facebook Group was also set up, the link to which can be found here: Basingstoke 2018 YR R (NorthHantsMum). Thank you so much to Wendy for setting this up.

NHM Readers Recommend how to find out about primary school open days 2018

Louise Nhm Smith said “ I’m fairly sure that you have to check the individual websites of each school you are interested in. I might be wrong though…”

Louise Nhm Smith said “This link will be useful too: School Catchments

Rachael said “Yeah each school is different, their websites should tell you or call the school reception. It might be a little while before it goes on the websites”

Rebekah said “Usually the open days are October- Nov so check the school websites or ring the school mid September(give the school the chance to get back in the swing of things after the hols)”

Heidi said “If there is no open day information posted, make sure you contact the school directly to ask – our school does private tours, no open days…”

Leah said “Some schools only have open evenings & some only have open days & some only have private tours. I’d look on the websites of the schools you’re most interested in & if not on there call them up. I have 2 choices I’m putting down & know one of them anyway so don’t particularly need to attend open day. I’ll be calling or attending the other school open day but as it’s my local one it’s more than likely my son will go to that one. So scary they’ll be 4 and starting school next year!”

Stickerscape Name Labels

Posted by juliet on 16th August 2017 in Children, Clothes, Local Mum Businesses, School 0 Comment

Welcome to Stickerscape Name Labels

Stickerscape’s name labels are the perfect way to ensure that your kids’ stuff never gets lost! Of course name labels have to be practical, and withstand all that our little people can throw at them (as a British manufacturer of quality products we take this as a given), but at Stickerscape we pride ourselves on also making name labels that look fab! Having an image as well as a name is really handy for very young children as they don’t even need to be able to read their name to recognise their labels, and for older children it’s a fun chance to reflect a bit more personality.

The name label pack is ideal for labelling just about anything your children might carry into nursery, pre-school or school, plus their uniform too! In particular, we’d recommend them for use in shoes (e.g. plimsolls, ballet shoes, football boots), water bottles, lunchboxes, tupperware containers, rucksacks, book bags, pencil cases, individual pens / pencils, notebooks, folders – the list is pretty endless. This pack also includes two sheets of iron on labels, ideal for labelling your child’s clothing and uniforms.

About Stickerscape Name Labels

We keep things simple by offering 3 great value name label packs, so you can concentrate on the really fun bit of picking your favourite design! Simply choose from stick on labels, iron on labels, or a handy mixed pack combining both. Within each pack, a variety of different sticker shapes and sizes will make sure you’re ready to label just about anything. Plus our super tough stick on labels are fine to put in the dishwasher, microwave and freezer, whilst our iron on labels can happily withstand regular visits to the washing machine and tumble dryer. Full instructions are included in your pack.

Fundraise for your school with name labels

Join our school fundraising scheme to earn a fantastic 25% commission on all name labels ordered by parents – that’s up to £4.50 per pack sold! Quick, simple and totally free to get started – we provide flyers about the name labels for you to distribute to parents. Parents order online with your school ID code, and we dispatch orders directly to them. No need for you to collect order forms or money! For every £50 commission your school earns, you will also receive a bonus educational wall sticker (e.g. a number line or illustrated alphabet), perfect for using in the classroom or as a raffle prize! https://www.stickerscape.co.uk/fundraise-for-your-school-with-name-labels/

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK FOR 10% OFF ALL ORDERS!

Happy shopping and Happy holidays!

fi@stickerscape.co.uk

W: www.stickerscape.co.uk

Follow us: @Stickerscape

Like us: facebook.com/stickerscape

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Review 2017: Relax Kids

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 11th July 2017 in After School Clubs, Basingstoke, Children, Classes, Local Mum Businesses, Mums, Older Children, Pre School, Reviews of Things to do, Things to Do, Wellbeing 0 Comment

Kath from Relax Kids recently invited me to review one of her classes with Miss NHM.

I was one of the first people that Kath “practised” on a few years ago when she started out. I thought she was brilliant then so was very keen to see how she had developed and for Miss NHM to attend a class.

I saw that Kath was doing classes on a Sunday morning as a taster session to come along and find out what it’s all about before committing to a 5 week course, which was perfect for us. It wasn’t too early in the morning too, which was great. I asked my friend S whether she wanted to bring her son K along, and she decided that she wanted to check out the class too.

Kath sent me an email the week before the class detailing what would be happening for the hours class. It included things about what to wear for the session and a child protection policy that needed completing which is brilliant as it shows what a professional Kath is!

Kath follows a 7 step process in helping the children to relax. She was brilliant at explaining to the children what she was doing and the steps that they were taking.

A couple of people turned up late to the class which I always think is a bit rude but then remembered that some children find coming to classes very intimidating. Kath handled their lateness really well and explained things very clearly to everyone.

All of the exercises that Kath used were sooo clever! I love the “Smile to reach your stretch” moment. That was awesome to see Miss NHM stretch and expand. I loved the “hedgehog” and seeing Miss NHM in this position made me quite emotional! The Angry thoughts exercise was fantastic and just such a lovely concept.

I also REALLY loved the books that Kath used and have purchased two for home already as they have such wonderful concepts in them.

All through the class children are doing breathing exercises but they don’t even know it!! I particularly loved the “breathing in happy thoughts, breathing out sad thoughts”. I also loved the relaxing music that Kath uses and really want to ask her where she got it from as I think we could do with a copy of this for home! lol .

Miss NHM is quite a confident little girl at the best of times and I was very interested to see how she responded to the class. My favourite bit of the class was when the children were asked to write out what makes them happy. Miss NHM had written about 9 things within 2 minutes and I was uber proud that she knows what makes her happy and could express this.

I also felt quite privileged seeing all the children relax throughout the class, which was fascinating to watch. There was one little boy who really didn’t want to participate, but by the end of the class he was lying on the floor with the other children and you could see that he had got a lot out of the class even if he hadn’t been actively participating for most of it.

Tips

Book quickly because Kath’s classes sell out REALLY fast. They are very popular and she often has a waiting list!

Parents are allowed in the room. This must have been initially intimidating to Kath, having the parents watching, but she wasn’t bothered.

Rating out of 5

All of the little details were excellent, it’s very obvious that Kath is passionate about what she’s doing as such thought had been put into the whole class.

As you can see, I’m a HUGE fan of Kath’s work. Miss NHM got so much out of just that one class and talked about it for weeks later. I’m very keen to enrol her in a class when she starts Y2 next year!

Definitely 5 out of 5!!

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