Education

Usborne Books in North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 7th June 2013 in Books, Gifts, Guest Posts 0 Comment

I LOVE Usborne books. I was bought up on them and still have my first cookery book and gardening book, both of which are Usborne.

If you’ve never seen an Usborne book, I totally recommend looking out for them. I love that they have books for each age range and I love the baby books, especially the bath books.

I’m probably going to shoot myself in the foot with this, but we always scour every baby and children market or nearly new sale for cheap Usborne books. We picked up a bargain with the Apple Tree Farm books for £5 and the Phonic’s Reader books for £10.

I’ve been reading both to my little one since she was 10 months old. She could spot the duck on most pages by the time she was 14 months.

I also love the children’s story books. For older children there are a huge variety of subjects. We bought the first dictionary for my little one and she’s loved it since she was tiny. I really hadn’t expected her to pick if up, but she loves sitting there and pointing to the pictures and saying the words.

When she was tiny I would point to the words and she would try to say them. I’ve recently acquired the Spanish version of the first dictionary, so I can practice my Spanish whilst my little one practices her English!

The Usborne team don’t advertise publicise what they do, it’s all done via word of mouth. There are several Usborne “lady’s” in the area. Each month there is a deal on the books.

One of the best ways to get access to the books is to ask one of the lady’s to come and do an Usborne party for you. I loved these as a child as it meant my Mum got the yummy chocolate biscuits in for the other Mums!

I really recommend having a look at the Usborne books. Once we’ve moved house and have some more space, I’m really looking forward to having an Usborne Party. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with my friends and have a good nose through the books and get some birthday and Christmas presents sorted.

You can’t go wrong with an Usborne book, I can vouch that they last for years 😀

www.Usborne.com

Willowdene Holiday Club 2012

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 1st November 2012 in After School Clubs, Half Term, Summer Holidays 0 Comment

Willowdene Holiday Club for children aged 5 -12 yrs

For school aged children Holiday Clubs are now held at Christ Church (opposite Willowdene) meaning we have more space and better age related activities for the school aged child. We are open every school holiday and Four Lanes Inset days catering for children aged 5-12 yrs **

(** Reception aged children will be given the choice either to attend the Holiday Club at the Nursery, or at Christ Church).

Activities are planned and prepared according to the children’s interests and each day is different. We introduce play that challenges the children’s imaginations e.g. den making, and with the woods around us we are able to go on Nature walks, bug hunts and picnics. We also take the children to the Library and local parks.

Some activities the children have enjoyed this summer include
• Fashion designing with a variety of materials
• Picking blackberries and making them into delicious pies
• Test Lab Tuesday – scientific experiments with Tizzy the test lab technician
• Walking to the shopping centre to buy the ingredients to make our own lunches.

Holiday Care also available for Nursery aged children at Willowdene Nursery School.

Ring 01256324191 or email willowdene@btconnect.com for further details! www.willowdenenursery.org.uk

Are there any other Holiday Clubs that you know about in the area?

Early Education Leaflets – Free Resources!

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 19th June 2012 in Education, Free 0 Comment

I stumbled across these Early Education (0 to 5 year olds) leaflets late last year. The leaflets can be downloaded for free and most are short. I recommend reading them because they give some great suggestions, tips and ideas for helping parents and carers understand and help babies and children learn. I particularly like that each of the PDF documents has a reading list and a list of useful contacts and resources relevant to each theme.

Most of the documents are less than three pages long, although the Development Matters document is a very long document, but fascinating reading.

The list of free leaflets you can download are:

Development Matters
Science all around
Making their mark – children’s early writing
Helping children cope with change
Young children and technology
The road to reading
Making a noise for music
Going out to play and learn
Toddlers and very early learning
Questions and answers
Helping children with their behaviour
Children as artists
Babies – learning starts from the first day
Maths is everywhere

You can find the link to these leaflets HERE. Click on the “View All” arrow under the Free section.

School catchment finder, Report on school admissions and Ofsted Reports in North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 19th September 2011 in Education, School 0 Comment

Following on from the Education posts there are some very interesting links below (Thanks Su for forwarding them on!).

I don’t want to scare anyone but you may be intrigued to see where your little one falls in the catchment lottery for when they start Infants school in North Hampshire and where they will be allotted for Junior’s and Senior schools: School catchment finder

The report on School Admissions is a really interesting read, particularly at the end of the report where it is listed the number of children that have been accepted into the school and whether brothers and sisters have also been accepted: Report on school admissions

If you have a little one starting nursery soon you may also find the following website useful as you should be able to check up on the Nursery’s latest Ofsted report.

You can also find Infants, Juniors and Senior schools Ofsted reports from this linky: Ofsted Early years and Childcare

Sorry if I’ve scared anyone but I hope you find the above useful. It would be great to hear your feedback…

Montessori Education

Waldorf Steiner Education

Bookstart

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 10th September 2011 in Books 0 Comment

Bookstart is a national programme that encourages parents and carers to enjoy books with children from as early an age as possible. Bookstart gives the gift of free books to children at three stages in their early life, along with guidance materials for parents and carers. The scheme enjoys sponsorship from around 25 children’s publishers, Red House Books and government funding via the Sure Start Unit.

Visit the Bookstart website for more information

Rhymetimes Fun and free Rhymetimes for babies, toddlers and their parents or carers are organised in many libraries around the county. They aim to encourage parents and carers to share action songs and rhymes with babies from birth onwards.

Find a baby rhymetime

Waldorf Steiner Education in North Hampshire

Posted by Louise NorthHantsMum on 6th September 2011 in Education, North Hampshire, School 0 Comment

There are no Steiner education schools in Basingstoke. The nearest schools are listed below:

RINGWOOD Ringwood Waldorf School (1974) EC to 10 (270) Folly Farm lane, Ashley, Ringwood, Hampshire BH24 2NN DfE: 835/6022 Tel 01425 472664 mail@ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk http://www.ringwoodwaldorfschool.org.uk/

Interest Groups (non-accredited by SWSF) HAMPSHIRE Wildflowers Kindergarten, Kilmeston Village Hall, Alresford Hants SO24 ONR Enquiries: Brockwood Park School, Bramdean, Hants SO24 0LQ Tel 01962 771458 helena@wildflowers-kindergartens.co.uk http://www.wildflowers-kindergartens.co.uk/

What is Steiner education?

Steiner education…

Works for all children irrespective of academic ability, class, ethnicity or religion;
Takes account of the needs of the whole child – academic, physical, emotional and spiritual;
Is based on an understanding of the relevance of the different phases of child development;
Develops a love of learning and an enthusiasm for school;
Sees artistic activity and the development of the imagination as integral to learning;
Is tried and tested and is part of state funded, mainstream provision in most European countries;
Is respected worldwide for its ability to produce very able young people who have a strong sense of self and diverse capacities that enable them to become socially and economically responsible citizens.

Who was Rudolf Steiner?

Rudolf Steiner (1861 – 1925) was an innovative academic born in Austria whose ideas founded the basis of Anthroposophy. He applied his ideas to education as well as agriculture, medicine, architecture and social reform. The Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship acknowledges Rudolf Steiner as the founding inspiration of modern day Steiner schools, but does not promote Anthroposophy or endorse every aspect of it.