The highlight of the week was VE Day. We discussed the idea of eighty years with reference to people we know who are eight, eighteen and eighty years-old. Eighty years, being a long time, is how many years of peace we, in Britain, have had since the end of the Second World War.
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We raised the special union flag and lit a peace candle, prayed thanking God for peace and asking for peace.
The children stood perfectly for the national anthem. We were so proud of our little people.
How quickly May has come round again. It was time to make a decorated pole and erect it again. Žaneta Tomanová, one of our parents who is Czech, took the lead. (The Maypole is a bigger tradition in the Czech Republic than in England.)
Children chose their preferred coloured ribbon and we practiced saying the colour in Czech. We talked about the Czech tradition as well as the roots of words. The ribbons were attached to a ring, and the pole was raised. Then it was time to start the dance around the pole. Up you get and join the dance!
Adults reflected on the connections being made between countries, cultures and languages. (All very Froebelian!) And, we remembered Žaneta coming barely a couple of months ago to read to the children a beautiful book that tells of the string that connects us all.
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Miss Brigid came to work with us at Mr Noah’s twenty years ago. She became an essential part of the staff and the life of the kindergarten. Very sadly, and suddenly, she was taken from us. Mr Peter conducted the funeral service at Charing Crematorium on Wednesday 2nd April.
The first week of the Easter term, we had a tree planting ceremony. A hole had been dug for a memorial magnolia tree. Notes made of memories of Miss B were read and each one was placed in the hole by the author (adults and children).
The tree was planted and everyone had the opportunity to add some compost around the foot of the plant.
So often we have heard Miss B remind us of the first of the nursery school values: ‘Loving one another’. Words she spoke as a challenge or as an encouragement have been mounted and displayed in the outdoor dining room – her domain. She ‘being dead, yet speaketh.’
Advent Term 2024 has begun with three events that have required sensitivity to present in age-appropriate ways. We want children to engage with difficult issues without fear.
The first challenge after the half-term break was to share with the children news of Patsy, the duck’s death. We held a simple but moving burial service. The children saw the remains of Patsy in the cardboard coffin. Psalm 23 was read, and the coffin was placed in the grave with the words, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then, children were given the opportunity to shovel some soil into the grave.
The very next day was Guy Fawkes Night, and we believe in participating in national events and celebrations as a means of engaging with the wider community. So, the story of Guy Fawkes and the plot to kill King James 1 was recited with a suitable sketch. Then, in the afternoon, a fire was lit, and a paper effigy burned.
The third and most important memorial was that of Armistice Day. Children made a display of poppies, the story of the First World War trenches was recounted, and then silence was observed at 11 a.m. The little people were amazingly respectful as they heard a bugle rendering of the last post, stood for the silence, and listened to the reveille. It was another very special occasion.
Young children cannot process all of this cognitively, but they can sense the events and offer appropriate responses.
Children as young as three-years old have been able to identify a range of wild flowers. It all started with regular visits to Sissinghurst Castle where one can observe an attractive seasonal display of the flowers from the garden.
It had to be reproduced for the children, and so the work was done one weekend.
Once there was a display of the fornight’s prevailing wildflowers, the children engaged in a way that outstripped all expectations.
The field was prepared and the scene set for a sacred story from the life of Christ. Six water pots are the clue to which gospel narrative was the focus for the occasion.
The one important question mark over the event was what the weather would be like. Could it possibly be dry for a 3 o’clock gathering? That was an issue that called for prayer.
In fact, the rain was banished for all but a few minutes, and the afternoon ended with beautiful sunshine.
Mr Peter spoke of the highlights of the year, noting the Education for Sustainability award received and celebrated by raising a UN global goals flag, and the new staff team that had become established since Christmas.
The children sang their songs and portrayed the story of the wedding feast at which Jesus turned water into wine. Their final song and the essential message was ‘A little talk with Jesus makes it right.’
It all went off beautifully, culminating with the presentation of books on ‘Noah’s Ark’ to those graduating to pimary and prep schools.
A gift of £300 was presented from the parents to buy equipment, and a further £200 was raised from the sale of cakes baked for the occasion.
One of the graduates preferred not to be on stage at the crucial moment, and another could not be present on the day. We pray God’s blessing on all the children leaving at the end of the term.
On 6th June 2024, we talked together about what happened eighty years ago when British soldiers landed on the Normandy beaches. As across the country and all over the world D-Day was remembered, we raised a special commemoration flag and sang the national anthem.
For many years, Mr Noah’s has been committed to eco-school values. We hold the eco-school silver award and frame our policies in keeping. So we welcomed the opportunity to enter the Education People’s Education for Sustainable Development award scheme.
We wanted to celebrate boldly and give the children something memorable to mark gaining the award. Here was the gesture: we put up a flagpole and hoisted a flag bearing the United Nations’ seventeen global goals.
It has been great fun, and this is only the beginning of the pursuit of sustainability values.
Thank you to staff, most of whom have worked on this project since our initial training years ago. And thank you to past and present parents who have supported their children by encouraging them and helping them complete some outstanding work in their SDG booklets. Keep up the good work!
The first evidence that there had been mischief at Tarly Pit was that, yesterday evening, the distinctive mailbox was uprooted and thrown across the site entrance.
The damage done to the box is self-evident.
The police were immediately responsive to a call to report the incident. They said that a member of the forensic investigation team would be at the school within ten minutes. The van appeared on time. Material was taken for the sake of fingerprints.
Only in this morning’s daylight could the extent of damage be assessed. Then the clearing up began.
There were wood shavings and compost scattered liberally around the plat. The furniture on the field had been overturned or slung around. Most of it was not too difficult to begin to remedy. But …
this picnic table with benches is heavy oak; the ground was muddy and very slippery. Down went Mr Peter, head-over-heals rolling in the mire. Fortunately, the table did not land on him, but the spectacle would have brought laughter to the culprits – and any other witness.
No, unlike the winter of 2022, we did not have a week of snow thick on the ground. But we did cope (very well) with a spell of low temperatures. That prompted the fires that the children so enjoy.
Staffing has been the critical issue, but we shall start next term with a renewed team, having said au revoir to Miss Izzy in July and now to Miss Eve, as they have gone on maternity leave. The blogs ceased through the Autumn because of the pressures, but there are plenty of stories to tell, and we hope to feature the new staff team in January.
Christmas preparations have been a joy. The children made a greeting card, which we had printed for sale to parents.
They heard the gospel birth narrative and learned Christmas songs to share at the Nativity Service, held at Cranbrook Congregational Church. If only we could post photographs of the children all dressed for their parts as they retold the ancient story! They sang out clearly and remembered their lines. They were a delight.
The wise men – all four of them.