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.
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!
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.
The long coronation weekend started early for our children when we marked the national event on Friday morning. The scene was set with the union flag, and a throne and crown waiting for the monarch. The children were so respectful and responsive to the sound of the national anthem.
The crown did not fit any of our children. Clearly, it was not intended for them. So they made crowns of their own to wear for celebration.
At the other end of the month, we had a Czech visitor to share a maypole. Children chose a coloured ribbon with which to decorate the wreath. There was the rehearsing of the names of colours in Czech before the pole was erected.
Then it was time to dance around the maypole.
We were inspected by OFSTED in January, as recorded in an earlier blog post. Now the report has arrived by email. It is gratifying to be judged ‘Outstanding’, but there is so much more than could be observed on one cold winter’s day.
The inspector missed most of the normal activities on the plat because we sought the warmth of the sunshine on the field.
Then there are the log stepping stones in the woods which are so good for the development of balance, strength and awareness of the body. But we hadn’t constructed it in time.
And there has been the processing and spreading of compost – all that potential knowledge of the world.
This activity deserves a blog post in its own right.
Never mind, we are grateful that the inspector liked what could be seen on the day in question. Well done, staff! Thank you, parents for your generous support, and all those who pray for us.