early years alliance - Volunteering

Celebrating the wonderful world of books!

sarah.evans — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 11:56:23 +0000

Here's our round up of World Book Day celebrations, including some of the fantastic creative activities �� member settings enjoyed on the day, with the classic We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen this years' particular favourite story for settings to celebrate. We also asked the ��'s senior management team to share their own best-loved children's stories. Despite some less than co-operative weather across much of the country, lots of �� members shared their creative World Book Day celebrations with us - read all about them below!

Pebbles Pre-school
"Here at Pebbles Pre-school we chose to celebrate World Book Day, and went on our bear hunt a week late so that all our children were able to join in (as due to the snow we could not do it on World Book Day).

Our children and staff all dressed up as their favourite book characters and brought in their favourite books to share with each other, we also had very special guest (one of our nanny’s) come in and read to our children which they are thoroughly enjoyed.

As part of our bear hunt day everyone came to pre-school in their wellington boots and the children were read We're Going on a Bear Hunt before going on a bear hunt of their own, then later the children also had bear hunt themed activity’s to enjoy."

Paul Donaldson, Director of Human Resources chose Nail Soup as his favourite children's story:

"This is a traditional folk story about a traveller who wanders through the forest looking for a place to stay. A woman offers him her floor to sleep on for the night. He convinces the woman that he can make soup from a four-inch nail. My sons and I really enjoyed reading this story over and over again. It remains a favourite in our house – even the dog likes it."

Woodside Nursery
"To celebrate World Book Day Woodside have been on a ‘bear hunt’ in the garden...
They came across lots of obstacles along the way, long wavy grass, a deep cold river, Thick oozy mud, a big dark forest, a REAL swirling whirling snowstorm and a narrow gloomy cave.

The children couldn’t go over it, they couldn’t go under it so oh no, they had to go THROUGH IT!!!

They had lots of fun, following the story as they went around the garden exploring the different areas of the bear hunt. They splashed their way through the deep cold river, they squelched on through the thick oozy mud and they tip toed through the narrow gloomy cave.

They finally stumbled across something that had 2 big furry ears, 2 big googly eyes and 1 wet shiny nose... IT WAS A BEAR!!! They quickly ran back through everything and got indoors, hid under the covers and said...
"We’re not going on a bear hunt again!"

We made our very own bear hunt sensory bottles and bags - the babies loved exploring and playing with these. We also made bears out of chocolate playdough. The toddlers explored the bear hunt sensory tuff tray, interpreting the story themselves. The pre-schoolers practiced their writing skills from different phrases from the story. They also drew their own pictures from the book."

New woods Childcare

"Here at New Woods Childcare we ended up having 2 weeks of bear hunt activities due to having snow part of last week- we have had a few bears visit nursery and have left paw prints all over!

The children have all had great fun hunting for bears both inside and out, we had a teddys bears picnic in our pyjamas and made some yummy teddy bear crispy cakes."

Neil Leitch, our chief executive, chose In the Dark, Dark Wood by Jessica Souhami as his favourite children's book:

"In the Dark, Dark Wood by Jessica Souhami is my favourite children’s story. It’s based on a traditional rhyme that will be familiar to many ‘in a dark, dark, wood, there was a dark, dark house and in the dark, dark house' etc... I particularly like the suspense in this book, it really keeps the children on the edge of their seats and of course we all love the scary surprise at the end."

Oxhey Children's Centres

"Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great on the actual day but we managed to make masks with the families in our ladybirds session. We also read the We're Going on a Bear Hunt story with families in our busy babies session, using props to recreate the story. All the parents read the story alongside the staff member and this was a real success."

Round House Pre-school

"The snowy weather didn’t put us off from celebrating at Round House! We created indoor stations for the children, focusing on the different descriptive words in the story We're Going on a Bear Hunt, listening to the sounds and exploring the textures. We looked at light and shadows within our ‘cave’ and the children created a storyline from memory. At the end of each session the children went on an actual bear hunt on the field, in our real life snowstorm to find our ‘bear’- then of course to warm up we had hot chocolate and marshmallows."

Katharine Heeps, ��'s Director of Finance, chose Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp as her favourite children's story:

"My favourite children’s story is a picture book called Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp about the adventures of a boy and his beloved best friend, Horsie. I was given this book because I was inseparable from my toy ‘Horsie’ when I was small. It’s an exciting story of space adventure but I think it is the illustrations that make the book stand out. As you can see, I still have the book - and Horsie!"

St Mary's Pre-school

"While the snow put a stop to the planned hunt round the nearby nature reserve, the children were still able to read their most treasured books while dressed up as their favourite characters. Among those celebrated were The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Super Smile Shop, and Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Parent Demi Cutting said: “Although the weather wasn’t great and we couldn’t go on the bear hunt in the nature reserve it was still a lovely session which the children enjoyed. “The layout of the nursery and the activities that were set out were really good and they made a few of the children’s favourite books into activities, which engaged the children and kept them involved.”

��'s Director of Quality Improvement, Michael Freeston, chose Room on the Broom as his number one children's book:

"I love all the Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler books. The rhythm of the text, the glorious illustrations and each with a gentle moral message that children engage with instinctively.

My favourite is Room on the Broom. The story follows a friendly witch as she offers a ride on her broom to a range of animals. The witches kindness is repaid when they combine to scare off a hungry dragon who is about to eat her. I chose this book simply because there are a range of characters that allow me to practice lots of different voices as I read the story out loud. Also the line at the end of each chapter ; "the witch tapped her broomstick..." leads the children to shout the response ..."and whoosh they were gone." The book is fast paced and thrilling, definitely not one for calming down time in the setting."

Where next?

Happy children — taking care of young people's wellbeing

Planning an early years event - Picnic in the Park (part 1)

Planning an early years event - Picnic in the Park (part 2)

Hungry Caterpillars cooking group — Small Grant, Big Difference

Books mentioned in this blog

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

Nail Soup

In the Dark, Dark Wood by Jessica Souhami

Harry and Horsie by Katie Van Camp

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The Super Smile Shop by Joy Cowley

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

The �� Volunteer Awards – a surprising experience!

sarah.evans — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 12:34:38 +0000

Written for the Pre-school Learning �� by Nessa Rackham, �� Volunteer.

Last year, Nessa Rackham won the ��'s coveted Volunteer of the Year Award for her work in creating and running the Daisychains support group for parents. Here she tells us all about the experience - what it was like to be nominated, attending the awards ceremony at our Annual Conference in London - and taking home the trophy!

Getting into volunteering

Daisychains, a support group for families of pre-school children with additional needs, grew from the need of one family from the Children Centre asking for support for their 2 year old son, whose condition was quite rare and so no specific group met his needs and the mother felt quite isolated. At the time I was on the Advisory Board and, having had experience as a mum myself with a child with additional needs, I thought starting up and supporting such a group was something I could not only offer but felt quite passionate about. I soon found a team of volunteers who shared my passion and 3 years later they remain as dedicated and caring as ever. After about a year of meeting it became clear that the needs of the group would be best served if we established ourselves a small unincorporated and independent charity with our own board of trustees. This we did but remain working closely in partnership with the Children Centre. I believe most strongly that the best support for our families is through engaging with others in the community and building up supportive and integrated networks. Why duplicate what is already being offered, much better to signpost support and focus on and develop the unique response each organisation can make.

We now have more than 10 families attending regularly each week and are able to offer a listening ear during the week when needed too. We have recruited more amazing volunteers, mostly from the parents whose children have moved on to school but don’t want to leave daisychains! Of course, their own experience and care for new parents joining our group is invaluable. We are beginning to access different funding avenues which enable us to provide more specialised sensory toys for the children, family days out and trips, training and urgent pastoral support when needed. The sense of community that has grown within daisychains over the last few years has been extraordinary. It has largely been achieved through volunteers and families feeling a sense of belonging within a non-judgemental, safe, creative, honest and relaxed environment. Volunteers and families alike report daisychains as being the highlight of their week. We share a lot of laughter and tears together. Our biggest resource for support is each other and the time to come alongside in the moment.

The nomination

You could have knocked me down with a feather when Julie from our local Children Centre phoned to say I had been nominated for regional volunteer of the year for my work with daisychains. I didn’t even know such an award existed! To then be told my fellow volunteers at daisychains and the parents we support had been colluding and sharing stories behind my back was also somewhat bemusing. Having had a moment to think about it, I was deeply touched that those I come alongside each week considered what I share with them as anything other than ordinary because to me volunteering at daisychains really is just what I love to do. It is a huge joy and a privilege to be just one part of this amazing community of people and I certainly get far more than I give in so many ways.

But then Julie dropped the bombshell….you need to go to the Pre-school Learning �� East Division HQ in Swavesey, and have an interview as part of the selection process for the region…erm I don’t think so!! That all sounds far too terrifying and I certainly don’t want to talk about me, especially as I don’t consider what I do to be anything special! However, I was persuaded and a few weeks later Julie drove me so that there really was no escaping. I comforted myself in that having just spoken at a fund raising event for daisychains I could just share my photos and talk about the sessions. When Julie and I drove up to the �� office as per our satnav directions , we looked at each other aghast…it seemed we had in fact arrived at the Scoobydoo house! We soon realised our actual destination was a bit further up the street and we gave a sigh of relief as we were welcomed into a perfectly ordinary office. I was soon whisked off to “chat” to the lovely ladies from the �� team. I have to admit I had a great time, in fact Julie later asked me what on earth were we doing because she heard so much laughter coming from the room! It wasn’t at all like an interview but a most enjoyable conversation about the role of volunteers, support and community. Once I started talking about daisychains and the hope we had for the next few years I think it was difficult to shut me up!

"It really was a privilege to be sitting amongst these dedicated, caring and passionate people who are making such a positive difference to the children and families they come alongside each week."

It was a few weeks after I had a letter saying I had successfully passed through to the regional awards stage and was invited to a celebration lunch one Saturday in March. One person or group from each of the 3 categories would go forward to the national awards alongside representatives from the other 3 regions in the country. Again I was surprised to be put forward and then had a dilemma as the date for the regional awards was on my husband’s birthday, for which we had planned a day out. The �� team were so accommodating that they invited my husband and daughter along too and so we all attended and enjoyed a far better lunch than we had planned! It was a real treat to be able to meet with others from around the region in similar volunteering roles and hear the experiences of some inspiring speakers and be updated on current services and plans for the future. I was taken aback to be awarded the regional volunteer of the year and received a beautiful glass award inscribed with my name. It was especially moving to be able to share the moment with my family who always support the work of daisychains in so many ways too; from helping out at fundraising events to putting up with the creative mess at home as I prepare yet another messy craft activity!

The National Awards Ceremony

In June I met with some of the staff from local �� Children Centres along with one of my fellow volunteers, Judith, and we took the train up to London for the �� Annual Conference. There was a real buzz about the hotel and we thoroughly enjoyed looking at all the resources stalls. Once the conference got under way Judith and I were really challenged by some of the speakers. It was really interesting to be able to set what we did at our local level of volunteering within the wider sector context. We felt encouraged by what was being developed to particularly help families of children with additional needs and how many professionals and politicians were working tirelessly to raise the profile of the critical issues our families faced on a daily basis. However, we also felt disheartened by stories and statistics that indicated a real lack of accessible provision. Our resolve to continue to support our own daisychains families locally strengthened alongside an increased understanding of the importance of networking and connecting with the wider community to influence lasting positive change.

The afternoon session started with the national awards presentations hosted by Kate Garraway, the TV and radio broadcaster and personality. As each category was announced we heard about the inspiring work of all the nominated volunteers from across the country. It really was a privilege to be sitting amongst these dedicated, caring and passionate people who are making such a positive difference to the children and families they come alongside each week. I remember whispering to Judith next to me to comment on how awesome the nominees were so at least I wouldn’t have to go up on stage and make a short speech! However, I became aware of my name being read out as National Volunteer of the Year and I had a moment of numbness followed by shock and finally Judith screaming in my ear and pushing me on stage! My nerves soon disappeared as I was greeted by two very smiley pre-schoolers handing me a beautiful bunch of flowers and the award itself. I honestly can’t remember much of what happened next, I managed to string a few words together for the conference and get off the stage without tripping up! I then promptly burst into tears, so overwhelmed. I know the �� wish they could acknowledge every volunteer in this way and I feel so humble to receive this award on behalf of the hundreds of amazing volunteers who also give their time each week to help and support others.

The award has made a significant impact on our daisychains group by raising the profile of our group a bit more and this consequently helps with applications for funding. It has also been really affirming for our the families to feel recognised and valued in their community.

Today the two awards sit on my window sill at home and when the sun catches them they cast little rainbows across my living room floor, to the particular delight of my younger house guests, a reminder to me that simple gestures of help and care can bring real joy and hope to those around us.