#Chances4Children: Nursery marks reopening with mini Glastonbury
Fiona Simpson
Thursday, July 9, 2020
A nursery group has welcomed children back to its settings with a range of creative activities including a mini Glastobury to help settle them back in education.
CHS Group’s Sunflower Nurseries, based in Cambridge and Cambourne, marked the legendary festival’s 50th anniversary with a child friendly version of their own.
The event, at the Cambridge centre, saw staff and children don festival-themed clothing and play with musical instruments, help put up tents and have a go at welly throwing.
A positivity tree popped up at Sunflower Nursery in Cranbourne to which staff and members of the community can add motivational messages for children and families.
Both Sunflower Nurseries continued to care for children of key workers during lockdown, including children from other nursery services which had to temporarily close.
During this time, the Sunflower Nurseries supported the children to create an array of rainbow drawings, and at Cambourne, children were tasked with decorating a stone which will form a stone ‘caterpillar’ in front of the nursery.
For the children that were being cared for at home, the staff at both nurseries have been able to keep in touch with families using an app that enabled them to share videos, pictures and messages for parents to show to the children, and which enabled parents to share videos with the nursery staff.
Danielle Main, manager of the Sunflower Nursery in Cambourne, said: “It’s certainly been a strange few months but it’s fantastic to now be able to welcome back more of our children to the nursery.
“The technology we’ve had in place since the very beginning of lockdown has been invaluable and it has made it so much easier now as the children transition back to nursery life.
“By sharing videos with our families – whether that be a staff music video, a yoga class, or a read along of a story – we’ve been able to keep connected with the children and maintain a level of familiarity with them. We appreciate it’s still a very uncertain and difficult time for everyone, and we’re now working hard to keep spirits up and provide some form of normality for our little ones, while ensuring the safety of everyone at the nursery.”
