Despite the rain, spring has arrived at Happy Days Nursery Exeter. The children have been making the most of it by getting their green fingers on. They’ve been planting various flowers and vegetables for the Happy Days garden.  

The Adventurers had a large selection of seeds to choose from to plant; Cucumbers, Carrots, Morning Glory, Sweet William, Godetia and sun flowers. After choosing their seed everyone discussed all the different things that plants need to grow.

This helps them develop their understanding of the natural world, appreciate it’s beauty and learn to take care of it. This is part of the Inquisitive & Ambitious Thinker aspect of our curriculum through the Let’s Grow Programme. Throughout the year the children have the opportunity to sow seeds, tend to the plants and harvest the produce, improving their understanding of where food comes from.

Emma is part of the Happy Days Nurseries & Pre-Schools team at Lyde Green and is currently raising money for Cancer Research. Her challenge is to walk 100 Miles in May. Starting yesterday, Emma managed to do 1.5 miles by doing laps around the garden with the Happy Days children.

She explained to them that she was doing a challenge where people give money to make poorly people better. They sang ‘grand old Duke of York’ throughout the march and loved it.

Emma’s only got £52 left to reach her £150 target, after already raising £98, with £16.25 gift aid.

Emma voiced ‘It’s a cause very close to my heart as my mum has had a very rare 1 in a million type of cancer 3 times and after a harrowing experience chemo and a coma, she is now doing really well. My nan passed away from cervical cancer. I have had pre-cancerous cervical cells removed. My uncle is currently battling cancer. My friend survived throat cancer. It is now 1 in 2 of us that will get this horrible disease. It was 1 in 4 only a couple of years ago.’

You can support Emma and this amazing cause by clicking here. No donation is too small, every little helps.

Happy Days, Swindon are celebrating having achieved the Woodlands Trust Silver Green Tree Schools Award.

The Green Tree Schools Award encourages outdoor learning and inspires children about trees, woods and wildlife. As part of their curriculum, all Happy Days Nurseries are registered for this award and participate in environmental projects within the Green Tree Schools Award programme, learning about the environment, how it impacts wildlife and what they can do to have a long-term positive impact on the planet.

At Happy Days, Swindon, the children have been recycling old batteries and milk bottle tops, making posters to remind everyone to switch off lights to save energy and planting willow trees!

Leanne Smith, Nursery Manager, stated, “I am immensely proud of the children for achieving this award, they have enjoyed learning more about the environment and what they can do to have a positive impact on the planet. Special thanks to Louise Harrison, Chloe Cuss and Courtney Mead for leading this programme with the children. We are now looking forward to working towards our Gold Award.”

For more information on Happy Days unique curriculum, click here. To book a visit at Happy Days, Swindon, click here.

On the 16th and 17th of April, Happy Days Salisbury created a fundraising event for a little boy with Haemophilia in their care.

Joshua’s mum said- ‘shortly before Josh’s first birthday last year he was diagnosed with Severe Haemophilia A. This is a genetic bleeding disorder in which it takes longer for bleeding to stop and bleeding can occur on joints without having had an injury. This came as a shock to us and marked the start of a lifetime of treatment and care, but we have received outstanding support from the NHS and Nursery in his care.’

Tuesday 16th April is Josh’s birthday and falls just the day before World Haemophilia Day. So to mark these occasions and to raise awareness of bleeding disorders, Happy Days nurseries & Pre-Schools invited the children to wear red on Tuesday 16th, raise money, share some tasty treats and talk about Josh’s condition.

Together with Josh’s mum, Happy Days Salisbury raised in total £224!

Messages from Lorna, Joshua’s mum – “A huge thank you to you all! We are overwhelmed by your support for World Haemophilia Day, it was amazing to see all the children and staff wearing red! You have helped us raise £224 for The Haemophilia Society! Thank you so much, it means so much to our family and will go along way to support others affected by bleeding disorders.”

If you feel able to donate to this incredible charity, please click here. If you’d like to learn more about Haemophilia, please click here.

Our Pre School children at Happy Days, Exeter, have been observing life cycles in action by introducing butterfly farms back in March. The children (and adults) have been able to watch the changes over time from starting off as caterpillars, forming their chrysalises and then transforming into butterflies!

It has been fantastic to see how this has supported the Inquisitive and Ambitious Thinker aspect of our Happy Days Curriculum; enhancing their knowledge of the natural world whilst also supporting them to be strong and confident communicators, learning new vocabulary such as chrysalis!

Throughout the past few weeks, the children have taken part in making predictions of what changes they might observe; sharing their ideas and listening to their peers. They counted how many caterpillars, chrysalis and butterflies there were and checked against their predictions.

To extend all the wonderful learning we have been doing about the life cycle of butterflies, the children enjoyed a ‘Let’s Cook’ activity. We enjoyed using chopping boards and knives to cut all the different fruits, vegetables and salami from the very Hungry Caterpillar story. We particularly enjoyed tasting all the different foods!

Yesterday the children had the opportunity to display their care and concern when holding a butterfly, linking to the objective of week 3 of our Positive Transition to School Programme. We then let them fly out into the garden to continue their life in the natural world.

Happy Days Nursery and Pre-School. Salisbury awarded a ‘Top 20 Nursery 2024’ Award by Daynurseries!

Happy Days Nursery and Pre-School in Salisbury is delighted to have been recognised as being one of the 20 top rated Nurseries in their region. based on published reviews on daynurseries.com from parents/individuals responsible for a child.

Our Top 20 Nursery 2042 Award is testament to all our colleagues who provide exceptional care, education and support to our children and families every day, their dedication and hard work is reflected in the reviews from our parents.

Julia Gale, Nursery Manager, stated, “I am delighted that our nursery has been ranked in the Top 20 nurseries in the area and I would like to thank all our parents who took time to write such amazing reviews for our setting. I am so proud of my team who work tirelessly to go that extra mile to give our children and families the best care, support and experience they can.”

Sally Newell, Operations Manager, commented, “We are very proud of the team at Salisbury for achieving this award. The nursery has only been open for just over a year and is already a large part of the community, supporting families in Longhedge Village and the surrounding areas”.

Happy Days Nursery, Salisbury recognise the importance of forming strong partnerships with parents within the local community and run regular events in nursery such as Stay & Plays, First Aid Courses and open days. Parents do not have to be attending nursery to access these events and they are free to attend. Visit: https://happydaysnurseries.com/our-nurseries/salisbury/ to find out more.