On Monday 6th March, all our staff from Rainbow Day Nurseries spent an exciting training day focusing on developing our approach to sustainability in the Early Years. The session was led by trainers from London Early Years Foundation (LEYF), who shared good practice, and gave us lots of handy tips and information to improve upon the small changes that we have already been making in our nurseries. Sessions included understanding about the three pillars of sustainability and how this impacts the nursery environment, biodiversity and sustainable gardening, nature deficit disorder, and ways to actively work towards being a zero-food waste nursery. This training day will have a bigger impact on the way we educate the children by developing a stronger emphasis on how and why we must respect and care for the environment. We want to ensure that that our actions do not harm this wonderful planet, we hope that the children and their families will join us in embedding daily sustainable practices.

We watched a short but poignant video by Wangari Maathai that made us realise that if we all make small changes, these changes will have a big impact on the world around us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT98uQ74X1c   You too could be a hummingbird!

Staff Awards 2023

Apprentice of the year:
Hayes Road: Sophie Dennington
Langdon Road: Leigha Wilson
Petts Wood: Ellie Vander
West Wickham: Alana Moore

Practitioner of the year:
Hayes Road: Chloe Lister
Langdon Road: Lacey Nutt
Petts Wood: Shavonne Ginn
West Wickham: Lucy Lynch

Exceptional Practice Award:
Hayes Road: Vicky Taylor
Langdon Road: Kiera Cotter
Petts Wood: Ruth Irvine
West Wickham: Sarah-Jane Powell

Resilience Award:
Lisa Bance

Room of the year:
West Wickham: Elders – Preschool

Service awards:
5 years: Talisha Goatley, Roberta Wells, Nicola Johnston, Georgina Cloono,
10 years: Marita Martinovic

Charity update:

Congratulations to Brid for her amazing work and nomination for Kent Association for the Blind’s Outstanding Fundraiser at the Heart of KAB Awards!
She has raised over £8,500 by taking on the challenge of running the Brighton and London Marathons.
Her hard work and dedication have made an incredible impact in KAB’s ability to provide resources and assistance for those struggling with sight loss.
Kent Association for the Blind is currently the charity of the year for Rainbow Day Nurseries. They provide crucial help and support to over 12,000 people struggling with visual impairments.
For 2023 the chosen charity is ”The Chris Aked Foundation” – https://www.chrisakedfoundation.co.uk/

Taking risks outdoors and indoors. These activities are important for developing self confidence and allows our little ones to take risks and understand boundaries.

Every year we hold a fun day locally for our children and parents across all three nurseries. The event is free for all to attend. We have a variety of stands with different activities including raffles, tombola’s, face painting and tattoos. Last year our Cook’s ran the drinks stand and we had a Hog Roast for all!

Any money raised during our annual Fun Day’s are donated to our charity of the year.

Our nurseries visit the local residents homes, Bertha James and Ashglade retirement homes.

In February 2022 some of our Rainbow Team took part in Mental Health First Aid training. A group from across all Rainbow sites attended the training which means that as a wider group we can work together ensuring that the advice and support given is the best course of action.

The company MHFA England has been offering training for over 10 years working with people to increase their knowledge in mental health and the confidence to recognise signs of mental health and the ability to providing the support that people may need.

As a team we feel more able and confident to approach people we feel are struggling or suffering with mental health. As a result of an increase in confidence we can support our staff team in their individual needs. We now have an increased understanding across a range of mental health areas and resources to use to be able to extend the help needed.