Last Week of March

The children and staff at Beanstalk have had a busy week in work and play!

We have taken every opportunity for walks along the back of the 'Old House'. We discovered a wonderful Italian Garden and made friends with a resident duck.

We all made bread today; the children enjoyed taking their loaves home to share with their families but we decided the duck should stick to his green pond food. We had better not annoy the duck owner.

Mother's Day Cards have been made and are at the ready, complete with keepsake handprints! We have been enjoying the beautiful spring plants and the wonderful burst of colour. This inspired us to make our cards in the shapes and colours of primroses and tulips.

They are beautiful too.

To bring the Italian Garden theme back to Beanstalk we had chicken and mushroom Rissoto today and have fresh roast salmon pasta tomorrow.

Easter is now on its way, the children are looking forward to the festivities! Updates of plans to come. However, there will not be TOO much chocolate.

Updates Made & Due

Hello all. Writing this blog post to keep you all updated with what is going on in the world of Beanstalk:

• We are now on Twitter: follow beanstalk_oxon to get the latest
• Beanstalk has joined Facebook

Beanstalk is increasing its Internet profile to give you the latest in what we have to offer for your both you and your children. We feel that this will give you much more information and show you that we are 100% committed  to giving the highest quality childcare possible.

Exciting developments to come:

• Your chance to meet the team via the website: See photos of the whole team on "The Team" page via the website. Great chance for you to see who will be looking after your children and where they are placed within Beanstalk. We feel that this is an important aspect of our engagement with you and will strive to do this as soon as possible.
• Get to know your child's mentor: Once assigned weekly meetings will be set up with that member of staff to discuss any developments and progress made with your child. You will be able to discuss what you would like the staff to focus on and also voice any questions that you may have. At Beanstalk, we understand that you would like to be as involved as you can whilst your child is with us.
• Login area for parents: Get to see a personalised view of the work that your child has carried out in the past week, find any updates and observations made by staff and you will not miss a moment. This will all be accessible through our website, you will see a profile for both you and your child, make any changes and write in to discuss any issues on a weekly basis. You will receive regular updates whilst this work is being carried out.
• New Photos: Now that Spring has finally blossomed we are able to get some fantastic shots of the surrounding area and upload them to the "Photo Gallery". You will also see that these photos will be uploaded to our Facebook page so you will never be far away from keeping up to date.

I do know that this is only a short post but I hope that you will rejoin us for our usual post next week.

Thanks for reading once again, check back with our Fcaebook and twitter accounts for daily accounts of news.

We're Open for Business



So, this is the first blog to be written for Beanstalk Nursery & Day Care. We are a childcare nursery that has opened near Didcot, Oxfordshire.

It has been a really hectic few months for the whole team at Beanstalk, including others such as I.R. Bint Plastering & General Building (our wonderful building team), and our entire family have all pitched in to make this fantastic idea a reality.

We are now proudly open for business and would love for you to come and have a look around our facility and meet our fantastic team who are all there to provide "a giant leap in quality childcare."

Reading Room

The nursery consists of 5 main activity areas:

• The Conservatory; this is the main reception room for the nursery, and where we gather together for mealtimes that are cooked on the premises from a weekly changing menu that satisfies any dietary requirements, Q Gardens are our preferred supplier for locally sourced and seasonal fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy.
• The Reading Room; where your child can quite simply sit and read one of many carefully selected books, have a nap or just have some quiet time (the relaxation tent is a great addition, provided to us by Dragon's Wood), 
• The Activity Room; your child can play and develop their skills using any of the toys in here ranging from dressing up, pretend play, kitchen, ball pit or satisfy their creative needs with our wooden easels and paints (tables and chairs also provided by Dragon's Wood),
• The Nursery; for our younger children with soft areas where the team use stimulative play to develop the babies, a number cots for those that need to rest, this room also has a really calming atmosphere using music and fun and it has direct access onto a lovely dedicated garden.
• Outside Gardens; We have three outdoor areas for play.  Each of the areas has been designed so that they can be used independently by each of the main rooms but can all be connected when we want to provide mixed play or just extend the space being used by the children. 

The area immediately surrounding our Nursery is full of picturesque woodland where we will take the children for walks, sensory expeditions and generally an outside play; all supervised of course by the Beanstalk team. This, to us, is one of the most important aspects of your child's time at Beanstalk, it provides a great chance for them to find out first hand how nature works, watching plants and trees grow whilst running around in the outdoors having a great time.

Things in the pipeline:

1. Outdoor Playground: The children's climbing frame and apparatus is due to come soon, we want to make things as safe as we can for your younger ones and we are still waiting for a soft-floor to be installed.
2. Bridal Babies: If you are due to have a wedding nearby then we are designing a service that will mean the little ones are enjoying their own special fun during the big day celebration. The Milton Hill House, De Vere hotel and Steventon House Hotel both of which are located a stones throw from the nursery, provide a great venues to host your reception whilst also being close to your young ones. You would also be able to pop along and visit them as and when you wish.
3. Stay and Play days: This service will give you the perfect opportunity to have a relaxing day in the White Cottage Beauty spa while your child stays with us for a few hours. Drop them off in the morning and continue on to the local spa for a day of pampering. This idea is evolving and we will keep you updated. 
4. Budding Beanstalks: This is where we will be introducing a number of raised flower beds to get those fingers green. Your children will plant, water and nurture their very own plants. This will give them such a valuable experience and, in our eyes will help them to become budding little beanstalks.

Please check back to the website over the coming week; there will be updates made across many pages, including 'Menus', 'Programme', 'Timetable' and 'Photo Gallery'. These updates will give you a better feel of what your child will undergo while staying with us at Beanstalk.

Well, there we have it: Post Number 1 complete. Beanstalk provide a fantastic service and if there is anything that you would like to know then please contact us here (via email), or visit our website to find out more: Beanstalk Nursery & Day Care - Milton Hill. Thanks very much for reading, please check back soon for more weekly updates of this blog.