News and Events
Over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on a variety of topics in our playrooms. These will inc
11th August 2025
• Happy Healthy Me • Cultures of the world – PLEASE talk to us about your childhood memories, your culture, your traditions, your beliefs and your celebrations. We really want to learn more about cultures around the world. • Rules and Routines • KINDNESS – Are you a bucket filler or a bucket dipper? • Child-led improvement groups – Our Eco Group, Kindness Group, Forest Schools Group, Toothbrushing Group, Rights Respecting Group, Charities Group and Playground Improvement Groups will keep working hard to improve our nursery. • Holidays and Landmarks • Seasons and sun safety– Summer • Gardening, making dens and improving our playgrounds • Our environment and local communities • Our families and friends • Autumn • Walks out and about around our community and lots of outdoor play • Daily mile – scavenger hunts, environmental print, shape, numeracy, literacy and pattern walks • Writing our names and learning lots of rhyming words • Getting ready for school and our new school nurseries • 1st August – UK play day • 2nd August – National day for play • 3rd August – Watermelon Day • 5th August – National sisters’ day • 6th August – Fresh breath / toothbrushing day • 8th August – International cat day • 9th August – International planting and allotments week • 9th August – National book lovers day • 10th August – World lion day • 11th August – Son and daughter day • 12th August – Elephant appreciation day • 19th August – World photo day • 22nd August – World plant milk day • 26th August – International dog day • 30th August – National beach day • 31st August – Eat outside day • 1st September – World letter writing day • 5th September – International Charities Day • 6th September – Read a book day • 6th September – Zero waste day • 8th September – International literacy day • 9th September – Emergency Services day • 9th September – Teddy bear day • 13th September – Roald Dahl Day • 13th September – Positive thinking day • 16th September – World clean-up day • 17th September – International country music day • 18th September – Jewish new year • 18th September – Eat an apple day • 19th September – Pirate Day • 20th September – Recycle week • 22nd September – World rhino day • 25th September – World dream day • 28th September – Good neighbour day • 29th September – International end food waste day • 1st October – International day of older persons • 1st October - World vegetarian day • 2nd October – Grandparents Day • 5th October – World teachers’ day • 6th October – National poetry day • 7th October – National smile day • 9th October – World post day • 16th October – World food day • 25th October – Diwali • 25th October – World pasta day • 27th October – Tell a story day • 31st October – Halloween • 31st October – World cities day • Literacy, Numeracy and Health and Wellbeing are the responsibility of ALL nursery and school practitioners. We have LOTS of exciting learning opportunities planned for our Wellies Gang!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts
11th August 2025
Lots of our children have already started to leave us and I have to say that all of the emails, messages and cards have really brought a tear to my eye. The very kind words mean such a huge amount as it proves that we have achieved what we set out to do. We genuinely only want the very best for all of our children and families.
Wellies Nurseries Class of 2025
11th August 2025
Here are some suggestions to help prepare your child for starting school in August 2025: Do they recognise their own name? If not make a sign together for their room and where they hang their jacket at home, so that they are used to seeing it. If you are going to teach them to write their name please only teach the first letter as a capital. If they learn their whole name in capitals, it then takes time for them to unlearn it. The capital / upper case letter is called the “name” and the lower case letter is called the “sound”. They will not have the same child : staff ratios as in nursery. One teacher with up to 30 / 33 children. Encourage them to be as independent and resilient as possible, from now. Remember school is different from when you went, they will be unlikely to have their own desk but they will be very used to the set-up as it’s similar to Nursery. Label EVERYTHING! Encourage them to open their own snacks so that they are able to do it at playtime and lunchtime. Velcro shoes are best! Don’t share your concerns with them and don’t talk about how they are your baby and they aren’t ready! They are taking their lead from you! Can they put on their own jacket and zip it up? If not, start encouraging them now! Can they use the toilet independently and wash and dry their hands independently? Now is the time to work on this. When you find out their gym days it’s best not to put them in shirt and tie on these days. In Scotland all P1s-P3’s get a free lunch. When you get a menu, pop it somewhere in the house and let them know what the choices are each day and decide what they will have together. P1 teachers are angels in disguise, we promise you can trust them with your children!
P1 School Leavers, Graduation Ceremonies and Parties
11th August 2025
This year we have had around 65 children leaving us to go to school. These children are going to 19 different school settings. We have worked hard to have very productive dialogue with each of these feeder primary schools. We will also get in touch with each one again at the end of term 1. This is to gain feedback on how well our Wellies children have settled into their new school environments. We only want the very best for them all and want them to be as ready as can be, for the next part of their educational journeys. This feedback is very important to us and helps us to plan our future transition processes.
Best of luck to our boys and girls who are going to P1 and school nurseries
11th August 2025
We will miss you ALL very, very much but know that you are all ready for P1 and that each and every one of you will go far! Remember to send us photos of you in your school uniforms!! We have been very busy speaking to your new P1 teachers and also to your parents. Good luck everyone!
Children’s Attendance and Registers
11th August 2025
Please let us know by 10am if your child will not be attending nursery on that day. Staff will contact parents after 10am to ascertain the whereabouts of your child. This is in line with our Child Protection and Health and Safety Policies. Please also let us know if you have any holidays booked and your child will be absent. This saves us from bothering you when sunbathing by the pool! Many thanks.
Staffing Update
11th August 2025
As always, we have some summer staff who have been helping us out this year. Our staff also really enjoy helping out across all sites. This is great for sharing good practice and developing professional dialogue. Please see our regular staffing updates on our Facebook pages. We also have staff photo boards outside each room and in each reception. Children are also becoming more involved in the recruitment process as we ask candidates to read them a story or complete an activity with them. We then ask our children and candidates for their feedback. This is working well. Recently we have welcomed lovely new staff to join our growing KingsWellies team! We have welcomed Paige D and Paige R into our Wellie Jellies room and they have settled in really well! In our Toddler room, Amy C has joined the team. Amy has gotten stuck right in and all the children love their daily cuddles. Ruth is enjoying getting to know all of the babies in our WellieBabies room, and loves leading group time and coming up with new songs to sing! Welcome to the team girls. In our kitchen, we have welcomed our new Chef Sandra! Sandra is settling into her new role well and loves home baking with children in the kitchen. In the next few weeks, we will also welcome Eilidh, Matthew, Lily and Chloe! We will keep you up to date with our staff changes. Cari has decided to take a career break and spend more time with her daughter Millie. We wish Cari all the very best in the future. Sadie has also left us to move to a nursery closer to home. All of the children and staff will miss her lots. In the next few weeks, we will sadly say goodbye to our supervisor Amy in the baby room. Amy is moving on to work in an ASN setting. We have no doubts you will do amazing Amy! At WestEnd our staff team just keeps on growing. We would like to give a warm welcome to Emma Forsyth who has settled really well into the Wellie Cubs room. All the children are loving spending time with her. Lucy Cumming will also be starting within the Wellie Cubs room soon. She will be getting to know the routines and the children. Welcome to the team Ladies! Chloe Fraser has recently moved upstairs to join the Wellie Badger room. We are delighted to have her. We would also like to wish Megan from the Wellie Badgers room all the very best on her new adventure. She is starting University to become a Primary Teacher but will continue to work with us on a part-time basis. You will make an amazing teacher Megan! At Queenswellies we have recently welcomed Samantha and Erin to our Wellie Bumbles room. Samantha is our new room supervisor. Both Samantha and Erin have settled in really well to the Wellie Bumbles room and have loved getting to know the other staff and children! Welcome to the team Ladies! We will sadly be saying goodbye to our deputy manager Steph as she will be going on maternity leave soon. Good luck, we can’t wait to meet the new baby! Simone will be stepping up to cover Steph’s maternity leave and Hannah will be stepping up as supervisor alongside Simone in our Wellie Bees room. Well done Ladies!
Wellies Nurseries – Health Month
11th August 2025
Throughout the months of June and July, all nurseries spent time focusing on Health Month. This involved planning lots of activities around the following topics: Keeping Fit, Healthy Eating, Mental Health and Keeping Safe. The children LOVED experiencing a range of different activities to progress their skills. Some of their favourites were; making smoothies, healthy recipes, road safety, football, sports days, self-portraits, developing their friendships, visits from police, fire, dentist, Childsmile, surgeons, radiographers and vet, Gym bunnies, baking with Chef Lisa, talking about emotions, having spa days and much more. At KingsWellies, Health Month is our favourite time of the year! We absolutely LOVE taking part in all of our different weeks and had so much fun with lots of activities going on. The children at KingsWellies had a visit from the police to talk about how we keep safe and what they do day to day. We also enjoyed our visit from Ann, from child smile, who came along to show us how to brush our teeth and why it is important to keep them clean. Each room had loads of different and exciting activities going on including learning about healthy and unhealthy foods, lots of arts and crafts, how we keep safe when crossing the road, water safety and much more. We enjoyed Gym Bunnies with Lisa and also how to make healthy treats with Chef Lisa. This included yummy flapjacks! During this month-long topic, we developed our different skills including hand eye coordination, gross & fine motor skills, following instructions and balancing skills. At West End, the month of June is our favourite time of the year due to us focusing on Health Month. This consists of participating in fun-filled activities throughout the month that correspond with Healthy Eating, Keeping Fit, Keeping Safe and Mental Health. We would like to say a massive thank you to the Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service and SAS Swimming who all came to visit us. Another special thank you goes to Aberdeen Sports Village who helped us learn all about how we can keep fit. We also loved being shown around the Sports Village too. At QueensWellies we also recently celebrated Health Month. This Is one of our favourite topics as the children gain so much from all of the visitors, trips and activities that take place within the month. Throughout the month we had visits from the ambulance service, a vet, firefighters, childsmile, a radiologist and a special visit from a service dog. We also enjoyed various educational trips to the sports village, the park and our local care home. Each room participated in lots of health inspired educational experiences which also included baking with Chef Lisa and Gym Bunnies. It was great to see the children having fun and learning lots of new skills.
Stay and Play Days
11th August 2025
Grandparents stay and Play! National Grandparents Day is 6th of October. We would love to invite all grandparents / friends to come along to see their grandchildren in nursery, play along with them and see what they get up to! We kindly ask that there is a minimum of 2 grandparents / friends per child. If grandparents are unavailable, please feel free to extend the invitation to another family member. This will be held between 3pm – 4:30pm. Please see below dates for each Nursery setting: KINGSWELLIES : WellieBabies – Wednesday 8th October WellieTots – Tuesday 7th October WellieBeans – Thursday 9th October WellieJellies – Monday 6th October QUEENSWELLIES: Wellie Bumbles – Wednesday 8th October Wellie Bee’s – Tuesday 7th October WEST END WELLIES: Wellie Cubs – Tuesday 7th October Wellie Badgers – Thursday 9th October
KingsWellies, QueensWellies and West End Wellies
11th August 2025
On 28th August we will be celebrating Makaton day. We have challenged the boys and girls to learning the song “True colours” in Makaton and invited Simone’s sister Megan in to enjoy a performance and judge our Makaton skills. We have also LOVED working with all of our extra-curricular teachers; French, Moo Music, Chef Lisa, Kids Rock, Flashdance, Yoga Totts, Rugby Totts, Gym Bunnies. We are developing a HUGE number of inter-disciplinary skills every day. We are also hoping to introduce Cricket Totts and Soccer Wellies soon too! Watch this space! Please contact us if you would like to know more about booking a space with us at one of our Wellies Nurseries. Please also contact us if you would like to book into one of our extra-curricular groups. Our teachers are extremely experienced and the children love having the chance to learn lots of new skills and hobbies.