Schools back after busy summer!!

Our mini-bus has been traveling the highways and byways getting the children out and about – packing as much adventure into the summer holidays as we could get in!! It is so exciting to be such a big part of the childrens lives that we think it is vital that we live up to our motto – Happy Days – everyday!!

One of the many places we got to visit was Exploris – we like to adopt a seal or some other sea creature when we are there. Frances Street nursery adopted Suzie the Starfish; Comber nursery adopted Olly the Octupus; Conlig adopted a seal but we don’t know his name yet because his adoption papers are on their way to the nursery and should be with us shortly; and Donaghadee nursery had Gnasher the seal last year and are due to adopt another creature within the next couple of weeks!!

As you may know we have four nurseries and we try to get at least one big social occasion during the summer with all the children of preschool and afterschool age getting to meet up. This year we had a big trip to Movieland to see the Smurfs. MOVIELAND close their doors to the public so Happy Days can have the movie theater all to themselves!! We also organize for the younger babies and children to get to meet up by hiring the pool at Ards Leisure Centre and they close their doors to the public as well so Happy Days can have the pool just to themselves.

In addition to this we have had the Police and Firemen visiting us or allowing us to visit them – this is all part of the curriculum ‘People who help us’ – we even visited a lollipop crossing and posted one of the staff dressed as a lollipop lady!

The list seems endless with all the places we have been. Scrabo Park gets rave reviews from the children; Streamvale Farm too; Castle Espie where the children were able to have guided tours; Stormont Park where the Comber children got their faces painted to look like we animals and went off to the woods for a picnic; Seapark; the Folk Museum; and so many more. Oops almost forgot Crawfordsburn Beach and Country Park – great fun was had there as well! The Donaghadee staff and children amused many on the beach when they were at Crawfordsburn when their kite nearly took off!