– Upcoming Events –
Bingo Night for Parents – Autumn 2019
We are planning a Bingo Night early this term for parents to get to know each other and help raise funds for the pre-school. More information to come.
– Previous Events –
Teddy Bear’s Picnic 2019
It’s traditional for us to spend our last morning of pre-school at Emmer Green park, presenting the children with their teddy bears and certificates before they leave us for their new primary schools. We were sad to say goodbye but excited for their new adventures to come. Good luck everybody!
Sports Day 2019
We had a fantastic day for our sports day. All the children took part in different sports and received medals for taking part. Afterwards, we all sat down for a delicious ploughman’s lunch.
Well done to all the children, you are all winners!
Legoland 2019
As usual, the weather on our annual trip to Legoland didn’t disappoint! We all watched the show while we ate our packed lunches and then went to explore the park in our family groups.
It’s always such a fun day out with a bonus of no queues for the rides.
Easter Bonnet Parade 2018
The children looked ready for Easter as they paraded around in their beautiful bonnets at our annual Easter Bonnet Parade, held on Tuesday 20 March following our Easter Service at St Barnabas Church. They loved showing off their stunning homemade bonnets, all representing Spring themes, in front of their family and friends who were watching.
Thank you to those of you who came to support the children and provided cake donations, you helped raise £80 for the pre-school! And a big thank you to Simon Watson, manager at Budgens (pictured with 1st and 3rd place bonnet competition winners), who kindly donated the prizes and chocolate eggs for the Easter egg hunt.
Christmas Fair & Service 2017
Thank you to everyone who came along to our Christmas Fair on Wednesday 6 December and particularly to all the staff and committee who helped make it happen. The children enjoyed all the fun games and we loved hearing them sing their Christmas songs in St Barnabas Church after we had heard the Christmas story. We really appreciate everyone’s involvement in our fundraising events which help keep the pre-school open.
Christmas Songs At St Luke’s Care Home 2017
On Friday 1 December we sang Christmas songs to the residents in the Day Room at St Luke’s before colouring in Christmas themed pictures with a drink and biscuit. This is the fourth year that staff and children from the pre-school have visited the care home in Marshland Square. Four year old Poppy-Mae Genery, said: “We practised singing the songs every day at pre-school. I think the old people liked us singing. My favourite song is ‘When Santa Got Stuck Up the Chimney.”
Pam Hobbes, engagement lead at St Luke’s Care Home said: “It was a magical morning, bringing the young and old generations together and knowing how hard the children had worked to learn the songs especially for us. We love being part of the Emmer Green community and this is one of the ways our residents can feel more connected to the people around us.”
We had a great piece of coverage in the Henley Standard and on getreading (which you can view here).
TEDDY BEar’s Picnic – July 2017
We had a great morning at the park , it was lovely to get together on our last day to present the children with their teddy bears and certificates before they leave us for their new primary schools.
Sports Day – July 2017
The weather was ideal for our Sports Day on Tuesday 4 July. The children took part in races including egg and spoon, obstacle and relay. Well done to them and to the parents who gave us a fantastic end to the event with the traditional mums’ and dads’ races.
It was great to have so many family members cheering on the children and joining us for the trophy ceremony and delicious Ploughman’s Lunch afterwards.
A big thank you to the staff who worked hard with the children in the run-up to the event, it really showed how much effort you had put into their training and the games after lunch were really fun.
legoland – may 2017
Once again the sun shone on us for our annual trip to Legoland on Thursday 25 May 2017.
We had lunch in the shade while we watched the pirate show, took advantage of no queues for the rides and cooled off in the splash park. Everyone had a fantastic time!
Fun At The Farm – May 2017
Thank you to everyone who came to our farm-themed fair on Wednesday 17 May 2017.
Despite the rain, the children really enjoyed meeting and feeding all the animals including a Shetland pony, donkey goats and kids, lambs, ducks and rabbits plus Dee did some stunning face painting.
We raised over £750 which is a fantastic total – thank you to everyone who got involved.
WEndy celebrates 25th anniversary – April 2017
On Tuesday 25 April we celebrated Wendy’s 25th anniversary of working at Emmer Green Pre-School by presenting her with gifts including flowers, an overnight stay in Oxford and dinner at Browns.
Congratulations Wendy and thank you for all the little (and big) lives you’ve touched over the past 25 years!
Easter Bonnet Parade – april 2017
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our annual Easter Bonnet Parade on Tuesday 4 April. Following an Easter Service at St Barnabas Church the children paraded around in their beautiful homemade Easter bonnets for friends and family to admire and then had fun in the playground during their Easter egg hunt.
Congratulations to our competition winners pictured here in order: Noah Baker, Abigail Toomey and Lilly and Aimee Cowan with Simon Watson, manager of Budgens at Emmer Green, who judged the competition and kindly donated the prizes and eggs for the Easter egg hunt.
Bingo night – march 2017
Bingo night was held on Saturday 18 March and raised £488!
Thanks to all the 43 lovely people who came along and played – it was great to see you and we hope you enjoyed the curry.
A huge thanks to Wendy and to Millie’s parents, Nicole and Simon, who helped organise the night and provided excellent bingo caller skills respectively – we couldn’t have done it without you.
CHRISTMAS fair & christmas service 2016
Thank you to everyone who attended and got involved in our Christmas Fair on Wednesday 7 December, we raised almost £600! We couldn’t have done it without all the children and parents who came along, took part and donated generously or without the help from the pink ladies. And a special mention to Jack Hall’s Grandma, Wendy Hill, who had a stall for her homemade jewellery and donated a very generous £100 to the pre-school, thank you.
After a ploughman’s lunch at pre-school we went to St Barnabas Church where the children were told the Christmas story and then finished the service by singing Christmas songs to their families – it was a lovely day.
CHRISTMAS SONGS AT ST LUKE’S CARE HOME 2016
On Tuesday 6 December we walked to St Luke’s Care Home in Marshland Square, armed with mince pies, biscuits and our best singing voices, to meet the residents and bring some festive cheer in the run-up to Christmas. The children sang Christmas songs after they’d had fun colouring in Christmas pictures provided by St Luke’s staff. Three year old Jessica Gealy, said: “I liked singing the songs to the older people. I remembered all the words. My favourite song is ‘Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star’.”
Pam Hobbes, activities co-ordinator at St Luke’s Care Home, said: “The children sang beautifully and made us all feel Christmassy. This is such a lovely way for young and old to enjoy time together – Christmas can be a lonely time for some older people and this is just one of the ways the community can help.”
BINGO NIGHT 2016
We raised a fantastic £422 at our Bingo Night on Saturday 19 November.
Thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who donated prizes, helping us raise such a great total. And a big thank you to Simon who was our bingo caller (pictured in the photo with our lovely Alison).
harvest festival 2016
Thank you for all the donated food that the children brought to our Harvest Festival service at St Barnabas Church on Tuesday 4 October. Reverend Derek Chandler took the service and led us in some songs about harvest time before we went back to the pre-school for tea, coffee and cakes.
A big thank you to all the families who brought in cakes for us to sell, they were absolutely delicious.
We have some very talented bakers amongst us this year!
Teddy bear’s picnic 2016
We had a lovely time at Emmer Green play park on Wednesday 20 July for our annual Teddy Bear’s picnic.
It was a very special morning, seeing all the children play together for the last time before we said goodbye to those children and families who were moving on to primary school.
Each child was presented with a certificate and teddy bear by their key worker before we said our goodbyes.
Sports day 2016
The weather just held out for us to host our annual Sports Day on Friday 1 July and we had a fantastic morning! All of the children took part in every race including sprint, hurdles, relay and egg and spoon and showed great sporting attitude. Well done to them and to the parents who gave us a superb finale to the morning with the traditional mums’ and dads’ races.
It was lovely to see so many family members there on the day, cheering on the children and joining us for the medal ceremony and delicious Ploughman’s Lunch afterwards.
A big thank you to the staff who worked hard with the children in the run-up to the event, it really showed how much effort they had put into their training and the games after lunch were really fun. And thank you to everyone else who contributed to the day, particularly those who donated food, raffle prizes and everyone who came along – we made an impressive £450 from the day which all goes to help fund the pre-school.
MAY FAIR 2016
We had some typical British weather on Saturday 21 May when we hosted our annual fair at Emmer Green Primary School. Luckily this didn’t stop plenty of families coming along to take part in lots of fun activities we had on offer, helping us to raise £1,600 for the pre-school.
Lu’s Owls came along with some beautiful owls for the children to handle and there was more animal fun with the ferret racing provided by The Hants & Berks Ferret Club. There was also the opportunity to take part in Morris dancing with the Shinfield Shambles Morris dancing group, together with 4×4 jeeps, giant bouncy castles, traditional fair games, market stalls plus a BBQ and bar to help warm everyone up.
A huge thank you to the committee parents who organised the event, to the parents who helped out on the day manning stalls and also to the local businesses which donated raffle prizes and other items and services which made the day possible. The fair is our main fundraising event of the year, raising crucial funds to help keep the pre-school open and to replace toys and equipment for the children. Here is the half-page piece of press coverage we achieved in the Reading Chronicle on 2 June.
Easter Bonnet Parade 2016
Thank you to everyone for all their hard work making beautiful Easter bonnets for this year’s parade. The children looked stunning as they showed off their colourful and imaginative creations around the pre-school.
We had some great coverage in getreading which you can see here.