Events in Kindergarten
Dear Kindergarten families,
As the days grow shorter and we transition into winter, we will be sharing cosy, light-filled moments with the children at Kindergarten. This has already begun at Martinmas with the making of our lanterns and taking our light into the darkness. Now Advent approaches, a time of waiting, before the celebrations at Christmas. We have been candle dipping during our ringtimes.
On Friday the 27th November we marked the beginning of Advent with an Advent Spiral in our bubbles. Sadly we couldn't invite you all to join us this year, but we are delighted that we could celebrate this festival with the children, and that they will got to experience the light growing in the darkness as all the candles were lit. The children walked the spiral, lit their candle from the central candle then placed their light in the spiral as they walked out of it. They went home with their little candle in an apple and that it be can lit at home, perhaps on your nature table or the dinner table. The apple represents the material and the candle within it the spiritual. Perhaps you sing some Christmas carols, Hannukah songs or seasonal songs as you light it.
On Monday 7h December we will celebrate St Nicholas’s visit. The tradition is to polish shoes til they are shining and leave them out the night before. Perhaps some little treats will be left for the children! To this end, please bring in a pair of shoes, ideally leather that can be polished, on Thursday 3rd December, to be polished on the Friday. They will need to stay at Kindergarten over the weekend and will be returned on Monday 7th December.
Friday 11th December is the last day of the Kindergarten term. Please note that this has been extended one day this year. It will be normal Kindergarten hours but there is no lunch club this day and all children will need to picked up at 1pm.
It is our tradition at St Paul’s that each Kindergarten teacher makes an advent nut calendar out of walnuts, which the children bring home. Due to the school becoming nut-free, we will no longer be able to do this. However, each teacher has other ways of marking the passing days of advent, so the children will still have the experience of the lead up to Christmas.
Our ringtime and carol singing at this time of year gives the children a picture of a traditional Christian nativity; the story that lies behind this much-loved festival. We hope that this helps bring meaning to the Christmas celebrations, which are becoming increasingly secular and materialistic. For those families of different faiths, or who are humanist, atheist or agnostic, we hope that the nativity story can resonate as a picture of reverence for the child and human potential, as well as the birth of spiritual light and hope in the darkness of the winter solstice.
We are missing being able to welcome our Kindergarten parents into our rooms and festivals and sharing these special moments of Kindergarten life with you. We look forward to the time when this is possible again.
With warm wishes for a peaceful advent,
Julia, Steph, Elena and Sarah
Kindergarten Teachers
as lovingly made by the teachers out of the greenery collected by the parents from London parks, but this time it was held in the Hall during the school day. The misty weather and windows covered in coloured paper created a special mood which made us all whisper when we entered the room decked out with greenery, having only the central candle lit in the middle. 
