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Latest Farley News

The summer is slipping by so quickly, before we know it it will be Bonfire Night! I hope all our parents, friends and children are enjoying the lovely long, warm days.

The term finished at Farley in the usual splendid style, with a wonderful Sports Day and cream tea, enjoyed by many. I was only sorry that I could not be there, but the previous week’s rain put a stop to that. Thanks to all who rallied round to provide children’s cakes and the scones – much appreciated. Well done to all the winners and to everyone who took part, it sounds like you all had a lot of fun.

We have some very exciting news to impart: we shall be opening our second Farley Nursery School!  We will be moving in to the old village primary school in Steeple Langford, which is approx six miles west of Wilton, and opening the Nursery School on Monday 4th October. It will be run on exactly the same lines as the nursery in Farley – we will be outside all the time, just like here. The setting is lovely, with plenty of glorious outside space and a lovely school building. If any parents would be interested in moving to Farley at Steeple Langford, as it would make their daily journey easier, please speak to us.

As soon as we have any further information on the new nursery, we will let you know. It is all very exciting!

Dates for your diary:

New term starts Wednesday 1st September 2010                                                    Monday 13th Sep : Ballet starts for Top Conkers                                                        Parents’ Evening : Thursday 7th October 7-9pm                                                               Top Conker’s Parents’ Evening: Thursday 4th November 7-8pm

Our Fabulous Farley Festival!

What a wonderful weekend and what a fabulous gathering at our Festival 2010!  The sun shone and parents and friends flocked to the school field for a super afternoon and evening of fun and friendship and simply to celebrate under the stars on a perfect summer’s evening.

Over 230 parents, friends and children gathered  for our second Farley Festival. Tents were pitched in the field and the children were happily entertained by Punch and Judy, while parents opened a wine bottle or two and settled themselves for the evening ahead. There was face painting and a craft table where creativity ran riot – even the dustbin was treated to a coat of paint!  Funky Moose had a great tent displaying their super children’s toys; the children had sweeties from the ‘retro’ sweetie tent, followed by ice cream and then hot dogs cooked over the fire. Greengages of Salisbury arrived shortly after to carve and serve hot joints of roast beef and roast pork – 144 baps were soon scoffed and were not even enough!

In the early evening we were able to listen to the lovely sound of a saxaphone, as Harry played for us while we enjoyed the late setting sun.  He was then joined by Doug on folk guitar, who got us all in the mood for dancing when The Professionals took centre stage and played ‘until late’.  They were all superb and no one wanted them  to leave.

A little more music, and some contemplation around the fire and gradually everyone retreated to their beds.  We think the children generally slept more soundly and deeply than the adults, but it is the taking part that matters!

The following morning, again blessed with hot summer sunshine, we  feasted on bacon, sausages, beans and potatoes, which was very delicious.  Food always seems better in the open air.

It was a very happy, relaxed and joyous family occasion and we are so glad that so many came.  To see so many just happy to sit enjoy each other’s company was wonderful – thank you to everyone who made it such a succesful event.  Thank you also to all who so kindly gave donations to help with the costs – much appreciated.

We are awaiting Becky Nixon’s photographs and will publish some on the website when we can.  Now we have Sports Day to look forward to!

Summer 2010

We celebrated the start of summer with our first ever ‘Dads’ Breakfast’, an early Father’s Day treat. It was a wonderful event. Around 40 dads came to the school field with their children and were treated to a hot, cooked breakfast: sizzling bacon and  juicy sausages cooked on the barbeque plus hot fried bread cooked in the bacon fat over the fire (well, it’s only once a year!) served in rolls with ketchup and followed by home-cooked chocolate brownies and fresh coffee.

We sat around the fire, enjoying the early summer sunshine and each other’s company. We organised a seven aside football match in celebration of the World Cup, where the dads were very competitive, many playing in bare feet – great fun to watch! Below is a comment from one of our dads who came that morning:

“Big thanks to you and Gary and all of the staff who gave up their Saturday morning for the dads breakfast, it was a lot of fun and really appreciated. E and I had a great time.

Though a little more energetic than I had previously envisaged, it was a really good event and I for one would return again next year, if for no other reason than to defend the title of the Farley Cup! Add to that, sausages and bacon and you would have trouble keeping me away!”

As well as the football we had children pushed with great gusto round the field in wheelbarrows, and Neil got the tractor out to give tractor rides. Everyone went home after midday, and we hope the mums had enjoyed a few hours on their own. We will certainly do the same next year. What shall we do for Mother’s Day – any ideas?

Spring 2010

It must be spring because we already have the little lambs in the field – complete with pink plastic coats to keep the smaller ones warm! The children have already named one of their favourites ‘Billy’.

Our best news to start the New Year was our fabulous evening at the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce evening to celebrate Business Excellence where we scooped the prize for Customer Service of the Year! We were all so thrilled, and this is wonderful for us, as it reinforces all the hard work we put in to ensure our parents and their children are happy at Farley. Well done team!

The Nursery continues to grow with children and talented staff. We have more new staff joining us at Easter and we welcome the new ideas and enthusiasm that they bring to the school. We have now increased our ballet lessons to twice a week and doubled our time with Jo Jingles. All this for no additional charge for parents – not many nurseries do this!

One of the projects planned for the spring and summer is the complete re-turfing of our grassed areas to provide a wonderful seating and story telling area outside Top Conker where we will have a magical Storyteller’s Chair to compliment our toadstool seats. We will be planting the bases of our new sun shade with fragrant plants and herbs and in the field we will have – a composting toilet! When the children visited Hazel Hill Woods they talked about the composting toilets more than anything else, and it makes sense for us to have one in the field, so we hope to build our own this summer. Watch this space!

This summer, due to popular demand, we will be holding our second ‘Farley Festival’, and we will announce the date for this soon. It was fantastic last time, providing an opportunity for parents to camp out in our field, have a barbeque and dance the night away to the sounds of a live band, with breakfast cooked over the fire the following morning.

We will also be inviting our fathers to a ‘Dad’s Breakfast’ where we will treat them to a hot bacon or sausage bap, cooked over the bonfire, followed by hot coffee and brownies. This will be on a Saturday morning and will be a special time for our lovely dads to be looked after by us and their children. You are reading this on our fabulous updated web site. We hope you like the new look: the advanced technology means that we will be able to use this as a way of conveying “live” news to you on a more regular basis and in times of emergency. Let us know what you think!

Have a wonderful Easter,
Sue