Rainbow Preschool

30/09/2026

We have had lots of fun at preschool since coming back, we have some new resources that the children have been enjoying.
The new children have settled well into preschool and are getting to know their key person. We have had Kixx Colchester and Hartbeeps Colchester & Tendring in, and all the children have loved this.
We are a “making it real” setting after myself and Amy did the training, which stands for “raising early achievement in literacy” which lets practitioners support children’s early literacy (pre reading and writing) and help give parents confidence to support children’s development at home. We will be doing some workshops with our families, the first one being around books on Monday.
We have changed our setting so much since the beginning of the year after working the early years stronger practice hub, the Barn, and we have lots of open ended resources, natural resources, loose parts, and real resources and the children have really adapted well with all the changes.

07/09/2026

New Pantry and Warm Space dates for this term

05/09/2026

🍂 ONE WEEK TO GO! 🍂

We can’t wait to welcome you all back for our classes starting next Monday! 🧡

We hope you’ve had a wonderful summer, and we’re so excited to sing, dance, have fun and make lots of lovely memories together again. 🧚🏽‍♀️✨

Don’t forget to book your space for the Autumn Term if you haven’t already!

See you next week! 🐝🍁

Book here: Hartbeeps.com/colchester-and-tendring

🍄 DROP IN SPACES ARE NOW OPEN 🎉

19/07/2026

17/07/2026

Preschool graduation at go bananas! It was so lovely to spend a couple of hours with our school leavers today, they certainly had us exhausted going on the play frame!

We had some lovely gifts and presents given to us, a big thankyou to all the parents/ grandparents for these, much appreciated by all staff.

It was very emotional when we had to say goodbye to all of the children and lots of tears were shed when we tried to do our speeches about the children.

We wish them all the best in their new schools.

Big thanks to my staff- Amy my deputy, who has been my rock these last few months and don’t know what I would do without her, Gabby- our energetic member of staff, I don’t know where she gets her energy from but I need some of it! Lisa and Sarah, our newest members of the team, but who have settled in amazingly and it’s like they have been with us for years! And to our new apprentices Holly and Lucy, who have been with us a few months finishing their studies, but will be doing their level 3 apprenticeships with us. Big thanks to you all.

16/07/2026

we have had a lovely summer term with the children, we have been in the garden, enjoying the weather, when it wasn’t too hot. the children have loved the new water butt so they can freely access water!

We have been working with the barn nursery on making Rainbows the best it can be, and we have now got a loose parts area, role play area with real china, new craft area, and have had a big sort out of our toys to make all our resources “open ended”. We have introduced snack a new way where the children choose which piece of fruit they would like and then they cut it up themselves, which they all enjoy doing.

Lisa from the Barn and our early years education partner Rachael are so happy with all the changes we have made.

The children are loving exploring the loose parts and new areas, it’s so lovely to see.

We had our annual trip to Walton on the Naze last Friday, some went on the train and others met us down there.

Today we had our picnic in the park, coach Connor from Kixx Colchester did a session of football with the children and parents, we then went to the park and we had joes whippy come so we all had ice cream! Children and parents.

We have also enjoyed having Vanessa from Hartbeeps Colchester & Tendring with us, and this will continue in September as the children and staff love having her in.

We will also continue having Kixx football in from September.

We have our graduation party for our school leavers at Go bananas tomorrow, going to be a very sad day as lots of our children we have had over 2 years, but they are more than ready to go to school, and we are so proud of them all.

We are currently full for September, but we can add children onto the waiting list.

26/05/2026

We had a busy last few weeks before the half term break! We have watched our caterpillars turn into butterflies, have enjoyed playing in the garden, have had Vanessa in from Hartbeeps Colchester & Tendring, and on the last day of term it was so hot so we had a water fight with the children and the staff! I think the staff were wetter than the children!! Then we treated the children to an ice lolly for their snack.

We have lots coming up after half term, we have our annual beach trip to Walton on the Naze, we have more sessions with Kixx Colchester and Hartbeeps, and we are going to enjoy spending the last 7 weeks with our school leavers, most have been with us since they were 2, so going to be lots of tears when we have our graduation party at Go Bananas with them.

25/05/2026

Many parents don't like their child getting dirty at nursery, but it is actually proof that they have been engaged in beneficial activities, explains Annette Rawstrone

15/05/2026

SCHOOL ICE BREAKER SESSIONS ❄️🐧

Join us at Jungle Adventure for our fun School Ice Breaker Sessions — the perfect opportunity for your child to meet their new classmates before starting school in September!

✨ What’s included:

* Reduced admission price
* Reserved seating area for your group
* HALF PRICE meal deal for each child
* A relaxed, friendly environment to make new friends before the big day!

Prices:
🐧 Reception Child — £2.00
🐧 Additional Children — £5.00
🐧 Adults — FREE

Spaces are limited, so book now to avoid missing out!

Book your space by heading to our website, click the book now button and then click book event!