Castle Kindergarten - Albany

28/08/2026

Today we celebrate Autism awareness day. 🩵 As some of our children are moving on to new chapters, and we will also be welcoming new children to our Kindergarten. We are thinking about new friends and friendships. 🩷💛

26/08/2026

⭐ We have limited paid and funded places available for 2,3 and 4 year olds. You need to apply for your childcare code before 31st August 2026.
To see if you are entitled to any support with childcare costs please access the link below.

https://beststartinlife.gov.uk

Do not hesitate to contact the Kindergarten on 0191 4187122 or email us at
[email protected]
Alternatively you can message the page with any questions you may have.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Advice and support 
for your child’s development

30/07/2026

🍃 🍂 🪶 Wind wands 🍃 🍂 🪶

The children enjoyed a creative outdoor experience on a lovely sunny day with a gentle breeze. Marie invited the children to make their own wind wands using natural and craft materials, including sticks, ribbons, feathers, and leaves collected from the grassed area of the yard.

The children demonstrated enthusiasm and creativity as they carefully selected and attached the materials to their sticks, developing their fine motor skills through tying and arranging the resources. Once their wind wands were complete, they eagerly explored the outdoor environment, running around the yard and observing how the ribbons, feathers, and leaves moved in the wind.

As they waved their wind wands, the children watched with delight as the materials swirled, twirled, and danced in the gentle breeze.

30/07/2026

🍏 Home-made Apple crumble🍏

After our apple picking yesterday, the children were excited to use the apples to make an apple crumble. They helped chop the apples into small pieces, with some finding this a little tricky because the apples were quite firm. With encouragement and support, they kept trying and were very pleased to see the apples ready for the next step.

We added sugar to sweeten them and cooked them, checking them until they became soft and stew-like for the base.
Next, the children helped make the crumble topping using butter, sugar, flour and oats. They enjoyed rubbing the ingredients together and noticing the mixture change until it looked like breadcrumbs. Once everything was ready, we placed the soft apples in the dish and sprinkled the crumble topping over them.

Dawn then placed the crumble in the oven, and we talked about how ovens get very hot and how we needed to use them safely.
At afternoon snack time, the children had the chance to taste the apple crumble and proudly shared some with the Hedgehog Room. Some children really enjoyed trying it, while others chose not to taste it this time. We talked about other fruits they like, which we could also use to cook with.

21/07/2026

What a year it's been! Tomorrow, we are saying goodbye to some of our amazing children as they go on to the next chapter of their learning journey. Some have been with us since they were babies, others for a shorter time, but every single one has made incredible memories. They've flourished, built friendships, grown in confidence, and developed lifelong skills. We've formed wonderful bonds with our children and their families, and we hope you know we are always here for you, and can't wait to hear about all the amazing things you're doing in your new settings!
Please feel free to drop us an email or pop back and see us. Now enjoy your summer and have fun and go on to show everyone just how amazing you all are.
For those children who are returning to us in the new term we shall see you week commencing 8th of September.
Our children who attend all year round, we will continue making summer time memories together, hopefully the weather continues to be good to us all.
Thank you all for your kindness, gifts cards and best wishes. We are beyond thankful and privileged to look after, and care for your children.
Many thanks team Albany 💚

03/07/2026

Today, the older children from Albany School had a very exciting visit from a Viking ship!The headteacher, Mr Jones, very kindly arranged for our kindergarten children to have the opportunity to visit the ship and meet the Viking men and women.

The children were so excited to see the ship and were completely in awe of it. They had the chance to look at Viking shields, swords and helmets, and some of the children even had a go at trying the helmets on! The helmets were very heavy as they were made from metal. Before trying them on, the children wore protective head coverings to make them more comfortable.

The Viking men and women were dressed in authentic Viking attire, which made the whole experience even more realistic and memorable. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to learn about Viking life through hands-on exploration, and they thoroughly enjoyed every moment!

29/05/2026

Today our little squirrels enjoyed a wonderful outdoor painting experience! 🎨🐿️

The natural environment created the perfect backdrop for creativity, inspiring the children to explore colours, textures, and mark making in a whole new way. Using the clear shower curtain as their canvas allowed them to focus closely on the world around them while expressing themselves freely and confidently. 🌿✨

It was lovely to see their imaginations come to life as they painted, observed nature, and embraced the joy of outdoor learning. Experiences like these help develop creativity, fine motor skills, communication, and curiosity — all while having lots of fun! 💚

22/05/2026

🌼🌸Collaborative flower art. 🌸🌼

As part of our Colours of Spring project, the children have been enjoying taking part in observational flower painting. To extend this interest further, Claire and Kia created a large-scale cardboard cut-out of a flower for the children to explore. The children were encouraged to work together to create a large-scale 3D piece of collaborative art.

The children independently chose different colours and painted at different heights, with some choosing to crouch down low while others used the step to reach up high. This supported the development of their gross motor skills as they stretched, balanced, climbed, and moved their bodies in different ways to reach all areas of the flower. The children also strengthened their fine motor skills through holding and controlling paintbrushes, making careful brush strokes, and adding detail to their artwork.

22/05/2026

🦋 Butterfly enclosure 🦋
Today the children showed great curiosity and excitement while exploring the butterfly enclosure Dawn had built in the foxes garden.They carefully watched the butterflies flying around the space and some children even allowed the butterfly to sit gently on their small hands! The children used descriptive language such as “bright” and “fluttering” while noticing the different colours and patterns of the butterflies wings and contributed to simple discussions as we spoke about the process of our caterpillars becoming butterflies. They also demonstrated gentle behaviour while moving slowly and quietly around the gazebo make sure they didn’t scare or hurt any of the butterflies.🦋🦋

11/05/2026

The Fox children are patiently waiting for their butterflies to emerge from their chrysalis. They have taken a closer look using the digital microscope, and discussed what they will look like, what they may need to eat, and what names we can give them 🐛🦋🔬