Our Early Years Team (Nursery and Reception) consists of Lauren, Nicola, Hazel, Emma and Hayley. To learn more about them please see our Meet The Staff page.
What we are learning in Nursery this term
Our topic is: Living Things
This half term, our topic is Living Things, where the children will explore the fascinating world of plants, animals, and people. Through a variety of hands-on activities, stories, and outdoor experiences, we will help the children understand what makes something alive and how living things grow and change. The children will have opportunities to explore and plant seeds, observe mini beasts, and learn about different habitats, encouraging curiosity and respect for the natural world. We will also focus on caring for living things, including ourselves and others, supporting the development of empathy and responsibility in a fun and engaging way.
In Maths,
This half term, our maths focus will support children in developing their early number and spatial awareness through a range of practical and engaging activities. We will encourage children to hear and say number names with confidence, begin to recognise and order numbers, and explore early counting through activities such as “I see 1, 2, 3.” The children will also enjoy joining in with repeated patterns, songs, and rhymes to strengthen their understanding of sequencing and repetition. Alongside this, we will explore position and space, helping children to use language such as “in,” “on,” “under,” and “next to” as they play and investigate their environment.
Physical development: We will continue to work on gross and fine motor skills every day through our squiggle and dough disco programme and we are encouraging the children to be independent when putting on their shoes, coats, waterproofs and wellies.
Our PE topic for this half term is; Ball Skills
Other useful information/things to remember for this half term:
- We do P.E. every Monday. Please come to school dressed in your P.E. kit.
- to support your child to recognise their name by regularly writing it down, pointing to it and telling them what it says. After doing this for a while, introduce 1 or 2 other names (that begin with a different letter to theirs) and point out which one is their name. Once they are becoming more familiar with their name, ask them to find it themselves from the selection. Once they are confident with their name, add 1 or 2 other names that begin with the same letter as their name (Ella, Emma, Evie or Tyler, Thomas, Terry etc) and again point out which is their name. Continue doing this until they can confidently identify their name every time.
- to bring your child’s water bottle every day and take it home when you pick them up so that it can be washed and refilled with WATER for the next day.
- to promote and support your child’s independence by having VELCRO shoes ONLY. Shoes with laces, trainers and lace up boots (even those that also have a zip) are too difficult for Nursery children to manage.
- to promote self-help skills by encouraging them to take off their shoes and socks themselves and to put them back on again. Support and give them lots of time to do this.
- to give your child lots of opportunities to write and ‘make marks.’ This can be for a purpose e.g. writing a message in a birthday card, writing a shopping list or a party invitation. This can also be done without a purpose e.g. making lines, shapes and squiggles using a stick in the mud or sand, using bath crayons on the side of the bath or in a shallow tray of flour. Ask your child to tell you what they have ‘written’ so they understand that their marks have meaning. Remember to also model writing yourself by drawing pictures and labelling them, writing cards or messages and telling your child what you have written.
- support and encourage your child to put on their coat themselves and to encourage them to zip it up themselves (after an adult has started it off for them).
- to donate a box of tissues every half term
- to bring your child’s red book bag to school EVERY day. Children will now bring them home every day after Nursery and will need to bring them back each day in line with the rest of the school
- develop your child’s health and self-care skills by establishing toileting and handwashing routines. Encourage them to pull up their clothes after toileting. Talk about the importance of washing their hands using soap and warm water and do so regularly
- regularly sing Nursery rhymes, songs and number rhymes with your child, until they are familiar with them and can sing the of by heart (independently)
- to regularly check your child’s Tapestry account to see what they have been up to, make a comment on the observation and send observations in from home
- to speak to a member of staff if you have any concerns, would like to discuss your child’s progress or would like to share any news from home
- to CLEARLY LABEL ALL OF YOUR CHILD’S BELONGINGS including wellies, coats, shoes and all of their clothing
- not to bring any toys to school
- not to wear any jewellery at school
- send non urgent messages to us on Tapestry
- We will change our reading for pleasure books every Tuesday
We greatly appreciate your support. If you have any questions or want to find out any further information about our Nursery, then please do not hesitate to speak to us. We will be happy to help you!
Your support is greatly appreciated. If you have any questions about Nursery, please ask any member of staff.
Useful Websites for Parents and Carers:
A Parents guide to EYFS
CBeebies – Alpha Blocks
CBeebies Get Squiggling
Crick Web Early Years Games and Activities
Dough disco
ICT Games
Number Formation Rhymes that we use in school
Teach your monster to read
Top Marks Maths Games
Phoneme pop! A fun interactive game to support letter recognition
Phonics Games
Have a look to see what we have been up to lately in Nursery…
Applying to join our Nursery
You can use the following form to apply for a place Nursery application form
You might find this document useful to find out more about the process: Nursery admissions process
