Our Early Years Team (Nursery and Reception) consists of Lauren, Nicola and Hazel. To learn more about them please see our Meet The Staff page.
Nursery Long Term Overview 2024-2025
What we are learning in Nursery this term
Our topic this term is: Who will we find in our story books?
We will be listening to, sharing and re-telling lots of traditional tales, such as: The Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Ugly Duckling and Little Red Riding Hood.
Alongside this we will also be thinking about the time of year and using out senses to explore the world around us. We will observe the seasonal changes in Spring/Summer, and talk about what is happening outside and what we can see in our immediate environment (flowers growing, leaves on the trees, weather getting warmer etc.)
Promoting confidence, self-help skills and independence: Children will continue to be supported to become increasingly independent as they get dressed and undressed, putting coats, shoes, wellies and waterproof clothing on. They will be encouraged to do up zips (which have been started by an adult) moving on to attempting to do it themselves and to turn sleeves which are inside out the correct way.
They will continue to be encouraged to wash their hands correctly, using soap and water and rubbing them together for a short while before rinsing them.
Literacy: Children will be increasingly able to sit, listen and join in with stories and rhymes, one to one and in a small or large group.
They will listen to a wide range of stories with a focus on traditional tales and be encouraged to join in with the repeated phrases, such as: “Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman” or “Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down.”
We will begin to look closely at books and how they are constructed. Adults will be using the terms: author, illustrator, title, blurb, front and back cover and will explain their meaning. Children will be supported to remember and use some of these terms.
When reading stories, adults will trace their finger along the words as they read, to model that we read English text from left to right and from top to bottom.
Children will continue to recognise some or all of their name and will find it every day for self-registration and snack time.
Writing: Children will continue to be encouraged to experiment with mark making tools (for example: pens, pencils, sticks, crayons and chalks) on both a large and small scale.
Adults will continue to model ‘writing’ as they play alongside the children and will be talking about what they have written (giving meaning to their marks.) Children will be encouraged to talk about what they have drawn/written and to begin to give meaning to their own marks for example, telling an adult that their marks say, “The Giant is tall” or “that says Big Bad Wolf.”
They will continue to be encouraged to make marks on their pictures to stand for their name. Some children will be writing their name (or part of their name) and will be encouraged to do so on all of their pictures/drawings.
Adults will be encouraging and supporting children to hold their pencil using the correct grip (between their thumb and 2 fingers-tripod grip) by modelling how to do it and correcting the children’s grip where necessary.
Phonics: Children will continue to listen to a range of rhymes and songs to help to develop their phonological (sound) awareness. This is so that they can begin to: hear words that sound the same (rhyme) and count or clap syllables (parts) in word. For example, Giant has 2 syllable/parts (Gi-ant) or Goldilocks is split up into 3 syllables/parts (Gol-di-locks.) We will also do this with our names e.g., Nicola has 3 parts (Ni, co, la.)
They will continue to practise the nursery rhymes and simple that have been learnt so far so that they can say them in full and independently.
Through phonics games and activities, they will begin to recognise (and sort) words with the same initial sound, such as money and Mam and listen for the sounds in short CVC words such as c-a-t, blending them together to make the word cat.
Communication and Language: Children will learn new vocabulary (linked to the topic) and will be encouraged to use it.
They will begin/continue to use words to solve problems with peers (for example, when I am upset or when something has happened.) Adults will model what they could say.
Children will begin to talk about the characters and events in stories (an adult will ask questions to support with this where necessary.)
Mathematics: Children will continue to listen to and be encouraged to join in with lots of number songs and rhymes, such as, 5 little speckled frogs.
They will begin/continue to practise counts objects by pointing to each one and saying a number name, for example, counting the frogs on a lily pad. They will begin to learn and understand that the last number reached when counting tells them how many there are in total. When asked, “How many?” they will be able to tell an adult the total (without having to recount them.) This is known as the ‘cardinal principle.’
They will be given daily opportunities to recite number names in order (rote count) to at least 10, for example, when counting the children in Nursery that day, when counting each spoonful of flour used during a baking activity or when climbing the steps on the apparatus. They will identify changes in number of things using words like more, lots, same. “The are more children in school today.”
Children will also practise representing amounts using fingers. For example, showing how many children are absent that day using their fingers or how many items are in Little Red Riding Hoods basket (up to 5.)
Children will begin to subitise (recognise without counting) amounts. They will do this with spots on a dice or by looking at a small group of objects, such as, magic beans in Jack’s hand (Jack and the Beanstalk.) They will begin with numbers up to 3.
They will look at numerals and link to those that are of significance to them, for example, number 7 (the house number they live in) or the number 4 because they are 4.
They will talk about, explore and begin to name 2D shapes (circle, rectangle, square and triangle) using both informal and mathematical language: ‘sides’, ‘corners’; ‘straight’, ‘flat’, ‘curved’ ‘round.’ This will also be linked to shapes they can see in the environment and pictures, such as, circles for the spots on a ladybird.
They will also be encouraged to think about the size of objects, for example comparing the height of different plants or the weight of different hen’s eggs.
PSED: As part of our personal, social and emotional development we will be following the SCARF (Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship) topic- ‘-Being my best: which includes, what does my body need?(healthy choices), developing resilience/ keeping on trying and working cooperatively.
Children will know the rules and expectations of Nursery and continue to understand the need for sharing and taking turns with others, sometimes with support from adults.
Children will continue to be encouraged to play with others and develop friendships. They will be encouraged to listen to the ideas of others when playing.
They will continue to explore different emotions and the feelings: happy, sad and angry (through play and stories) .
They will begin/continue to learn how to cope and resolve problems. Adults will support them to do this by suggesting things they could say to resolve the problem and reminding them to tell others what has upset the. Adults will also suggest what could be done to solve the problem.
They will continue to know that their needs cannot always be met immediately and that they need to wait if an adult is busy. Adults will support this by reminding children to wait for a short while until they can help and by giving lots of praise when they do so.
They will continue to learn how to be more resilient. Adults will support this by giving lots of encouragement to try new things and by using lots of praise when they have a try.
Physical Development:
As part of our physical development children will continue to be given daily opportunities to explore and use our outdoor environment.
They will continue to develop large-muscle movements (gross motor skills) by making large movements (shapes, lines etc) in the air using streamers and squares of materials and by climbing up apparatus, outdoors.
They will continue to develop manipulation, control and fine motor skills (during free play) by holding tools and using scissors. When using playdough, they will be encouraged to (roll, splat, flatten, squeeze and pinch it. This will be done through regular dough disco.
They will continue to move in a range of ways (during free play) such as: running, jumping, crawling, rolling, walking.
They will continue to have opportunities to use one handed tools, such as, scissors and paintbrushes. They will continue to be encouraged and supported to hold and use these correctly and safely. They will continue to explore different materials and tools. These will include messy materials, such as, porridge, shaving foam, gloop, playdough and mud, scissors, tweezers and mark-making tools.
They will be encouraged to hold pens and pencils (correctly) to begin/continue to write some or all of their name.
Things to remember:
–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 pay your £1 a week school fund donation.
-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 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
