Welcome to Nursery 

From September 2021 the Early Years Curriculum was amended. Please click below for a parent guide to these changes.

Important Information

Please ensure your child brings a bottle of plain water to nursery every day.  This will be left in their individual locker and can be used throughout the day whilst they are at nursery.  (Full time children may also bring juice          to have at lunchtime, this will be kept in their lunch box.)

PE is on a FRIDAY.  Please ensure your child comes to nursery wearing their PE kit.  Please ensure all items are clearly labelled with their name. 
 

REMINDER -no jewellery is to be worn whilst in nursery.  If children come to school wearing jewellery they will be asked to remove it.  If it cannot be removed you will be called to assist. 

Summer 1- What is Changing?

This half term in nursery we will be focusing on the theme ‘What is Changing?’, through our three main focus stories which are, ‘Oliver’s vegetables’ and ‘Handa’s Surprise’. We will be using these stories to talk about food, and where does our food come from, especially fruit and vegetables. We will explore the role of a farmer and work they do on a farm, as well as looking how to help things grow. We will be tasting differing fruits, that are grown in our country and also exotic fruits grown in hotter climates. We will also be having a visit from a dentist to talk to us about how to look after our teeth.
We will also be talking about and taking part in the experiences below:

Week 1- Spring Walk

Week 2- Making cress heads
Week 3- Vegetable Tasting

Week 4- Home project- Plant a sunflower

Week 5- Fruit Tasting                                                                                                                                   

Week 6- Dentist Visit

Zoo lab Visit-What animals live in a Rainforest? 

In nursery we have been talking about different types animals and animals that live in a rainforest. Today we have had some visitors from zoo lab, who talked to us and showed us animals that typically come from a rainforest. Here are some of the facts we learnt about the animals.

Speedy- Giant Snail- two noses. Has 10,000 teeth, the most of any animal.

Tilly- Tarantula- don’t have any ears. They have spinnerets where the web comes from to catch flies. The spider flicks hairs from his legs to other animals if they are in danger. The hairs stick to the other animal and makes them itch.

Turbo- Hissing cockroach- makes a ssssss noise to warn off other animals.

Twiggy- Stick insect- if the stick insect gets scared it puts in their arms and legs and pretends to be a stick.

Noodle- Rainforest Snake- the snake with its tongue, they cannot smell with their nose.

Splat- Tree Frog- come from the Australian jungle. They drink through their skin.

Science Week and Science Boffins

This week has been science week. We have looked at different experiments with varying success. We made predictions on what might happen and observed what did happen.
1. Celery experiment- to show how plants take up water from the bottom all the way up to the top of the plant.
2. Gummy bear experiment- to show how the bear absorbs the water and gets bigger.
3. Skittle experiment- to show how the warm water melts and dissolves the colouring of the skittles.

We have really enjoyed this and learning that science is all around us.

4. Colour mixing

We also had a visit from our very own scientist!!

Red Nose Day 2024

We came dressed in red or our own clothes and gave a donation. We had lots of different Red Nose Day activities out in nursery. We spoke about why we participate in Red Nose Day to help families who don’t have much money. We had lots of different contributions from the children who said we help families who don’t have a home, food, beds or toys. We watched a video about this and played a game in PE with the red noses.

This was such a fun day and a chance to talk about different ways people live and what we have.

Chicks

In school we have had the amazing opportunity to watch chicks hatch from eggs, which has informed our learning about lifecycles of animals. Each day we visited the chicks in small groups, to talk about what we could see or hear. We spoke about the chick lifecycle and the equipment used, such as the incubator and the brooder. The children really enjoyed seeing the chicks grow, and learning differing facts about their lifecycle

World Book Day 2024

We all had so much fun on World Book Day- a day celebrating books and our favourite stories. We all had a great time!

Down by the Jungle

Our theme for this half term is ‘Down by the Jungle’, through our three main focus stories which are, ‘Dear Zoo’ and ‘Teeny Weeny Tadpole’. We will be using these stories to talk about jungles, rainforests, vets and animals that live there. We will relate this to our own experiences of jungle animals or visiting a wildlife park. We will also explore lifecycles, in particularly the frog lifecycle. We will be learning all about animals that typically live in a Jungle and the type of habitat they live in. We will look at and talk about a rainforest, and look at where the Amazon Rainforest is. 
We will also be talking about signs of spring, and look to see if the bulbs we planted have grown. We may even try to paint or draw some of the bulbs we have grown.

Chinese New Year

This week in nursery we have been learning about Chinese New Year. We have learnt that it is the year of the dragon, red symbolises bringing good luck and that the families do a big spring clean before the new moon (Lunar New Year). We have also spoken about and tasted the food that is typically consumed during these celebrations, using chopsticks. We tasted a fortune cookie and read our fortune that was inside.

We also created a huge dragon to go around the great wall of china that we built outdoors, and participated in a dragon dance in PE.

The Big Build

This week in Nursery we invited our familiar adults in to help us create a building. We thought about what we wanted to create and chose the best materials to be able to do this. We had lots of fun!

We have also been building with lots of differing objects, such as Weetabix, Twiglets, straws and seeing which would create the strongest structure. 

The Three Little Pigs

Also this half term we have been reading the three little pigs story. This has lent itself well to being able to discuss different types of buildings and the materials they are made from. We have been creating houses for the pigs using different materials and testing to see if we can blow down the house using our mouths and a balloon pump. 

We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Ice Exploration

In nursery this half term we have been reading we're going on a bear hunt story. We have made our own bears, using different methods, talked about and experimented going in, over and under apparatus with our bodies in PE. We have also taken part in a bear hunt story walk and learnt about differing types of bears and hibernation. 
Due to the cold weather this half term we have also explored ice, and took part in an experiment to try and create our own ice, and then melt it again. We did this both indoors and outdoors, adding coloured water and objects  each time. We also tried to create our own ice paints, this was so much fun!

World Religion Day

 In nursery we have been looking at the religion Hinduism. We have been learning about the Hindu celebration Diwali, which is the Festival of Light, and learn that Diya Lamps where lit in the hope to bring good luck.  We made Diya lamps from card, paper and lots of different sized and coloured gems. We also spoke about Rangoli patterns and learnt that was a tradition when celebrating Diwali.  We enjoyed learning some Indian dance moves and tasted some delicious Indian food, we tried chapatis with mango chutney and raita dip

Christmas Songs and Christmas Dinner Day!

The children did amazing at performing lots of songs at our Christmas performance. The children also enjoyed pulling a cracker, wearing a Christmas hat and hearing the joke from their Christmas cracker during Christmas lunch day!

Exploring Ice and Christmas!

This week we have been exploring the change in weather. We went on an ice hunt outside and looked at what had turned to ice. We talked about how the water had frozen and how to melt it.

The children have really enjoyed taking part is some Christmas activities.

Road Safety Week

We came to school in our bright coloured clothing for Road Safety week to remind everyone to “Be safe, be seen!” We spoke to the children about what road safety means to us in Nursery, and we spoke about how to keep safe when we are out and about in the community. We read a road safety book and looked at all of the ways we can keep safe, such as staying with our parents when out walking, using pedestrian crossings correctly, listening to who we are with and much more. We also spoke about bright clothing and how it is important to 'Be seen', especially as it is getting dark.

Remembrance Day

In Nursery we have touched upon Remembrance Day and explained to the children that it is a day where we remember people who have fought for our country. We watched the Poppy Day animation on CBeebies and created our own poppies to lay in our garden, remembering the people and animals in the wars.
 

Diwali

This week in nursery we have been learning about the festival of light, Diwali. We have spoken to the children about traditions, such as lighting Diya lamps to bring good luck, having a feast with the whole family and watching fireworks as they celebrate. The children have explored creating their own Bengali patterns and Mehndi hand designs. We used the story Peppa's Diwali to talk to the children about this festival. 

Let's Celebrate

The children have been taking part is some lovely activities the past couple of weeks, which has sparked conversations around pumpkins, bats, fireworks and bonfires. Last week, Steve the firefighter came to talk to us about how to keep safe on Bonfire night and taught us a rule if we were in danger with fire- STOP, DROP and ROLL! The children enjoyed practicing this in Nursery.

The children who have been new to nursery this week have settled in really well, and have enjoyed exploring the nursery environment!

Half Termly Book Review

At the end of each half term we review the main stories that we have read and spoken about with the children. The children then get to vote for their favourite story and we created a chart to show us which story was the most popular this half term. The children voted by placing a pom pom into the cup below the book they liked the best. Our main stories are 'The Colour Monster', 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' and 'The Colour Monster'.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We have been reading the book 'Goldilocks' in nursery, which has led us to talk about our own families and who lives in our house. We have also been talking about size and retelling the story in different ways. 

Autumn and Harvest

We have been talking about what is meant by the term 'Autumn' and how is this presented to us. The children have been talking about the differing natural objects that they typically find at this time. We have explored natural objects in many ways, and have been on an Autumn walk. We collected natural objects on our walk, then came back to nursery to do some leaf rubbings. We have also spoken about Harvest, and what this means. we have explored differing fruits and vegetables, and talking about keeping our bodies healthy.

We have planted Spring flowering bulbs in our garden, and danced to Mrs Wilding playing Dingle Dangle scarecrow on the ukulele!

The Colour Monster

Over the past couple of weeks in Nursery we have been exploring colour and emotions through our story, 'The Colour Monster'. The children have become really enthused and understand which emotion each colour represents. We have had some fantastic ideas how what makes them feel a certain emotion. We created our own colour monsters too!

Spiders

Continuing on from the children's interest in spiders over the last couple of weeks, the children have enjoyed creating their own spider webs with glue and glitter, as well as looking for spiders and bugs in the sand. The children have been really engrossed in their learning and loved it when a huge spider visited nursery and created a gigantic web- a web that caught 6 flies overnight!!

Settling into Nursery

All of the children have had an amazing first couple of weeks at nursery, and they have all settled well. Look at all of the fun and learning that has been taking place! 

The children where really interested in all of the spider webs outside, which led us to talk about spiders and why they make webs.

We also completed a tally chart, which the children had to vote for the area of nursery they liked to play in the best. As you can see the Farm and Animals won the vote!