Latest News

Nursery News 30th June 2025

Monday, June 30, 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Monday 30^th June 2025 – Edition 377

Find out About:

A. E2Bn internet issues.

B. Long hot summer continues…

C. What are the children learning about this week?

A. E2Bn internet issues.

E2Bn is the internet provider the Local Authority recommended to schools. Many schools in the area use E2Bn.

On Thursday and Friday of last week we had no internet access. Our technical support service confirmed that we have no problem at our end, it is E2Bn’s server that is down. Other schools have been affected too.

As I am writing this, on Friday afternoon, we have been told to expect E2Bn’s server to be operational by Monday morning.

I must apologise if any parent has experienced a delay when contacting the office by email.

B. Long hot summer continues……

During some summers the very hot weather lasts for just a few weeks and temperatures drop a little. It seems this year the hot weather is continuing for an extended period with no respite in sight!

We have had a wonderful response to our ice pop request this year, but I am told we will run out of ice pops by Wednesday this week. We would be very grateful if parents would consider donating one more box of ice pops, to help keep the children cool on these very hot days. The children enjoy the treat. We all (adults and children) enjoy five minutes of peace when the children sit under the tree and quietly enjoy their ice pops.

We have also used up all our fruit donations. We had a fridge full of apples that kept us fully supplied for 6 weeks from my most recent request for fruit on the 12^th May. We have three nursery weeks left before the summer break. Please could I ask for a small donation of fruit for our snack tables in the mornings?

C. What are the children learning about this week?

What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is transport – air and water

Staff will work with children to teach them about the different types of transport that can be used on the water and in the air. Summer holidays are fast approaching and many children will be going on holidays. Some children are lucky enough to be travelling out of the country and this can be used as a discussion point, to share personal experiences of air and water travel. There are many resources in the school that can showcase different transport and how we use it, including books, toy airports and water play with boats and submarines and these will all be available for the children to explore. Staff will model lots of language as they discuss things they have seen while on their own travels and they will encourage children to share their own experiences.

Our learning intention this week is for the children to practice skills of assertion, negotiation and compromise and to look to adults for support in conflict resolution. We will be assisting children as they consider the best way to solve conflicts no matter how big or small. Lots of praise and support will be given to children who try their best to show understanding and kindness to their friends. All children are different and have varying abilities when it comes to being able to problem solve, but being able to try their best or ask for help is key to them becoming successful.

The skill we will be looking at this week is ball skills, this means being able to kick, catch, throw and hit balls with bats. There will be plenty of ball games available for the children to take part in individually or as part of a team. As the weather is so hot, we will continue to remind the children about staying safe in the sun. This means to take shelter in the shade or inside if they need to, wearing hats and sunscreen and drinking plenty. Children are reminded throughout the day to drink plenty and stay hydrated and staff refill bottles once a child has finished their drink.

Nursery News – 23rd June 2025

Monday, June 23, 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Monday 23rd June 2025 – Edition 376

Find out About:

A. Review of the Year

B. Late arrivals are becoming problematic.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Review of the year

At this time of year, we carry out a big review of our school. In the last few days staff been talking to the Big Nursery children individually, to gain their views about their school, with regard to what they like, what they think they have learned and what they would like to see change. All school staff are busy filling in questionnaires too.

This information helps us to plan our areas for development next year.

I always ask parents for their views too at this time of year.

We usually ask just two questions:

Please comment about what we do well at Willow.
Please tell us one thing you would like to see at Willow that you would consider to be an improvement and/or development.

Please write a short email and send to office@willownursery.co.uk

If you wish your comments to inform my review, please send your email by the end of this week, Friday 27^th June. I will then compile all the comments and respond to them in a future newsletter, on Tuesday 8^th July.

B. Late arrivals are becoming problematic.

I explained last week how we admit children who are late. After keyworkers have gone inside the office staff are left to admit latecomers. I wrote:

When children arrive a bit later, after 9:00am, office staff will be putting lunchboxes on the appropriate trolley, escorting your child to their register area and marking your child in that register. There are 5 different rooms where children will be registering. A member of staff may only be able to bring in one child at a time. You may be asked to wait outside, until a member of the office team is able to open the front door and escort your child in.

Parents who arrive late, often just send their child in the front door and leave, unaware if office staff are available or ready to look after their child. From now on, I have asked office staff to make sure the school is secure before admitting latecomers. This means that office staff and myself will bring in the lunchbox trolleys, shut the front door and put the security lock on.

Staff will then bring in pupils one at a time. Parents will not be admitted. Parents will be asked to wait patiently, until their child is admitted. We will look after individual children in a quality way, ensuring they have their belongings stored in the correct places, that they are seated with their Keyworker group, and their name is added to the classroom and lunchtime registers. This process may take 3-4 minutes per child.

These measures are necessary to ensure late arrivals are admitted safely and securely. We are experiencing a regular group of 8-10 children arriving ‘only just late’. These are not the parents who are travelling across town to do two school drop-offs.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is transport – land

Staff will explain to the children what the word transport means and that there are many different modes of transport. There will be a variety of different resources throughout the school, for the children to fully explore this topic. Staff will use these resources to expand the children’s vocabulary, they will explain that on land we can travel by car, train, bus, bicycle, motorcycle and on foot.

Our learning intention this week is for the children to talk extensively about things that are of particular importance to them. This means that they will learn to talk about people and things that are not present and that they will use language to share experiences and thoughts. This will be promoted by having discussions with the children, and encouraging conversations by asking open ended questions. Staff will often relate to the children as they talk about people and things that are of importance to them. These discussions help to build bonds between staff and children. Children are more likely to share more thoughts as their confidence grows.

We will focus on cutting skills this week and there will be plenty of books, magazines and paper for the children to cut. Staff will support the children in holding their scissors effectively to be able to make snips in paper and, for those that are able, to cut carefully and with purpose.

Nursery News 16th June 2025

Monday, June 16, 2025

NURSERY NEWS

16th June 2025 – Edition 375

Find out About:

A Reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Yellow Group Parents: Basic Skills.

B. Trying to be on time.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Reminder An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Yellow Group Parents: Basic Skills.

Miss Howe’s Yellow group parents have been invited in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 18^th June.

Mrs Cashmore’s Big Nursery Yellow group parents have been invited in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Thursday 19^th June.

The children’s skills are really coming along as we head towards the end of the year. We hope you will enjoy the opportunity to see your child working within a more structured, adult led session.

B. Trying to be on time.

Could we please ask that all families try to arrive on time for the beginning of your child’s session. As a Nursery School our role is to encourage good attendance and punctuality, to prepare families for school. We have a well ordered routine for admitting pupils at the beginning of the session. When children arrive a little late it can mean that the way in can become congested, with late parents trying to add lunch boxes and bottles to the lunch box trolleys. Staff are outside watching the safety of the arriving children. This becomes more difficult with additional people moving around.

We are finding that more children are arriving late. If your child does not arrive with their colour group, there is a chance that your child’s lunchbox will end up on the wrong lunch trolley, and not arrive for lunch when your child needs it, and your child will become anxious. This happened twice last week.

We do understand that some parents drop off at more than one school and cannot be in two places at once and you aim get here as soon as you can. This is fine.

We are just asking that you help to keep drop off time as safe and well ordered as possible, so we can begin our teaching swiftly. Thank you to those parents that help us by arriving on time every day, allowing their children to be escorted in by their Keyworkers.

We will also try our very best to get your children out of school on time. Please remember that very hot days in Nursery can be very draining. Children can, and frequently do, become cross and less tolerant in hot weather conditions, so we may find it more difficult to be at the front of school promptly for collection.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is The Smartest Giant in Town.

The children will be listening to and exploring the book The Smartest Giant in Town. They will get to know the characters and learn how they are all so kind to each other. The characters in the story talk about how they feel in different situations and staff will use this as a discussion point for the children to chat about their own emotions. This fits in nicely with our learning intention for the week, which is to ‘talk about how others might be feeling and respond according to their understanding of the other persons needs and wants’. We will be encouraging everyone to be considerate of each other and to remember to be kind.

We will be talking to the children about different things that may affect our mood such as being hungry, tired and hot. When the weather is hot, we give the children lots of reminders to take breaks from the sun, wear sunhats and to drink plenty. It is important that the children understand that it is okay to feel a range of emotions but also that there are different ways to manage the way we feel so that it doesn’t affect others.

As a staff, we work hard to teach the children to manage their emotions and to understand that the way they feel is important. We model different ways to communicate with each other and offer solutions to support the wellbeing of the children.

Nursery News 9th June 2025

Monday, June 9, 2025

NURSERY NEWS

9th June 2025 – Edition 374

Find out About:

A. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Yellow Group Parents: Basic Skills

B. Parent Consultations July 2025

C. End of term arrangements July 2025

D. What are the children learning about this week?

E. Balance and Breathe with Shelley.

A. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Yellow Group Parents: Basic Skills.

Miss Howe teaches some Big Nursery Yellow Group children ‘Basic Skills’ on a Wednesday morning. Mrs Cashmore teaches some Big Nursery Yellow Group children ‘Basic Skills’ on a Thursday morning.

The children move to a quiet space in Room 5 where they work in small groups (approx. 8 children) to learn reading, writing, mathematical skills and problem solving.

We would like to invite Miss Howe’s Yellow group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 18^th June.

We would like to invite Mrs Cashmore’s Yellow group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Thursday 19^th June.

A further invitation letter will follow to Yellow Group parents so that we can match up time slots, so parents can join their child’s small group. Green Group had their Basic Skills groups in the Autumn Term 2024 and Red Group had their Basic skills group in the Spring Term 2025.

B. Parent Consultations July 2025.

We plan to have face to face parent consultations for all the children on 8^th and 10^th July 2025. All consultations will be 5 minutes long. Staff will be in touch with you to arrange an appointment time.

So for Little Nursery…

All the Children who will be staying with us in September

Tuesday 8^th July–

Miss Gaffney’s Blue Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:25pm

Mrs Brinkley’s Orange Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:20pm

Mrs Cashmore, Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:40pm

Miss Allen, (covering for Mrs McGrath) Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:00pm and 4:35pm

Miss Tyler’s Green group children, ( and Mrs Watson’s Red Group) Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

So for Big Nursery…

All the Children who will be leaving us in July:

Thursday 10^th July–

Mrs Patterson’s Green Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:45pm

Miss Skai’s Red Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Miss Howe’s Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:05pm

Mrs Cashmore’s Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:20pm

C. End of Term arrangements July 2025

The last day of term in July 2025 for all children will be Monday 21st July.

On Tuesday 22^nd July school will open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be from 8:50 am to 11:50 am. All Big Nursery leavers are invited to attend this session, regardless of your child’s normal attendance days. As children are attending for the morning only, no child will require a packed lunch. Children will require their water bottles. We are going to consult the children about what activities they would like to plan for their last day, and try to enable their ideas. There will be no charge for this session.

D. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is the Royal Family and London.

The children will be learning about the Royal Family and tourist attractions in London. There will be lots of discussion on who the King and Queen of England are, where they live and all about their extended family. Staff will provide lots of media for the children to look at and to familiarise themselves with the Royal Family.

There will be plenty of role play opportunities for the children to explore this week. In Room 3, the cosy corner will be transformed into a magnificent royal area, complete with a throne. In Room 1, there will be a London bus set up for the children to either drive, or be passengers on and go on London adventures. In Room 2, there will be arts and crafts including crown making and collages. All of these wonderful resources should enable the children to use their own experiences and imagination to extend their play and involve others in their games.

We hope that all of our activities in school will promote discussions with the children, where they can share their own experiences of visiting London and seeing some of the sights for themselves.

E. Balance and Breathe with Shelley.

One of our current parents offers a wellness class and she has asked that I add her new poster to our newsletter:

Nursery News 2nd June 2025

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Monday 2nd June 2025 – Edition 373.

Find out About

A. Summer Heat and Nursery.

B.Is your child ready to learn?

C. What are the children are learning about this week?

A. Summer Heat and Nursery.

We now find ourselves in the last seven weeks (and 2 days!) of the Summer Term. Higher temperatures will now be arriving. Staff are bracing ourselves, as the Summer extreme hot weather brings its own problems.

Across the school, children respond differently to the heat. Some children can take the heat in their stride, and are happy and content. Some children really struggle with the heat, they get too hot, become flushed and sweaty. The intense heat can sap children’s energy. Some children can become extremely grumpy and tired in the hottest part of the day. Staff spend most of their time worrying about keeping everyone safe.

So to help:

Ensure children have their water bottles with them every day.
Provide a hat for your child, please put their name on it somewhere.
Please keep the donations of fruit and vegetables coming in for snack time. These help to keep the children hydrated, and snack time inside is a restful pause away from the heat. I think we have enough fruit in the fridge for two weeks so please don’t buy any just yet!

Donate some Ice Pops, again these can create a reason to pause and sit quietly. The ice also helps the children to cool down.

This is something we have done for many years at Willow. The children look forward to the ice pops as a treat mid-afternoon.

However, we are aware that the government is introducing a new Nutrition Policy for all Early Years settings in September 2025. There are very strict guidelines that we will have to follow. So this may be the last year we will be allowed to give ice pops to the children. The Nutrition Policy will be implemented in September. We will share the new guidance with you. Some of the staff are worried that if we give children ice pops this summer some of the them who will still be here in June 2026 will be disappointed when we explain ‘No Ice pops’ next year. I know some parents have already sent some ice pops in, so we already have some in our freezer.

So, I have decided that we will go ahead with Ice Pops this summer.

B. Is your child ready to learn?

Parents always look eagerly towards finding out which Primary school their child will be attending. Parents of children leaving us in July 2025 have found out which school their child is going to. We work very hard in school to prepare children for the next stage in their learning at their new school. There are some preparations that parents should be aware of, and can work on with your child in order to make your child ‘School Ready’. So together, as teachers and carers, we need to make sure all our children receive the very best possible start.

Central Bedfordshire Council has put together a leaflet which describes some essential skills that your child should be working towards in order to get the best out of school. This leaflet is known as the ‘sixteen ticks’ as it has sixteen things to work towards. These ticks are relevant to all our pupils, even the youngest, because they are all eventually going to go on to Primary School.

I have attached a poster along with this newsletter which details the sixteen ticks and suggests some points for you to consider.

There is an additional link sent with this newsletter. This is the 16 ticks poster.

Please have a look at it, to see the variety of skills children need to have in place in order to have a successful start in their primary school.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Our learning intention this week is for expressive arts and design: to enjoy joining in with moving, dancing and ring games and our 7C’s learning intention is for the children to be able to challenge themselves safely.

We will have some caterpillars visiting us at school and the children will have the chance to watch them grow and change. This may seem familiar to the children, as we have been sharing the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There will be lots of artwork and activities that relates back to this book, including creating symmetrical butterfly paintings and retelling the story.

We will be learning lots of songs and expressing ourselves through music this week. The children will be encouraged to sing and dance to music, learn how to follow simple dance routines and to understand rhythms as they play instruments. There will be opportunities for the children to make and play their own instruments in the box modelling area and we can play them together as we listen to the children’s choice of songs.

There will be lots of exciting ways for the children to challenge themselves throughout the nursery this week as they work hard to create obstacle courses and practice balancing on the climbing equipment in the garden. The children will be able to challenge themselves inside as they use scissors and other resources to create artwork. As they complete different tasks throughout the school, everyone will be encouraged to consider their own safety and the safety of those around them. Staff will prompt the children to remember to stay safe as they work and play.

Older entries »