Nursery News 10th July 2023

NURSERY NEWS

10th July 2022 – Edition 304

Find out About:

  1. End of Term arrangements July 2023
  2. Leavers Day –Friday 21st July- 8:50am-11:50am
  3. Ensure 30 hour codes are in place /Renew 30 hour codes.
  4. Review of the year- Results.
  5. What are the children learning this week?

 

  1. End of Term arrangements July 2023

The last day of term in July 2023 for all children will be Thursday 20th July.

This day will run as a normal Thursday. Timings of the day will be the same as all Thursdays.

 

2. Leavers Day –Friday 21st July- 8:50am-11:50am

On Friday 21st July school will open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be from 8:50 am to 11:50am. 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. Children should arrive at 8:50 am and wait outside as usual.

We have consulted the children about what activities they would like to plan for their last day and this is what they have come up with:

Children may dress up if they want to. Children may come to school in a dressing up outfit if they wish. There should be no pressure on anyone to buy an outfit. Normal Nursery clothes are absolutely fine too.

We have arranged for children to:

  • Watch cartoons,
  • Play with bikes, dolls, cars
  • Have songs and music, dancing, party lights, bubbles and balloons
  • Play pass the parcel.

 

At 10:30 am all children will sit down together for a picnic time in the garden. Staff will provide the snacks the children requested: cake, pizza, apples, cheese, crisps

The morning will finish with a group time for each colour group, where all children will receive a certificate praising their individual skills and/or qualities.

11:50am Going Home Time- Parents to collect children from the front gate. Children will be dismissed in the regular way, with Green group first, followed by Red group then Yellow group.

 

3. Ensure 30 hour codes are in place /Renew 30 hour codes.

A reminder about the eligibility checker:

Eligibility checker:

 

Eligibility will be checked via a childcare application developed by HMRC.

Parents are responsible for checking if they are eligible.

 

Parents need to visit the website www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. This is the online eligibility checker.

 

Parents will be issued a code to take to the setting (nursery/ childminder etc.). 

There will be a grace period for parents where their circumstances change.  This will give parents the time to regain employment.

Parents must reconfirm their eligibility every three months via the HMRC online eligibility checker or else they will lose their entitlement, subject to the grace period.  Parents are essentially reconfirming that their employment status has not changed and they still meet the criteria. HMRC will send reminder emails to parents to notify them of the need to reconfirm.

For all parents who are entitled to 30 hour funding for your child (3+ children) please ensure that your code is in place and valid by 31st August 2023, to enable us to receive funding for your child for the Autumn term.

The government will send out reminders to families to renew your code. Please be aware that sometimes the government email may go into your Spam/ Junk email folder. If you code is not valid you will not receive funding

 

4. .Review of the year- Results

I have had one family who replied to my request for feedback from parents. It is a lovely well rounded review which I would like to share with you.   There may be some points raised which other parents may relate to….

  1. Please comment about what we do well at Willow.

We have loved seeing how children interact so well with their key workers and vice versa. Mrs Cashmore has been brilliant with X and gives the impression that she knows X well and genuinely enjoys spending time with them, whilst also seeming to encourage X out of their comfort zone and to try new and different things. All of the teachers seem to be very caring and there is a definite culture of gentleness, care and understanding at the nursery. I have been very impressed in my conversations with Miss Howe and Mrs Cashmore with their care for us as a wider family as well as with X as an individual. When I have expressed concern over challenges we are having with X at home both teachers provided helpful advice showing that they care about the children and their families even outside of the nursery context. I have also been impressed to see how staff are willing to go outside of their comfort zone to include parents – teaching a phonics lesson etc. in front of a group of parents must be intimidating but it is very much appreciated as we love to see how X is learning and how we can build on this with them at home.

  1. Please tell us one thing you would like to see at Willow that you would consider to be an improvement and/or development.

We would have liked more face-to-face feedback time with teachers at the termly review but understand that doing this on the phone may be a hangover from COVID restrictions? It would also have been helpful to have a more detailed document about the children’s learning once they start focussing more on phonics and numbers in the Summer term. We have loved the opportunity to come in and view phonics, key skills and music sessions but would have also appreciated more information on how far the children are pushed in terms of their writing – what the expectations are for them to be able to do so that we can work on that at home. This information has always been provided when I have asked however! The only other thing is that ‘party days’ at Christmas and end of term should be marked as such on the school calendar so that working parents can plan in advance for those days.

  1. Have you any ideas regarding how parents could feel more involved with the school?

No – we have felt very involved.

Leigh Davies- My response….

Face to face consultations. The staff all felt it was important to offer face to face consultations at this time of the year, with the majority of children moving from Little Nursery to Big Nursery or off to reception classes in their Primary Schools. We were getting the feeling that most parents would like this. We are aware though, that as consultations are only for 5 minutes, sometimes it is a big ask to ask parents to travel in to school for such a short time. Some parents are still working during early evening, and some have family situations that make a face to face consultation difficult. So with all decisions we make in school it is hard to meet everyone’s needs. We do always say that these consultations are not compulsory, and staff will always try to find time to talk to parents if you have any concerns about your child.

After our recent Ofsted Inspection, our plan for the coming year is to take a close look at our curriculum. The teachers will be considering what are the most important things that we teach at Willow, What is Willow all about? What key skills do we want Willow children to achieve?

Within this work, we will be writing written plans about our curriculum. We will be writing about what we plan to teach, what we would like the children to learn. We will be noting the progression children will need to make between the ages of 2 and 4, and trying to plan the steps of teaching required, and the vocabulary we will use, to ensure all children can access our curriculum and make good levels of progress. We hope to be able to share these curriculum guides with our parents, so you can be fully aware of our intentions and you can support your children on their learning journey.

I will ensure that the Party Day in December, and the Leavers Day in July is communicated to parents in the very first newsletter of the academic year in September to allow working parents to be aware and make arrangements ahead of time. I will consider adding it to our calendar, but I do feel it needs some explanation alongside it so parents are aware who it applies to.

Willow Nursery School- Children’s Evaluation. July 2023

1.   What do you like to do at Nursery?

Go outside

Play with toys

I like to play with A, B,N,E, A and H

Playing games . Playing with E and C

Play with C, E and A

Play with M

Play trains and cars and football

B and H being my friend

Drawing, playing, climbing, running.

I like playing outside I like playing with the chalks.

Playing with E, I like to play with cars.

I like making cards for people. E made one for me.

Going outside on the climbing frame.

I want to play games, I like going outside on the slide.

I like playing with my friends.

Playing with cars and the rocket.

I like playing with E. I like playing with cars and hot wheels.

I like to play on the slide

I like to play with toys, aeroplane toys.

Playing games with my friends

I like playing racing cars and monster trucks

Playing super heroes.

I like running games

I like doing painting, my favourite painting is a rainbow.

Playing with cars

Playing with my friends

Play with my friends and read and colouring in.

I like to play with P. Sometimes I play Super Kitties and Paw Patrol.

Play with M

Play with T

Play

Do patterns (the activity he was doing)

Play with A

Play toys with E

Play

Makes a happy face

Play trains

Cutting , drawing, cuddle Mummy and B and Daddy.

Eat pizza and pineapple

Play on the slide, play with the trains, play with the dolls

 
2.   Is there anything you don’t like at Nursery?

I don’t like hitting

I like doing everything

I don’t like pushing or hitting me. When X comes past me, he will hit me and I don’t like it.

I don’t like people that hurt other people.

When people push me, I tell the teacher and I don’t like it.

No

I don’t like bananas

Hitting

My mum hurt my arm.

No

Nothing

Nothing

Anyone stealing one of my cars.

I don’t like making spiders.

No

No

I like the bear hunt  but it was scary.

I don’t like playing with X because he is rude. He doesn’t play nicely.

I don’t like it when X hits me.

I don’t like pushing anybody.

I don’t like to go outside.

I don’t like taking a time out.

I don’t like being pushed. X pushed me today.

I don’t like X to go in my face.

No

No

Nothing

I don’t like people hurting me.

X hit me.

I miss Mummy.

I want to play with Mummy.

Makes a sad face

I like everything
3.   Tell me something you are good at now since coming to Nursery?

I can write ‘s’

Good listening

I am good at happy and sad.

Feel better

Thumbs up.

Sleeping

I’m good at playing kindly

Cutting with scissors.

I am very good at bouncing. I bounce right on the path. I bounce on a ball.

I am good at my numbers and my shapes. I am good at my animals.

I’m good at playing football.

I am good at my numbers, I am good at my shapes.

Good at cars and with my friends

Tennis, football, bowling,

I am good at doing jobs with daddy on the car. We wash the car.

Counting and learning letters.

Playing with people at jigsaws.

Balancing

I’m good at Lego, the blue ones.

I’m good at helping

I can write N for (my name)

I can write my name without my namecard!

I’m good at playing with my friends

I am good at running outside. Me and M are both fast.

I can climb and climb everything.

I can read. I can help M.

Good at cleaning the floor. I do it before lunch.

I have  kind hands. I can high five gently.

I don’t know.

I am good at writing numbers

Drawing letters

I’m happy.

Good at training and work. I have been in the gym. I am good at racing everybody.

The balancing thing I’m good at reading.

 
4.Tell me what you have learnt in Phonics:

‘s’ ‘a’ ‘m’

D,m

About numbers

About letters

Letters and Numbers.

I learnt about letters, so we know what to write. You always teach us so we can read and write.

Learning

Different numbers

The letter ‘t’ the letter for my Daddy.

Different numbers

I don’t know.

‘ccc’ and another ‘k’ ‘ttt’

‘a’ ‘t’ ‘p’ ‘c’

‘a’ ‘s’ ‘I’ ‘c’ healthy food.

‘s’ ‘i’

Letters

Letters S for snake A for Ants and apple.

M for my name and Mummy.

I don’t know a,a,a for Ants.

S for snake  D for Devan

With Miss Howe, S for snake, T for (friends with initial letter T)

P,t,s S for snake.

S for snake , strawberry, sunglasses and straw. A for ambulance.

That somebody dropped the ice cream. I learnt the letter O for light.

S for snake T for tiger and Teddy bear.

S for sand and snake

T,s,n,g.

The letter S

Snake, minion

T,m,a,l,s,I,u,

Thumbs up.

A m x s

I didn’t learn anything about phonics

1,2,3,4,5,6  abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz- continues to sing song.

A,s
5.How can we make Willow better for the new children?

I have a friend who is coming to my Nursery. ‘V’ We could make nursery smaller.

Read some books in the Library

Play nicely

By doing everything better.

Play nicely

No hitting no biting, no kicking, no balls bump your head.

New Chalks.

Cutting, run in big school with my big brother.

Build a big slide and a small one.

Don’t know.

Shopping for milk.

I don’t know.

The builders have to come and put bricks.

Being good.

I don’t know.

Doing the bear hunt.

By doing things with my friends, do hide and seek.

Maybe we can make it into a big class for the little ones.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

I don’t know.

A rectangle.

Coming at night time.

I don’t know.

Go to big school.

We could have more fun playing with friends.

We could play with R

Make it like big school.

It’s good (thumbs up)

Slide and a trampoline in the garden next to the bench.

Buy new toys like paw patrol toys.

 

 

5.What are the children learning about this week?

What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is water play

In Catkins, Mrs Field will set up water canals for the children to play with. She will provide colourful boats for the children to push around the canals. Mrs Field will model mathematical language as she interacts with the children, discussing the shapes and colours on the boats. Don’t forget lots of spare clothes as your children will get wet!

In the link, Mrs Watson will be exploring ice in the water tray. She will talk to the children about how the ice was made and what it feels like. Mrs Watson will place lots of sea creatures in with the ice and the children will be encouraged to talk about what animals they see and where they might live.

In room three, Miss Gaffney will set up a Goldilocks role play area. The children will be able to revisit previous learning by playing in the house and retelling the story by themselves. They will have many props to support the story telling. Mrs Gaffney will praise the children for taking part and sharing the resources.

Outside, Mrs Brinkley will be teaching the children the importance of listening to each other, taking turns and solving their own conflicts. She will encourage the children to think about how they might solve issues that arise when more than one person wants to do the same thing.

The theme in big nursery is the ice cream parlour

In room one, there will be an ice cream parlour set up for the children to explore. They will have menus, tables, food, plates and telephones. The children will also have clipboards to take ice cream orders from each other, which will build the children’s language and literacy skills.

Mrs Cashmore will be working with the children to write some or all of the letters in their name. They will be encouraged to write each letter of their name on a picture of an ice cream scoop, then once all letters have been written the children will have their own ice cream name.

In room two, Mrs Patterson will provide materials for the children to make their own ice lolly pictures, they will use PVA glue and tissue paper to create a lovely shiny effect when their work dries. She will also provide paints for the children to create sponge print ice cream pictures.

Outside, Miss Skai will encourage the children to work together to complete a scavenger hunt. She will provide pictures to groups of children and ask them to look around the whole garden to find each item. All items on Miss Skai’s scavenger hunt are natural items and can only be found in the garden.