NURSERY NEWS
4th November 2024 – Edition 350
Find out About:
A. School Photographer visiting.
B. Parent Consultations, Big Nursery this week.
C. Walk in the Dark.
D. Volunteering as a Parent Helper in Nursery
E. BBC Children in Need.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
A. School Photographer visiting.
A little reminder that a school photographer will be here on Wednesday 6th November and Thursday 7th November.
B. Parent Consultations, Big Nursery this week.
Big Nursery will be having their Parent Consultations this week! Parents have made appointments with Keyworkers, here are the times staff will be speaking to parents on the phone, as a reminder:
Tuesday 5th November Miss Skai’s Red Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:00pm
Tuesday 5th November Miss Howe’s Yellow Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Patterson’s Blue Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Cashmore’s Yellow Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Each appointment lasts only five minutes. Please help staff to remain on time.
C. Walk in the Dark.
Miss Howe is organising a ‘Walk in the dark’, an activity for children and their parents to attend together, after school, on Thursday 14th November at 5:00pm. Children will need to arrive, wrapped up warmly, ready to search the Nursery Garden for hidden soft toy animals. Children will need to bring a torch, because the garden is very dark in places! We will provide refreshments for everyone who attends. Brothers and sisters are very welcome too. If you plan to come, please send an email to Mrs Selth cselth@willownursery.co.uk entitled ‘Walk in the dark’ detailing your child’s name and how many adults and children will be coming, so we can buy enough food….
D. Volunteering as a Parent Helper in Nursery
At this time of year, we ask if any parents are interested in volunteering their time to be a parent helper in school.
Becoming a parent helper isn’t possible for all parents. We know a number of you are working parents and so are very busy. A good number of parents have younger children to look after too, so are unable to commit to help.
However, we, as a school really value the help if parents can contribute their time.
We find help most useful when parents can make a regular commitment each week to help out for a morning or afternoon session. Some parents offer a few hours of their time every week, some parents offer time every other week. If you become a regular parent helper we allocate you to one of our staff members who you will work with each time you come in. In this way staff can plan activities for you to become involved with, from arts and crafts, -little ‘makes’, which children love, to playing table top maths or language games, exploring construction toys, playing in the sand or water trays with the children.
Adult time can make a huge difference to a child’s education. Our staff’s first priority is to maintain safe and stimulating environments. At the beginning of the school year it is very difficult for them to focus on sustained interactions with small groups of children at the activities I have outlined above. Staff really appreciate the help of Parent Volunteers as it means we can offer wider Adult led or Adult supported opportunities in each play space.
So what can the volunteering opportunity offer you?
Please do not feel you are too shy, or that perhaps your English Language skills are not strong. We would encourage you to come forward and give it a try.
If you think you might be interested please mention this to your child’s keyworker, or to any of the staff.
Miss Gaffney is our Parent Volunteer co-ordinator. She will then get in touch with you and invite you to a meeting with other interested parents.
E. BBC Children in Need.
Friday 15th November is Children in Need. Parents often ask us what we are doing for Children in Need. –So as in previous years, we will collect money in Charity buckets, should anyone wish to donate. We do organise activities with a Pudsey Bear theme, and we try to share with the children that we are fundraising to help other children. Sometimes the Nursery children want to dress up because they see their older brothers and sisters dressing up for their school’s event. We are happy for children to dress up, or not to dress up. We do not wish any family to feel under pressure.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is Festivals and Autumn.
The children will be sharing experiences that they may have had over the half term holidays including celebrating Diwali and bonfire/fireworks night.
This year Diwali is being celebrated on October 31st, which falls during half term. Diwali is the Hindu festival of light, which lasts for five days. When the children return to school, those that have celebrated will be able to draw upon their own experiences and share them with others. Children will be taught the story of Rama and Sita, decorate Rangoli patterns and look at some Diwali artefacts that we display to support their learning.
Children return to school on the 5th of November, which is bonfire night. Many children may have celebrated bonfire night with their families or by attending an organised display. Staff will share their own experiences of this celebration with the children and prompt them to share their personal stories. We will use vocabulary that describes the sights and sounds that the children may have seen over the half term holiday, and discuss the colours of all the lights and fireworks.
In our creative areas, children have the chance to take part in junk modelling, we have noticed that our box modelling resources have become very low. We would like to take this opportunity to ask that parents donate recyclable materials for us to restock this area. We would gratefully accept small and medium boxes, such as toothpaste boxes and cereal boxes, as well as toilet roll tubes and egg cartons. These provide so many creative opportunities for the children and develop their imaginations. Thank you for your support!