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Nursery News 13th December 2021

NURSERY NEWS

13th December 2021 – Edition 246- Last Newsletter of 2021

Find out About

A.Christmas Parties

B. What the children are learning about this week?

C Notes for the end of term/ date for beginning of Spring term

A. Christmas Parties.

These parties are for all our children regardless of the days you attend.

Unfortunately parents will be unable to stay during the parties as we do not have enough room! Staffing ratio’s will be maintained.

Little Nursery Party.

Friday 17th December

9:00am to 10:00am

The Plan:

9:00 Doors Open

Children work in small groups to make ‘Christmas Crowns’

9:20 Party Snacks.

9:30 Surprise visit from Father Christmas

Songs for Father Christmas

Father Christmas leaves gifts for all children.

9:35 Back to groups to make a decoration.

9:50 Pass the Parcel Game.

10:00 Parents arrive to collect all children.

Big Nursery Party

Friday 17th December

11:15am to 1:00pm

The Plan:

11:15 Doors Open

11:25am Party Food

11:45am Surprise visit from Father Christmas.

Songs for Father Christmas.

12:00 Christmas Magic Show

1:00pm Parents arrive to collect all children.

B. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is Christmas.

Catkins will be focusing on expressive arts by making Santa handprints with Mrs. Field, she will paint an image of Santa onto their hands and they will press this image onto card. The children will also be learning some Christmas songs, including Jingle Bells and We wish you a merry Christmas.

Little Nursery will be making Christmas lanterns and reading a collection of festive stories. In the link they will be decorating reindeers and outside in the garden, the children will be making Christmas hats.

The theme in Big Nursery is Christmas.

In Room 1, Miss Howe will be making Christmas calendars with the children, other activities will include the Christmas surprise game, which teaches about colour, and the Christmas list game, which will have a focus on counting.

In Room 2, Mrs. Patterson will be retelling the story of the nativity. The children will have the opportunity to dress up as Nativity characters and act out the story.

Outside, Miss Skai will be working with the children to make outside decorations. They will use glittery pipe cleaners and pasta. This activity really helps the children to fine tune their motor skills and the decorations will look beautiful hanging in your gardens.

C Notes for the end of term/ date for beginning of Spring term

On Friday 17th December the school will be open for the parties only. The school office will be closed on Friday 17th December. The deadline for all payments for the beginning of the Spring Term will be on Thursday 16th December at 9:30am.

The staff would like to say Happy Christmas! to all our families that celebrate Christmas. We wish all our families a safe and happy break during the school holidays and look forward to seeing you in the new year.

Spring Term begins on 4th January 2022.

Nursery News 6th December 2021

NURSERY NEWS

6th December 2021 – Edition 245

Find out About

A.Information regarding the beginning of the New Term in January 2022.

B. Christmas Cards

C. What the children are learning about this week?

A. Information regarding the beginning of the Spring Term in January 2022.

School reopens on 4th January 2022.

During the Autumn term, all children in Little Nursery have been classed as ‘Two Year Olds’. Little Nursery Children who have had their 3rd birthday between the 1st September 2021 and 31st December 2021 are now entitled to universal 15 hours funding, or for some families, 30 hours funding. These children will be based in Little Nursery, and their keyworker will be Miss Gaffney. They will now be known as ‘Green Group’. At this time, eight more children will join ‘Green Group’ from our waiting list. Mrs Watson will be the keyworker for these brand new children.

We will put a Green Group sign on the fence, so Green Group parents will know where to wait in the morning. It will be on the Little Nursery side of the front gate, but will be behind our 2 year olds.

B. Christmas Cards.

We as a staff, would like to ask parents to consider sending just one Christmas card in to school, written ‘To all my friends at Willow’. These cards will then be displayed for all to see in the library corridor.

C. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is ‘Christmas’.

In Catkins this week we will be making tree decorations, using card. The children will explore marble painting and make their own unique baubles to hang from the tree or use as a keepsake.

The children will also have access to our brand-new soft play equipment, they can build up their physical skills by climbing, rolling and stretching across these soft and colourful shapes.

In the link the children will have great fun baking a variety of cakes and biscuits throughout the week. There will be a different recipe every day, including mince pies and Christmas cupcakes. By the end of the week the children will be expert chefs and may even be able to help with Christmas dinner!

Outside, the children will be making reindeer food to help keep Rudolph and his friends full of energy for their long journey around the world. Miss Gaffney will also

be using natural resources, found by the children, to build and decorate a Christmas star.

In the classroom, the children will make their Christmas cards and handprint Christmas tree pictures. This is a lovely way to express themselves through art and use their hands as tools to paint.

The theme in big nursery is also ‘Christmas’.

In room 1, Miss Skai will be working from a literacy point of view and encouraging the children to write letters to Santa. She will also be reading ’Dear Santa’ written by Rod Campbell, with small groups of children and encouraging them to make predictions regarding what happens next in the story.

In room two Miss Howe will be teaching the children about 2D shapes, by working with the children to create a picture of a Christmas tree. The children will use paint, stars and sequins to decorate their trees and will discuss the shapes they have used. Miss Howe will explain that the shapes we see all around us have names and will support the children in learning the names of the shapes used in this activity, for example, the tree is a triangle, the card used is a rectangle and the tree stump is a square.

Mrs. Cashmore will be working with the children on their Christmas cards, they will be using different resources to create a wreath card. Mrs. Cashmore will be talking to the children about the resources they will need in preparation for making their cards, as well as encouraging the children to improve their math’s skills by counting the pom-poms used for their wreath.

Outside, Mrs. Patterson will be making miniature Christmas trees, using clay and real branches that have fallen from trees in our garden. Mrs. Patterson will show the children how to drizzle glue and sparkles over their tree. This gives the children their very own sense of ‘Christmas magic’ and is a beautiful memento for them to either keep or give to a loved one.

Nursery News 29th Nov 2021

NURSERY NEWS

29th November 2021 – Edition 244

Find out About

A. Arrangements for the end of term

B. Christmas Parties

C. Big Nursery in January: would you like your child to move from a 15 hour per week space to a 30 hour per week space?

D. Renewing 30 hour codes.

E. School Photographer

F: What are the children learning about this week?

A. Arrangements for the end of term

The last normal school day for the will be Thursday 16th December.

On Friday the 17th December the school will be open for the Christmas Parties only.

The school office will be closed on Friday 17th December. The deadline for payments for the beginning of the Spring Term will be on Thursday 16th December at 9:30am.

B.Christmas Parties.

The school will be open only for the parties.

The Little Nursery Christmas Party is planned to be on Friday 17th December from 9:00am to 10:00am.

All children who attend Little Nursery are invited to attend the Christmas Party regardless of what days they usually attend.

Parents and children should arrive for 9:00am, and wait on the pavement outside the nursery. We will follow normal routines to admit the children. Children will require their change of clothes bag. Children will not require their water bottles as we will be providing refreshments. We will use normal routines for departure, so please arrive to collect your child at 10:00am.

The Big Nursery Christmas Party is planned to be on Friday 17th December from 11:15am until 1:00pm.

All children who attend Main Nursery are invited to attend the Christmas Party regardless of what days they usually attend.

Parents and children should arrive for 11:15, and wait on the pavement outside the nursery. We will follow normal routines to admit the children, with Blue group coming in first followed by Orange group, then Yellow group. Children will not require a water bottle or a packed lunch on this day as we will be providing refreshments. Children will not require their change of clothes bag.

Children may wear party clothes if they wish, or regular nursery clothes.

Please be prompt to collect your child at 1:00pm. We will use normal routines for departure.

C. Big Nursery in January: would you like your child to move from a 15 hour per week space to a 30 hour per week space?

This message is for Big Nursery Parents only. I have some spaces available for January if any Big Nursery parent of a child who attends for a part time, two and a half day,15 hour per week space would like to increase their child’s attendance to 30 hours per week.

You may choose to use ‘30 hours funding for working families’ if you are entitled to it, or you may choose to pay for the additional 15 hours per week at £67.50 per week.

Spaces are limited, as we can have a maximum of 50 children in Big Nursery at any one time. Some sessions already have 46 children attending. So we cannot offer 30 hours to all children, but we can to a few more children.

In the first instance please speak to me, Mrs Davies, and I can have a look at our timetable to see if I can fit your child in.

Please note, this offer is to increase to 30 hours only. Please do not ask for additional hours unless you want to increase to 30 hours.

Please try to talk to me this week, as all arrangements must be in place before the end of term, so we can complete registers, class lists etc. and to ensure those seeking funding from the ‘30 hours funding for working families’ have time to apply for, and receive their 30 hour funding code.

D. Renewing 30 hour codes.

All parents in receipt of 30 hour funding must ensure their 30 hour code is valid on the 31st December 2021, to enable it to be used for the Spring Term 2022.

If you already have a 30 hour code it must be renewed every 3 months. The government sends out reminders by email to all those who need to renew their code. We have had parents have some problems in the past. Sometimes the reminder email from the government has ended up being sent to parents spam email accounts. Please check your spam folders!

Some parents, for example, of children in Little Nursery, may have applied for their child’s 30 hour code earlier in this term in readiness for January. Codes do come with a ‘grace period’ but these only apply when the code is actually being claimed from. So if your code is not yet being used please make sure it is renewed and valid on 31st December.

If a code is not valid, we are unable to claim the 30 hours funding from the government. In this situation your child would revert to a 15 hours universal funded

place, or you would have to pay the top up fee of £67.50 per week to maintain a 30 hour space.

E. School photographer

The school photographer says there has been a delay in delivery, and hopes photos are with us by Tuesday 30th November.

F. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is Maisy Mouse.

In Catkins, the children will be making Maisy character hats. They will be focusing on improving their fine motor skills, Miss Tyler will guide the children by showing them how to make marks with their pencils and how to hold them effectively. The children will also be sharing Maisy stories throughout the week.

In the link, there will be spinner painting and the children can see the effect of spinning paint and paper really fast. This is an interesting way to explore different painting techniques.

Mrs. Watson will have a library roleplay set up in the classroom. The library will give everyone the opportunity to discover a variety of books which they can enjoy reading while snuggled up in the brand-new cozy corner.

Outside in the little garden, the children will be going on a bug hunt to see which creatures they can find. They will be looking high and low in search of a range of insects.

The theme in big nursery is oral health.

In room 1 Miss Skai will be completing a shared read of the book ‘I Care for My Teeth’ by Martha Rustad. There will also be a sequencing activity where the children will be asked to order the steps to brushing teeth and good oral hygiene.

In room 2, Miss Howe will be talking to the children about making healthy food choices whilst they make their own toothbrushes. They will be using scissors to snip the bristles for their toothbrushes which will strengthen the muscles in their hands.

The children can also create their own mouths by gluing teeth and a tongue onto folded paper. They will need to know whose work belongs to who, so will practice writing their names to identify their own work.

Mrs. Cashmore will be helping the children to learn to brush their teeth effectively by asking them to clean some giant teeth for her. The giant teeth will be covered in shaving foam and the children will use real toothbrushes to clean the foam away. This should support them in becoming independent in meeting their own care needs.

While the children are brushing away the foam, Mrs. Cashmore will talk to them about the importance of brushing their teeth, twice daily.

Outside in the garden, Mrs. Patterson will be promoting healthy food choices for the children. She will be placing pictures of happy teeth and pictures of unhappy teeth around the garden. Mrs. Patterson will then ask the children to find healthy food choices and place them on the happy teeth, and the not so healthy food choices on the unhappy teeth. This should help children in the future with making their own healthy food choices.

At Willow Nursery School we have chosen to focus on oral health as part of our school development plan. This means that, as a school, we will be teaching the children how to make positive food choices, how to brush their teeth effectively and all about the dentist. The main points we will focus on are listed below. Please work with us in promoting good oral health for your children.

Brushing

· You should replace your toothbrush if the bristles have become splayed.

· You should have help from a grown up to brush your teeth if you are under 8 years old.

· You should brush your teeth with small circle shapes on your teeth and gums.

· You should only have a pea sized amount of toothpaste on your brush if you are 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old.

· You should spit out the toothpaste if you want to, but you don’t need to rinse your mouth out with water.

Snacks

· You should drink tooth friendly drinks like water and milk.

· You should eat tooth friendly food like breadsticks, cheese, grapes, crackers and vegetables.

Dentist

· You should visit your dentist regularly to get your teeth checked to ensure they are healthy.

Nursery News 22nd Nov 2021

NURSERY NEWS

22nd November 2021 – Edition 243

Find out About

A. School Photographer

B. Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Public Holiday 2022

C. Local Visits

D. Box Modelling

E: What are the children learning about this week?

A. School Photographs

The School Photographer has said the photographs parents have ordered should be with the school by Monday 29th November, all going to plan.

B. Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Public Holiday 2022

As you will be aware, an additional bank holiday has been announced for 3rd June 2022 for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The Department for Education (DfE) has laid regulations to reduce the minimum number of sessions schools are required to meet in the academic year 2021/22 as a result of this additional bank holiday.

Most schools will be on their half term breaks in the week commencing 31 May 2022 and the DfE has advised that schools and councils should observe the Bank Holidays on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd June. In practice, this means that where this additional bank holiday falls during half-term week, schools will be able to identify another day of ‘holiday’ elsewhere in the year on which staff will not be required to work and will be given an equivalent day’s paid leave.

To reflect the additional bank holiday, the School teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2021 reflects a change in the number of days that teachers must be available to work under their terms and conditions for this academic year. Teachers will be required to be available to work on one less day for the academic year 2021/22, An extra day of holiday, therefore, will need to be allocated by individual schools.

After discussion with the staff and governors, Willow Nursery School will be closed for an additional days holiday on Monday 27th June 2022.

C. Local Visits

The walks we went on last week were very successful. All the children were very well behaved. Mrs Patterson lead 6 tours of the Local Area. I’m pleased to say that I was able to join her twice. Even I was surprised at the amount of things Mrs Patterson drew the children’s attention to. We met a postman on one of the trips I went on. A couple who were gardening asked us what we were learning about. The community just seemed to like seeing the children out and about. We also discussed how to cross the road safely, and all the children took on board the importance of holding a grown ups hand when crossing the road.

D. Box Modelling

We are running very short of recycled materials for our box modelling area. The children like to have a selection of boxes and other items to glue together to create models. The school provides some items that we buy, for example, lolly sticks, doilies, all colours of tissue paper/ cellophane, paper plates. Mrs Patterson also visits a ‘scrapstore’ once or twice a year, to choose from a selection of industry donated by products that may be of use to organisations. In the past she has sourced paper cups from coffee shops, little plastic pots, small plastic toys, paper and card.

We do need your help!

We would like parents to donate useful, interesting recycled items for our box modelling area.

What we like:

Interesting boxes, not too big. Children like to build on smaller boxes, such as toothpaste boxes, stock cube boxes. The biggest boxes we use are probably cereal packets.

Bottle tops, (Washed please) make great wheels.

Yogurt pots, margarine tubs and other other small plastic containers.

Toilet roll tubes are very versatile.

What we do not like:

Plastic bottles- children cannot build much with these.

Soap powder boxes that contain soap powder- all products sent in should be clean.

The long tubes from wrapping paper- The children can’t help but use them as swords! Sword play has its place, but not in the art area when we are helping children to make Christmas decorations.

E. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery this week is colour. The children will be excited to see that the dark tent will be available for them to play in and explore colour and light.

The dark tent is fantastic for inspiring children to experiment with colour. They will be able to use the light box and a variety of clear, translucent, and sensory resources to ignite their curiosity.

A fun and simple activity you can do at home with the children, to help teach them about light and colour, is to make shadow puppets on the wall. All you need is a torch.

Miss Gaffney will be reading the story of ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?’ with the children, which is a lovely tale, written by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. that focuses on animals of assorted colours. Outside the children will be dancing with coloured scarves and moving through tents and tunnels to music. The children will also have access to sensory play in the link. (The ‘link’ is the small messy play room that links Room 3 to Room 4) They can explore soap flakes, corn flour, salt, sand and shaving foam with Miss Tyler. This allows them the opportunity to broaden their vocabulary as they talk about how the messy play feels on their hands, arms, and even faces.

The theme in big nursery this week is electricity.

In room one, Mrs. Patterson will be using circuit boards and remote-control cars to teach the children how different objects can be powered by electricity and batteries. The children will also have fun ‘fixing’ things with the drill activity sets.

In room two, Miss Skai will be working with the children to tune their fine motor skills by using pipettes and paint to create some masterpieces. The children will also be able to fine tune and showcase their singing voices, as Miss Skai will build them a stage to sing and dance on.

The theme continues outside, where Mrs. Cashmore will be playing ’Buzz Tag’ with the children – the children will chase each other and pass their power onto everyone by tagging them and saying ’buzz.’

This will build the children’s confidence by playing in a group and making new friends.

Miss Howe will be encouraging the children to represent numbers using their fingers, by playing a mobile phone counting game. Miss Howe will model how to correctly represent each number to those that need support. Some children may want a challenge and will be asked to try and show one more and one less than the number of phones that they have.

Nursery News 15th November 2021

NURSERY NEWS

15th November 2021 – Edition 242

Find out About

A. School Photographer

B. Local Visits

C: What are the children learning about this week?

A. School Photographer

School Photograph order packs arrived on Wednesday 10th November. We have been handing them out to parents when we see them.

Orders must be returned by Wednesday 17th November.

B. Local Visits

Going out of school on a small trip or visit provides the children with good learning opportunities. Miss Howe and Mrs Patterson spent an afternoon planning these short trips. Staff will explore the area finding talking points to discuss with the children. A change of environment can create lots of opportunities to share ideas These trips have been rigorously risk assessed and a Senior member of staff will accompany the children at all times.

Big Nursery Children will be going out of school in very small groups (maximum of 8 children) during this week to explore their Local environment, from Goldstone Crescent to the post box at the junction of Wilbury Drive and Ridgeway Avenue. Staff to child ratio will be 1 adult to every 2 children.

However, these trips will only be able to go ahead if we have sufficient staffing levels on the day.

C. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery this week is: 5 currant buns.

In Catkins, Miss Tyler will be working with the children on expressing their creative side and constructing cake collages. Miss Tyler will have an array of materials for the children to choose from and use on their artwork. The children will also be focusing on learning the nursery rhymes ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ and ‘Old Macdonald had a farm.’ If you hear your children practicing these songs at home, please encourage them.

Outside, the children will be working towards recognising numerals 1-5 while on a ‘currant bun number hunt’ and inside they will be exploring musical instruments with Miss Gaffney.

In Big Nursery, the theme for this week is ‘Our Local Area’.

It is going to be an exciting week as Mrs. Patterson is planning to take the children on a local area walk, where they will learn about the local area and discuss the numbers and colours that they might see while walking. Mrs. Patterson will draw the children’s attention to writing on everyday objects, such as postboxes and street signs, that they might not have noticed before. The aim is to spark an interest in recognising letters and numerals in the environment. All children will be accompanied by staff and will be wearing Hi-Viz jackets to ensure their safety.

In room 2, Miss Skai will be continuing with the local area theme by painting traffic lights. The children have been using road signs in the playground to practice colour recognition and this is a wonderful way to continue their learning.

Outside in the garden, Miss Howe will be playing ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf?’ with the children. This is a timeless classic that the children love to play. This game is fantastic for building confidence and encouraging children to play as part of a group.

While outside they will also have access to pots, magnifiers, trays, and books about bugs. This is so the children can get closer to nature and search the garden for insects. Miss Howe will talk to the children about the importance of taking care of living creatures in our environment. Miss Howe will model a wider vocabulary for the children and together they can discuss what they have found.