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Nursery News 8th Nov 2021

Monday, November 8, 2021

NURSERY NEWS

8th November 2021 – Edition 241

 

Find out About

A. School Photographer visit

B. Local Visits

C: What are the children learning about this week?

D. We need a little bit more fruit!

 

A. School Photographer visit

 

Last week, Victoria Mitchell, a local Photographer was at Willow on Wednesday and Thursday taking portrait photo’s of the children. I observed her for a short time, and she spent a good deal of time with each child, trying to capture a good image. She has said that the proof’s will be with us by the end of this week. We will try to get them out to parents promptly as soon as we receive them.

 

B. Local Visits

 

All Big Nursery children will be going out of school in very small groups (max 8 children) during week beginning Monday 15th November to explore their local environment, from Goldstone Crescent to the postbox at the junction of Wilbury Drive. Staff to child ratio will be 1 adult to every 2 children. More information will follow in next week’s newsletter.

 

C. What the children are learning about this week?

The children in little nursery will be learning through role play, linked to the baker’s shop this week.

In Catkins, the children will have the opportunity to decorate pre bought cakes with icing that they will make with Mrs Field, they will also be exploring with cake cases and rolling pins to make their own tasty looking playdough cakes.

The theme continues in little nursery where the children will listen to and share stories, including ‘Maisy Makes Gingerbread’ with a focus on communication and language. They will be able to play in the baker shop that will be set up in the link area, they can role play as the customer and the baker with a selection of cakes and bread. There will be plenty of cakes for the children to choose from and aprons for

the little bakers to wear, the children will be using the tills and money to buy and sell their baked goods.

Outside in the little garden, Mrs Brinkley will be finding natural resources with the children to use in our new mud kitchen!

In big nursery the theme for the week is colour and light.

Miss Howe will be working in room one, she will be focusing on maths and playing the ladybird game. While playing the game the children will practice counting and recognising numbers as well as turn taking and helping our friends.

Mrs Cashmore will be creating patterns with coloured beads and asking for help in spotting any mistakes she may make in her patterns. The children will then have the chance to create their own patterns or copy some from picture cards.

In room two, Mrs Patterson will be working with the children to create a piece of art for the children’s yearbook folders. Children will be creating art with their feet! Feet will be dipped in different coloured paints and pressed onto paper. This can get very messy! I am sure everyone involved will have great fun and there will be a foot washing station to clean up your children as soon as they have finished.

Outside, Miss Skai will be wrapping cardboard leaves in different coloured wool and the children will be able to bring these home. This lovely activity will help to strengthen the children’s fine motor skills and may encourage talk about the different colours that they have used as well as the colours of the leaves in the garden.

A great way for you, as parents/carers, to get involved with your children’s learning this week could be to discuss the different colours that you can spot on the journey into school.

 

D. We need a little bit more fruit!

We are running a little short of fruit supplies for snack time. I am very aware of how the cost of food is increasing week on week in the shops, and I know an increasing number of families are having to stretch their family budgets further. So I know not all families are in a position to donate fruit for snack time.

We provide children with a fruit snack, only if we have enough for everyone. Apples are a good choice, as we can stretch them quite far. A pack of six apples can provide 36 portions if we cut each apple into 6 pieces. Apples keep well for a number of days too.

So please think of us when you next go shopping. We do not need huge donations, a carrier bag full of fruit may perish before we have chance to use it! The children look forward to snack time, as it is a social time, a moment to sit and chat to their friends or to the staff.

Nursery News 1st Nov 2021

Monday, November 1, 2021

NURSERY NEWS

1st November 2021 – Edition 240

 

Find out About

A.Additional Public Health Advice to reduce Covid-19 transmission in schools.

B.School Photographer visit

C: Wednesday lunchtime drop off and pick-ups.

D. School governor update.

 

A. Additional Public Health Advice to reduce Covid-19 transmission in schools.

I have forwarded to you a letter to all Parents and Carers from Vicky Head, Director of Public Health, for your information. It seems that levels of infection among children and young people in Central Bedfordshire have risen to very high levels. All school leaders have been advised to put in place additional temporary measures to reduce transmission and keep educational disruption to a minimum.

As our year groups are separated into Little Nursery and Big Nursery, we already have reduced the mixing of all children in nursery. Our parents drop our pupils at the front door, so we do not have a huge number of parents in our building.

The current recommendations go further, asking us to limit visitors to the school for exceptional reasons only. I am pleased we were able to invite all parents in to visit the school, either in September as a settling in visit/consultation in Big Nursery, or as a stay and play session in Little Nursery in October. All our current parents have had an opportunity to see the school in operation. We had more plans to invite parents in to school, in the next few weeks, to observe grouptimes, but these will have to be paused for the time being.

I try to give lots of notice of any special events, and usually this newsletter after the half term break would set out all the important dates for this half term. I do not wish to set dates and then cancel them, so we will just have to take things a week at a time and follow current public health advice.

 

Click here for Letter from Vicky Head, Director of Public Health

 

B. School Photographer Visit.

A little reminder that a school photographer will be here on Wednesday 3rd November, for Big Nursery children, and Thursday 4th November for Little Nursery children. If your child is in Little Nursery but does not attend on a Thursday, and you would like your child to come in just for a photograph, please talk to Miss Tyler or

Mrs Brinkley and they will suggest a time.

 

C: Wednesday lunchtime drop off and pick-ups.

Miss Howe gave me some feedback regarding the drop offs and pick ups on the last Wednesday children were in, on Wednesday 20th October. She said it went very smoothly. So thank you to all the parents who read the newsletter, and worked together to drop off and collect their children in an organised manner.

 

D. School Governor update.

 

I’m pleased to say we have had a parent of a child in Little Nursery volunteer to be our new parent governor.

Nursery News 18.10.2021

Monday, October 18, 2021

NURSERY NEWS

18th October 2021 – Edition 239

 

Find out About

A.Parent Consultations for Big Nursery. A reminder

B: October Half Term Break Approaching:

C. School Photographer Visit.

D. Doing up their own coats.

E Wednesday lunchtime drop off and pick-ups.

F. Becoming a school governor.

 

 

A. Parent Consultations for Big Nursery.

This week (week beginning 18/10/21) will see Big Nursery Consultations taking place.

These consultations will be carried out on the telephone. These consultations are scheduled to last no more than 10 minutes.

Miss Skai                   Monday 18th October.

Mrs Cashmore          Tuesday 19th October

Miss Howe                Wednesday 20th October

Mrs Patterson           Thursday 21st October

 

B: October Half Term Break Approaching:

Time has flown seven weeks of this school year has passed already. Next week will be the Autumn Half Term break. School will be closed from Monday 25th October to Friday 29th October. School is also closed for staff training day on Monday 1st November.

 

C. School Photographer Visit.

A school photographer will be here on Wednesday 3rd November, for Big Nursery children, and Thursday 4th November for Little Nursery children. If your child is in Little Nursery but does not attend on a Thursday, and you would like your child to come in just for a photograph, please talk to Miss Tyler or Mrs Brinkley and they will suggest a time.                                                                      Our photographers name is Victoria Mitchell and she is based in Dunstable. She uses colourful backdrops and props within her photography.

 

D. Doing up their own coats.

We try to help children to learn a whole range of skills in school, including Self Care skills. The weather is getting colder now. The children continue to have the choice to play outside every day should they wish to. In Big Nursery we have been focussing on teaching the children to put on and fasten their own coats. Please encourage this at home too. It is important that you show your child what to do if the sleeves on their coat are inside out. If a coat has a hood, it helps to show your child to put their hood on their head first, then the sleeves are in the right place for your child to find the arm holes to their sleeves by themselves. At this age, children will often say ‘I can’t do it’ and expect their parent or teacher to do this for them. Putting their own coat on moves them further towards independence with their self-care skills. We ask all children to ensure that their coats are fastened before they go outside to ensure they keep warm.

 

E. Wednesday lunchtime drop off and pick-ups.

We aim to make drop off and pick up routines work as swiftly and smoothly as possible. On Wednesday lunchtimes we have to manage the changeover of children who attend the 2 ½ day beginning of the week attendance pattern and the children who attend the 2 ½ day end of the week attendance pattern.

So please think through what happens:

  1. Little Nursery children are dismissed out to parents
  2. Big Nursery children are dismissed out to parents.
  3. Big Nursery children arriving for the afternoon session are taken in.

Parents for Little Nursery children should wait at the Little Nursery side of the front gate. Parents of Big Nursery children should wait at the Big Nursery side of the gate.

Big Nursery Parents: This is the one time of the week where you do not need to wait by your child’s colour group sign. If you are collecting, you need to be at the front of the queue. If you are dropping off a child, please queue behind the parents who are waiting to collect their child (these will be the parents waiting without a nursery age child).  My guess is that the queue for dropping off children should begin near the orange group sign.

Staff will not send children out if the front gate area is congested. Please try to keep the area near the front gates as clear as possible. Step up when it is your turn, then move away.

This process will work quickly and smoothly if all parents work together.

 

F. Becoming a school governor.

Ever Thought About Getting Involved At School As A Parent Governor?

The governors are responsible for making sure that the school provides a good quality education for the children at Willow. The Governing Body comprises of voluntary representatives from the local community (3 people), the staff (2), and of course the parents (2). We are a small friendly group who meet to discuss the Headteacher’s termly report, the budget, policies and matters arising. The Governing Body usually meets once per term for approximately 90 minutes.  Meetings are usually at 4:15 pm, and recently due to Covid have been happening online. Our next meeting is on Thursday 4th November. We currently have a Parent Governor Vacancy. Please speak to Mrs Davies if you might be interested in the role.

 

Nursery News 11.10.2021

Monday, October 11, 2021

NURSERY NEWS

11th October 2021 – Edition 238

Find out About

A. Stay and Play for Little Nursery- A reminder

B. What the children are learning this week.

C. Parking.

 

A. Stay and Play for Little Nursery-A reminder

The Little Nursery Staff would like to invite parents of our current Little Nursery children to ‘Stay and Play’ in Little Nursery. Parents are welcome to stay and play within the morning sessions from Monday 11th October to Thursday 14th October. The session must be one of your child’s regular sessions. Parents can stay from as soon as we open at 8:45am to the end of the morning session at 11:45am if they wish.

 

B. What the children are learning this week.

We use our newsletter to share information about what the children are learning at school. We do this so you can take an interest in current topics and maybe support this learning at home.

This week though, I’d like to talk about the whole class grouptimes that we are teaching at the moment.

In Big Nursery, we plan to teach the children five grouptimes across the week. Children attend in different patterns: some do 5 mornings, some do 2 ½ days M-W, some do 2 ½ days W-F and some do 5 full days. We arrange children into groups across the week to ensure they all experience the 5 different grouptimes.

Children have free choice to move around the school both inside and outside during the majority of the session time. In the morning we stop and come together at 11:00am and split children into 3 groups for grouptime. Grouptime is 25 minutes long. These are our current groups.

Music- The children will experience 10 music sessions that are carefully planned to build on what they have learnt in previous sessions. The staff had training from the De Capo music organisation. We use De Capo materials , music, songs, picture cards, beat cards, etc. to teach children music skills through singing, movement, using instruments and playing rhythm games.

Oxford Reading Tree- Oxford University Press publish a reading scheme to help early reading. We have a set of picture cards to introduce the main characters in the storybooks. The children discuss the detail in the pictures. The staff tell a story about each picture. Staff write a caption under the pictures for the children and staff to read together. We have some whole class size books for early readers which the

staff read with the children. (We have a number of Oxford Reading Tree books in our library that the children can re-visit by themselves.)

Theraplay Sunshine circles- sunshine circles are planned activities to encourage children to listen carefully, take turns and join in with co-operative activities. These activities help children’s wellbeing. (Children currently have 2 sessions per week of Theraplay)

Big Books- We have a good selection of children’s storybooks (such as The Hungry Caterpillar and Elmer the Elephant) that are big enough for the whole class to share at the same time. Staff read the stories to the children, discuss the text, look at the pictures, and play some rhyming games with the children.

Little Nursery also have a grouptime at the end of each morning session. However, the attention span within the Catkins age children is much more varied. With the very youngest children we aim for grouptime to last for about 3-5 minutes. Those who are a little more experienced join a group for a slightly longer grouptime, generally between 10-15minutes.

At the moment the Catkins the grouptime sessions are:

Lift off to language- A program of activities to encourage Two year olds to become more confident using language. The sessions are planned to give all children the opportunity to speak and be listened to.

Music time: Children learn nursery rhymes and songs, they play along with basic instruments such as shakers and bells, and they dance to different kinds of music.

Story time: Staff choose books to share with the group that are suited to their age and development level. Lots of simple stories, with short texts and interesting illustrations.

Theraplay games- Games to support Well being, social interaction and being kind to each other.

Finger rhymes and counting songs: Children can learn basic counting skills through nursery rhymes like Baa Baa Black Sheep: Using fingers to represent 1,2,3 bags of wool, or from learning songs like ‘Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed’ where one monkey jumps off the bed in each verse and the number of Monkeys reduces by one in each verse. This is the beginnings of teaching subtraction!

 

C. Parking.

Please can all parent’s consider the needs of our neighbours when parking your cars in the area local to the school. Please do not park across neighbours drives. We try to maintain good relationships with our neighbours. We are not able to control what happens outside school, we can only suggest that parents park with consideration.

Nursery News 4th October 2021

Monday, October 4, 2021

NURSERY NEWS

4th October 2021 – Edition 237

 

Find out About

A. Parent Consultations for Big Nursery.

B. Parent Consultations for Little Nursery

C. Stay and Play for Little Nursery

D Forest School

E. Pupil with Food Allergies in Big Nursery.

 

A. Parent Consultations for Big Nursery.

We plan to offer Parent Consultations to parents of children in Big Nursery during the week beginning 18/10/21. Your child’s Keyworker will speak to you, either at the front gate at the beginning or end of sessions, or by telephone to arrange a suitable appointment time.

These consultations will be carried out on the telephone. Appointments will be a maximum of 10 minutes in length. Appointments will be available from 3pm, on the following dates:

Miss Skai Monday 18th October.

Mrs Cashmore Tuesday 19th October

Miss Howe Wednesday 20th October

Mrs Patterson Thursday 21st October

 

You do not have to have a parental consultation. We aim to offer a Parent Consultation once each term.

Big Nursery’s next parental consultations will be in February 2022.

 

B. Parent consultations for Little Nursery

This week, (week beginning 4/10/21) will see Little Nursery Parent Consultations taking place.

Miss Tyler will be speaking with parents on Monday 4th October from 3:15pm onwards on the telephone.

Mrs Brinkley will be speaking with parents on Wednesday 6th October from 3:15pm onwards on the telephone.

Miss Gaffney will be speaking with parents on Thursday 7th October from 3:15pm onwards on the telephone.

These consultations are scheduled to last no more than 5 minutes.

 

C. Stay and Play for Little Nursery.

All the Big Nursery parents were offered the opportunity to stay and play with their child when we returned to Nursery after the Summer Break. We wanted to offer this opportunity for all parents, but due to our staggered settling policy with Catkins age children, we wanted to make sure all children were on roll, and mostly settled, before inviting parents in.

The Little Nursery Staff would like to invite parents of our current Little Nursery children to ‘Stay and Play’ in Little Nursery. Parents are welcome to stay and play within the morning sessions from Monday 11th October to Thursday 14th October. The session must be one of your child’s regular sessions.

The purpose of these sessions is so that you, as parents can play with your child in our setting. This will help you to talk about your child’s nursery experience with them, as you would be aware of the environment that your child is spending their time in. It is also a very good opportunity to speak with your child’s keyworker as you play, and to meet the other staff that support your child whilst at nursery. It may be an opportunity to meet with the other parents of children in the same year group as your child. Firm family friendships often form through children being at school together.

It is not compulsory to come, just come along if you would like to. You know your child best. We know some children may become unsettled if their parent suddenly stays. The choice is yours.

You are welcome to bring your younger children with you, but we ask you look after them carefully in the Nursery. You can stay for as little or long as you like within a morning session. Parents can stay from as soon as we open at 8:45am to the end of the morning session at 11:45am if they wish. You are also welcome to drop in at any time between these times if you would like to stay for a shorter time. For example, you could arrive with your child at 8:45 and stay for just 30 minutes if you would like to. We have decided to offer these stay and play visits over four days to give everyone the opportunity to stay and play (some children only attend one session per week), and hopefully to spread out the number of adult visitors to Little Nursery across the week. We are happy for one or both parents to join their child, but we do not want the children to be overwhelmed by the number of adults in their rooms.

I would also ask that parents should not have their mobile phones out in school. It is an Ofsted Safeguarding requirement that mobile phones and smartwatches should not be used in classrooms to take images of children. Staff will ask you to put your devices away if they see you using them. Staff phones are locked away in the staffroom.

 

D. Forest School Program

Big Nursery Orange Group have begun Forest School activities with Mrs Brinkley on a Wednesday morning.

Mrs Brinkley spent a year studying part time to become a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner in 2017. In order to support her work in school, all other school staff studied to become Level 1 Forest School Practitioners during the 2018 school year.

 

What is a Forest School? -this is a quote which outlines what a Forest School is and the ethos of them:

‘An inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults regular

opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment’ (Forest School (England) network 2002)

 

Whilst we have some trees and shrubs, we acknowledge that we do not have a ‘Forest’, but Forest School teaching and learning is all about participating in activities in the outdoors, learning new skills, building strong relationships and thinking creatively. Mrs Brinkley has planned 7 activity sessions that Big Nursery children will take part in during their final year at nursery. Mrs Brinkley will work with a small group once a week for 7 weeks. We aim to have worked with Blue, Orange and Yellow group children by Easter 2022.

 

So, for your information, these are the seven activities the children will be participating in:

 

1.Fairy/ Gnome Dens. Children will use natural materials that they find in the garden to build a small den for an imaginary fairy or gnome.

 

2. Making Fairies or small people. Children will be shown how to make a fairy using twigs and clay. Children will be encouraged to make their own character, using their imagination to add hair, wings or other accessories.

 

3.Larger Dens. Working as part of a small group children will build a den from tarpaulins and ropes. Children will then join Mrs Brinkley inside the den for a story together.

 

4. Clay Faces. Children will mould a flat circular clay shape onto a tree trunk. Children will then add natural objects to the clay to create a face. Children will be shown how to make marks in the clay using sticks found in the garden. Children will compare their own features with those of their friends. Children will discuss similarities and differences.

 

5.Bug Hunt. Children will look around the garden areas, trying to find bugs to put into their bug collecting pot. They will tip their collections out onto a white paper surface, then use a magnifying glass to look carefully at the bugs. We will be teaching them about being careful with the wildlife and to look after nature.

 

6. Mud Kitchens, Mud Potions and Mixtures. Children will be provided with pots and spoons. They will have the opportunity to mix soil with sand and water to make liquid mud. Children will then be able to add leaves and grass, and anything else that they find in the garden, into their mixture.

 

7. Making Woodland Medals. Children will be shown how to use a hand drill to drill a hole in a small disc of wood in order to make a medal. Children will decorate their medals using felt tip pens

 

Mrs Brinkley’s Thoughts….

I am really excited to be now teaching our children ‘The Forest School Way’. The children are enjoying the new experience and their ideas are extending learning further. Forest School learning has so many benefits to the child’s learning and covers all areas to support the overall well being of the children.

Welcome to Forest School learning Willow!

 

E. Pupil with Food Allergies in Big Nursery.

In Big Nursery we have a pupil with a severe life threatening allergy to milk, and a less severe allergy to egg and nuts. Since the beginning of term we have been trying to create a safe environment for this pupil. We have introduced some measures to reduce the risk for this child. We have reviewed our risk assessment and we feel the measures we have in place do not go far enough to keep this pupil safe.

I have decided further measures must be implemented to reduce the risk to this child.

Big Nursery pupils will no longer be offered Milk as part of their snack time. We will continue to offer fruit at snack time, and we will bring all the children’s drinks bottles to the snack room at snack time (10:30am-11:00am) so that they can access their own drink during snack time.

Drinks bottles will be available to the children at all times throughout the day and will be stored on a trolley in the Library corridor. Drinks will be moved to the appropriate rooms at lunchtime, so children can access their own drinks.

For this pupil, consuming even a small amount of milk would poison their body. The child would have an anaphylactic reaction, causing their throat and airways to swell, which could lead to unconsciousness and in the most severe cases, death.

I cannot eradicate this risk, but the strongest measure I can take is to remove Milk from Snacktime.

I will remove all food from curriculum activities. The only food items we will use in Big Nursery will be rice and pasta, used dry as messy play materials, and the ingredients we use to make home made play dough. I have checked the ingredients and allergy statements on these products packaging but I will work together with this child’s parents to ensure they agree these products are safe for their child.

This pupil attends full time, so stays for lunch every day at school. I have allocated member of staff to sit next to this pupil at lunch time, to support the child to eat the contents of their own lunchbox and not to touch anyone else’s food. This pupil is still very young, is very inquisitive, and does not yet understand the enormity of their allergy.

We have to work as a community to keep him safe. Big Nursery lunchboxes will be stored in the front entrance hallway, away from the children, and transported to the lunch areas at lunchtimes, then returned to the entrance hallway after lunch.

Please, can I ask all parents not to place any foodstuffs in their child’s changing bags as these are in the classroom with the children. Milk is hidden in all sorts of foods that may not be obvious and you may not expect.

I feel very passionately about this issue, as I myself (Mrs Davies) have a similar life threatening allergy to nuts, I carry an Epipen and I have experienced a full blown allergic reaction, resulting in full Anaphylaxis, and a very scary night at Accident and Emergency at hospital.