Nursery News 24th April 2023

NURSERY NEWS

24th April 2023 – Edition 295

Find out About

A. Willow Nursery School Ofsted Inspection 21st April 2023

B.Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates A reminder.

C. Strike action.

D. Mrs Davies will be doing Jury Service. From Tuesday 9th May to Friday 19th May 2023

E. What the children are learning about this week?

F. Please could you collect empty toilet roll tubes for Mrs Cashmore

 

 A. Willow Nursery School Ofsted Inspection 21st April 2023

As I am sure you are all aware we had Ofsted Inspectors here last week on Friday.  They give very little notice, telephoning the school at 11:00am the day before to announce the visit. As we are a Maintained Nursery School, we are inspected under the schools framework in the same way as all primary and secondary schools. It was a very intense day.

At the end of the day the Inspectors gave feedback to Mrs Davies and Miss Howe as the school’s senior leaders, and Mr Hassall our Chair of Governors.

Their findings have to be Quality Assured before their findings are published on their website, which we have been told to be in about 30 days time.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your support. We were told that 26 parents completed the Parent View questionnaire (that is a good number for the size of our school!) and whilst we were not allowed to see the comments the lead inspector shared a few key words with us to show the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Your children were so very well behaved, and as always, lots of wonderful things were going on in the classroom.

We had two parent helpers here too, so I must give them a special mention, as those extra pairs of eyes made a big difference.

School governors were involved too. They talked very passionately and knowledgeably about the school.

We have been waiting 6 years for this inspection, our last was in 2017.

I will update you, when I am allowed to, but in the meantime as the Ofsted Inspector put it, the school will be operating with ‘Business as Usual’.

 

B. Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates. A reminder

I plan to leave this information in the newsletter for the next few weeks as there are a number of Bank Holidays coming up….

Monday 1st May 2023. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.

Monday 8th May 2023 Bank Holiday Monday for King’s Coronation, School Closed.

Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June 2023, Half Term Week, School Closed                                               (29th May is a Bank Holiday)

Thursday 20th July 2023 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.

Friday 21st July 2023 school will be open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be a morning only session from 8:50am to 11:50am

 

C. Strike Action

The National Education Union will be holding two more strike days. One this week on Thursday 27th April 2023, and one next week on Tuesday 2nd May. As I have outlined before Willow Nursery School plans to stay open on strike days.

 

D. Mrs Davies will be doing Jury Service. From Tuesday 9th May to Friday 19th May 2023

I have been asked to attend for Jury Service between the above dates. This two-week attendance is the minimum. Jurors may continue for longer, if their case continues. I will stay in close contact with the school staff, but I may not be contactable during the school day. Our Deputy Head teacher, Miss Clair Howe will run the school on a day to day basis in my absence.

 

There will be no ‘Nursery News’ newsletter on Monday 15th May.

 

E. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is keeping healthy.

In Catkins, the children will be trying their best to complete a mini obstacle course. There will be steps for the children to climb, tunnels for them to crawl through and a balance beam for them to walk across. This will build the children’s confidence as well as improve their movement skills.

In the link, Miss Gaffney will be showing the children how to brush their teeth, using a large scale brush and set of teeth. She will also provide paint, paper and sponges for the children to create a painting to represent a mouth. As the children work, Miss Gaffney will explain the importance of brushing our teeth twice daily.

In Room 3 Mrs Brinkley will be completing two shared reads with the children. The first will be How Do I Eat It? And the second will be I Care For My Teeth. She aims to teach the children how to look at books together and follow along with the words.

Outside, Mrs Watson will be developing movement with the children through encouraging them to ride bikes, kick balls, stretch their bodies and generally move around the playground in different ways.

 

The theme in Big Nursery is animals.

In Room 1, Mrs Patterson will have a pet shop set up for imaginative role play. There will be a variety of pets, pet beds and carriers, food bowls and other accessories available for the children. She will also provide the children with writing tools so that they are able to note down shopping lists and receipts as they play.

In Room 2, Miss Skai will support the children with exploring patterns and animal prints. They will have paints and images to help them copy their favourite animal patterns onto paper. Miss Skai will also show the children how to create their very own animals using paper plates and other materials.

Outside, Mrs Cashmore will be making animal print binoculars with the children. They will be asked to choose which animal print they like most and can decorate their binoculars with that pattern.

Miss Howe will be supporting the children to go on a word hunt around the garden. They will be asked to look for letters that they can piece together to make words that they have recently learned to spell.

 

F. Please could you collect empty toilet roll tubes for Mrs Cashmore

Mrs Cashmore would like to help children to make some pretend binoculars!