Nursery News 4th July 2022

NURSERY NEWS

4th July 2022 – Edition 267

Find out About:

A. Arrangements for September 2022.

B. Reminder about consultations this week.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Arrangements for September 2022.

We have finalised our plans for the beginning of term in September 2022. So this information is for all the families staying with us in September.

We had to make some changes to the way the school operates due to Covid in the last few years.

Some of the changes we have made have felt very positive. One of these changes was how we managed the first few days in September. So in discussion with the staff we have decided to roll out the beginning of the Autumn term in 2022 the same way as we did in 2021.

We are aware that a number of our parents are working parents, and look for the school to be operating for all children as soon as possible. We have made our plans trying to strike a balance for everyone’s needs.

Let us start with Catkins Class in Little Nursery…..

Little Nursery will reopen on Wednesday 7th September. In the Autumn term all children in Little Nursery are 2+ children known as Catkins Class. Children’s attendance patterns remain the same, unless you have spoken to me about additional hours for your child. New starters in Catkins Class have received paperwork advising parents what their child’s first day will be. In Catkins Class each Keyworker will settle only one of their new keyworker children in each session. New Catkins Class children have start dates somewhere between the 12th September 2022 and 23rd September 2022.

Catkins hours remain 8:45am – 11:45am for a morning session or 8:45am to 2:45pm for a full day session.

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Big Nursery:

Monday 5th September 2022 and Tuesday 6th September 2022 have been scheduled as visit days. The school will not be open as usual on these two days. Attendance on these days is by invitation only. See details below:

Monday 5th September:

All children who are New Starters (have not attended Willow before) and will be in Yellow Group in September are invited to attend a Stay and Play session, lasting for one hour, with a Parent. Invitations were sent out on Friday 1st July to all these

parents. There will be 3 sessions during the day, so only 8 families will be invited to each session. Yellow Group have all been allocated a start date between Wednesday 8th September and Friday 16th September. These start dates have also been communicated to the brand new Yellow Group children, joining in September from our waitlist.

Tuesday 6th September.

This day will offer a transition session for all children (and their parents) in Miss Gaffneys/ Mrs Watson’s Green Group, Mrs Brinkley’s Red Group, and the Summer born children currently attending in Catkins class who will become Yellow Group in Big Nursery in September 2022.

We will offer a morning session or an afternoon session.

The idea of these sessions are that you and your child will arrive at school to have a scheduled meeting lasting ten minutes with your child’s current Little Nursery Keyworker and with your child’s new Big Nursery Keyworker

So, Green Group children will meet with Miss Gaffney/Mrs Watson and Mrs Patterson

Red Group children will meet with Mrs Brinkley and Miss Skai.

Yellow Group Children will meet with their Catkins Keyworker and Miss Howe/ Mrs Cashmore

You will arrive at your specified appointment time, meet with your child’s Keyworker’s and discuss anything you wish to share to enable the transition into Big Nursery to go as smoothly as possible. You will then be free to move around the school together, both inside and outside. Classrooms will be set up with activities, and we invite you and your child to explore their new spaces and chat to staff who will be available to talk with you.

Morning session: 10 minute appointments will be available to choose from between 8:50am and 10:20am. Parents may choose to stay and play after their appointment, but all parents and children should leave by 11:00am.

Afternoon session: 10 minute appointments will be available to choose from between 12:30pm and 2:00pm. Parents may choose to stay and play after their appointment but all parents and children should leave by 2:40pm.

All these meetings/ stay and play are optional. You do not have to attend, but it will be a way to see the school with your child. You may choose to just have the meeting and then you and your child can choose to leave to go home. You may choose to have the meeting and then stay for a short time and then go. We cannot offer meetings at alternative times or dates as we are looking to get the school up and running as quickly as possible for those parents who are working.

Parents must stay with their children at this event.

Parents can arrange these appointments for Tuesday 6th September with the Little Nursery Staff, during the telephone consultations that are scheduled for

this week. If you do not have a telephone consultation this week please do not worry as staff will get in touch with you regarding a transition session in September.

Wednesday 7th September – Big Nursery Re-opens for regular Nursery sessions.

Green Group, Orange Group and Yellow Group (who have attended in Little Nursery) return to Big Nursery, attending for their agreed attendance pattern. So for example, if your child currently attends for two and a half days at the end of the week, they would return on this Wednesday at 11:50pm with their lunch box.

Big Nursery hours are:

Morning session: 8:50am to 11:50am

Wednesday afternoon session: 11:50am to 2:50pm.

Full day session: 8:50am to 2:50pm

B.Reminder about consultations this week

We will have parent consultations for all the children on 5th, 6th and 7th July 2022 as follows: Little Nursery parents will have a 10 minute telephone consultation with their child’s Keyworker. They have been scheduled at the times below. Some of our staff work part time so will be unavailable at the times stated. Keyworkers have been in touch with parents to arrange appointments.

Tuesday 5th July- Catkins children. Telephone consultation, a 10 minute consultation scheduled from 3:15 onwards with your child’s keyworker.

Wednesday 6th July- Green Group Children, 10 minute Telephone Consultation with Miss Gaffney or Mrs Watson scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Thursday 7th July- Red Group children, 10 minute Telephone Consultation with Mrs Brinkley scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Big Nursery children will have a Leavers Consultation, where staff will hand over your child’s year book, so will have a shorter, face to face meeting.

Tuesday 5th July -Blue Group Children, 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Mrs Patterson scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Wednesday 6th July,- Orange Group Children 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Miss Skai scheduled from 3:15 onwards

Thursday 7th July –Yellow Group children 5 minute Face to Face meeting with Miss Howe or Mrs Cashmore scheduled from 3:15 onwards.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is teddy bear’s picnic.

In Catkins, Mrs. McGrath will be baking biscuits with the children. The children will sit with a teddy of their choice at snack time and eat their biscuits.

In room three, Mrs. Watson will decorate biscuits with the children. Each child will get to decorate a biscuit with icing and sprinkles, they will then have a teddy bears picnic as they eat their tasty treats.

In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will provide the children with a variety of boxes and other materials so that they can create some box models. The children will be encouraged to create some large scale bears with the supplies that they have.

Outside, Miss Gaffney will focus on positional language by moving a bear in, around and on top of a box. Miss Gaffney will model the positional language to the children and then the children can take turns in placing the bear into different positions.

The theme in main nursery is transport – air and water.

In room one, Miss Skai will be working with the children on sequencing activities. She will work with the children to order the activities we do before we can go on holiday. The children will colour their work, use scissors to cut out the pictures and glue them down in the correct order.

The children will also have the opportunity to discuss any holidays they may have been on or be due to go on, as they make their own passports. Miss Skai will explain to the children that they need a passport if they are going on holiday on a boat or a plane.

In room two, Miss Howe will show the children what a hot air balloon is and explain to them how they function. The children will then be given the resources to create their own 3D hot air balloon picture. Mrs. Cashmore will focus on shape recognition and will support the children in making a boat using different simple shapes.

Outside, Mrs. Patterson will be encouraging lots of water play, there will be a range of boats and chutes for the children to explore. Mrs. Patterson will also support the children with some investigative science by exploring which items will sink

or float when placed in water. Children will be asked their opinions on why some items sink and why some float.