Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
Nursery News 11th May 2026
NURSERY NEWS
Monday 11th May 2026 – Edition 409
Find out About
A. Please park your cars with consideration.
B. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Please park your cars with consideration.
One of the schools’ neighbours, a resident in Goldstone Crescent, telephoned us last week expressing her frustration that at dropping off and collection times cars are parking across the entrance to her driveway. She said this has been becoming a more frequent occurrence recently. We have explained that we have no control where parents choose to park, but we have pointed out that we raise the issue of considerate parking with all our new parents through our ‘New Parent Pack’.
This little corner of Dunstable sees a lot of school pupils and their families arriving and departing during school drop-off and collection. There must be around 1,000 pupils arriving each day to attend Willow Nursery School, Hadrian Academy and The Vale Academy.
More parents than ever are now working parents, so many parents have to do a quick child drop off by car, then depart for work.
It also seems that recently some parents are beginning to choose to park in the turning into our Car park, blocking the school gates, and the staff’s ability to move in and out of the car park. The majority of the staff have school age children, and some staff need to leave at collection time in the afternoon in order to get across town in time to collect their own children.
We also have refuse trucks that arrive near to 9am every week. I have seen the refuse truck unable to access our car park to empty wheelie bins as there is a car parked blocking our gates. In this circumstance the truck remains sitting in the busy junction, just outside the school, blocking the entire road for everyone. I have seen a parent arrive back to their car after dropping their child into Hadrian Academy. We then all wait for them to leave, so that the refuse truck can have access to our car park, and the road can become useable again.
We should always have unobstructed access to our car park in case of emergencies.
We frequently witness cars being parked right across residents’ driveways.
So, I must ask parents to be considerate, and think of the needs of others.
B. What are the children learning about this week?
This week the theme is chicks.
We are very lucky to be able to help look after some chicks this week. We will have some eggs arrive in an incubator, which will be placed in Room 1. The children will learn about the life cycle of a chick and that they begin their life inside eggs. They will be able to observe the eggs inside the incubator and keep a watchful eye on them, in case they begin to hatch. Staff will explain to the children that it is important for our eggs and chicks to stay inside their incubator because it helps them to keep warm until they have hatched and are a little bigger.
Ten eggs have been delivered to the school. We are told they should hatch on Wednesday.
Our learning intention this week is to recall a sequence of events in everyday life and stories. The children will be learning about the life cycle of our chicks and staff will support them with sequencing the different stages of a chick’s life. This will be done by discussing the changes form egg to chicks that the children notice through the week and also through reading and completing puzzles.
The discussions staff will have with children will help to support our 7C’s learning intention to confidently use a developing vocabulary appropriate to the individual child’s capabilities.
Nursery News 5th May 2026
NURSERY NEWS
Tuesday 5th May 2026 – Edition 408
Find out About
A. Destination Primary Schools for our July 2026 Leavers.
B. Milk.
C. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Destination Primary Schools for our July 2026 Leavers.
Parents found out the results of their applications for Primary or Lower School on the 16th April 2026. Soon after, Willow was sent information to allow us to see where our 2026 Leavers are moving on to in September 2026.
We have 42 pupils leaving us in September, and I am pleased to say all 42 families applied for a place, so we know where everyone is going. Willow children will be moving on to 9 different destination schools.
Miss Howe liaises with teachers in the destination schools to ensure the transitions are smooth and everyone’s individual needs are met.
B. Milk
The Nursery Milk scheme provides all children under 5 years old, who attend an eligible setting for 2 hours or more, a 189ml (1/3 pint) carton of milk, each day free of charge.
We provide these cartons of milk, on a trolley outside, near to the queue at going home time, for children to take home a carton of milk each if they would like one.
We have noticed during the past week we have run out of milk twice before Yellow group have had a chance to take any. There were also other days last week when we had 10 milk cartons left over. We want to order enough to meet demand, but we do not want to have too many cartons and be throwing milk away.
We will adjust the amount of milk we order, but this may take up to three weeks to be implemented.
C. What are the children are learning about this week?
The theme this week is The Very Hungry Caterpillar
We will be looking at the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar written by Eric Carle, and staff will organize lots of activities for the children that link to the theme of the story. There will be some creative opportunities for the children to take part in such as symmetrical butterfly paintings and caterpillar collages. Staff will also set up some literacy tasks such as magnetic storyboards and practicing writing names in caterpillar templates.
We have been lucky enough to have some caterpillars delivered to our school, which means that the children can see how they live, grow and change. They can watch them building their own chrysalises ready to transform into butterflies. This helps the children to fully understand the life cycle of a butterfly, just like in the book.
Our learning intention this week is to enjoy joining in with moving, dancing and ring games. This includes singing songs, listening to music and playing with instruments.
Our seven C’s learning intention this week is for the children to be able to challenge themselves physically, which can include running, climbing and riding bikes. There will be lots of encouragement for the children to try new things and remember how to act sensibly, keeping themselves and others safe. We hope to see the children’s confidence grow as they realise that they are becoming more independent in their play.
Nursery News 27th April 2026
NURSERY NEWS
27th April 2026 – Edition 407
Find out About
A. Sun Safety
B. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Sun Safety
We are moving swiftly towards the hottest part of the year in school. I have been doing some research online to ensure I can give parents good advice about Sun Safety.
I have taken some information from Cancer Research UK’s website:
- The best way to enjoy the sun safely and protect your skin is to use shade, clothing and sunscreen.
- Shade and clothing are better than sunscreen at protecting your skin.
- Sunscreen shouldn’t be used to spend longer in the sun. But they can be useful for protecting the parts of skin not covered by clothing or shade.
Clothing
Clothing should cover your shoulders and have long sleeves. The more skin that’s covered by your clothing, the better the protection.
Choose clothing that’s loose-fitting and darker in colour
Look for materials with a close weave- as a guide you can hold the material up to the light to check you can’t see through the fabric
Hats
Choose a wide-brimmed hat that shades your face, ears and neck for the most UV protection.
Shade
Spending time in the shade is one of the best ways to protect your skin from the sun’s UV rays.
So what does this mean for us at Willow?
We still go outside every day, but we do limit how long children can go outside if it is very hot. We encourage all children to drink plenty, reminding them that their water bottle is always available. We do encourage children to come inside for a rest in the shade. At some points in the day we completely close outside, so that we know all children have had a break from the sun. We are very lucky in that our school remains fairly cool in the summer, with lots of windows for ventilation.
You know your child best!
Some children are more vulnerable to the sun than others. I have red hair and freckles, which means that I can burn very easily, (Sometimes in very strong sun, in as little as 20 minutes). Some children are less likely to burn than others. People with naturally dark or brown skin burn less easily. But people with darker skin can still burn – it might feel itchy or tender rather than changing colour.
So, I can give advice, but you must make day to day decisions regarding your child’s sun safety.
How can you help us?
Dress your child appropriately. Try to avoid too much bare skin. A t-shirt gives much more protection from the sun than a strappy sundress or a vest top. Think about children’s feet. Exposed skin in sandals may burn.
We would ask you to apply sun protection cream to your child before they attend school. We will assume that all pupils will have had sun protection cream applied at home. If your child attends all day and you wish your child to have additional cream applied at lunchtime, please send a bottle of sun protection cream into school (please pass it to their Keyworker) and we will store it safely in the classroom, out of the children’s reach. This cream should be left in school. Ensure their name is on it. Staff will assist children to apply sun protection cream at lunchtime. We will help pupils to apply sun protection cream to their face, neck and arms. Please do not leave sun protection cream in your child’s bag. We do not want children sharing their cream with their friends. One year we found a pair of children applying it to their teeth to use as toothpaste!
Please provide your child with a hat with their name on when the weather is sunny. A hat with a broad brim is better than a cap for sun protection. A cap is better than no hat. Remember 2, 3,and 4 year olds cannot always remember the whereabouts of clothing that they have taken off. Put their name on it if you want it to return home!
More information regarding the summer term:
Consider what you would like your child to wear at school for safety. Children are still climbing and riding bikes so long sundresses and strappy sandals are not always practical! Messy Play: As the weather improves we take more and more activities outside. More water is used and play can become much messier. Please ensure clothes are play friendly and send in spares as children can become soaked if they pour water down their clothes, even with aprons on!
B. What are the children are learning about this week?
What are the children learning about this week?
This week the topic is planting. The children will be learning about the growth and change of people, animals and plants. Staff will explain that everything in nature grows and changes, they will use lots of hands on activities to show how this happens. Children will be offered the opportunity to do some of their own planting, they can then look after their plants and observe the transformations that occur from seed to plant. There will be planting inside and outside and it will be the children’s job to take care of all of the seedlings until they are fully grown.
The 7C’s learning intention this week is to develop attention and listening skills in a range of contexts. Staff will support the children to develop these skills by asking them to join in with shared reads, learning new songs and talking to the children about what they have been learning through the week.
We will also be focusing on scissor skills which includes learning what scissors are for, how to hold scissors effectively and how to make cuts in paper. Children will also learn the importance of using scissors safely and on appropriate resources.
Nursery News – 20th April 2026
NURSERY NEWS
Monday 20th April 2026 – Edition 406
Find out About
A. Summer Term Challenges
B. Summer Term Opportunities
C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.
D. Allergen reminders.
E. Chickenpox in school: Update.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Summer Term Challenges
Summer is our busiest term at Willow Nursery School. Our numbers increase each term from September around to July and the school steadily fills. We have had thirteen new families joining us this term, bringing the total number of pupils using the school to 94 children.
This means that we have a lot of children to take in safely at the beginning of their session, matching them to the correct staff and room base. We also have to ensure children are matched to the correct carer at going home time.
So, to help us greatly, please be on time wherever possible. (We appreciate parents cannot be in two places at once if other siblings attend other schools.)
The staff collect their children in a particular order. Please, if you arrive a little late, be patient and a staff member will invite your child in when someone is available to take them to the correct classroom and mark them into the register. If you are a Little Nursery family, and the Big Nursery children are being admitted, please wait in the Little Nursery queuing area until the Big Nursery children have gone in. If Little Nursery families arrive late, all the Little Nursery Staff are already very busy working in Little Nursery, settling in the children.
Please help us to keep the queues moving steadily.
Please leave adequate space at the front gate for families to drop off and move away from the front gate.
We are trying very hard to release children at the end of the session promptly. These times of coming and going are called ‘transition times’, where we have to move children around the school. Transition times have to be carefully managed and it takes all the staff in school to manage these times safely. Some children are nervous of transition times, particularly new children. Some children become upset when it is time to go home. It may take us a few weeks to find a successful routine to escort the children out as efficiently as possible.
Please ensure all lunchboxes and drink bottles are named. It is difficult to find a child’s drinks bottle quickly when bottles are not named.
B. Summer Term Opportunities
The Summer term is when the school can use the inside and outside areas to their full potential. We try to move many of the inside activities outside. As the term goes on we offer painting and craft activities outside, and provide lots of water play. Mrs Patterson and Miss Gaffney have already been painting outside with the children, and Miss Gaffney has helped children to make huge cardboard butterfly wings decorated with different coloured pieces of cellophane. As the ‘butterflies’ were flying around, there was a feel of carnival outside! Sometimes a change in the environment can stimulate some exciting play.
C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.
We are at the point in the year when some families begin to take holidays. If you have a planned holiday during term time, please ask a member of staff for a holiday form. We ask that you fill in this very short form so that we can update attendance registers correctly.
Please can we also remind parents that if your child is absent for any other reason please telephone the school office and let us know. The school telephone does have an answering machine which is regularly monitored, so do please leave a message letting us know the reason for their absence and again we can update registers.
D. Allergen reminders.
When we induct new children to nursery we review all our information regarding all children’s allergens. Obviously we work very hard to ensure children eat only their own food provided for them in their lunchbox. We ask that parents do not provide any foods in lunchboxes containing nuts. Nuts are found in peanut butter, wafers, chocolate spread, chocolate crepes, cookies etc. The nature of these sticky nut spreads means that the allergen can be transferred from children’s hands to other surfaces, such as tables, chairs, doorknobs, toys etc and can then be touched by another child who may transfer it to their hand and then their mouth. This could lead to anaphylaxis.
E. Chickenpox in school: Update.
Last week we had 10 cases of chickenpox across the school. Our prediction is that it will continue to circulate for a few more weeks.
F. What are the children are learning about this week?
The theme this week is Handa’s surprise
This week the learning intention is for the children to be able to respond to both formal language used to describe shapes and common shape names. To support the children with this, the staff will be teaching about shapes using a variety of resources. There will be shape sorting and inset puzzles, magnetic shapes and picture boards, drawing opportunities and hammer and pin boards. Staff will model age appropriate language to teach the children about the shapes that we see in our everyday environment, there will be lots of opportunity for the children to practice their shape recognition as the week progresses and staff will encourage this by playing games, reading books and singing songs.
We will also be reading the story of Handa’s Surprise, which is a tale of a little girl that wants to give a fruit basket gift to her friend. She meets lots of animals on her journey and when she meets her friend, the fruit has been eaten and there is an entirely new surprise for Handa to give to her friend. The children will be encouraged to think about the similarities and differences between themselves and the characters from the book. They will pay attention to all the little details in the pictures and share what they have noticed.
Staff will share a Handa’s Surprise story sack with the children and encourage them to act out the roles of Handa, her friend and all of the animals from the story. This has always been a popular story at Willow and hopefully the children will enjoy retelling it to you at home.
Nursery News -13th April 2026
NURSERY NEWS
13th April 2026 – Edition 405
Find out About
A. Dates for the Summer Term 2026
B. For families of children leaving us in July 2026 (Big Nursery Blue, Orange and Yellow Groups): Finding out the results of your application for Lower or Primary Schools.
C. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Dates for the Summer Term 2026
Welcome back everyone. We are now into the third term of the school year- The Summer Term. I just wanted to outline key dates across this term for your information.
Monday 13th April 2026, Summer Term begins.
Monday 4th May 2026. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.
Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May 2026, Half Term Week, School Closed (25th May is a Bank Holiday)
Monday 22nd June 2026 is a training day for staff. School Closed
Thursday 16th July 2026 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.
Friday 17th July 2026 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.
B. For families of children leaving us in July 2026 (Big Nursery Blue, Orange and Yellow Groups): Finding out the results of your application for Lower or Primary Schools.
Parents that have applied for Lower/Primary School Places will find out the results of their application this week. There is a National day when results are released.
This Information copied from Central Bedfordshire Local Authority website.
Finding out the results of your application for lower or primary school
When you’ll find out
16 April 2026 is the national offer day for on-time school applications.
If we have your email address
You’ll receive an email with the outcome of your application.
If we don’t have your email address
We will post your decision letter to you.
C. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is animals and vets.
This week the children will be learning about animals that we might have as pets and how we should take care of them. The children will be able to relate to their own experiences as they may discuss their own pets and how they look after them at home. Staff will discuss the importance of making sure our pets have enough food and water as well as a comfortable bed and home. They will share with the children that if our pets get poorly, we will take them to a veterinary surgeon, just like a person would visit a doctor.
To support this, there will be vet role play areas set up for the children to use their imagination and learn through play. There will be plenty of soft toy animals that need treatment, food, water, medicine and comfortable beds. Staff will model vocabulary to support the children and extend their play.
The learning intention this week is to learn how to catch and throw large balls, bean bags and other items. Children will be shown how to throw items to each other in a safe environment and how to hold their arms out in front of them to catch these items.
The learning intention from the 7 C’s is to be able to recognize small quantities without counting. We will be playing simple games where the children will try to estimate how many items are in front of them, without counting. This is a tricky objective to master so we will play lots of games to support this. We want children to be able to look quickly at groups of 1, 2 or 3 objects and accurately identify how many items there are without using their counting skills.
You can help your child to master this at home. Use small objects such as coins, buttons or Lego bricks. Hide 1,2 or 3 items in your hand and briefly open your hand to show your child. Then close your hand around the objects and ask your child ‘How many items did you see?’
