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Nursery News 22nd January 2024

Monday, January 22, 2024

NURSERY NEWS
22nd January 2024 – Edition 321
Find out About
A. Parent Consultations.
B. What are the children are learning about this week?
C Willow Lending Library.

A: Parent Consultations.
We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Little Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 29th January 2024. Parent Consultations are not compulsory, but if you would like an appointment please arrange this with your child’s keyworker when they are outside before sessions begin. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and be at the following times:

Mrs Cashmore Monday 29th January between 3:15pm and 3:55pm
Miss Gaffney Tuesday 30th January between 3:15pm and 3:55pm
Mrs Brinkley Tuesday 30th January between 4:10pm and 4:35pm
Mrs McGrath Wednesday 31st January between 9:30am and 10:25am
Mrs Watson Thursday 1st February between 9:30am and 10:25am

Details of Big Nursery Consultations will be in next weeks’ newsletter.

B. What are the children are learning about this week?
The focus this week is nursery rhymes.
In Catkins, the children will be focusing on literacy. They will explore lots of books with the adults and practice turning the pages and looking at the pictures in the books. Staff will show the children how to use the books gently and encourage them to put their books back on the shelf when they are finished reading.
Outside, the children will be building on their physical skills by completing an obstacle course. They will climb, jump, balance and run while taking part and adults will support as necessary. There will also be some magnetic fish in the sand pit for the children to find. Each fish will have a number of spots on them and children will be supported with counting the spots.
In the Link, the children will learn the nursery rhymes Five Little Speckled Frogs and Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day. They will have access to props for these songs in the water tray and staff will sing along and act out the songs with the children.
In Room 3, the children will use the magnetic boards to choose their favourite nursery rhymes. They will have a range of pictures with lyrics to choose from and will be encouraged to take it in turns to choose and sing.
In Room 2, the children will be building up their scissor skills as they use them to cut playdough. There will be a variety of tools such as rolling pins, scissors and playdough cutters for the children to use. This will strengthen the children’s muscles in their fingers and provide some much needed scissor practice.
In Room 1, the children will have the opportunity to explore construction as they use Lego blocks and plates to build. The children can really be creative as they build, there are no limits to what they can design and staff will encourage the children to be patient and look after each other’s work.
Outside, the children will explore the nursery rhymes Humpty Dumpty and Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed. They can learn these songs and practice singing them using playground equipment as props. Hidden around the garden will also be some nursery rhymes for the children to find. Each time they find a new song they can show staff and they can sing together.

C. Willow Lending Library.
We have had a number of new families joining us this term, so we just wanted to remind parents that we operate a lending library of children’s books.

Willow Lending Library
Welcome to Willow outdoor lending library. We are open every day from 8.15-8.45am and from 3.00pm-3.30pm.
Please choose 1-2 books with your child and write the names of the books under your child’s name in their colour group folder before taking them home to read together.
You can change the books as frequently as you wish.
Please look after our books.

*Please ensure that you have left the library area at 8.45am prompt before children start to enter the school gates in the morning.

THANKYOU

Top Tips for Reading with your child

  • Let your child choose what they would like to read.
  • Make sure there are no distractions.
  • Sit close together. Encourage your child to hold the book and turn the pages too.
  • Look at the pictures. Talk about what can be seen on the page.
  •  Ask questions and talk about the book. Give your child time to talk.
  •  Have fun – there is no right or wrong way to share a story.
  • Free tips and advice in more than 20 languages on ‘sharing books with young children’ can be found at:
    https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/reading-with-your-child3-4years/#!?q=&sortOption=AtoZ&pageNo=1

Nursery News 15th January 2024

Monday, January 15, 2024
NURSERY NEWS 15th January 2024 – Edition 320
Find out About
A. Funding for 2 year olds- Working Families -15 hour offer.
B. Request for Box Modelling Materials.
C What the children are learning about this week?
A. Funding for 2 year olds- Working Families -15 hour offer.
On Friday 12th January we sent out an information email to all parents in the two year old ‘Catkins Class’. Children in this class are the ones who may be eligible for up to 15 hours of free funded education from April 2024. For our forward planning we need to know which children will be eligible for this funding. We are asking that all parents in the two year old class help us by finding out if their child is eligible for this funding or not. We will hand all parents of two year olds a letter detailing how to apply for their code. We will also include a paper copy of a form to be completed and returned to school by Monday 29th January.
Please return the form even if you are not eligible.
B: Request for Box Modelling Materials.
We are running very short of recycled materials for our box modelling area. We would be very grateful for recycled materials that the children can use to create models. Children love boxes, but not too big please. The biggest boxes we can store are cereal boxes. Tiny boxes are useful, or unusual shapes. Plastic bottle tops make good buttons and wheels. Yogurt pots, butter tubs and other plastic containers are interesting to glue together, but please ensure they are clean. Toilet roll tubes become superhero cuffs, covered in foil. Egg boxes are great places to glue coloured tissue.
C. What the children are learning about this week?
In Catkins and Room 3, the children will have a simple role play area set up representing Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We have been learning about Goldilocks during group time and the children can act out some of the character’s antics. Lots of language from the story will be modelled for the children to copy and learn.
The children will be making and tasting porridge in the link. They will be encouraged to use some of the language they have heard during their story such as ‘too hot’ and ‘just right’. Children will be encouraged to stir the milk and porridge together before it is cooked and may even need to wait for it to cool, just like the three bears.
Outside, the children will be working on ball skills such as kicking and rolling big and little balls. The staff will play with the children, showing them how to aim and kick a football. Lots of praise will be given as children try their best and join in with others.
In Room 1, the children will be sequencing the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They will cut out and stick pictures in order to retell the story as they have learnt it. There will be lots of pattern work for the children to explore, they will be encouraged to look around the area and point out different patterns that they notice.
In Room 2, the children will be painting and making collages of the characters from the Goldilocks story. They will look at the details of the character that they are recreating and the colours that they must use to represent them accurately. While they work, children can talk to the staff about why they chose the character they are recreating.
Outside, the children will have a larger scale role play set up. There will be a table with three bowls and spoons, three chairs and three beds. All children will be encouraged to retell the story in their own way and to consider the different sizes of the props that they have been provided with. Children will be encouraged to reset the area when they have finished playing, so that other children can play after.

Nursery News 8th January 2024

Monday, January 8, 2024

NURSERY NEWS

8th January 2024 – Edition 319- First Newsletter of 2024

Find out About

A. Welcome back after the Christmas Break.

B. Final reminder-Big Nursery-Applying for Primary School.

C. School Term Dates

D. Labelling belongings

E. What the children are learning about this week?

 

A. Welcome back after the Christmas Break.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas Break. We are welcoming 5 new children from our wait list to join Green Group in Little Nursery. Our pupil numbers grow each term as the academic year progresses, so please try to arrive on time, so we can take everyone safely inside in an organised way as swiftly as possible.

 

So, as a reminder, Little Nursery Should arrive for 8:45 and Big Nursery should arrive for 8:50. If you arrive late, please be patient, we will admit all those children who arrive on time first, and then come back to admit latecomers. We do understand that parents cannot be in two places at once if you have to drop off older brothers and sisters at other schools.

 

B. Final reminder-Big Nursery-Applying for Primary School.

Who needs to apply?

Children born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 are due to start school in September 2024.

You need to apply before 15 January 2024.

How to apply

  • if Central Bedfordshire is your council, you need to apply through them.
  • if Central Bedfordshire is not your council, you’ll need to apply through your home Local Authority.

You will need to look on your Local Authority Council’s website for further information on how to apply.

 

 

C: School Term Dates

The Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire, publishes details of term dates and school holidays on their website: Centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Type: ‘School term and holiday dates in Central Bedfordshire’ into your search engine to find the correct page.

Be aware that sometimes the Local Authority adjusts school holiday dates. I would recommend you check the holiday dates on their website before booking a holiday.

For this term:

Half term is from Monday 19th February 2024 to Friday 23rd  February 2024, when Willow Nursery School will be closed.

The last day of the Spring term will be Thursday 28th March 2024. School will reopen after the Spring Break on Monday 15th April 2024.

 

D: Labelling belongings

Label all lunchboxes clearly with your child’s name, on the top, so staff can see the name when the box is on the trolley. Label all drinks bottles and containers.

Label all coats and shoes, and any other items that children can take off-cardigans/jumpers/ fleeces. It is much easier to return items to owners when things are labelled.

 

E. What the children are learning about this week?

For this term we will begin to look at ‘Traditional Stories and Rhymes’ as our loose topic. We call it our loose topic, because it gives all the staff a focus together, so the work in different classrooms in the school compliments each other. We also have to ensure that we follow the children’s interests, so staff allow time in their day to support children to pursue their current interests, using individual learning opportunities to extend the children’s skills and knowledge in a sensitive way. Children learn best when they are involved in their learning.  Children are very motivated when they have chosen or developed their own activity. We have to achieve a balance of adult led and child initiated activities.

This week we will be learning about the story of the Gingerbread Man across the whole school.

There are some pretend gingerbread men on a baking tray in the home corner in Little Nursery, so the children can see a visual of what a Gingerbread man is, and know that it is a kind of biscuit that is baked in the oven. Even the youngest children will know that biscuits do not usually jump up out of the oven and run away!

Miss Skai has developed a story telling table in Room 2 with the characters from the story, and the children are enjoying retelling the story.

There is gingerbread coloured playdough in Room two with some gingerbread man shaped mats for the children to try and create their own ‘Gingerbread Men’.

Try retelling the story with your child at home. If you do not have the story, try looking online. There are lots of animated stories online, and people reading the story which you can find by typing ‘The Gingerbread Man’ into your search engine. We would always recommend that you watch each clip yourself first to ensure it has safe content for your child to watch. Or, you could try to learn the story yourself and have a go at retelling it to your child. If you explore using different voices for different characters your children will love it. Make it different and your children will remember!

The story is fairly simple, but it has a wonderful repeated refrain throughout the story:

‘Run, run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man!’

We will read the story to the children and retell the story as the children play, in the hope that they will begin to explore the words in the story and perhaps begin to repeat parts of the story. This play around the words in stories enable children to become aware of story structure and will contribute to their ability to learn to read in the future.

At this stage we want children to enjoy stories, to have fun with them, and hopefully see them as a treat.

Nursery News 18th December 2023

Monday, December 18, 2023

NURSERY NEWS

18th December 2023 – Edition 318.   Last Newsletter of 2023       

(Next Newsletter Monday 8th January 2024)

Find out About

A. Reminder – Big Nursery – Apply for a Primary School Place by 15th January 2024

B. Christmas Parties

C. The Elf on the Shelf……

D. What the children are learning about this week?

E.Notes for the end of term /dates for beginning of Spring Term

 

A. Reminder- Big Nursery-Applying for Primary School.                                                      

Central Bedfordshire Council has contacted us to say that 16 of our pupils have not yet applied for a place at Primary School.

Who needs to apply?

Children born between 1 September 2019 and 31 August 2020 are due to start school in September 2024.

You need to apply before 15 January 2024.

How to apply

  • if Central Bedfordshire is your council, you need to apply through them.
  • if Central Bedfordshire is not your council, you’ll need to apply through your home Local Authority.

You will need to look on your Local Authority Council’s website for further information on how to apply.

 

B. Christmas Parties

Are Finally Here!

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.

Wednesday 20th 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

Wednesday 20th 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.

 

C. Elf on the Shelf…..

That cheeky Elf has been busy in Nursery again! Miss England has been taking photographs of him, so that I can share with you all the things he has been up to!

  • He went for a ride in his hot air balloon in the garden.
  • He spent a day dressed as Mario, wearing a very furry moustache.
  • He then dressed as Elsa, from Frozen, and scattered snowflakes over Room 2
  • He went for a swim under the sea, with a big pink and purple octopuss.

 

D. What the children are learning about this week?

In Catkins, the children will be playing lots of games that focus on colour recognition. As the children play, they will be taught the names of different colours and will learn the importance of taking turns. We will also share some Christmas stories with each other and complete some Christmas puzzles together.

In the Link, the children will continue to work with colour as they use stamps and paint to create pictures. They will have a range of stamps and colours to choose from to make their marks on paper and adults will talk to the children about the paintings they are making.

In Room 3, the children will be focusing on maths. They will be making Christmas pictures. They will add presents onto their pictures and count how many presents that are underneath their tree. Adults will encourage the children to count independently but will support them as needed.

Outside, the children will focus on physical movement as they dance to music. Adults will encourage the children to move in a range of ways, strengthening their gross motor skills. There will be lots of action dances as well as some Christmas music for the children to move to.

In Room 1, children will be making Christmas pictures using shapes. Staff will provide some triangle shapes for the children to arrange into tree shapes, which they can attach to the paper with glue.

In Room 2, there will be hand painting activities for the children to explore colour and colour mixing. They will be encouraged to get different colour paint on each hand and to mix them together to see what happens.

In the garden, children will be singing and dancing to Christmas music. Children will be encouraged to show off their dance moves and the adults will join in by copying the moves shown to them.

 

E. Notes for the end of term /dates for beginning of Spring Term

On Wednesday 20th December the school will be open for the parties only. The school office will be closed on Wednesday 20th December

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 Thursday 4th January 2024

 

Nursery News 11th December 2023

Monday, December 11, 2023

NURSERY NEWS

11th December 2023 – Edition 317

Find out About

A. Funding for 2 Year olds –Working Families- 15 hour Offer

B. Ensure siblings names are on the waitlist

C. Ensure all payments are up to date by Thursday 14th December.

D. School Office closed on Wednesday 20th December.

E. The Elf on the Shelf……

F. What the children are learning about this week?

G. Christmas Parties- A reminder.

 

A.Funding for 2 Year olds –Working Families- 15 hour Offer

You may have heard that the government is rolling out a new program of free funded education. The program will begin in April 2024 when eligible parents will be able to apply for a code, that will entitle them to free funded education for 15 hours.

We have received no official information as yet, apart from this email that was sent to us this week from the Department for Education.

So, I am sharing it with you. This offer is relevant to all working parents in Catkins Class of Little Nursery, if you meet the eligibility criteria.

From 2 January 2024, eligible working parents can apply for 15 hours of childcare for their two-year-old. Parents have until 31 March 2024 to apply for a code, with mid-January to the end of February being the optimum time to apply in case they need to provide further information to support their application.

To apply for a childcare code each parent needs to be working and earning the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum/living wage and under £100,000 adjusted net income per year. This means that each parent needs to earn from just over £8,600 per year to be eligible for 15 hours a week of childcare during term time.

There is more information on the childcare support available to parents on the Childcare Choices website, where they can explore the early education entitlements and other government help with childcare costs.

 

We will send out reminders in the New Year through these newsletters to guide parents.

 

B. Ensure all siblings names are on the waitlist.

Please ensure you have put any younger brothers or sisters names on our waitlist. We know this new childcare funding offer will impact upon parental choices regarding attendance patterns for their children. We offer spaces to those families who have been on the waitlist the longest, within each termly cohort. So please ensure you have your children’s names down. We take children’s names onto the waitlist from birth.

 

C. Ensure all payments are up to date by Thursday 14th December.

Please ensure that all payments are made by 9:30am on Thursday 14th December for the remainder of this term and for the first week back.

 

D. School Office closed on Wednesday 20th December.

The 20th December is the school party day. The school is only open for the School parties. The office staff join in with the parties too. Staff will not be doing any administration tasks that day.

 

E. The Elf on the Shelf……

Miss England has invited a cheeky Christmas Elf to visit Big Nursery. The children have been really taken with him. When the children arrive each day, they find the Elf in a different place.

The cheeky Elf arrived by balloon on the first morning. Day 2 saw the Cheeky Elf Zooming off in to space inside his 3D rocket. Day  3 saw the Elf helping with Christmas decorations putting up the paperchains. Talk to your children about the Elf, they will be excited to tell you about what he has been doing.

 

F. What are the children are learning about this week?

In Catkins, the children are going to be decorating their party bags ready for their Christmas party on the 20th. They will use different resources to personalise their bags and staff will talk to the children about what will be happening on the day.

In the Link area, the children will be exploring paint, water and playdough. They will also have the opportunity to decorate a lovely wooden tree ornament with paint and glitter. Children will choose how they want to decorate their work and staff will show them how to hang them on the Christmas tree.

In Room 3, children will take part in a shared read of Dear Santa, written by Rod Campbell. They will turn the pages at the same time as the adult and look at the pictures underneath the flaps. Children will then discuss their favourite part of the story and what they might like for Christmas.

In Room 1, children will be making bookmarks with their names on. They will write each letter of their name onto tiles and stick them onto card. They will also be making their own calendars for the year 2024 to bring home. The children will dress up in silly outfits to make their calendar funny and personalised.

In Room 2, the stable will be set up for the children to learn about and role play a simple Christmas story. The children have heard the story of Christmas last week and can revisit their prior learning. Children will take it in turns to retell the story of Jesus being born and people coming from afar to visit the new baby.

Outside, staff will be supporting children in making festive bird feeders. They will learn that in winter, it is harder for the animals to find food, so they will be shown how to thread Cheerios onto pipe cleaners, and take them home to hang on nearby trees.

 

G. 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.

Wednesday 20th 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

Wednesday 20th 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.