Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
Nursery News – 28th April 2025
NURSERY NEWS
28th April 2025 – Edition 369
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 morning or afternoon sessions. 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?
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 22nd April 2025
NURSERY NEWS
22nd April 2025 – Edition 368
Find out About
A Dates for the Summer Term 2025
B. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Dates for the Summer Term 2025
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.
Tuesday 22nd April 2025, Summer Term begins.
Monday 5th May 2025. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.
Monday 26th May to Friday 30th May 2025, Half Term Week, School Closed (26th May is a Bank Holiday)
Monday 7th July 2025 is a training day for staff. School Closed
Monday 21st July 2025 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.
Tuesday 22nd July 2025 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. 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 if they were unwell.
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 and water bowls, pet medicine and comfortable beds for the animals to nap on. Staff will model vocabulary to support the children and extend their play.
The learning intention this week is to learn how to throw and catch 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.
Our learning intention from the 7C’s is to be able to recognise small quantities without counting. We will be playing simple games with the children where they will try to estimate how many items are in front of them without counting each object. This is a tricky objective to master, so we will play lots of different games to support this. We want children to be able to look quickly at groups of 1,2 or 3 objects and to be able to accurately identify how many items there are. We need children to do this with only a quick glimpse of the items, so that children are not using their counting skills to individually count the items.
Give this a go at home. Use small objects, such as coins, buttons or lego bricks. Hide 1,2 or 3 items in your hand, briefly open your hand, just for a moment to show your child a very quick glance at the objects. Ask ‘How many coins were there?’
Use an egg box to hide 1,2,or 3 eggs inside. Make a game of opening the egg box, briefly, then closing it again, asking ‘How many eggs? Make it fun and playful and you will engage your child’s attention.
Nursery News 31st March 2025
NURSERY NEWS
31st March 2025 – Edition 367
Find out About
A. A reminder Last day of Spring Term Friday 4th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.
B. For families of children leaving us in July 2025 (Big Nursery Red, Green 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. A reminder: Last day of Spring Term Friday 4th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.
The last day of term for all children is Friday 4th April. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School reopens for the Summer Term on Tuesday 22nd April. Our next Newsletter will be published on Tuesday 22nd April.
B. For families of children leaving us in July 2025 (Big Nursery Red, Green 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 during the school holidays. 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 2025 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 are learning about this week?
The theme this week is Easter
Our youngest children, in our two year old class, will be learning about Easter through decorating egg baskets. They will use fine motor skills to decorate simple baskets and bring home an egg from the Easter Bunny. We will be encouraging the children to bring their egg baskets home, so that they can show their families what they have made.
The older children will be working in small groups to take part in an Easter egg hunt around the garden. They will search high and low while outside, to find a chocolate egg that the Easter Bunny has left just for them. When each child has found an egg, they will come to sit with their friends where they can eat their treasured find.
The learning intentions this week are for the children to be able to use language to recall past experiences that are important to them and to have a positive sense of self when sharing these experiences. To achieve these outcomes, staff will use books and other resources to teach about milestone events, such as birthdays or celebrations. Staff will support child led conversations to promote the sharing of experiences. Staff will continue these conversations in age appropriate ways by questioning and sharing their own memories as they talk. Through having these positive interactions with children, we are boosting their self-esteem and confidence.
Nursery News 24th March 2025
NURSERY NEWS
24th March 2025 – Edition 366
Find out About
A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 4th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.
B. Willow Nursery School Academic Calendar 2025-2026 is now available on our website.
C. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 4th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.
The last day of term for all children is Friday 4th April. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School reopens for the Summer Term on Tuesday 22nd April.
B. Willow Nursery School Academic Calendar 2025-2026 is now available on our website.
If parents look on our website www.willownursery.co.uk and click on the calendar tab, you will be able to see our academic calendar for 2025-2026.
As a school, we always follow the calendar that Central Bedfordshire Local Authority suggests, however this year each school was required to select their own 5 training days.
(Training days are when schools are closed to pupils, to allow teachers and support staff to receive training.)
Therefore, please be aware that Willow’s training days may be different to other schools in the local area.
C. What are the children are learning about this week?
The theme this week is Easter
The younger children will be working very hard this week on noticing objects in their environment, staff will hide Easter related images around the garden for them to find. There will also be lots of numbers in the area for the children to look at and practice number recognition and counting.
Throughout the school, the staff will be encouraging everyone to remember their manners. As part of our seven C’s curriculum we teach our children to use good manners as part of their everyday vocabulary. Staff will model a polite vocabulary to the children and encourage them to be considerate of each other.
Children will be asked to try and help each other with tasks that may be difficult and to be as independent as possible when getting changed or putting on coats to go outside. As a school, we aim to support our children in being school ready, this includes knowing how to dress and undress themselves, feed themselves and also to take themselves to the toilet successfully. We will be offering an afternoon snack through the week and staff will prompt children to peel their own oranges and bananas. This will be the perfect opportunity for the children to offer their friends some support if needed.
Nursery News 17th March 2025
NURSERY NEWS
17th March 2025 – Edition 365
Find out About
A. Role Play Linked to Our Core Books.
B. Big Nursery Children: Does anyone want to increase their child’s sessions for the Summer Term in Nursery from 15 hours to 30 hours?
C. Could you help us with some tissues?
D What are the children learning about this week?
A. Role Play Linked to Our Core Books.
We have been having so much fun in the last few weeks with the imaginative role plays the staff have been putting together. This group of children this year are really interested in dressing up in role and creating storylines. We’ve been looking at traditional tales, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Gingerbread Man, The Three Little Pigs and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. All these stories are great for re-telling and acting out as they have lots of repeated refrains in the stories. Even children not using very much language will join in with ‘Run, Run, Run’, or ‘Huff and Puff. All children can access these stories in some way. We are moving on with some role plays linked to our Core Books. A few weeks ago we looked at the book ‘The Tiger Who Came to Tea.’ We had role plays set up all over the school including outside! Mrs Patterson has a collection of stainless steel teapots that the children were exploring. She has asked for a note to be put in the newsletter
…..We’d be very grateful for any stainless steel teapots that we can use with the children. We don’t want new ones, but they may be the sort of thing you have at home in your cupboards that never get used….
Next week we will be looking at the story of ‘We’re Going On A Bear Hunt’.
Mrs Patterson will transform Room 2 into an immersive role play experience. Children will listen to the story being retold, then experience walking through the long grass, the short prickly grass the thick oozy mud, the water of the river before arriving at the Bear Cave. They then find ‘A Bear!’ (One of the children dressed up.) The children get so excited with this activity. One of the best in our year!
B. Big Nursery Children: Does anyone want to increase their child’s sessions for the Summer Term in Nursery from 15 hours to 30 hours?
We are looking at our pupil numbers for the summer term. We do have some spaces available if anyone in Big Nursery is interested in increasing their child’s hours from 15 to 30 hours for the Summer term. This can be funded in its entirety if your child is entitled to 30 hours funding for working parents or you could choose to pay for the additional 15 hours. (£16:14 per session, so £80 per week.)
Some parents request this opportunity each year, because they feel it prepares their children for Reception class in September, staying for full days and having a packed lunch. Usually we do not have any spaces available, but this year a number of Big Nursery children have left due to moving house.
If this is something you might be interested in, please speak to Mrs Davies, Mrs Evans or any of the office staff, or send an email in to school to: office@willownursery.co.uk If you are interested please don’t delay- If you want to use 30 hour funding for working families, your code must be in place and valid by 31st March 2025, to be able to be used for the Summer Term. Please speak to us by Wednesday 19th March.
C. Could you help us with some tissues?
We are asking if parents would consider donating a box of tissues for the children to use, as we only have a few boxes left in the school!
D What are the children are learning about this week?
The theme this week is ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’
The children will be listening to Were Going on a Bear Hunt, written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury. They will be exposed to lots of different ways to learn the story and staff will encourage the children to retell it in their own way. There will be various resources provided throughout the setting to support this. We hope to spark the children’s imagination and promote lots of role play. There are many repeated refrains in this story and we will be encouraging the children to join in with them as we share this wonderful book.
Through the week, the children will also be working on their pencil grip. They will work on holding their pencil effectively and making meaningful marks. Since the children have started phonics, they have shown a real interest in writing letters and cards to each other. They are very keen to write down the most recent letter that they have learnt. We are encouraging the children to use their name cards to write their own name on their work, as this instils a sense of pride in their work and the children are excited to show each other what they have done.
