Nursery News 8th July 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Tuesday 8^th July 2025 – Edition 378

Find out About:

A. Parents Consultations Scheduled for this week- A reminder.

B. End of Term arrangements July 2025

C. Leavers Day –Tuesday 22^nd July- 8:50am-11:50am

D. Funding for Working Families- Ensure codes are in place /Renew codes.

E. Review of the year- Results.

F. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. Parents Consultations Scheduled for this week.- a reminder.

Parents consultations will take place here at the school, face to face this week.

 

B. End of Term arrangements July 2025

The last day of term in July 2025 for all children will be Monday 21^st July.

This day will run as a normal Monday. Timings of the day will be the same as all Mondays.

 

C. Leavers Day –Tuesday 22^nd July- 8:50am-11:50am

On Tuesday 22^nd July school will open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be from 8:50 am to 11:50 am. All Big Nursery leavers are invited to attend this session, regardless of your child’s normal attendance days. As children are attending for the morning only, no child will require a packed lunch. Children will require their water bottles. Children should arrive at 8:50 am and wait outside as usual.

We have consulted the children about what activities they would like to plan for their last day and this is what they have come up with:

Children may dress up if they want to. Children may come to school in a dressing up outfit if they wish. There should be no pressure on anyone to buy an outfit. Normal Nursery clothes are absolutely fine too.

We have arranged for children to:

• Play with My Little Ponies, Super Hero Colouring Sheets
• Have songs: Specifically: ‘I’m a Barbie Girl’, and ‘I’m Still Standing,’ dancing, bubbles and balloons
• Play pass the parcel and musical chairs.

 

At 10:30 am all children will sit down together for a picnic time in the garden. Staff will provide the snacks the children requested: cake, apples, pears, sweets,  crisps, ice creams and ice pops

The morning will finish with a group time for each colour group, where all children will receive a certificate praising their individual skills and/or qualities.

11:50am Going Home Time- Parents to collect children from the front gate. Children will be dismissed in the regular way, with Green group first, followed by Red group then Yellow group.

 

D. Funding for working families- Ensure funding codes are in place /Renew  codes.

A reminder about the eligibility checker:

Eligibility checker:

 

Eligibility will be checked via a childcare application developed by HMRC.

Parents are responsible for checking if they are eligible.

 

Parents need to visit the website www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. This is the online eligibility checker.

 

Parents will be issued a code to take to the setting (nursery/ childminder etc.). 

There will be a grace period for parents where their circumstances change.  This will give parents the time to regain employment.

Parents must reconfirm their eligibility every three months via the HMRC online eligibility checker or else they will lose their entitlement, subject to the grace period.  Parents are essentially reconfirming that their employment status has not changed and they still meet the criteria. HMRC will send reminder emails to parents to notify them of the need to reconfirm.

For all parents who are entitled to funding for working families for your child, please ensure that your code is in place and valid by 31^st August 2025, to enable us to receive funding for your child for the Autumn term.

The government will send out reminders to families to renew your code. Please be aware that sometimes the government email may go into your Spam/ Junk email folder. If you code is not valid you will not receive funding

 

E. Review of the year- Results

I have had two families who replied to my request for feedback from parents.  I always share what parents say, as there may be some points raised which other parents may relate to….

1.Please comment about what we do well at Willow.

Family 1:

I wanted to share a few points about what works well and some suggestions for improvements:

What works well

-friendly and approachable staff

-really good plans for what the children will be working and focusing on each week which is reflected in the weekly newsletters and is really helpful and informative to know

 

Family 2:

It is very clear to me that my son enjoys his time at nursery and his key worker Mrs Brinkley clearly works hard at understanding the children and supporting them the best she can. My son also talks very highly of Mrs Gaffney. The one issue my son has had, has been dealt with swiftly and has made an evident impact on my child’s daily life at nursery so thank you for that.

I also appreciate the newsletter as it gives us a talking point at home.

 

Both families have mentioned the same things….                                                               Friendly, supportive staff and our Newsletters.  

Willow is a special place due to the quality and commitment of all our staff. We are a very experienced team, but there is something unusual here at Willow, and that is  the way all staff are prepared to give 110% to meet the needs of our pupils. The staff  are knowledgeable and proactive, always ready to find new solutions to best support our individual children’s needs. The keyworkers work particularly hard to build positive relationships with parents, both during more formal parental consultations and during day to day interactions. The staff will be pleased that parents appreciate this, so thank you for your comments.

I am pleased you read the newsletter and find it useful. I usually spend a couple of hours a week planning and writing the newsletter, and I’m never sure how many people read it! Mrs Cashmore (one of our teachers) always writes the section ‘What are the children learning about this week?’ We know that two, three and four year olds are not very good at explaining what they have been doing at school!  We share this information so you can talk at home and extend your child’s learning. It is good to show interest from early on, so you can continue to support your child as they get older, and begin to get homework in primary and secondary school.   Leigh Davies

2. Please tell us one thing you would like to see at Willow that you would consider to be an improvement and/or development.

I will address each comment in turn, as it is important that we share with parents how we try to manage these aspects in a busy school.. so I hope this helps:

Family 1:

Improvements

-more encouragement for the kids to drink their waters and lunches

Many parents talk to us about this, so I will answer this fully.

As a team we have worked hard to accommodate water bottles into our setting. Pre-Covid, pupils were offered milk at snacktime, and water was always available to the children, as we have drinking fountains in each classroom which we always taught everyone how to use. Parents provided a drink of their choice for their child at lunchtime, within their child’s lunchbox.

 

During Covid, the use of water fountains was not allowed, so children had to bring water bottles in to school which they could access at all times. Water bottles are placed on the trolleys by parents when children arrive at nursery. Office staff then move the boxes of water bottles near to where the different groups of children register. These are placed in the same space each day, at child height so that they can be accessed by individual children at any time during the day. We ask that children do not walk around with their bottles, and there are seating areas available near to where all the bottles are stored. Staff do remind children at pastoral time at the beginning of the session that children should drink plenty, especially in the recent hot conditions.

Some parents speak to Keyworkers to say that their child is not drinking enough. Keyworkers share this at staff meeting, so all staff are aware of parental concerns.

If a child’s bottle becomes empty, all children are told to tell a teacher, and the adult will refill the bottle.

 

I lead the two sittings of lunch in Big Nursery. Water bottle boxes are put back onto the lunch box trolleys when placed in the dining area. One member of staff looks after two tables of children. So for example, I look after 12 Green and Red pupils in first lunch sitting. Red and Green lunches and water bottles are placed as close to the Red and Green children’s tables as possible, and always in the same place in the classroom.

 

I ask Green and Red group to come into the dining area, after washing their hands they are invited to collect their lunch box and water bottles, and sit down. My first job is to ensure all my children are sitting in their designated seat. I then move around the two tables offering personalised help to each child. Children open their boxes take out their food and return empty lunch bags to the trolley. The Bento type boxes stay on the table. I ask each child in turn what help they need, ensuring wrappers are removed, crisp packets opened, yogurts opened, satsumas peeled, bananas opened, spoons found from bags etc. This takes about five minutes. Some children due to their age and stage of development require more help than others. Some children refuse to open their box, so we encourage those children gently, as we cannot force any child to eat.

 

I then check that all children have their water bottle on the table. I open them and remind children that they should have a big drink at lunchtime. I point to the clock showing what the time is now, looking at the big hand, and show the children where the big hand will be when lunch will be finished.

 

I return to my twelve children, circulating around the tables encouraging the children who I know to be slow eaters, praising them when they are eating well.  I wipe up spills (yogurt is really messy!) daily. As lunch progresses I check my children’s water bottles, and refill any that have less than half a bottle remaining. I point to the clock showing how time is progressing, reminding pupils that we do not have long so we must keep munching!

Our children are very social! They are always trying to tell me their stories or call to their friend sitting at the next table! I always advise them to keep chewing and that I will listen to their story later.

I give children a two-minute warning, by drawing attention to the clock, when lunch time is coming to an end for them. I ask them to finish chewing the item they are eating. I always encourage each child to have a big drink before they get up to leave.

Water bottles are then returned to the classrooms where children know where to find them for the rest of the afternoon. Staff fill them when needed.

 

-more invites for parents to observe some of their sessions like we had last time. That was really insightful

We plan a timetable of ‘open classroom’ sessions that we repeat each year, mostly for the oldest year group. They will be rolled out to the oldest year group again in the next academic year.

 

-more updates to be provided about how our children are getting on during day whether it’s by verbal updates, pictures or an app or something like class dojo… something where the parents and keyworkers can keep in contact more easily especially for areas like little nursery where the children are still learning how to communicate.

 

This is a very valid point. I do take this on board. This comment often appears here in our yearly review. We are quite a big setting. We dismiss up to 78 children at the end of the session. Our priority is to release children safely to their parents. If every parent had just 1 minute with their keyworker on handover it would take 78 minutes to speak briefly to everyone….. So this is not really possible. 

In the last few years the government has required staff to spend more of their time interacting directly with children in their play, and less time writing it down and recording it.

We are guided by the following government document:

Early years foundation stage statutory framework

For group and school-based providers Setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five

Dated: 11 October 2024 Effective: 01 November 2024

 

Here are some excerpts from this document:

 

‘Assessment should not involve long breaks from interaction with children or require excessive paperwork. When assessing whether an individual child is at the expected level of development, practitioners should draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgement. Practitioners are not required to prove this through collection of any physical evidence. Recorded, written or photographic evidence is not required.’

 

‘Ongoing assessment

Ongoing assessment (also known as formative assessment) is an integral part of the learning and development process. It involves practitioners understanding children’s interests and what they know and can do, and then shaping teaching and learning experiences for each child reflecting that knowledge. In their interactions with children, practitioners should make and act on their own day-to-day observations about children’s progress…… However, there is no requirement to keep written records in relation to this.’

 

We have reduced the amount of writing we do and photographs we take on a daily basis. We create some observations to be recorded in each child’s ‘Year Book’ to show evidence of how children are working towards our 7 c’s curriculum. These books are handed to parents when their child leaves They will be handed out at parent’s consultations this week.

On a day to day basis we do not have photos or written observations to share. I want staff to be engaging with our children as much as possible. We have tried to help matters by sending keyworkers out early in the morning to speak to parents before school. A brief daily update is possible for parents. This opportunity does work well when Keyworkers have built up a rapport with the parents from their Keyworker group.

As children leave, group by group, at the end of the afternoon, staff have to return to support the next group of children. The organisation of a safe going home requires a lot of staff. Staff then are involved in staff meetings, planning meetings, discussing children’s needs meetings, immediately after school, so are generally unavailable to give feedback about a child’s day.

 

Family 2:

The one thing I would say that could be improved upon is the communication around the Christmas period/last day of term. For some time last year I was under the impression that the Christmas party day would involve several hours of nursery, and we found out much closer to the time that nursery would only be open for 1 hour on that day. Obviously I will be aware of this this year, but for new parents it might be worth mentioning early on in the term that about the significantly reduced hours on the last day of term. It is not a problem in itself, just something which needs to be planned for at a busy time of year for all!

 

Someone did tell me this verbally after the 2023 Christmas parties, and I did listen. It is hard to judge when to put this information in, so in this academic year I added it to the newsletter on the 30^th September 2024, regarding the December 2024 Christmas parties. This was the first Newsletter of the academic year when all our children had been successfully enrolled. So in Nursery News Edition 346, amongst other ‘Important Dates’ I wrote:

 

‘Friday 20th December 2024 School open for Christmas Parties only                            (As a guide: Last year Little Nursery Party 9:00am to 10:00am Big Nursery Party 11:15am to 1:00pm, but this may change slightly when we begin planning for this year)’

Further reflection has made me decide to put the information about the Christmas parties in the very first Newsletter in September– so watch out for that if you are staying with us!

 

Willow Nursery School- Children’s Evaluation. July 2025

We ask all Big Nursery children 5 questions. Here are all their answers. I think they will make you smile!

1.   What do you like to do at Nursery? Trucks Play with friends Toys Insects, centipede and worms. Pokemon Play with my friend. Playing outside. Making an obstacle course. Playing with bricks I like making things with sellotape. Drawing, Spiderman Play with some Lego Play with the animals. Playing with all my friends. Play with toys, I like to go outside and I like new friends. Play outside Play with…. Named four specific friends. Animals, trains I like playing with my friends. I like mermaids. I like to play with sand. I like to pay. Play cars, trains, I like being a cat on the floor. I like to play I like playing trains. Playing with (x) Playing Musical chairs I like to play with my friends. I love to play. Playing Play tigers. Painting Doing work I like to play with the tigers and gorrillas Like to play in the sandpit. Like to go inside. I like to playgames. I love having racing cars and marble run. I like playing with my friends and I like playing in the water. I like to play with my friends I like pink books. Cars and garage Slide, Trains

2.   Is there anything you don’t like at Nursery? If fighters sit next to me. Said a child’s name. No, I like everything. Cutting Playing with water. When my Mummy goes home. I don’t like the wind as it messes my hair up and mummy will get angry. When people hit me. Inside nursery. I don’t like it when people are mean to me at Nursery. Hurting myself. I don’t like the boys catching me. (x) hurting me. No dogs Painting Biting I don’t like playing with aeroplanes. No When (X) chases me all around. When I’ve said I’ve hurt myself. I don’t like lunch, I don’t like my food it tastes like milk. When I shake like this. – Jumping No I don’t like kicking and pinching. I don’t like getting splashed When it is noisy.

3.   Tell me something you are good at now since coming to Nursery? Sliding out of the car when driving. Sharing Lining up Playing in the garden 1,2,3, I can jump up onto the rope walk, my friend taught me. Doing upside down things. Don’t know Knowing about cars like Mercedes. Jumping on mummy’s big bed Not scribbling Writing my name. I’m good at Lego. I’m good at riding bikes. Dinosaurs. Reading and writing. Backflips and Hopscotch I am good at being helpful Writing and drawing. Computer screen I do good playing outside. Football, slide. I’m good at sticking Good at playing with my friend. Making obstacles Puzzles Football, Soccer balls, Basketballs- I scored 6 goals! Doing gymnastics. I love to play with my Daddy at home,and I want to read a book. I can calm my brother down.

4.Tell me what you have learnt in Phonics: Learning our names, reading the books,ABCD’s ‘a’ ‘p’ ‘m’ ‘s’ We learnt the letter ‘s’ ‘i’ ‘g’ ‘e’ ‘m’ ‘a’ ‘u’ In the forest. Some Z or O or A. I have learnt ‘s’ ‘a’. I don’t know all of them. I know ‘n’ ‘m’ ‘t’ ‘a’ I know ABCD I have learned the letters to read and write. Letters We can do some actions together ‘p’ ‘s’ ‘a’ Doing cards ‘s’ ‘a’ ‘t’ ‘m’ ‘n’ ‘u’ ‘k’ ‘c’ I learned about the letter ‘a’. We learned the letter ‘r’ ‘a’ ‘t’ ‘c’ ‘s’ ‘e’ I’ve learned at phonics ABC’s I learnt ‘o’ ‘o’ ‘o’. The Hungry Caterpillar. Pokemon Its very hard. The Hungry Caterpillar Learnt about sweeties ‘s’ ‘a’ ‘a’ ‘b’ ‘c’ snake

5.How can we make Willow better for the new children? Not sure Play with the trains Make some more friends. Don’t know x3 All my friends finding me. Get some more animals, like monkeys. Play with all of us- just yellow group-not red group. More toys- More Lego –pink Lego Make even better toys. We can get some rides. Make them happy. When someone’s sad, they need a friend. Fireworks and balloons, Costumes, Spiderman Mask. Clear up stuff. Playing and new friends can read books. A party. Don’t know. No ? Toys and tattoos. Maths, drawing and painting. Toys- Pillow Fight, playing with the water. Make them happy.

 

F. What are the children learning about this week?

 

The theme this week is Peace at Last

This week the theme is based on the book Peace at Last by Jill Murphy. Children will be listening to the story and discussing the characters and events of the story with staff. Staff will encourage the children to look at the pages of the book and all of the little details on each page. This promotes conversations, as the children will want to share what they can see and share experiences of their own. Staff will encourage children to listen to each other as they talk and to wait for their turn to talk. Staff will teach the children that it is good manners to wait until someone has finished talking before they take their turn.

Our learning intention this week is for children to recognise the impact of their choices and behaviours on others and to understand that sometimes these actions can hurt the feelings of others. To implement this, we will talk to the children about being kind and empathetic. We will encourage children to consider how they might feel if something was said or done to them. We will also pay close attention to positive behaviours such as sharing and using good manners. It is important that the children understand that their words and actions also have an impact on others. Staff will give lots of praise for kindness and consideration when it is carried out, they will also be modelling the type of language and behaviour we would like to see the children use.