Nursery News 23rd March 2026

NURSERY NEWS

23^rd  March 2026 – Edition 404

Find out About

A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27^th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13^th April 2026 for the Summer term.

B. What are the children learning about this week?

C. Meningitis outbreak in Kent – advice for educational settings.

D. We have had two cases of Chickenpox in school. Advice on symptoms…

 

A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27^th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13^th April 2026 for the Summer term.

The last day of the Spring Term for all children is Friday 27^th March. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day.  School re-opens for the Summer Term on Monday 13^th April.

 

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

The theme this week is Easter

There will be lots of Easter activities happening throughout the week including hunting for Easter images and creating different crafts. The children will learn the story of Easter at group time and as many children will be celebrating Easter over the holidays. Staff will talk to the children about different ways that they may celebrate. This supports the children as they find a sense of belonging through being involved in daily tasks and common interests, which is our learning intention for the week.

We will focus on numbers and counting this week, which will be incorporated into the week’s activities, the children will be supported with finding and recognising numbers hidden in their surroundings.

Our 7 C’s learning intention this week is to be able to use good manners, to be able to say please and thank you at appropriate times and to be considerate towards each other. Learning about each other’s cultures is a way for the children to understand that not everyone is the same and that is okay.

 

C. Meningitis outbreak in Kent – advice for educational settings

Briefing from Shared Public Health Service for Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes Councils

The UK Health Security Agency is investigating an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Kent. As of 17 March 2026, 20 cases have been reported and sadly two people have died. The outbreak has affected young people studying at Canterbury University and at neighbouring schools. Those who have been identified at risk of infection are being contacted and offered preventive antibiotics and, in some cases, a meningitis vaccine. It is highly unusual to see a meningitis outbreak of this size, but it is currently concentrated in Kent and at this time there is no evidence that the outbreak has spread to other parts of the country.

Meningococcal bacteria can cause rare but serious illness including meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain) and septicaemia (blood poisoning), which can rapidly lead to sepsis.

Onset of illness is often sudden and early diagnosis and treatment with antibiotics are vital. Early symptoms are listed below; in many cases not all of these are present:

• a rash that doesn’t fade when pressed with a glass
• sudden onset of high fever
• severe and worsening headache
• stiff neck
• vomiting and diarrhoea
• joint and muscle pain
• dislike of bright lights
• very cold hands and feet
• seizures
• confusion/delirium
• extreme sleepiness/difficulty waking

Early symptoms can be confused with other illnesses such as a cold, flu or hangover and students are particularly at risk of missing the early warning signs. If you or anyone you know develops any of these symptoms, seek medical help immediately by contacting a GP, calling NHS 111 or dialling 999 in an emergency. Knowing the signs and taking early treatment can be lifesaving.

If a child/student or colleague falls ill with suspected meningitis in your setting, please ensure that urgent medical care is sought and consult the following guidance:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities/managing-specific-infectious-diseases-a-to-z#meningitis

The UK Health Security Agency will contact you if you need to take any action related to a case of bacterial meningitis who attends your setting.

In the meantime, please continue to support the routine childhood and school-aged vaccination programme; meningitis ACWY vaccine is offered to children in Year 9. Catch up vaccination clinics are regularly offered by the Community and School-Aged Vaccination Service throughout Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes; venues are listed here: Children’s immunisations in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes

The type of meningitis causing the Kent outbreak (meningitis B) is not covered by the ACWY vaccine, and some students are being offered a Men B vaccine as a precautionary measure in response to this outbreak. Since 1 May 2015, Men B vaccine has been offered to infants as part of the routine childhood schedule. Men B vaccine not routinely available for teenagers/students on the NHS and there is currently no catch-up programme for those born before May 2015.

More information about meningitis is available from the UK Health Security Agency blog article: What is meningitis? Symptoms, risks and how to protect yourself – UK Health Security Agency

The following social media asset is also available to share among your pupil and parent networks.

Suggested copy to go with it:

Cases of invasive meningococcal disease have been confirmed in Kent. It’s important to know the signs of symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia. Get more info from @NHSuk

http://nhs.uk/conditions/meningitis

 

D. We have had two cases of Chickenpox in school. Advice on symptoms…

(From NHS Website)

Chickenpox

Chickenpox is a common infection that spreads easily and mostly affects children. It usually gets better on its own after 1 to 2 weeks without needing to see a GP, but can be serious in some people.

How chickenpox is spread

You can spread chickenpox to other people from 2 days before your spots appear until they have all formed scabs, which is usually 5 days after your spots appeared.

 

The spots start appearing around 1 to 3 weeks after you caught chickenpox.

 

You can catch chickenpox from:

 

• being in the same room as someone with it
• touching things that have fluid from the blisters on them
• someone who has shingles if you have not had chickenpox before (but you cannot catch shingles from someone who has chickenpox)

 

Symptoms of chickenpox

The main symptom of chickenpox is an itchy, spotty rash. It can be anywhere on the body.

 

Before or after the rash appears, you might also have:

 

• a high temperature
• aches and pains, and generally feel unwell
• loss of appetite
• Chickenpox happens in 3 stages, but new spots can appear while others are becoming blisters or forming a scab.

 

Stage 1: small spots appear

The spots can:

• be anywhere on the body, including inside the mouth and around the genitals, which can be painful
• spread or stay in a small area
• be red, pink, darker or the same colour as surrounding skin, depending on your skin tone
• be harder to see on brown and black skin

 

Stage 2: the spots become blisters

The spots fill with fluid and become blisters. The blisters are very itchy and may burst.

 

Stage 3: the blisters become scabs

The spots form a scab. Some scabs are flaky, while others leak fluid.

 

How you can treat chickenpox yourself

If you have chickenpox, you’ll need to stay off school, nursery or work until all the spots have formed a scab. This is usually 5 days after the spots first appeared.

 

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

16^th March 2026 – Edition 403

Find out About

A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27^th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13^th April 2026 for the Summer term.

B. Role Play Linked to Our Core Books.

C. An Open School Event. Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.

D. Lost Property

E. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27^th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13^th April 2026 for the Summer term.

The last day of the Spring Term for all children is Friday 27^th March. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day.  School re-opens for the Summer Term on Monday 13^th April.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind parents that if they 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 and 2026-2027.

As a school, we always follow the calendar that Central Bedfordshire Local Authority suggests, however this year 2025-26, 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.

 

B. 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!

 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!

 

C. An Open School Event. Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.

Miss Howe would like to invite all parents of Big Nursery Children to come in and watch your child take part in their phonics session, during week beginning Monday 23^rd March. Sessions run at three different times throughout the week.

For your information:

Children who attend for 30 hours per week or 15 hours at the beginning of the week will have their group on Monday 23^rd March at 1:00pm or 1:30pm. Children who attend for 15 hours at the end of the week will have their group on Thursday 26^th March at 10:50am.

Sessions last around 30 minutes.

The school office will send emails to parents this week, inviting parents to attend on a particular day and time, as groups are based on your child’s attendance days and not their Keyworker groups. We try to offer a variety of Open School Activities both during the school day and in the early evening, hoping that parents might be able to attend some of them. We understand parents have different family and work commitments, so we do not expect all parents to attend. It is just another option….

 

D. Lost Property

We have accumulated a number of items of clothing in our Lost Property box. These items are outside in the Library area. There are three drawers in the top of a cabinet labelled ‘Lost Property’. If your child has lost an item of clothing in the Spring term: Please check to see if anything belongs to your child, and take it home. We will dispose of any unclaimed items at the end of term.

 

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

The theme this week is ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’

This week the children will be listening to We’re 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 then they will be encouraged to retell the story in their own way.

One of the main ways that the children are encouraged to retell the story is by taking part in a physical activity where they will walk through different sensory scenes from the book such as ‘splash sploshing’ through water, ‘squelch squerching’ through mud and ‘stumble tripping’ through a forest. It is a very interactive activity and always very popular with everybody.

We hope to spark the children’s imagination and promote lots of role play. Our learning intention this week is to be able to join in with repeated refrains and anticipate key events in rhymes and stories. 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.

Our 7 C’s learning intention this week is to be exposed to a wide variety of creative opportunities, which will be supported by the theme of the week. There will be many different ways for the children to express themselves and share their learning, including writing and drawing, and staff will monitor the children’s progress in this area as they work on their pencil grip and control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

9^th March 2026 – Edition 402

Find out About

A. A reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Orange Group Parents: Basic Skills, on Wednesday 11^th March.

B. Bedtime Stories: A well-attended event.

C. Fees Increase from April 2026

D . A reminder to renew Funding for working family codes

E. Phonics program Big Nursery: Slithery Snakes and Ants on my Arm

F. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. A reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Orange Group Parents: Basic Skills, on Wednesday 11^th March.

Miss Skai teaches Big Nursery Orange Group children ‘Basic Skills’ on a Wednesday morning. The children move to a quiet space in Room 5 where they work in small groups (approx. 8 children) to learn reading, writing, mathematical skills and problem solving.

This character on the left is Biff, she features in the Oxford Reading Tree Scheme books that we use to help teach reading skills. The group on Wednesday will focus on a story about Biff losing her toy aeroplane. We look forward to parents coming in to observe their child in a taught session.

 

B: Bedtime Stories: A well-attended event.

Thank you to all the parents who attended the Bedtime Stories event last week. We had around 22 families here. The staff always get a little bit nervous when they have to read in front of the parents, but they all said the event went well.

Miss Gaffney read Where’s My Teddy? By Jez Alborough. She had a Gigantic Teddy with her, that was taller than the children and a ‘Tiddly Teddy’, like the ones in the story. (Unfortunately Mrs Patterson had lost her voice, so Miss Gaffney stepped in at the last minute!)

Mrs Cashmore read Little Rabbit Foo Foo by Michael Rosen. Little Rabbit Foo Foo is a challenging little rabbit that carries a little hammer whilst riding around on his motorbike ‘Bopping’ animals on the head. The Good Fairy eventually puts him straight! Miss Cashmore had a squeaky hammer which she used as she retold the story to hold the children’s interest.

Miss Howe read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. She used one of our Storysacks to retell the story. Every child was able to hold a piece of food and feed it to the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Our Very Hungry Caterpillar is made of fabric, and food can be put right inside him. The more he eats the fatter he becomes until he has a ‘stomach ache’, before eventually turning into a butterfly.

Miss Skai read the Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson. This group had a little visitor! The mouse from the story was hiding in the pocket of Miss Skai’s dressing gown!

The children were all very well behaved. As a school, we love books and storytelling, and we hope our enthusiasm rubs off on the children (and maybe the parents too!)

 

C. Fees Increase from April 2026

Very few parents know how we receive our funding to finance the school. Willow Nursery School staff are employed by Central Bedfordshire Council, but our wages are not paid by the council directly. Our funding comes to the school to pay all our costs, including: staff wages, building and grounds maintenance, utilities, educational resources, ICT resources (our admin packages), Insurances, Staff training etc.

The government looks closely at the cost of providing Early Years Childcare and Education. Funding comes from Central Government to our Local Authority, Central Bedfordshire Council. The Local Authority decides how much we are funded per pupil per hour. This rate is increased slightly each year, on the 1^st April.

In the past, we always tried to keep our fees as low as possible, to help parents. However, in the current financial climate finances are much tighter for us. The school governors decided that we will increase our fees annually from 1^st April each year, to be in line with the hourly pupil funding rates we receive from Central Bedfordshire council.

We receive £8.08 per pupil per hour for Two year olds entitled to funding through the Working Families initiative, or funding for underprivileged two year olds.

We receive £5.62 per pupil per hour for three year olds funded through the Universal 15 hours funding for three and four year olds, or three and four year olds entitled to an additional 15 hours funded through the 30 hours funding for Working Families initiative.

Our fees from April 2026 will be: £16.86 for a three hour session for 3+ aged child, and £24.24 for a three hour session for a 2+ aged child.

Children who receive 15 or 30 hours free funding do not pay fees for their free funded sessions

 

The rate for two year olds is higher than the rate for three and four year olds because two year olds are required to have a ratio of 1 member of staff for every 5 children and three and four year olds are required to have a ratio of 1 member of staff for every 13 children.

 

D. A reminder to renew funding for working family codes

Parents who are entitled to 30 hours free funded Nursery hours in Big Nursery must ensure a valid code is in place by 31^st March 2026 if they wish to have 30 hours funding for the summer term 2026.  Codes need to be renewed approximately every three months. The government does usually send out reminder emails directly to parents. Do check your Junk Mail or Spam folders, as sometimes the reminder can end up there.

If the code is not valid your child will not get the funding from the government, and would have to fall back to 15 hours attendance or choose to pay for the additional 15 hours.

Similarly, the Funding for Working Families initiative- in Little Nursery– Parents must ensure their valid code is in place on 31^st March.

 

E. Phonics program Big Nursery: Slithery Snakes and Ants on my Arm

Phonics began two weeks ago in Big Nursery. In week one your child will have learnt their first sound ‘s’. We begin every session by reminding all children that each letter has a name and a sound. The name of the letter is ‘S’ and the sound it makes is ‘sss’. As a parent it is important to teach your children both the letter names and sounds at the same time. Children need to use letter names when spelling words out, and letter sounds when trying to ‘read’ or ‘decode’ words.

We tell a story about a snake in the grass. We try to make our sessions interactive and playful. The children all made a sock Snake hand puppet, to retell the story which they will have hopefully brought home by now. Children will remember the ‘sss’ sound if they have fun playing with their snake, making a ‘sss’ sound. We show the children the letter ‘s’ that represents the sound ‘sss’. We ask them to move their hand like a snake whilst saying the ‘sss’ sound.

We also teach a song for each new sound. The ‘s’ song is:

‘The snake is in the grass, the snake is in the grass, ‘sss’ ‘sss’ , the snake is in the grass.’ (To the tune of ‘The farmers in his den.)

In week two we introduced the sound ‘a’. We tell a story about friends having apples at a picnic. We share some slices of apple for the children to eat. (Again, trying to make a link in their memory that lasts.) In the story a child finds some ants on her arm. We make a very simple ant finger puppet, so the children can move an ant up their arm whilst singing:

‘Ants, ants, ants on my arm, Ants, ants, ants on my arm, Ants, ants, ants on my arm, They’re causing me alarm.’ (To the tune of ‘Skip, skip, skip to my Lou)

Each letter sound will come home on a Jolly phonics page, which allows the child to colour in a picture associated with the sound, has some dotted practice letter shapes to write over, and has a little picture at the side of the page to show how the movement should be made that supports the memory of this phonic sound.

Adding a movement to the sound does help children to recall it at a later date. Spend just a few minutes each week going over the sounds at home.

If you build up your child’s letter knowledge, week by week, adding new letters to the already familiar letters, they will progress with their phonic knowledge.

Give this a go. This will REALLY help your child to learn their phonic sounds which will in turn help them to read and write! If you do this with us, your child will be very prepared for reception class. They will have most of their phonics sounds in place for when they join reception. 

 

F What are the children are learning about this week?

The theme this week is people who help us – Doctors.

The children will have role play areas set up to explore this topic. They will learn about the role of a doctor and the tools that doctors use to help people. Staff will model lots of language to the children to expand their vocabulary and teach them the correct terms for objects that they might see in a doctor’s surgery. Staff will join in with the children’s role play and model language such as ‘appointment’, ‘medicine’ and ‘prescription’. Staff will provide first aid kits for our ‘doctors’ to use as they look after the babies that are hurt or sick. There will be bump notes for our doctors to write for the babies and an ambulance station set up in case any patients need to visit the hospital.

Our learning intention this week is for the children to learn how to name and identify different parts of their body. This will be taught by playing games, reading books, singing songs and interactions with adults.

We will provide lots of resources for the children to use as they explore this topic, these will include a shared read of Doctor Maisy, mirrors for the children to explore their reflections and learn about their body and dressing up outfits to spark the children’s imaginations.

Staff will talk to the children about their own experiences of visiting the doctor’s surgery and encourage the children to recall times where they, or someone they know may have visited the doctor.

 

NURSERY NEWS

2^nd  March 2026 – Edition 401

Find out About

A. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 5^th March 2026 at 5pm –A reminder

B. Can you help us with some Sellotape?

C. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A: An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 5^th March 2026 at 5pm –A reminder

All Big Nursery children are invited to bring a parent along for a bedtime story at Willow Nursery School. (Big Nursery children are Blue, Orange and Yellow, those who will leave Willow in July 2026.) Children and parents will join your child’s keyworker for a bedtime story. Children can come in their pyjamas and bring a teddy bear or favourite cuddly toy with them. Older and younger brothers and sisters are welcome, but please remember the stories will be aimed at 3 and 4 year olds. Parents will be asked to monitor the behaviour of brothers and sisters, and will be expected to take noisy or wriggly children out of the story circle so as not to upset the quiet atmosphere created. We expect stories to last approximately 30 minutes (perhaps less for the youngest children) and we will then have warm ‘Hot Chocolate’ and cookies together.

 

B: Can you help us with some Sellotape?

We are very grateful to those parents who are already supporting the school, by donating tissues or bringing in boxes for our box modelling area. We have a number of children who enjoy making box models, using Sellotape to join their boxes together. We probably have more children who just enjoy exploring the sellotape and the sellotape dispensers!

Please could I ask that all parents consider donating some Sellotape to school? We prefer the 3 inch / 7.5cm diameter rolls as these fit on the dispensers. We would be very happy with the cheaper brands, I have seen 3 rolls for £1 in ‘The Works’ recently.

We could also use masking tape, again on the 3inch/ 7.5cm diameter rolls. This gives the children a choice of tape.

 

We put out this request this time last year and the sellotape donations are only just about to run out. We were overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. The children use at least one roll a day… so we are looking for about 200 rolls!

Please help us to put a smile on the children’s faces. When a three year old says ‘Can I have some more sellotape?’ we want to be able to say ‘Yes’ and send them away happy, to busily get on with their constructions. There is ALWAYS someone working at the sticking bench.

 

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is ‘The Tiger Who Came To Tea’

This week the children will learn the story of The Tiger Who Came To Tea, written by Judith Kerr. There will be many different opportunities for the children to then retell the story in a variety of ways. There will be comprehensive role play areas set up to expand imaginative play, including Sophie’s house and a café. These areas will include clothes for the children to dress up in which will support their play as they act out different roles from the book.

The learning intention this week is for the children to be able to run with spatial awareness and negotiate space successfully, adjusting speed or direction to avoid obstacles. The children will be supported at each stage of their development to achieve this, the expectations range from being able to walk a considerable distance with purpose, stopping, starting and changing direction, to beginning to understand and choose different ways of moving while staying safe.

This week we will also be encouraging everyone to look around them and take an interest in the natural environment. This includes looking for insects, identifying them and taking care of them. We have lots of magnifying pots, information banners and books to help the children identify insects or birds that they may see this week.

We will also be focusing on ball skills throughout the nursery. We will be encouraging the children to catch and throw balls to each other, kick large balls to their friends and roll smaller balls to and fro. There are plenty of bats and balls available for the children to use, if they wish to practice passing balls and hitting targets.

 

NURSERY NEWS

23^rd  February 2026 – Edition 400

Find out About

A. An Apology, regarding the date of Big Nursery Children’s Bedtime Stories .

B. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Orange Group Parents: Basic Skills.

C. Can you help with some Tissues?

D. What are the children learning about this week?

E. Phonics program starts this week!

 

A. An Apology, regarding the date of Big Nursery Children’s Bedtime Stories .

I made a mistake in my last newsletter with regard to the date of bedtime stories.  So to clarify, Bedtime Stories will take place on Thursday 5^th March 2026 at 5pm.

 

B. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Orange Group Parents: Basic Skills.

Miss Skai teaches Big Nursery Orange Group children ‘Basic Skills’ on a Wednesday morning. The children move to a quiet space in Room 5 where they work in small groups (approx. 8 children) to learn reading, writing, mathematical skills and problem solving. We would like to invite Miss Skai’s Orange group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 11^th March. A further invitation letter will follow to Orange Group parents so that we can match up time slots, so parents can join their child’s small group. Blue Group had their Basic Skills groups in the Autumn Term 2025, Yellow Group have Basic skills in the Summer Term 2026. Eventually all parents will be invited to observe Basic skills sessions when their child is being taught.

 

C. Can you help with some Tissues?

Sometimes we ask parents for some specific donations that help our school.

I last asked parents for a donation of tissues at the beginning of November. At that time parents were very generous, and we received lots of donations. Enough in fact for 16 weeks of runny noses!  We have almost run out of tissues. So please, when doing your shopping consider picking up a box of tissues for our children.

 

D. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is police and firefighters

The learning intention this week is to show an interest in different occupations and ways of life indoors and outdoors. This can be shown by children displaying a curiosity about people and showing and interest in stories about people, animals or objects that they are familiar with or that fascinate them. It can also be investigated through pretend play, when children imitate everyday actions and events from their own family and cultural background. This can be everyday routines such as drinking tea, going to the barber, or even pretending to be an animal that they have experience with such as a cat or dog.

We will focus on the police and fire services this week as we teach the children about people who help us. Staff will set up a role-play area where the children can act out the roles of police officers, criminals and people that need help. Staff will provide lots of resources to support and recreate different scenarios that might need the support of the police. We will provide a police role-play area and a role play fire station. The children can use the resources provided and their imaginations to act out many different scenarios. As the skill this week is scissor skills, the children might choose to work on these by creating their own ID badges to support their role play.

Our 7 C’s learning intention is to be able to use their bodies to achieve goals, to have a positive sense of self and to talk about people and experiences that are important to them.

 

 E. Phonics program starts this week!

Willow Nursery School Phonics Programme

‘Phonics’ is one tool children can use when they are beginning to learn to read and write. A definition of phonics follows on the next page.

The Department for Education (DfE) produced a phonics resource called Letters and Sounds: Principles and Practice of High Quality Phonics, which splits the teaching of phonics into six phases. At Willow, we work on phase 1 activities all the time. Phase 1 describes using activities such as storytelling and singing songs, rhymes, music, role play and listening games. This will give the children opportunities to listen carefully and talk extensively about what they hear, see and do.  Phase 1 activities are designed to underpin and run alongside activities in other phases.  Phase 2 is an introduction to more formal phonics work and involves teaching the children sets of letters in a specified order. The first set of letters to be learnt are s.a.t.i.p.n because these letters make a greater number of words than any other 6 letters in the alphabet. We feel that the children at Willow are ready to begin focussing on letter sounds in a fun and practical way.

 

What are we going to do?

• Each child will participate in 1 x 25 minute phonic sessions each week
• We are going to begin teaching 6 letter sounds, s.a.t.i.p.n. and will continue with one letter sound each week until the end of term
• We will teach the children that all letters have a name, and that these letters make a sound. For example: the letter S makes the sound ‘sss’
•  We will use a mixture of songs, games, tongue twisters, art, drama and movement activities to teach the letter sounds.

 

We will use ‘Jolly Phonics’ with the children. Jolly Phonics is the name of a program used to teach phonics. Each week we will:

• Tell the children a story, which includes focussing on the sound we are trying to teach.
• Teach an action to represent the sound
• Send home a picture (linked to the story) for the children to colour, and they can practise writing the letter which represents the sound.

For example: The ‘s’ story involves finding a snake which goes ‘ssss’. The action for ‘s’ involves making a snaking movement with your hand and forearm and saying ’ssss’. The picture to take home is a picture of a snake

 

Helping at home:

The picture your child brings home will explain to you how to make the action to represent the sound. Talk with your child about what they have learned at school. Learn the actions along with your child. Making the movement may help your child to remember. Have fun!

 

Phonics

What is phonics?

Phonics is the word used to describe the sounds the letters make. In simple terms, the word ‘cat’ can be read from its three sounds: c-a-t.

These are not the names of the letters as we say them in the alphabet, but the sounds these letters make. The word ‘thick’ is made up of three sounds: th-i-ck, where pairs of letters combine to make a single sound. Similarly, ‘rash’ is made up of three sounds: r-a-sh.

There are 40+ sounds in English but only 26 letters that are used to represent these sounds.

 

The five basic skills for reading and writing are:

• Learning the letter sounds
• Learning the letter formation
• Blending
• Identifying sounds in words
• Spelling the tricky words

 

When reading, children need to understand the meaning of the words. Before they can do this, they have to be able to work out what the words say. The phonic skill for this is to look at the letters, say the sounds and hear the words. This is called blending.

 

The main phonetic skill for writing is to start with the spoken word, then listen, identify and write the sound in that word. The ability to hear the sounds in words is called phonological awareness. For example, with the word ’bin’ if you listen you hear the sounds ‘b……i….n’. Then if you know how to write those letter sounds, you can write the word ‘bin’ without help. This is the opposite to the skill needed for blending.

 

The letters for the 42 Sounds of English:

See below:

a ……ant, sand, caravan

ai……aim, aid, drain, (long a)

b……bat, bend, crab

c ……cat, cot, duck

d……dog, dip, sudden

e……egg, end, shed

ee……eel, creep, tree (long e)

f……fog, lift, fluff

g……goat, gap, digger

h……hop, hit, hill

i……ink, indian, drink

ie……pie, tie, die (long i)

j……jelly, jet, jumper

k……king, kind, kettle

l……leg, lost, shell

m……man, mill, shrimp

n……nut, nip, spin

o……orange, on, spot

oa……oak, oats, boat (long o)

p…….pig, pet, step

q……queen, quick, quin

r……run, rabbit, barrel

s…..sand, sun, twist

t……top, tug, mat

u…….up, under, lung

ue……due, Tuesday, cue

v……van, vet, give

w…..wind, went, swim

x…..x-ray, ox, flex

y……yell, yes, yellow

z……zoo, zebra, buzz

sh……ship, shop, wish

ch……chop, chick, much

th……this, then, with (voiced th)

th……thin, thick, thimble (unvoiced th)

ng……song, bang, string

oo……look, room, foot (little oo)

oo……moon, spoon, shoot (long oo)

ar……art, arm, start

er……kerb, stern, sister

or……order, corn, storm

oi……oil, ointment, spoil

ou……out, cloud, found

 

NURSERY NEWS

9^th February 2026 – Edition 399

Find out About

A. Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet

B. Parent Consultations. **CANCELLED**

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

D. Birthday Sweets /Cakes

E. . Children’s Personal Bikes parked in pushchair/bike area.

F. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 5^th March 2026 at 5pm

G. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet

We continue to have problems with our telephones and Internet. We are convinced that our internet connection fluctuates. Every time our internet speed drops our telephone cuts off. Sometimes we can have a full 10 minute telephone conversation, but at other times the telephone call cuts off after just a few seconds.

Any parent who has been talking to us on the telephone recently will be aware how frustrating this is! Mrs Evans has been pushing everyone to get this resolved.

After a thorough investigation from Partnership (our ICT consultants), BT (Phone Supplier), Open Reach (internet cable provider) and Talk Straight (broadband provider) the conclusion is that we need move from a copper wire connection to full fibre broadband. We are instructing this upgrade to go ahead.

We have been told that it will take at least 30 days to upgrade to a fibre system……

So:

B: Parent Consultations. **CANCELLED**

After discussion with all the staff we have decided to cancel all parent consultations scheduled for the coming weeks.

The telephones are working very erratically. We fear the experience of these phone consultations would be very poor, and would feel very unprofessional for the staff involved.

Obviously, staff are happy to talk to parents before school, and if you have something important to discuss with your child’s keyworker that requires privacy, or more time, please speak to your child’s keyworker about this, and we will try to arrange something for you.

 

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

We are approaching our February Half Term Holiday. The school will be closed from Monday 16^th February 2026 to Friday 20th February 2026

 

D. Birthday Sweets/Cakes.

We are working very hard within school to meet all the allergy requirements of our pupils, to keep everyone safe.

Last week, as part of birthday treats at our front gate, one of our pupils, with an egg allergy, took a cake and ate some of it before their childminder realised it may contain egg. On this occasion the child did not have a reaction, but it has highlighted to us that this event may have had a very different, more serious outcome.

For safety reasons, we are now asking that parents no longer bring sweets or cake to celebrate their child’s birthday, to share with other children at school.

We know some of our parents are creative, and will suggest handing out other non-food treats. We are going to say no to these suggestions too. We want to make going home time as swift and safe as possible for everyone.

What do we do in school for Birthdays?

We have a ‘Birthday Board’ in school where we display the names of staff and pupils who will be celebrating their birthday within the current month. We celebrate every individual child’s birthday during Keyworker time, with their colour group. We have a very real looking iced ‘fake’ cake with candles on. Staff make a fuss of the children on their special day (or near to it if their birthday falls at the weekend or in the school holidays). The birthday child is invited to sit at the front of the group, with their Keyworker. Everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday’ and the birthday child blows the candles out. The birthday child receives a special birthday sticker.

 

E. Children’s Personal Bikes parked in pushchair/bike area.

We have a place where children can leave their bikes from home at the front of the school, when they ride their bike to school in the morning. Please can we remind all parents that our pupils should not be allowed to ride other children’s bikes.

 

F. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 6^th March 2025 at 5pm

All Big Nursery children are invited to bring a parent along for a bedtime story at Willow Nursery School. (Big Nursery children are Blue, Orange and Yellow group, those who will leave Willow in July 2026.)

Children and parents will join your child’s keyworker for a bedtime story. Children can come in their pyjamas and bring a teddy bear or favourite cuddly toy with them. Older and younger brothers and sisters are welcome, but please remember the stories will be aimed at 3 and 4 year olds. Parents will be asked to monitor the behaviour of brothers and sisters, and will be expected to take noisy or wriggly children out of the story circle so as not to upset the quiet atmosphere created. We expect stories to last approximately 30 minutes (perhaps less for the youngest children) and we will then have warm ‘Hot Chocolate’ and cookies together.

If we know your child has a food allergy, your child’s keyworker will talk to you prior to the event and make necessary adjustments to meet the needs of your child.

 

 G. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is Chicken Licken

This week the children will learn the story of Chicken Licken and his friends, and how they go on an adventure to tell the King that the sky is falling. Staff will read the book throughout the week and the children will be supported in retelling and exploring the tale in a variety of ways. These include making hats based on their favourite character, playing duck themed maths games and using the magnetic story board to sequence the story. We will also look at how all of the characters in the book have rhyming names and the children will be encouraged to think of any other rhymes they know including nonsense words.

Each room will have lots of conversation starters to engage the children, staff will urge the children to think about the characters in the story and consider their personalities. Were they kind and trustworthy or were they sneaky and not to be trusted?

The learning intention this week is to explore a range of their own marks and signs to which they ascribe mathematical meanings. This includes using number words like one or two and sometimes responding accurately when asked to give one or two items. Children may also begin to notice numerals in the environment. There will be some Chicken Licken hunts available for the children to put these skills into practice as they mark down how many of each character they find.

NURSERY NEWS

2^nd February 2026 – Edition 398

Find out About

A Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet.

B. Parent Consultations.

C. Remember to add younger siblings (brothers and sisters) to our contact list.

D. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet.

We are still having ongoing problems with our phone and internet. Our telephone provider BT has confirmed that our telephone system is working correctly at their end. Our problems are not due to our telephone service.

Open Reach attended on Tuesday and Wednesday last week to check the external broadband cabling that connects us physically to the broadband network.

We are now returning back, to follow this up with our Broadband provider.

We are sorry for the inconvenience caused, and I would like to thank parents for their patience when trying to speak with us on the telephone.

 

B: Parent Consultations.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 23^rd  February 2026. 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 Patterson Monday 23^rd  February between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

Miss Cashmore Tuesday 24^th February between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Miss Howe Thursday 26^th February between 3:15pm and 3:45pm

Miss Skai Friday 27^th February between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

 

C. Remember to add younger siblings (brothers and sisters) to our contact list.

You may add a child’s name to our contact list at any time from birth.

Currently, and moving forward, we will make offers to families at two points of entry, 2+ and 3+.

2+ intake is at the beginning of the term after a child turns 2.                                             We offer families a choice of 15 hours per week (part time) or 30 hours per week (full time)

3+ intake is at the beginning of the term after a child turns 3. For 3+ intake all families are offered a 15 hour part time space.

We are enrolling two different groups of children every term.

We would recommend putting your child’s name down on our contact list as early as possible to increase the possibility of them being offered a space.

In the past we would be able to give siblings priority over others on the wait list. But we cannot afford to leave empty spaces in a termly intake at age two, to wait for a sibling who might join at age three.

For our full admissions policy please look on our website www.willownursery.co.uk

 

D. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is The Three Little Pigs

This week, the children will be listening to, and learning about the story of The Three Little Pigs. Children will be encouraged to take part in a variety of learning opportunities to retell the story in their own style.

There will be a variety of resources available for the children to use, which will help to build upon their attention and recall skills.

In the garden, the children will have the chance to explore the different houses of the three little pigs. Staff will help the children to set up a house made of straw, one made of sticks and another of bricks. They will have the opportunity to make pig or wolf hats to support their story telling.

As a school for our learning intention, we will be focusing on manipulating tools and equipment. there will be wheelbarrows, bricks and hard hats for the children to use as they build homes out of their chosen materials.

Our skill to focus on this week is riding a bike. Children will be encouraged to take turns and to practice riding the bicycles and tricycles using the pedals to move and handlebars to steer. We emphasise the importance of keeping our bikes on the track and not riding too fast to ensure the safety of all children in the playground.

 

 

 

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

26^th January 2026 – Edition 397

Find out About

A.Problems with our Phones and Internet.

B.Parent Consultations.

C. What are the children learning about this week?

D. Willow Lending Library.

 

A: Problems with our Phones and Internet.

Unfortunately, we are having some problems with our phones and our internet. Our phone calls are randomly cutting off mid call. We are very sorry if this has happened to you. Calls are cutting off on incoming and outgoing calls. If your call gets cut off we will try to ring you back, if we know who you are.

We buy into ICT support services, and our support technician is trying to resolve this. We are contacting our internet provider, and our telephone provider, where checks are being done and tests are being carried out, but we do not know what the problem is yet.

The staff are all finding this very frustrating, and I’m sure parents are too. I can only apologise to everyone and let you know that we are chasing this up daily to enable our services to be working again.

 

B: Parent Consultations.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Little Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 9^th February 2026. 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 Brinkley Monday 9^th February between 4:30pm and 4:55pm

Miss Gaffney Tuesday 10^th February between 3:15pm and 4:00pm

Miss Gaffney Wednesday 11^th February between 3:15pm and 4:00pm

Miss Tyler Thursday 12^th February between 3:15pm and 3:35pm

Miss Allen Friday 13^th February between 3:00pm and 4:05pm

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

 

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

What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is The Three Billy Goats Gruff

This week we will be reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff in school and there will be lots of learning opportunities based on the book.

Children will be able to retell the story outside, there will be a bridge for the children to ‘trip trap’ across, while pretending to be a Billy Goat and they can take it in turns to be the angry troll, just like in the book. As the children play, they can include repeated refrains from the story such as ‘who’s that trip trapping over my bridge?’.

There will be a variety of small world scenes for the children to explore and become familiar with the story and its characters. As the children play, they can extend invitations for their friends to join them and take on different roles. We also have the story available in different formats, such as pictures on the magnetic board and also on the interactive screens in the classrooms.

The learning intention this week is for the children to understand the concept of heavy, light, long, short and more or less in meaningful contexts. This means we will explore differences in size, length, weight and capacity.

Staff will also support children with our 7C’s learning intention of the week, which is to safely use a wide range of tools. Children will be shown how to use scissors, sellotape dispensers etc. safely and effectively.

 

D. 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 J

 

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.

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

19^th January 2026 – Edition 396

Find out About

A: Progress so far…

B. What are the children learning about this week?

C. School Rules.

 

A. Progress so far…..

We have been back at school now for almost two weeks. Usually by this time, all enrolments for the Spring Term have happened, and we are well on the way to settling everyone. We do seem to have a number of the very youngest children off with various illnesses, so I cannot say that we are all settled in yet.

We are all really enjoying getting to know all our new pupils. We want the children to learn that all the adults here are friendly adults who are here to help them. We begin by smiling at the children and displaying positive body language, to make them feel welcome. We try to be interested in the children and what they are choosing to play with. We join them in their play and talk gently to them, encouraging children to begin to trust the staff.

These transitions are challenging for children. Before they start nursery, children are used to their family routines, where interactions and organisations are on a much smaller scale. Suddenly, in Nursery, children are surrounded with all these people they do not know, without their familiar toys and surroundings, the noise can be loud sometimes and their familiar grown ups are not around to help them!

Our new starters are looking for their familiar grown ups to come back and collect them. The first few days can be hard, because the children have not yet learnt that their carers will return. When a little time has passed they begin to understand the routine and learn that grown-ups do come back and collect them.

“Is my Mummy coming yet?”

We know parents can find it hard too when your child joins nursery for the first time. It is natural to miss your child and worry how they are doing. We are always happy to take a phone call, and go and find your child in the classrooms and update you about how they appear to be feeling. There is no ‘One size fits all’ solution to settling in children. Each family has individual needs and we do try to support our families individually.

Ultimately, we would like children to feel happy with good well-being when they are in nursery as this is when children become settled and receptive to learning.

 

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

The theme this week is Nursery Rhymes

The children will be learning lots of nursery rhymes this week and they will share their knowledge by making nursery rhyme pages. As the children work they will be taught the words and actions to the song they have chosen. Each page will be collected up and made into a very special book for the children to bring home. This activity will support the children with our learning intention, to recognise rhythm in spoken words, songs, poems and rhymes, increasing phonological and phonemic awareness. Staff will observe and support the children as they make their nursery rhyme pages, focussing on pencil grip and control when making marks.

Our 7C’s learning intention this week if for the children to be able to participate and feel confident in following nursery rules and routines. We have been reminding the children of the school rules and praising the children as they remember that the rules are to keep them safe and help them learn.

 

C. School rules:

We encourage our pupils to be independent children. We introduce 5 simple rules very early on, which we use with all the children. We use positive words for our rules, to remind children what they should be doing.

*Walking feet – We say this to remind children that they should walk carefully inside. We have a long interior corridor, that links our classrooms. It is so tempting for the children to run along the corridor. Other children may exit from a classroom into the corridor and that is when we see a ‘Bump!’. We suggest to children that there is more space outside, including a track. If you want to run, choose to go outside!

*Looking eyes –We remind children to use their ‘Looking eyes’ when we gather for a story time and look at one big book together. We encourage children to look at the pictures and at the adult who is teaching. We teach the children to look this way, to encourage paying attention as they get older.

*Listening ears– Sometimes we need children to listen carefully, for example at going home time, when each child must listen for their name to be called out when we try to match adults to children at the front gate.  We also use the term ‘Listening ears’ if we are encouraging children to pay attention to what is being taught.

*Little voices–  We use this rule to reduce the volume in a workspace. Sometimes at lunchtime the background noise of children chatting together can become quite loud. We remind children to use Little voices so the staff do not have to raise their voices over the children. Children that become excited when taking part in an activity can become loud. Asking for ‘Little voices’ can calm the group.

*Kind hands– Small children who have few words will often use their hands to shove a friend, to make a space to sit on the bench at register time. Some children take part in rough and tumble play at home with family members, but we have to teach them that at school this rough play is not appropriate. We talk about using ‘Kind hands’ as we do not want one child to hurt another.

NURSERY NEWS

12^th January 2026 – Edition 395- First Newsletter of 2026

Find out About

A. Welcome back after the Christmas Break.

B. Change of Clothes Bag

C. School Term Dates

D. Labelling Belongings

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

 

A. Welcome back after the Christmas Break.

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas Break. 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. Change of Clothes Bag

Can you please ensure your child’s change bag has all necessary items we need in order to change your child if they wet or soil themselves.

There have been a number of children this week who have not had wet wipes in their change of clothes bag. It is important that all children have wet wipes in their bag, to enable staff to clean children who are wet or soiled.

Please get into a routine of checking your change of clothes bag on a daily basis to ensure it is fully stocked.

 

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.

We are a Local Authority School, and as such we follow the Local Authority term dates.

We have put Willow Nursery School dates for the 2025-2026 and the 2026-2027 academic year on our website willownursery.co.uk on the ‘Calendar’ tab.

 

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.

Two, three and four year olds are not yet reliable when it comes to hanging up their coats, hats and scarves. Our cloakrooms are scattered with children’s belongings by the middle of the session. We do our best to keep belongings with the correct child, but it would be incredibly helpful if parents could name items, especially coats, as this is a time when children often begin to wear heavier winter coats. We do not need fancy nametags, just consider putting your child’s name (or initials), in biro, on the manufacturers label.

 

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

The theme this week is Goldilocks and the Three Bears

In the Nursery this week the children will listen to the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. There will be a role play area set up for the children to explore and act out the story. They will have the chance to dress up, pretend to eat porridge, sit in the chairs and lie down in the three beds. This will give the children a wonderful opportunity to build their confidence as they join others in play and recite memorable lines from the book.

In the Creative area, children will be encouraged to paint portraits of the characters from this story. They can choose to use character templates or to free paint using colours and styles of their own choice.

There are lots of variations on this story and staff will talk to the children about different endings they may have read about. They will also discuss the language of size from the book and encourage the children to think about why the characters each have different sized objects. Staff will ask the children about their own opinions on issues in the story, for example ‘would you like it if somebody ate all your porridge?’. This is a lovely way to really inspire the children to think about the feelings of other people and how our actions impact upon them.

The youngest children will begin to explore the language of size, linked to the story ‘Goldilocks and the three bears’, comparing bowls, spoons, chairs and beds that are ‘Big’ or ‘Small’. Children will also be able to play with a small world house and appropriate characters to retell the Three Bears story.