Nursery News 22nd April 2025

NURSERY NEWS

22^nd 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 22^nd April 2025, Summer Term begins.

Monday 5^th May 2025. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.

Monday 26^th May to Friday 30^th May 2025, Half Term Week, School Closed                                              (26^th May is a Bank Holiday)

Monday 7^th July 2025 is a training day for staff. School Closed

Monday 21^st July 2025 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.

Tuesday 22^nd 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

31^st  March 2025 – Edition 367

Find out About

A. A reminder Last day of Spring Term Friday 4^th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22^nd 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 4^th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22^nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.

The last day of term for all children is Friday 4^th April. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School reopens for the Summer Term on Tuesday 22^nd April. Our next Newsletter will be published on Tuesday 22^nd 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

24^th March 2025 – Edition 366

Find out About

A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 4^th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22^nd 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 4^th April. School Re-opens on Tuesday 22^nd April 2025 for the Summer Term.

The last day of term for all children is Friday 4^th April. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School reopens for the Summer Term on Tuesday 22^nd 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

17^th 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 31^st March 2025, to be able to be used for the Summer Term. Please speak to us by Wednesday 19^th 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.

 

NURSERY NEWS

10^th March 2025 – Edition 364

Find out About

A. A reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills, on Wednesday 12^th March.

B. Bedtime Stories: A well-attended event.

C. Fees Increase from April 2025

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 are learning about this week?

 

A. A reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills, on Wednesday 12^th March.

Miss Skai teaches Big Nursery Red 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 15 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.

Mrs Patterson 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.

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 2025

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. Last year 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 £7.88 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 £5.38 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 2025 will be: £16.14 for a three hour session for 3+ aged child, and £23.64 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 2025 if they wish to have 30 hours funding for the summer term 2025.  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- the 15 hour Offer 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

3^rd March 2025 – Edition 363

Find out About

A. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 6^th March 2025 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 6^th March 2025 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 Green Red and Yellow Group, those who will leave Willow in July 2025.) 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 fruit, tissues, bringing in boxes for our box modelling area or volunteering their time and helping out in the classrooms. 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 be listening to the story of The Tiger Who Came to Tea, written by Judith Kerr. They will have lots of opportunities to retell the story in many different ways.

The children will have a comprehensive role play area set out where they can explore Sophie’s house and also a café. The children will dress up as the different characters and act as they might in the story. Children will play alongside each other as they re-enact the narrative that is becoming so familiar to them. There will be pretend food for the children to order from the café, just like Sophie and her family did in the book. Children will be offered the chance to make and eat their own sandwiches in the café.

We will be encouraging everyone to pay close attention to their environment this week and to discuss what they can see. We will be promoting conversations about the natural environment including animals and insects that we can see and flowers that may be starting to bloom.

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

24^th February 2025 – Edition 362

Find out About

A. An Apology, regarding Parent Consultations week beginning 10^th February 2025.

B. Parent Consultations. A reminder….

C. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills.

D. What are the children learning about this week?

E. Phonics program starts this week!

 

A. An Apology, regarding Parent Consultations week beginning 10^th February 2025.

I made a mistake in my last newsletter, I wrote that it was Big Nursery Consultations, then listed the Little Nursery Staff dates and times. I know this caused some Big Nursery parents to think that they had missed their consultation. I am very sorry for the mix up I caused. Big Nursery Consultations are this week, please see below.

 

B: Parent Consultations. A reminder…

Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during this week, week beginning 24^th February 2025. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and be at the following times:

Miss Skai Monday 24^th February between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Mrs Patterson Monday 24^th February between 3:15pm and 3:50pm

Miss Howe Thursday 27^th February between 3:15pm and 4:10pm

Miss Cashmore Thursday 27^th February between 3:15pm and 4:20pm

 

C. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills.

Miss Skai teaches Big Nursery Red 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 Red group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 12^th March. A further invitation letter will follow to Red Group parents so that we can match up time slots, so parents can join their child’s small group. Green Group had their Basic Skills groups in the Autumn Term 2024, Yellow Group have Basic skills in the Summer Term 2025. Eventually all parents will be invited to observe Basic skills sessions when their child is being taught.

 

D. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is Police and Fire.

This week the children will learn all about fire fighters and police officers. The staff will teach the children how important these people are and how these people help us.

To follow up on their learning, the children will have lots of fun role play activities to take part in. There will be a fire station and a police station set up in different areas for the children to investigate, there will also be a police van to support their play. Lots of relevant vocabulary will be used during play to support the children’s learning. For the younger children, there will be opportunities for the children to explore the theme in simpler ways, including; dressing up, completing puzzles and creating art work.

 

Weather permitting, staff are hoping to be able to show our children about the importance of fire safety and what we should do in the event of a fire. This will be done by staff creating a safe space to set a small controlled fire. Staff will ensure that there is a restricted area to set up a small fire and they will use this to discuss how fires are created and safely put out. Staff will emphasise the importance of staying at a safe distance from the fire, they will also explain that if ever we see a fire, we should call the fire brigade for help. This will take place in a well organised environment and safety is of the upmost importance to us, if we feel that this event may become unsafe, we will decide to cancel this activity. There are many other activities happening throughout the school to teach the children about the roles of the fire and police services.

 

 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

10^th February 2025 – Edition 361

Find out About

A. Parent Consultations. A reminder…

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

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

D. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A: Parent Consultations. A reminder…..

Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during this week, week beginning 10^th February 2025. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and be at the following times:

Mrs Cashmore Monday 10^th February between 3:15pm and 3:35pm

Mrs Brinkley Monday 10^th February between 3:15pm and 3:50pm

Miss Gaffney Tuesday 11^th February between 3:15pm and 4:30pm

Miss Tyler Tuesday 11^th February between 3:15pm and 4:05pm

 

B. 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 Green Red and Yellow group, those who will leave Willow in July 2025.)

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.

 

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

We are approaching our February Half Term Holiday. The school will be closed from Monday 17^th February 2025 to Friday 21st February 2025

 

 

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

The theme this week is Chicken Licken

This week the children will be learning the story of Chicken Licken and his friends, and how they go on an adventure to tell the King that the sky is falling. The children will have the story read to them throughout the week and they will be encouraged to retell it in different ways.

 

Children will have the opportunity to make hats based on their favourite character from the story, play the ‘Lucky Ducky’ game and use the magnetic story board to sequence story. Children will be learning the names of all the characters and staff will point out that the names all have rhymes in them, they will work on learning other words that rhyme, including nonsense words.

There will be lots of conversation starters in each room to promote the children’s language skills, staff will encourage the children to think about the characters from the story and whether they are kind and trustworthy, or sneaky and not to be trusted.

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

3rd February 2025 – Edition 360

Find out About

A.Parent Consultations.

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

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

 

A: Parent Consultations.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 24^th February 2025. 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:

Miss Skai Monday 24^th February between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Mrs Patterson Monday 24^th February between 3:15pm and 3:50pm

Miss Howe Thursday 27^th  February between 3:15pm and 4:10pm

Miss Cashmore Thursday 27^th February between 3:15pm and 4:20pm

 

B. 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. In light of the new 30 hours funding for working families (from the age of 9 months), we have looked closely at our admissions policy.

In the past, most families chose to take maybe one or two sessions in our two year old class. In most cases we were able to offer spaces to all those children who wanted one.

The financial changes that have been implemented by the Government means demand has grown for our nursery. We have been working towards enrolment and attendance patterns that work for families.

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.                                                      3+ intake is at the beginning of the term after a child turns 3.                                               This means we are enrolling two different groups of children every term.

Many of our families are working families. Almost everyone who attends Little Nursery at the moment are from working funded families. Individual children are filling 15 or 30 hours per week. Less children are filling more spaces.

So, we ask that if you have younger children, get them on to our contact list as soon as possible. In every termly intake, we work down the contact list and make offers to families. So, for example, the current 2+ intake we have been working on for April 2025:

We had 5 full time spaces to offer. So this could be 5 children attending for 30 hours, or 10 children attending for 15 hours, or a mixture of both so we could accommodate somewhere between 5 and 10 children. We had 11 children on our contact list of the age to be considered for one of these spaces. We start with the first person on our contact list who has been on the list the longest. This parent added their child’s name at the age of 4 months! This parent chose how many hours they wanted, and accepted the place. We then work down the list. Sometimes choices of attendance pattern become limited the further you are down the contact list. Child number 11 on the list had their name added one week ago. They were offered a space and accepted it.

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

 

C. What are the children are 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 then be encouraged to get involved in the variety of learning opportunities on offer to retell the story in their own style.

There will be a variety of resources available for the children to use for retelling the story and this will help to build the children’s recall. Outside, the children will have the chance to explore the different houses of the Three Little Pigs. Staff will set up a house made of straw, one made of sticks and another made of bricks. The children will be asked if they would like to make a Pig or Wolf hat in Room 2. Once constructed, they can be worn in the ‘Three Little Pigs’ role play area in the garden, to represent their chosen character.

As a School, we will be focussing 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. The smaller children will focus on this by creating textured artwork relating to the story. They will use forks for painting, bricks for stamping and pencils for mark making. All of these tools will improve the children’s ability to manipulate tools and materials, using fine and gross motor skills.

The skill we will be working towards this week is ‘Riding a Bike’. The children will learn how to take it in turns riding the two and three wheeler bikes. They will learn how to wait patiently for their turn, but also, that eventually they will have to give up their bike to a friend, to enable everyone to have a turn. This is a very practical way that children learn to be fair, to take turns and share. We outline the importance of riding our bikes on the roadway, and remind children not to ride too fast as they need to look out for the safety of other children. It is important that we learn how to ride safely to minimise accidents whilst playing.

 

 

NURSERY NEWS

27^th  January 2025 – Edition 359

Find out About

A. Parent Consultations.

B. Mrs McGrath is now on Maternity Leave.

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

D Willow Lending Library.

 

A: Parent Consultations.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Little Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 10^th February 2025. Parent Consultations are not compulsory, but if you would like an appointment please arrange this with your child’s keyworker when they are outside before sessions begin. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and be at the following times:

Mrs Cashmore Monday 10^th February between 3:15pm and 3:35pm

Mrs Brinkley Monday 10^th February between 3:15pm and 3:50pm

Miss Gaffney Tuesday 11^th February between 3:15pm and 4:30pm

Miss Tyler Tuesday 11^th February between 3:15pm and 4:05pm

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

 

B.Mrs McGrath is now on Maternity Leave.

Mrs McGrath is now on Maternity Leave. She has just a few weeks before baby is due.

We are very lucky to have Miss Allen on our staff, who currently works part time. She will be increasing her hours, to enable her to step in and look after Mrs McGrath’s Little Nursery Yellow Group children.

 

So whilst Miss Allen is not new to us, she will be a new Keyworker for some parents to get to know. Mrs McGrath plans to return in November.

 

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

The theme this week is The Three Billy Goats Gruff

The children will have the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff read to them in school and there will be lots of learning and activities based on the book.

Children will be able to act out and retell the story. There will be a wobbly bridge outside for the children to ‘trip trap’ across, pretending to be a Billy goat and they can take it in turns to be the angry troll. They can act out each character’s role and use repeated refrains such as ‘who’s that trip trapping over my bridge?’

There will be small world scenes set up for the children to get to know the story and the characters, they can use their imagination to extend their play and invite others to join them. For the children that want to explore the story in different forms, we have activities on the screen and also a magnetic board.

This week, the children will also be learning how to use tools safely and beginning to understand the concept of size, mass and capacity. They will work towards finding out which items are heavier/lighter, longer/shorter and more/ less. There are many ways to explore these concepts and we will have resources in each area to support this.

 

On Wednesday 29^th January, it is Chinese New Year. We will be teaching the children about Chinese New Year and that this is the year of the snake. We have a very big Chinese dragon costume that the children can use to dress up in and dance around the playground.

 

 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.