Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
Nursery News – 20th April 2026
NURSERY NEWS
Monday 20th April 2026 – Edition 406
Find out About
A. Summer Term Challenges
B. Summer Term Opportunities
C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.
D. Allergen reminders.
E. Chickenpox in school: Update.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Summer Term Challenges
Summer is our busiest term at Willow Nursery School. Our numbers increase each term from September around to July and the school steadily fills. We have had thirteen new families joining us this term, bringing the total number of pupils using the school to 94 children.
This means that we have a lot of children to take in safely at the beginning of their session, matching them to the correct staff and room base. We also have to ensure children are matched to the correct carer at going home time.
So, to help us greatly, please be on time wherever possible. (We appreciate parents cannot be in two places at once if other siblings attend other schools.)
The staff collect their children in a particular order. Please, if you arrive a little late, be patient and a staff member will invite your child in when someone is available to take them to the correct classroom and mark them into the register. If you are a Little Nursery family, and the Big Nursery children are being admitted, please wait in the Little Nursery queuing area until the Big Nursery children have gone in. If Little Nursery families arrive late, all the Little Nursery Staff are already very busy working in Little Nursery, settling in the children.
Please help us to keep the queues moving steadily.
Please leave adequate space at the front gate for families to drop off and move away from the front gate.
We are trying very hard to release children at the end of the session promptly. These times of coming and going are called ‘transition times’, where we have to move children around the school. Transition times have to be carefully managed and it takes all the staff in school to manage these times safely. Some children are nervous of transition times, particularly new children. Some children become upset when it is time to go home. It may take us a few weeks to find a successful routine to escort the children out as efficiently as possible.
Please ensure all lunchboxes and drink bottles are named. It is difficult to find a child’s drinks bottle quickly when bottles are not named.
B. Summer Term Opportunities
The Summer term is when the school can use the inside and outside areas to their full potential. We try to move many of the inside activities outside. As the term goes on we offer painting and craft activities outside, and provide lots of water play. Mrs Patterson and Miss Gaffney have already been painting outside with the children, and Miss Gaffney has helped children to make huge cardboard butterfly wings decorated with different coloured pieces of cellophane. As the ‘butterflies’ were flying around, there was a feel of carnival outside! Sometimes a change in the environment can stimulate some exciting play.
C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.
We are at the point in the year when some families begin to take holidays. If you have a planned holiday during term time, please ask a member of staff for a holiday form. We ask that you fill in this very short form so that we can update attendance registers correctly.
Please can we also remind parents that if your child is absent for any other reason please telephone the school office and let us know. The school telephone does have an answering machine which is regularly monitored, so do please leave a message letting us know the reason for their absence and again we can update registers.
D. Allergen reminders.
When we induct new children to nursery we review all our information regarding all children’s allergens. Obviously we work very hard to ensure children eat only their own food provided for them in their lunchbox. We ask that parents do not provide any foods in lunchboxes containing nuts. Nuts are found in peanut butter, wafers, chocolate spread, chocolate crepes, cookies etc. The nature of these sticky nut spreads means that the allergen can be transferred from children’s hands to other surfaces, such as tables, chairs, doorknobs, toys etc and can then be touched by another child who may transfer it to their hand and then their mouth. This could lead to anaphylaxis.
E. Chickenpox in school: Update.
Last week we had 10 cases of chickenpox across the school. Our prediction is that it will continue to circulate for a few more weeks.
F. What are the children are learning about this week?
The theme this week is Handa’s surprise
This week the learning intention is for the children to be able to respond to both formal language used to describe shapes and common shape names. To support the children with this, the staff will be teaching about shapes using a variety of resources. There will be shape sorting and inset puzzles, magnetic shapes and picture boards, drawing opportunities and hammer and pin boards. Staff will model age appropriate language to teach the children about the shapes that we see in our everyday environment, there will be lots of opportunity for the children to practice their shape recognition as the week progresses and staff will encourage this by playing games, reading books and singing songs.
We will also be reading the story of Handa’s Surprise, which is a tale of a little girl that wants to give a fruit basket gift to her friend. She meets lots of animals on her journey and when she meets her friend, the fruit has been eaten and there is an entirely new surprise for Handa to give to her friend. The children will be encouraged to think about the similarities and differences between themselves and the characters from the book. They will pay attention to all the little details in the pictures and share what they have noticed.
Staff will share a Handa’s Surprise story sack with the children and encourage them to act out the roles of Handa, her friend and all of the animals from the story. This has always been a popular story at Willow and hopefully the children will enjoy retelling it to you at home.
Nursery News -13th April 2026
NURSERY NEWS
13th April 2026 – Edition 405
Find out About
A. Dates for the Summer Term 2026
B. For families of children leaving us in July 2026 (Big Nursery Blue, Orange 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. Dates for the Summer Term 2026
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.
Monday 13th April 2026, Summer Term begins.
Monday 4th May 2026. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.
Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May 2026, Half Term Week, School Closed (25th May is a Bank Holiday)
Monday 22nd June 2026 is a training day for staff. School Closed
Thursday 16th July 2026 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.
Friday 17th July 2026 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. For families of children leaving us in July 2026 (Big Nursery Blue, Orange 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 this week. 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 2026 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 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.
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, water, medicine and comfortable beds. Staff will model vocabulary to support the children and extend their play.
The learning intention this week is to learn how to catch and throw 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.
The learning intention from the 7 C’s is to be able to recognize small quantities without counting. We will be playing simple games where the children will try to estimate how many items are in front of them, without counting. This is a tricky objective to master so we will play lots of games to support this. We want children to be able to look quickly at groups of 1, 2 or 3 objects and accurately identify how many items there are without using their counting skills.
You can help your child to master this at home. Use small objects such as coins, buttons or Lego bricks. Hide 1,2 or 3 items in your hand and briefly open your hand to show your child. Then close your hand around the objects and ask your child ‘How many items did you see?’
Nursery News 23rd March 2026
NURSERY NEWS
23rd March 2026 – Edition 404
Find out About
A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13th 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 27th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13th April 2026 for the Summer term.
The last day of the Spring Term for all children is Friday 27th March. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School re-opens for the Summer Term on Monday 13th 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 16th March 2026
NURSERY NEWS
16th March 2026 – Edition 403
Find out About
A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Friday 27th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13th 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 27th March 2026. School Re-opens Monday 13th April 2026 for the Summer term.
The last day of the Spring Term for all children is Friday 27th March. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School re-opens for the Summer Term on Monday 13th 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 23rd 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 23rd 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 26th 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 9th March 2026
NURSERY NEWS
9th March 2026 – Edition 402
Find out About
A. A reminder: An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Orange Group Parents: Basic Skills, on Wednesday 11th 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 11th 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 1st 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 1st 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 31st 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 31st 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.
