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Nursery News 20th February 2023

NURSERY NEWS

20^th February 2023 – Edition 288

Find out About

A. Changes taking place to Breakfast and After School Club at Hadrian Academy that will impact upon Willow Nursery School pupils

B. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 2^nd March 2023 at 5pm

C. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills. Wednesday 8^th March. (Time to be confirmed in personal invitation.)

D What the children are learning about this week?

A. Changes taking place to Breakfast and After School Club at Hadrian Academy that will impact upon Willow Nursery School pupils.

There are some changes happening to the Before and After school club that operates from the Hadrian Academy school site.

In the past, the Before and After school club was open to pupils from Hadrian Academy, and Willow Nursery School pupils (once they were 3+ age).

The Principal of Hadrian Academy, Mr Ross Griffin, has written to me explaining that at the moment they have a waiting list on most days at their Breakfast and After School club meaning that they are turning away families.  Due to the space, they cannot increase their numbers beyond 45.

The changes they are introducing are as follows:

1) They are no longer accepting ‘new children’ from Willow Nursery School to attend the Hadrian Academy Before and After school provision. Children from Willow Nursery School who currently attend can continue to do so until the end of the Summer Term 2023.

2) From September 2023, Hadrian Academy will not be able to offer this provision to children at Willow Nursery School. The After school and Breakfast club from September will just be for children who attend Hadrian Academy.

Mr Griffin said it was a very difficult decision to make, but wanted me to pass this on to Willow families swiftly to give you as much notice as possible.

B. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories

Thursday 2^nd March 2023 at 5pm.

All Big Nursery children are invited to bring a parent along for a bedtime story at Willow Nursery School. 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. 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 8^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 2022, Yellow Group have Basic skills in the Summer Term 2023. Eventually all parents will be invited to observe Basic skills sessions when their child is being taught.

D. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is showing care and concern for the environment.

In Catkins Mrs. McGrath will be investigating in the garden and on the lookout for leaves on the ground. She will show the children how to paint the leaves collected in the garden, then push them onto paper creating leaf patterns. Whilst out in the garden, Mrs. McGrath will support the children to look high and low for lots of different creepy crawlies.

In room three, Miss Gaffney will use a range of resources to help the children make their own interpretations of a bird. The children will think of the anatomy of a bird when building their model. Miss Gaffney will discuss the importance of taking care of animals in the environment.

In the link, Mrs. Watson will have hedgehog templates ready for the children to decorate. She will ask all children to collect a handful of sticks from the garden, which will then be used as prickles for their hedgehog pictures.

Outside, Mrs. Brinkley will be bird watching. There will be binoculars for the children to use, but they must remember to take it in turns. We are very lucky and sometimes see a Red Kite fly near our setting and Mrs. Brinkley will point it out to any children if it makes an appearance.

The theme in Big Nursery is the fairytale story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’.

In room one, Miss Howe will set up the house of the Three Bears for the children to role play in and retell the story of Goldilocks. She will also be using compare bears to recreate patterns. Miss Howe will make some intentional mistakes when she recreates some patterns to see if the children can spot the mistakes. Mrs. Cashmore will make porridge with the children, using water and oats. All children will have the opportunity to make the porridge and then go for a walk in the Nursery garden whilst it cools down, just like in the story.

In room two, Mrs. Patterson will have the easels set up for the children to paint portraits of characters from the story of ‘Goldilocks’. She will urge the children to think about the colours and features of each character and use appropriate colours for each painting. Mrs. Patterson will also have dry porridge oats on the tuff tray for the children to explore in a sensory manner.

Outside, Miss Skai will be playing the ‘walk like a bear’ game. In this game the children have to think about the size of steps that each bear would take and walk like them e.g. small steps for Baby Bear, medium size for Mummy Bear and big steps for Daddy Bear. She will also have some numbered bear shapes set out for the children to practice threading and build on their fine motor skills.

Nursery News 6th February 2023

NURSERY NEWS

6th February 2023 – Edition 287

Find out About

A. Big Nursery Parent Consultations –A reminder.

B. February Half Term Holiday Monday 13th February 2023 to Friday 17th February

C. Visit from Batman!

D What the children are learning about this week?

A. Big Nursery Parent Consultations –A reminder.

Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 6th February 2023. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and be at the following times:

Miss Howe Monday 6th February between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

Mrs Cashmore Tuesday 7th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

Mrs Patterson Wednesday 8th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

Miss Skai Thursday 9th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

B.February Half Term Holiday Monday 13th February 2023 to Friday 17th February

A reminder that the school will be closed from Monday 13th February to Friday 17th February for the Spring Term Half term Break.

C. A Visit from Batman!

As the year rolls out, we have different themes that we work on with the children. We built a plan across the year to ensure our curriculum covers significant learning in all subject areas. We also look at exploring different ways of learning. Last week we had a really imaginative week looking at Princesses and Superheroes. The week was really successful. The children will have sensed a difference as to how they were challenged. Mrs Patterson set up a role play Superhero HQ in the garden. There were lots of capes and masks that the children could choose to wear. There were also ‘Mission Cards’ for Superheroes to help people solve problems. The amazing thing was it really became exciting, and it was fuelled by the children’s imagination. There were few props, but there was very high involvement, with lots of children moving about purposefully, solving issues.

Then on Thursday morning, something very exciting happened…. The children were all shouting that Batman was in the garden. Children were quickly grabbing their coats to go outside. I left my office to see what was going on, to find two of the oldest girls saying ‘It’s Ok, it’s just Mrs Patterson dressing up!”

By the time I got outside there was a crowd of children shouting to Batman. Mrs Patterson had surprised us all!

(She had not told any of the staff, so we were as equally surprised as the children!

D. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is The Gruffalo.

In Catkins, Mrs. Field will be reading The Gruffalo story to the children and she will encourage them to join in with the story. Mrs. Field will provide Gruffalo character masks for the children to decorate after their story and they can be used to support play throughout the week.

Miss Gaffney will be telling the story of the Gruffalo in room three. She will have images from the story for the children to cut, colour and sequence. Miss Gaffney will check how much of the story the children can remember and retell.

In the link, Mrs. Watson will be exploring different materials with the children as they create character collages. The children will show how creative they can be as they discover different textured and coloured material to fasten to their work.

Outside, Mrs. Brinkley will set up a table with puppets in order to allow the children to retell the Gruffalo story. She will model how to act out scenes from the book such as the animals talking to each other and meeting the Gruffalo.

The theme in big nursery is keeping healthy.

In room one, Miss Howe will discuss some key elements for staying healthy with the children. She will discuss healthy eating, getting enough sleep, oral health and daily exercise. Miss Howe will talk about the importance of a healthy balanced diet and will then offer the children some fruit or veg and explain that it is good to try new foods.

Mrs. Cashmore will be playing ‘what’s in the box?’ with the children. The aim of the game is for the children to guess what is in the box, using only their sense of touch and recalling what they have learnt about through the week. Hidden in the box will be a range of objects that help us lead a healthy lifestyle and Mrs. Cashmore will discuss all answers with the children.

In room two, Mrs. Patterson will be talking to the children about their emotions. She will encourage them to talk about what makes them happy, sad, excited and angry.

Children will then be encouraged to paint pictures expressing their emotions using a range of fine and gross motor movement as they work.

Outside, Miss Skai will set up an obstacle course for the children. She will show the children how to navigate the outdoor gym while emphasising the importance of staying safe. Miss Skai will encourage the children to take calculated risks as they move up and over equipment in different ways to complete the course.

Nursery News 30th January 2023

NURSERY NEWS
30th January 2023 – Edition 286

Find out About
A. Parent Consultations.
B. Keeping Warm
C. What the children are learning about this week?

A: Little Nursery Parent Consultations.-A reminder:
Little Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 30th
January 2023. These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and
be at the following times:
Mrs Brinkley Monday 30th January between 3:15pm and 4:15pm
Mrs Field. Tuesday 31st January 9:30am to 10:15am
Mrs Cashmore Tuesday 31st January 3:15pm to 4:00pm
Mrs Watson Wednesday 1st February 9:30am to 10:15am
Miss Gaffney Wednesday 1st February 3:15pm to 4:00pm
Mrs McGrath Thursday 2nd February 3:15pm to 4:00pm

B: Keeping Warm.
I spent some time playing with the children in the garden last week when the weather
was quite cold. Staff are fixed in their area of responsibility for the whole session, so
staff wrap up really warm knowing that they will be outside for most of the day. We
do monitor the children outside to ensure that they do not get too cold. We do
suggest that they go back inside if they have been outside for a while. However
some children just like to play outdoors! We always help children to wrap up warm,
helping them to put on scarves, hats and gloves, before going out.
We pop coat hoods up on children’s heads to help keep them
warm. A number of children do not have gloves or mittens.
They do make a huge difference when the children are
playing outside. They do not know what to look for, to
understand that their hands are really cold.
I know gloves and mittens can easily get lost. I would
recommend buying the cheapest ones you can find. Write
their name or initials on the manufacturers label, and we will
try to get them back to their correct owners. Mrs Watson
has a collection of gloves which she has placed on one of
the Little Nursery lunch trolleys. Have a look if one of your Child’s gloves has gone
missing.
Mittens are so much easier for children to put on than gloves. Even with good adult
help, children’s fingers will splay all over the place when you are trying to get their
gloves on. Have a practice at home together.

C. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme in Catkins is winter and ice.
In Catkins, the children will be using paint and Duplo bricks to
print block shapes onto paper and create paper igloos. Mrs.
Cashmore will explain to the children that igloos can be made
from blocks of compressed snow and would look similar to the
pictures we have made.
In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will be exploring shaving foam and ice
with the children. She will talk to the children about how these
materials feel and the changes that occur throughout the day. She will point out to
the children that the ice melts as the day progresses and the shaving foam changes
texture as it is handled.
In room three, Mrs. Watson will be carrying out a shared read of Brown Bear
focusing on different parts of the book. The children will read along using their own
books as Mrs. Watson points to the words and pictures.
Outside, Miss Gaffney will be building upon the children’s maths skills by subitising
images of snowflakes.( Subitising Definition: Instantly recognising the number of
objects in a small group, without counting.)The children will work towards
recognising numerals 1-3. Miss Gaffney will also be building dens with the children
and promoting team building.
The theme in big nursery is super heroes and princesses.
In room one, Miss Skai will be making paper plate crowns
with the children, which they can decorate using different
shapes. Miss Skai will discuss the different shapes that the
children choose to use and model mathematical language as
needed. She will also ask the children to help her arrange
some superheroes in height order, starting with the tallest
and finishing with the shortest.
In room two, Miss Howe will read the story of Supertato to
the children, she will then encourage them to use one handed tools and develop
their own ideas to make their own version of ‘Supertato’. As they work, Miss Howe
will talk to the children about any super powers their ‘Supertato’ might have and why.
Mrs. Cashmore will focus on literacy; she will provide super hero themed writing
templates for the children to practice copying the names of their chosen
superheroes. The children will use wipe clean boards and pens to practice letter
formation, they do not have to copy down these names and can choose to write their
own name if they would like.
Outside, Mrs. Patterson will be building a superheroes headquarters with the
children. She will follow the lead of the children in creating this space and change it
as necessary. Mrs. Patterson will support the children by providing different
resources or making suggestions on how to build their headquarters. She will also
arrange for the little heroes to have a selection of capes and help them to make and
decorate their own hero cuffs.

Nursery News 23rd January 2023

NURSERY NEWS

23rd January 2023 – Edition 285

Find out About

A. Parent Consultations for Big Nursery.

B. Mrs Evans, Finance Officer, Leaving the end of this week.

C. Nappies or Pants… Not Pull Ups.

D. Request for Tissues

E. NEU strike dates.

F What the children are learning about this week?

A. Parent Consultations for Big Nursery.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Big Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 6^th February 2023. 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 Howe Monday 6^th February between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

Mrs Cashmore Tuesday 7^th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

Mrs Patterson Wednesday 8th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

Miss Skai Thursday 9^th February 3:15pm to 4:15pm

B: Mrs Evans, Finance Officer, Leaving the end of this week.

Mrs Evans, our Finance Officer, will be leaving at the end of this week.  She has been a very effective part of our team since 2016. She is moving on, to a full time year round position now her children are a little older.  Mrs Evans has done a superb job during her time with us. Technically, she is a whizz, smoothly managing administration processes in the office. Her interpersonal skills are outstanding, liaising with parents and staff accurately and always with a smile. She always finds time to talk with our pupils and is interested in what they have to say.  Mrs Evans will still be around from time to time, I’m pleased to say, to help us with transitioning information to our new Finance Officer.

On that note, I am pleased to report that we have had three very good applicants for the Finance Officer position. We have already interviewed two applicants, we have one final interview to conduct this week.

I will update you, through the newsletter, when we appoint our new Finance Officer.

In the meantime, please be kind to myself, Leigh Davies, Headteacher, and Mrs Selth, our part time Office Administrator, when we try to offer assistance to parents during this handover period. There may be periods when staff are not available to answer the phone, but please, in that situation, leave an answerphone message, we will get back to you.

C. Nappies or Pants… Not Pull Ups.

The Little Nursery Staff have been talking to me about the number of children attending nursery in Pull Ups. As a staff we are very happy to support children at whatever stage of toilet training they are in.

We would ask that parents put their children in Nappies or pants/knickers for Nursery due to the volume of children that require changing in any one session.

Changing a nappy can be done without removing all of a child’s clothing from the waist down.

A child in a pull up will need to have all their clothing removed from the waist down including shoes, in order to put a new pull up on.

When you feel ready to toilet train your child we would ask that you put children in pants/knickers. We can then see if a child is wet, and change them immediately.

At Nappy time, a member of staff may have to routinely change 8 children. A member of staff can be held up for 30 minutes if they have to change 8 pull ups. The same staff who are changing Nappies are the ones playing with, teaching, and playing with your child. I would prefer staff to be having quality interactions you’re your children, rather than changing pull ups for extended periods.

D: Request for Tissues

We are running very short of tissues for use in the classroom. Please help us by donating a box of tissues.

Little children are mostly unable to manage their runny noses, so it is important to staff to have tissues available in each teaching area to enable staff to react promptly and keep children clean.

We do encourage children to wipe their own noses, to be as independent as possible. Good availability of tissues in numerous places around the building helps children too.

E. NEU strike dates.

The National Education Union has balloted its members and they are preparing to strike nationally.

I am a member of the NEU, but I am not planning to strike.

At this time I would like to share with you the planned strike days for schools in our geographical area: the eastern region.

1^st February 2023

1^st March 2023

15^th and 16^th March 2023.

Willow has three Qualified Teachers Myself (Mrs Davies), Miss Howe and Mrs Cashmore. Teachers do not have to tell me if they plan to strike. However, I believe the teachers here do not plan to strike at the moment. I will do my utmost to keep the school open on strike days.

However:

• Many Willow staff are parents of school age children. If local schools close we may have childcare issues for our own children.
• The majority of staff at Willow are teaching assistants. If their union were to strike, the school is much more likely to be affected.

F. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is farm animals.

In Catkins, the children will be making sheep pictures with Mrs. McGrath. There will be templates for the children to decorate with cotton wool and they will also add legs to finish their artwork. Mrs. McGrath will talk to the children about the texture of the wool and about where they might see some real sheep.

In room three, Mrs. Watson will be supporting the children with using one handed tools. She will have cardboard cow templates and lots of wool for the children to wrap around them. Mrs. Watson will model simple descriptive language for the children to help build their vocabulary.

In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will have lots of paint available for the children to explore colour and colour mixing. They will have the chance to use a variety of tools to paint with, including cotton buds and paint brushes. Mrs. Brinkley will prompt discussions about what happens when the paints are mixed together.

Outside, Miss Gaffney will use wooden blocks to create a farm. She will provide animal hats and tabards for the children to use. They will be encouraged to work as a team and focus on resolving any conflicts that may arise when playing and building together.

The theme in big nursery is people who help us – doctors.

In room one, Miss Skai will have a hospital role play for the children to use. She will provide doctors and nurses uniforms, medicine bags, and medical equipment. There will be a bed for the patients to lie down when they need medical attention and pencils and paper for the children to make notes on.

In room two, Miss Howe will be explaining the uses of different medical equipment to the children as she supports them in making their very own medical bags. Children will have images of medical equipment to cut and stick into their bags, which can then be carried around the school and incorporated into their play.

Mrs. Cashmore will be talking to the children about the optician and why it is important that we must visit them to check that our eyes are healthy. She will provide a Snellen Eye Chart to show the children what they may see in a visit to the optician and then they will be encouraged to try and make their own version of this, writing as many letters as they can.

Mrs. Patterson will be working outside and teaching the children about Chinese New Year. She will talk about Chinese culture and how at Chinese New Year it is traditional to celebration this by taking part in a dragon dance. This involves dancing with a giant dragon head and is very exciting for the children to explore.

Nursery News 16th January 2023

NURSERY NEWS

16^th January 2023 – Edition 284

Find out About

A. Volunteers in school.

B. Parent Consultations.

C. Request for Box Modelling Materials.

D What the children are learning about this week?

A. Volunteers in school.

Back in October we asked if any parents or carers would be interested in helping in school as volunteers. I am so pleased to say that we have had eight people step forward to offer their help. We complete safeguarding checks and all volunteers are DBS checked (Disclosure and Barring Service). This process takes a few weeks, but you will now see people beginning to help throughout the week. We do try to partner each volunteer with a member of staff, so that relationships can be built and staff can plan activities that volunteers might enjoy taking part in or leading.

This additional help is very gratefully received. Extra adults around, having time to talk with children, makes a huge difference to each individual child’s experience in Nursery. I have heard children in the Library area having lovely discussions with one of our volunteers who is one of our pupils’ Granny. After she left the children were all very keen to know when she would be in again!

Time is very precious to everyone. We really appreciate those adults who are offering their time to support everyone’s children in nursery. Additional adults mean we can offer more activities, or bigger activities for the children. We are a small team and it is lovely to have new faces around.

B: Parent Consultations.

We aim to hold Parent Consultations every term. Little Nursery Consultations will be taking place during the week beginning 30^th January 2023. 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 30^th January between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

Mrs Field. Tuesday 31^st January 9:30am to 10:15am

Mrs Cashmore Tuesday 31^st January 3:15pm to 4:00pm

Mrs Watson Wednesday 1^st February 9:30am to 10:15am

Miss Gaffney Wednesday 1^st February 3:15pm to 4:00pm

Mrs McGrath Thursday 2^nd February 3:15pm to 4:00pm

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

C: Request for Box Modelling Materials.

We are running very short of recycled materials for our box modelling area. We would be very grateful for recycled materials that the children can use to create models.  Children love boxes, but not too big please. The biggest boxes we can store are cereal boxes. Tiny boxes are useful, or unusual shapes.  Plastic bottle tops make good buttons and wheels. Yogurt pots, butter tubs and other plastic containers are interesting to glue together, but please ensure they are clean. Toilet roll tubes become superhero cuffs, covered in foil. Egg boxes are great places to glue coloured tissue.

D. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is the shoe shop

In room three, Mrs. Brinkley will be teaching the children the rules of the school and helping them to settle in to their new environment. She will make sure that they feel safe, happy and have lots of exciting toys to play with.

In the link there will be a role play area for the children to pretend they are in a shoe shop. Miss Gaffney will have a range of footwear for the children to try on and ‘buy’ using pretend money. There will be tills, baskets and shopping bags to support the children’s play.

In Catkins, Mrs. Field will be measuring the children’s feet and then painting them to make footprint pictures. She will show the children the marks that they have made by covering their feet in paint and pushing them down onto paper.

Outside, Mrs. Watson will be helping the children to draw around their own feet and looking at their shoe sizes. Mrs Watson will talk about the numbers inside the children’s shoes and that shoes usually come in pairs, encouraging the children to count all the shoes that they can see.

The theme in big nursery is people who help us: police and fire

In room one, Mrs. Patterson will set up a police station role play area as well as a fire truck for the children to play in. She will supply outfits and accessories to support the children’s role play and encourage everyone to use these items fairly by taking turns.

In room two, Miss Skai will model how to make police badges. Children will be shown how to use a range of materials to make their badges which can then be used throughout the school to continue the theme of police and fire role play.

Outside, Miss Howe will be playing the traffic light game, she will have red, green and amber colours to show the children and explain what each colour means. When Miss Howe holds up a green colour, the children should move and when she holds up a red colour, they should stop.

Mrs. Cashmore will be playing a fire themed bowling game with the children, each pin will have a fire picture on and the ball should be used to put the fire out. Children will watch as Mrs. Cashmore models how to aim and roll the ball towards the skittles.