Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
Nursery News 11th November 2024
NURSERY NEWS
11th November 2024 – Edition 351
Find out About:
A. Walk in the Dark event THIS WEEK
B. BBC Children in Need.
C. Wipes and Nappy Sacks
D. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Green Group Parents: Basic Skills.
E. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Walk in the Dark event THIS WEEK.
Miss Howe is organising a ‘Walk in the Dark’, an activity for children and their parents to attend together, after school, on Thursday 14th November at 5:00pm. Children will need to arrive, wrapped up warmly, ready to search the Nursery Garden for hidden soft toy animals. Children will need to bring a torch, because the garden is very dark in places! Brothers and sisters are very welcome too.
We will provide refreshments for everyone who attends. (Free of charge). We plan to offer hot dogs/ cheese rolls, biscuits and squash.
If you plan to come, please send an email to Mrs Selth cselth@willownursery.co.uk entitled ‘Walk in the dark’ detailing your child’s name and how many adults and children will be coming, so we can buy enough food….
We find this is a very enjoyable event for the children, and for all the adults. It is a simple idea, but the children never usually see their school or garden in the dark.
B. BBC Children in Need.
Friday 15th November is Children in Need. As in previous years, we will collect money in Charity buckets, should anyone wish to donate.
C. Wipes and Nappy Sacks
Please remember to put a pack of wet wipes and nappy sacks in your child’s change of clothes bag.
Nappy sacks are important, so that we have somewhere to place your child’s wet clothes to send them home. School is busy. Nappy sacks are not just used for toileting ‘slips’. Clothes become wet or messy through fun nursery activities or can become wet or muddy due to the weather conditions in the school garden.
If we are unable to find a child’s nappy sacks or wet wipes inside a child’s change of clothes bag, we will place a reminder note inside the bag to remind parents to include some.
The Local Council is pushing childcare settings to charge parents for consumable items such as nappy sacks and wet wipes. I am resisting this, as I feel free childcare should be just that – ‘Free’ . However this means parents must help us by providing these consumable items for their own child.
D. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Green Group Parents: Basic Skills.
Mrs Patterson teaches Big Nursery Green 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 Mrs Patterson’s Green Group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 20th November.
A further invitation letter will follow to Green Group parents so that we can match up time slots, so parents can join their child’s small group.
Big Nursery Red Group will have their Basic Skills groups in the Spring Term 2025 and Big Nursery Yellow Group will have their Basic Skills groups in the Summer Term 2025.
E. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?’, which is one of our core books, and we will be focusing on reading skills.
Children will have the opportunity to read this story in the classroom, it will be offered to them as part of a group read. When we share ‘group reads’ it means that staff sit with a small group of three or four children, and we look through books together. We will make sure the children follow the pace of the book at the same time, turning pages and looking at the words and pictures on each page as a group. Our core book will also be available for children in the library, for those that want to sit quietly and enjoy the book at their own pace.
The children will learn about all of the animals and colours from the story as they hunt for story characters hidden around the garden. Once children find an animal character, they will be reminded of the story and asked to share what they can remember. Staff will model lots of descriptive words when they talk to the children about the characters and prompt children to do the same.
One of our learning intentions this week is to learn ways to be kind and caring towards others. This can involve reminders to use kind hands, share resources and be considerate of the feelings of others. It is important to us, that our students treat each other with kindness and respect at all times.
Nursery News 4th November 2024
NURSERY NEWS
4th November 2024 – Edition 350
Find out About:
A. School Photographer visiting.
B. Parent Consultations, Big Nursery this week.
C. Walk in the Dark.
D. Volunteering as a Parent Helper in Nursery
E. BBC Children in Need.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
A. School Photographer visiting.
A little reminder that a school photographer will be here on Wednesday 6th November and Thursday 7th November.
B. Parent Consultations, Big Nursery this week.
Big Nursery will be having their Parent Consultations this week! Parents have made appointments with Keyworkers, here are the times staff will be speaking to parents on the phone, as a reminder:
Tuesday 5th November Miss Skai’s Red Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:00pm
Tuesday 5th November Miss Howe’s Yellow Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Patterson’s Blue Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Cashmore’s Yellow Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Each appointment lasts only five minutes. Please help staff to remain on time.
C. Walk in the Dark.
Miss Howe is organising a ‘Walk in the dark’, an activity for children and their parents to attend together, after school, on Thursday 14th November at 5:00pm. Children will need to arrive, wrapped up warmly, ready to search the Nursery Garden for hidden soft toy animals. Children will need to bring a torch, because the garden is very dark in places! We will provide refreshments for everyone who attends. Brothers and sisters are very welcome too. If you plan to come, please send an email to Mrs Selth cselth@willownursery.co.uk entitled ‘Walk in the dark’ detailing your child’s name and how many adults and children will be coming, so we can buy enough food….
D. Volunteering as a Parent Helper in Nursery
At this time of year, we ask if any parents are interested in volunteering their time to be a parent helper in school.
Becoming a parent helper isn’t possible for all parents. We know a number of you are working parents and so are very busy. A good number of parents have younger children to look after too, so are unable to commit to help.
However, we, as a school really value the help if parents can contribute their time.
We find help most useful when parents can make a regular commitment each week to help out for a morning or afternoon session. Some parents offer a few hours of their time every week, some parents offer time every other week. If you become a regular parent helper we allocate you to one of our staff members who you will work with each time you come in. In this way staff can plan activities for you to become involved with, from arts and crafts, -little ‘makes’, which children love, to playing table top maths or language games, exploring construction toys, playing in the sand or water trays with the children.
Adult time can make a huge difference to a child’s education. Our staff’s first priority is to maintain safe and stimulating environments. At the beginning of the school year it is very difficult for them to focus on sustained interactions with small groups of children at the activities I have outlined above. Staff really appreciate the help of Parent Volunteers as it means we can offer wider Adult led or Adult supported opportunities in each play space.
So what can the volunteering opportunity offer you?
- We are a friendly team. You might like to come and spend a few hours working with other adults.
- Come in to school, and find out what your child experiences day to day.
- Maybe take your first steps towards being an Early Years Practitioner. See how rewarding the job really is!
- Spend some time with our wonderful pupils. They just love to chat with new adults and share what they have been doing.
Please do not feel you are too shy, or that perhaps your English Language skills are not strong. We would encourage you to come forward and give it a try.
If you think you might be interested please mention this to your child’s keyworker, or to any of the staff.
Miss Gaffney is our Parent Volunteer co-ordinator. She will then get in touch with you and invite you to a meeting with other interested parents.
E. BBC Children in Need.
Friday 15th November is Children in Need. Parents often ask us what we are doing for Children in Need. –So as in previous years, we will collect money in Charity buckets, should anyone wish to donate. We do organise activities with a Pudsey Bear theme, and we try to share with the children that we are fundraising to help other children. Sometimes the Nursery children want to dress up because they see their older brothers and sisters dressing up for their school’s event. We are happy for children to dress up, or not to dress up. We do not wish any family to feel under pressure.
F. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is Festivals and Autumn.
The children will be sharing experiences that they may have had over the half term holidays including celebrating Diwali and bonfire/fireworks night.
This year Diwali is being celebrated on October 31st, which falls during half term. Diwali is the Hindu festival of light, which lasts for five days. When the children return to school, those that have celebrated will be able to draw upon their own experiences and share them with others. Children will be taught the story of Rama and Sita, decorate Rangoli patterns and look at some Diwali artefacts that we display to support their learning.
Children return to school on the 5th of November, which is bonfire night. Many children may have celebrated bonfire night with their families or by attending an organised display. Staff will share their own experiences of this celebration with the children and prompt them to share their personal stories. We will use vocabulary that describes the sights and sounds that the children may have seen over the half term holiday, and discuss the colours of all the lights and fireworks.
In our creative areas, children have the chance to take part in junk modelling, we have noticed that our box modelling resources have become very low. We would like to take this opportunity to ask that parents donate recyclable materials for us to restock this area. We would gratefully accept small and medium boxes, such as toothpaste boxes and cereal boxes, as well as toilet roll tubes and egg cartons. These provide so many creative opportunities for the children and develop their imaginations. Thank you for your support!
Nursery News 21st October 2024
NURSERY NEWS
21st October 2024 – Edition 349
Find out About:
A. Important dates, a reminder.
B. Update: Parent School Governor.
C. Parent Consultations
D. Pumpkin Patch
E. Hand, foot and mouth disease. What to look out for:
F. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Important dates, a reminder.
Mon 28th October 2024 to Fri 1st November 2024: Autumn Half term – School Closed
Mon 4th November –Teacher training day- School Closed.
Wednesday 6th November and Thursday 7th November-School Photographer to visit.
B. Update: Parent School Governor.
Two parents approached me to volunteer to be a parent governor. We now have a full governing body! Thank you!
C. Parent Consultations
Little Nursery will be having their Parent Consultations this week! Parents have made appointments with Keyworkers, here are the times staff will be speaking to parents on the phone, as a reminder:
Monday 21st October Mrs Brinkley’s Orange Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 3:55pm
Tuesday 22nd October Miss Gaffney’s Blue Group Consultations, between 3:15pm and 4:20pm
Wednesday 23rd October Mrs Cashmore’s Little Yellow Group Consultations between 1:00pm and 1:25pm
Thursday 24th October Mrs McGrath’s Little Yellow Groups Consultations, between 3:15pm and 3:35pm
Each appointment lasts only five minutes. Please help staff to remain on time.
D. Pumpkin Patch
The children have had so much fun with the pumpkins that parents have donated. They have enjoyed moving them in wheelbarrows and rolling them around the garden. Mrs Patterson carefully cut the top off of a big pumpkin and left it in the mud kitchen for children to investigate. They had their hands and arms fully in it, scooping out the seeds and the flesh. Another popular activity is where we provide golf tees and little hammers so children can hammer the golf tees into the pumpkin.
The children transported the pumpkins into the big sandpit then used them as building brick to build a ‘Pumpkin Castle’, packing sand around the piled up pumpkins to build walls.
Children decorated the biggest pumpkins with chalk, so this week we will wash them and have a go at painting them.
E. Hand, foot and mouth disease. What to look out for:
We have had a number of cases of ‘Hand, foot and mouth disease’ in Little Nursery. It is a very common viral illness in childhood.
It is generally a mild illness. In rare cases it can be more severe.
I have included some information below from the East of England Health Protection Team regarding this illness:
The individual may develop a fever, reduced appetite and generally feel unwell. One or 2 days later a rash may develop with blisters, on hands, feet, insides of their cheeks, gums and on the sides of the tongue. Not all cases have symptoms. The incubation period is 3 to 5 days. Persons affected are most infectious during the first week of the illness.
The illness is usually mild and clears up by itself in 7 to 10 days.
If the individual develops the rare additional symptoms of high fever, headache, stiff neck, back pain, or other complications then they should seek prompt medical advice.
Spread is caused by direct contact with the secretions of the infected person (including faeces) or by aerosol spread such as coughing and sneezing. Younger children are more at risk because they tend to play closely with their peers.
Advice from the Health Protection Team is:
If a child has a temperature they should stay at home.
Children with hand foot and mouth disease may attend the Nursery if they feel well.
We are encouraging more frequent hand washing. We are encouraging the frequent use of tissues to keep noses clean.
I am hopeful that the half term break may stop the spread through the school
F. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is keeping healthy.
Staff will teach the children about the importance of keeping healthy by exercising and eating well. There will be some activities focused on dental hygiene, which will involve showing the children how to brush their teeth correctly, for how long and how often. They will learn all about visiting the dentist and how they help us to look after our teeth. Looking after our teeth and staying healthy both link to eating well, and staff will use resources to teach the children about balancing their diet and keeping snacks as a treat item, only to be had every so often.
The children will learn value of exercise and rest. As they work and play, staff will talk to the children of the effects exercise has on their bodies. They will encourage the children to pay attention to how fast their hearts beat after exercise and the importance of staying hydrated.
We will also be focusing on scissor skills. The children will learn how to use scissors safely and effectively. We will be providing lots of cutting opportunities to upskill our children and encourage them to cut appropriate materials such as paper, card and boxes in the creative areas. Scissor skills are tricky to master so we aim to provide as much practice as possible.
Nursery News 14th October 2024
NURSERY NEWS
14th October 2024 – Edition 348
Find out About:
A. Would you be interested in becoming a School Governor?
B. Parent Consultations
C. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Would you be interested in becoming a School Governor?
As yet, nobody has said that they might be interested. We are a friendly group! Please come and have a chat with me if you are thinking about offering your time. We value everyone’s contribution, and no particular skills are required.
We have a good crowd of parents here. This doesn’t have to be a long term commitment. Maybe you would like to volunteer for just one year? It might give you an insight into what goes on behind the scenes in the management of schools, or you might just learn a little more about what all the children do in school.
We still have a vacancy, so I have to continue to try to fill it! Will one of you consider stepping up?
B. Parent Consultations
We aim to offer all parents the opportunity to have a Parent Consultation with their child’s keyworker once per term.
Now it is time for Big Nursery parents to book appointments to speak with your child’s Keyworker.
These consultations are offered to talk about how your child is settling in and the progress your child is making. They are not compulsory, but if you would like an appointment please arrange this with your child’s keyworker when they are outside before morning sessions, or after afternoon sessions.
These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and will be available at the following times:
Tuesday 5th November Miss Skai’s Red Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 4:00pm
Tuesday 5th November Miss Howe’s Yellow Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Patterson’s Blue Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
Thursday 7th November Mrs Cashmore’s Yellow Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 4:25pm
C. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week focusses on the storybook ‘Happy In Our Skin’. The children will be using mirrors to look at their reflections and adults will take these opportunities to talk to the children about what they can see. This can then evolve into an opportunity to discuss things that make us different, and any similarities that we may have with each other. Children will be learning the names of their friends and will be able to take photographs of each other using the ipads. After the photographs have been taken, the children can analyse them to identify familiar features such as eye and hair colour.
Mrs Patterson and Miss Gaffney are planning to set up a Pumpkin Patch in our outside area and are requesting donations of pumpkins. They are looking for pumpkins of all sizes to add to the patch, so, if you are able to add one to your shopping list, please do! There are so many activities that can stem from having a collection of pumpkins, including; transportation of pumpkins in wheelbarrows and on bikes, pumpkin painting, hammering items into the vegetables and even opening up the pumpkins to see what’s inside. It will be a very exciting week, full of art, science and cognitive and physical development. Thank you for your support!
Nursery News 7th October 2024
NURSERY NEWS
7th October 2024 – Edition 347
Find out About:
A. Display of Family Photographs- For Big Nursery Children
B. Parent Consultations- A reminder
C. Would you be interested in becoming a School Governor?
D. Public Health Information: How to keep your child healthy over the coming Autumn/ Winter season.
E. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Display of Family Photographs- For Big Nursery Children
A few weeks ago I told everyone about the display we would like to put up of Family photo’s in Big Nursery. We have had a few photographs come in, and we have put them on the wall. The children have been very interested in looking at the photographs, but a few were concerned they could not find pictures of their family..
We know people have lots of photos on their phone, but people do not always print them. I am suggesting that you might like to send a family photo to the school office, and we can print it off, and place it on the wall. The school email address is office@willownursery.co.uk
B. Parent Consultations-A reminder
We aim to offer all parents the opportunity to have a Parent Consultation with their child’s keyworker once per term
Little Nursery will be having their Parent Consultations during week beginning Monday 21st October, 2024
These consultations are offered to talk about how your child is settling in. They are not compulsory, but if you would like an appointment please arrange this with your child’s keyworker when they are outside before morning sessions, or after afternoon sessions.
C. Would you be interested in becoming a School Governor?
Willow Nursery is a Maintained Nursery School, and is managed like other Government Maintained Schools.
As part of our structure we have a governing body, made up of volunteers, that come together to help the Headteacher to manage the school effectively. As part of our governing body we have two Parent Governors. (We have one in place, we are hoping to recruit a second Parent Governor) Parent governors play a vital role on governing bodies, holding the unique position of having a parental viewpoint of the school. Through the children, they have a first hand experience of the delivery of the curriculum, and how the school is perceived from the ‘consumers’ point of view. This enables parent governors to bring a different perspective to the strategic management of the school.
More specifically governors:
- help the school with it’s strategy
- hold the headteacher to account for the school’s performance
- makes sure the school budget is properly managed
What commitment to Parent Governors have to make at Willow?
We ask that governors are available to meet for three governors meetings per year, one in each term. We generally meet at 4:15pm, sometimes we meet face to face, sometimes online and currently due to everyone’s commitments, we operate a blended approach with some people meeting us here at school face to face, and others joining us online. Meetings usually last 60-90 minutes.
We ask all governors to visit the school once a year during the daytime to carry out a short governor visit, so they can see how the school is operating, within an area they are interested in.
You do not need any particular experience, we just ask that you are interested in the development of your child’s school.
Our next meeting is on Monday 14th October at 4:00pm, online.
So if you think this is something you might be interested in, have a chat with me, Mrs Davies and we can take it from there.
D. Public Health Information:
How to keep your child healthy over the coming Autumn/ Winter season.
We have received some information from Vicky Head, Director of Public Health, Central Bedfordshire Council. She has asked schools to share with parents ways you can keep your children healthy over the coming Autumn/ Winter season.
She says:
With the new school term starting, children spend more time together, which can lead to more colds,flu, and other illnesses.
Here are some ways to keep your children healthy and in school:
1.Keep your child’s vaccinations up to date.
Measles and whooping cough are still around. The best way to protect your child from getting sick is to make sure they have had all their vaccines. If you are unsure. you can ask your GP or use the NHS app to check.
- Make sure your child gets the flu vaccine.
Flu can make children very sick. The Flu vaccine reduces the risk of needing hospital care. Most children from age 2 to 16 can get the vaccine. The vaccine is usually a quick, painless spray in the nose. There is also a version without pork ingredients. Children aged 2-3 can get the flu vaccine at their GP. Vaccinating your child also helps protect others, like family members, from getting the flu.
3.Teach your child good handwashing habits.
Washing hands helps stop the spread of germs. Remind your child to wash their hands after using the toilet and before eating. Teach them to use tissues for coughs and sneezes and to throw them in the bin afterwards.
- Know when to keep your child at home.
Sometimes it is hard to know if your child should stay home. For minor illnesses, like a slight cough or cold, it’s usually OK to send them to school. But if they have a high temperature or a rash, keep them at home and speak to your GP
E. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is who is who in nursery. The staff will work with the children in the mornings on recognising different members of staff and learning their names. Staff will also encourage the children to try to remember each other’s names and use them during play.
Throughout the school we will also be focusing on becoming familiar with the sequence of numbers and being able to sing and say them in order. To support this, the children will be learning lots of number and action songs. Staff will teach the children how to represent numbers as they sing, this will be done by using props and fingers as concrete objects to count. To support your children with this objective you can sing with them at home, some popular songs are ‘5 currant buns’, ’10 green bottles’ and ‘1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish alive’.
The children will also be learning how to take turns on the bikes outside, we know that they are a very exciting resource and want everyone to be able to have a fair turn at learning to ride a bike. To enable this, we will introduce sand timers for the children to use to monitor when their time is finished and someone else should get a try.
