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Nursery News 28th November 2022

Monday, November 28, 2022

NURSERY NEWS

28th  November 2022 – Edition 280

Find out About

  1. Parking with consideration.
  2. Oral Health Week.
  3. Christmas Parties
  4. School Photographer
  5. Walk in the Dark.
  6. Renewing 30 hour codes.
  7. What are the children learning about this week?

 

  1. Parking with consideration.

One of our Local Residents in Goldstone Crescent has very politely asked me to pass on a message to all Nursery Parents who come to school by car. She says:

“Could you please, please remind parents to not park over our driveways and to drive carefully around the school/nursery. Our driveways are being blocked regularly. We also drop our children to different schools and when we come back we can’t access our driveways or we have work commitments and can’t move our cars.”

Goldstone Crescent becomes extremely busy at dropping off and collection times. Please park with consideration to our neighbours.

 2. Oral Health Week.

It is Oral Health week in Big Nursery this week. We will be having a visitor to speak to the children on Wednesday 30th November, from a Dental Practice in Houghton Regis. She is bringing with her toothbrushes for all the Big Nursery children and her friendly crocodile puppet.

 

3.Christmas Parties

The school will be open only for the parties.

 

The Little Nursery Christmas Party is planned to be on Friday 16th December from 9:00am to 10:00am.

 

All children who attend Little Nursery are invited to attend the Christmas Party regardless of what days they usually attend.

Parents and children should arrive for 9:00am, and wait on the pavement outside the nursery. We will follow normal routines to admit the children. Children will require their change of clothes bag. Children will not require their water bottles as we will be providing refreshments. We will use normal routines for departure, so please arrive to collect your child at 10:00am.

 

The Big Nursery Christmas Party is planned to be on Friday 16th December from 11:15am until 1:00pm.

 

All children who attend Main Nursery are invited to attend the Christmas Party regardless of what days they usually attend.

Parents and children should arrive for 11:15, and wait on the pavement outside the nursery. We will follow normal routines to admit the children, with Green group coming in first followed by Red group, then Yellow group. Children will not require a water bottle or a packed lunch on this day as we will be providing refreshments. Children will not require their change of clothes bag.

 

Children may wear party clothes if they wish, or regular nursery clothes.

 

Please be prompt to collect your child at 1:00pm. We will use normal routines for departure.

 

4. School Photographer.

Victoria, our school photographer contacted me on Friday to say there would a small delay in the delivery of our photos. She expects to have them to us by Wednesday 30th November. We will get them out to parents as soon as we receive them.

 

5. Walk in the Dark

Our first after school event, for two years, due to Covid, went ahead last Thursday.

That is something to celebrate in itself, as it felt so very normal!

I must admit, when we were setting up the garden at 3:30pm the rain was pouring down and the wind was blowing wildly, that we were anticipating a very soggy ‘Walk in the Rain’ event. However, the rain just stopped at around 4:30pm. We quickly dried off all the seating and tables and opened the front door…..

We were so pleased to see 30 families joining us. This was more than we had thought would come, due to the challenging weather conditions. However, lots of little people arrived with their torches, ready to explore, bringing with them parents, and lots of excitement.

The event in itself is not elaborate, but what it does do is spark the children’s imaginations. I heard one child racing off through the dark shouting they were ‘looking for Tigers’. There were torch beams criss-crossing in the sky above the school, and passers by walking their dogs were stopping to look at what was going on in the Nursery School garden.

It was lovely to see the community atmosphere created when families came together to enjoy a snack in the garden. Room 2 still smells of onions! I was fortunate enough to be on the gate as families drifted home. I had some lovely feedback from parents. A couple of children cried because they didn’t want to leave….. We must have got something right…..

 

6.Renewing 30 hour codes.

All parents in receipt of 30 hour funding must ensure their 30 hour code is valid on the 31st December 2022, to enable it to be used for the Spring Term 2023.

If you already have a 30 hour code it must be renewed every 3 months. The government sends out reminders by email to all those who need to renew their code. We have had parents have some problems in the past. Sometimes the reminder email from the government has ended up being sent to parents spam email accounts. Please check your spam folders!

Some parents, for example, of children in Little Nursery, may have applied for their child’s 30 hour code earlier in this term in readiness for January. Codes do come with a ‘grace period’ but these only apply when the code is actually being claimed from. So if your code is not yet being used please make sure it is renewed and valid on 31st December.

If a code is not valid, we are unable to claim the 30 hours funding from the government. In this situation your child would revert to a 15 hours universal funded place, or you would have to pay the top up fee of £67.50 per week to maintain a 30 hour space.

 

7. What are the children learning about this week?

What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is Maisy Mouse.

In Catkins, the children will use sponges and paint to create pictures of Maisy Mouse. They will look at the shapes of the sponges as they dip them in paint. The children will also be encouraged to talk about the colours of the paint being used.

In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will be using a different paint technique each day. These will include using cotton buds, rollers and their fingers. Mrs. Brinkley will explain to the children that they can use different resources to paint instead of the traditional paintbrush.

In room three, Mrs. Watson will set up a library role play for the children to sit and read books. She will provide a range of stories for everyone to share including some of the Maisy Mouse collection.

Outside, Miss Gaffney will take the children on a hunt for characters from the Maisy Mouse book. They will explore the whole garden looking for as many characters as they can find. Miss Gaffney will also be making some flags for the children to celebrate Saint Andrew’s day.

The theme in Big Nursery is oral health.

In room one, Miss Skai will be sharing the story of I care for my teeth, the children will read along with Miss Skai ensuring that everyone is reading from left to right and from top to bottom. There will also be a sequencing tooth-brushing activity for the children to complete. The children will cut and stick pictures in the correct order to show how they look after their teeth.

 

In room two, Miss Howe will be creating mouth pictures using paint for the lips and teeth. The children will be encouraged to use sponges dipped in white paint to represent teeth. They will be encouraged to paint and count twenty teeth.

Mrs. Cashmore will squirt shaving foam on some laminated teeth to represent toothpaste, she will model how to clean the shaving foam off of the teeth with a toothbrush and explain that we must brush our teeth twice a day to keep them healthy.

Outside in the garden, Mrs. Patterson will be promoting healthy food choices for the children. She will be placing pictures of happy teeth and pictures of unhappy teeth around the garden. Mrs. Patterson will then ask the children to find healthy food choices and place them on the happy teeth, and the not so healthy food choices on the unhappy teeth. This should help children in the future with making their own healthy food choices.

At Willow Nursery School we have chosen to focus on oral health as part of our school development plan. This means that, as a school, we will be teaching the children how to make positive food choices, how to brush their teeth effectively and all about the dentist. The main points we will focus on are listed below. Please work with us in promoting good oral health for your children.

Brushing

  • You should replace your toothbrush if the bristles have become splayed.
  • You should have help from a grown up to brush your teeth if you are under 8 years old.
  • You should brush your teeth with small circle shapes on your teeth and gums.
  • You should only have a pea sized amount of toothpaste on your brush if you are 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old.
  • You should spit out the toothpaste if you want to, but you don’t need to rinse your mouth out with water.

Snacks

  • You should drink tooth friendly drinks like water and milk.
  • You should eat tooth friendly food like breadsticks, cheese, grapes, crackers and vegetables.

Dentist

  • You should visit your dentist regularly to get your teeth checked to ensure they are healthy.

 

Nursery News 21st November 2022

Monday, November 21, 2022

NURSERY NEWS

21st  November 2022 – Edition 279

Find out About

  1. Big Nursery-Would you like any additional sessions for your child?
  2. Little Nursery- Would you like any additional sessions for your child?
  3. School Photographer
  4. Walk in the Dark.
  5. Children in Need.
  6. What are the children learning about this week?

 

  1. Big Nursery-Would you like any additional sessions for your child?

At the beginning of the school year, in September, I plan for there to be the correct number of staff on duty in each session. We can have up to 50 children in Big Nursery at any one time. We must have 1 member of staff for every 13 children. So for 50 children I need 4 staff.                                                                                              However, if there are 39 children or less I need 3 staff on duty.                                                        So, in this academic year 2022-23, some sessions have 3 staff on duty and some have 4 staff.                                                                                                                                                    I am able to offer additional sessions to children who already attend Big Nursery. However, some sessions will be capped at 39 pupils due to staffing levels.

If you would like to pay for additional sessions for your child (at £13.50 per morning or afternoon session, or £27.00 for a full day session) your child can start those sessions immediately, if we have a space available. We do expect that once extra spaces are taken they become your child’s regular allocation, and they are booked and paid for every week.

If you would like to use the 30 hour entitlement to pay for your additional sessions, you would have to ensure that you have a valid code in place by 31st December 2022, in order to use 30 hour funding in January 2023.

So you can book:

  • additional morning spaces.
  • additional full days

We do not have an option to send a child in just for an afternoon session (except as part of the Wednesday/Thursday/Friday 2 ½ day offer).

However, if your child attends for 2 ½ days, you may wish to top up their half day to a full day, adding an extra Wednesday morning or afternoon, in order to make a total of three full days.

The ability to book these sessions will be just this week, until Friday 25th November, as we have to get registers ready for the new year, so there must be an end point!

 

2. Little Nursery- Would you like any additional sessions for your child?

I am able to offer additional sessions to children who already attend Little Nursery. Some sessions are allocated to particular age groups. Availability is dependent upon your child’s age.

Blue Group children will become entitled to their 15/30 funded hours in January, parents have chosen their options for January and these sessions are now allocated so there are no further sessions available for Blue Group.

Orange group are those children who will become entitled to 15/30 hours funding in April.  Parents have chosen their options for April and these are now in place.  I have one Tuesday morning session available for an orange group child for the Spring Term. There are no further sessions available for Orange Group.

The younger Little Nursery children, (including Yellow Group who are entitled to their 15/30 hours in September) may choose additional sessions for between now, (or January) and September. I can offer some morning sessions, (currently only four spaces in total), or you can choose to extend your morning space into a full day space (8:45am to 2:45pm). Morning sessions cost £15:00 and full day sessions cost £30:00.

Again, once booked, sessions are allocated as your child’s regular attendance pattern and therefore should be booked and paid for every week.

The ability to book these sessions will be just this week, until Friday 25th November. After this time I will release the available sessions to children on the waiting list.

Please note: I will not be able to generate any further morning sessions in Little Nursery until September 2023. Once the last 4 spaces are filled it is unlikely that any more morning spaces will become available. So, if you feel you would like more sessions for your child, please consider extending a morning space into a full day space.

 

3. School Photographer.

Victoria, our school photographer collected all the photo orders from school. She plans that all the photo’s should be returned to Willow by next Monday, the 28th November. We will get them out to parents as soon as we receive them.

 

4. Walk in the Dark

We made the decision to move the Walk in the Dark from Thursday 17th November to Thursday 24th November at 5:00pm due to the heavy rain we were experiencing. It had been raining for the majority of the preceding week and the garden was extremely wet. This is our first evening event since Covid, so we want it to be fun.

So, we plan to try again!  So as a reminder….

We turn off as many lights in school as possible. School is lit just by a few lanterns. The children’s faces are a picture when they come in and find their school in darkness. It looks completely different!.

So what happens?. Families come in at the front entrance of the school. Parents sign in. Children then collect a clipboard with a look and find sheet attached, with photographs of a number of soft toy animals that are hidden in the dark garden. Families then go off to find the hidden toys. If you have a torch, do bring it. The children love exploring with a torch!. Then, when you have found all the hidden characters it is time to stop for some refreshments….. Having something to eat in the garden, in the dark, is quite different. I’ve heard rumours that we may be having hotdogs ( or cheese rolls for vegetarians) cookies and squash.

This event is free.

The refreshments are free, too. We would like everyone to have to opportunity to come.

If we decide to cancel the event again we will send out an email at around 8:30am on Thursday morning, and put a message on our web site www.willownursery.co.uk

 

5. Children in Need.

Friday the 18th November was BBC Children in Need day.

We raised £65 in our bucket collection.

 

6. What are the children learning about this week?

 

The theme in little nursery is construction

In Catkins, Mrs. McGrath will show the children how to decorate construction collages using glue and paper. Mrs. McGrath will talk to the children about what the construction vehicles are used for. She will support the children where needed in making their collages, making sure to model lots of language to improve the children’s understanding.

In Room three, Mrs. Brinkley will have large Lego blocks available for the children to build their own designs. She will talk to the children about the colours of the blocks and ask questions about what the children are building. Mrs. Brinkley will try to instil a sense of pride in the children about their creations.

 

In the Link, Miss Gaffney will be creating card sculptures. She will provide cut outs of cardboard and PVA glue. The children will be encouraged to stack the cardboard pieces on top of each other, using glue to keep the pieces in place. The end result will be constructions made of card.

 

Outside, Mrs. Watson will use building and connecting blocks to make different structures of their choice. There will also be a range of smaller blocks available for the children to focus on their fine motor skills as they balance and stack their blocks.

 

The theme in big nursery is electricity 

In Room one, Mrs. Patterson will provide components such as wires, switches and bulbs for the children to create their own small electrical circuits. Mrs. Patterson will show the children how to make an electrical circuit and then see if they can replicate this on their own. She will also have the remote control cars out for the children, who have the chance to work on building their sharing skills as they wait for a turn on the remote control cars.

In Room two, Miss Skai will set up a stage area for the children to sing, dance and perform along to music, and a disco light. Everyone will have the opportunity to perform on the stage and can choose which way they would like to do this. While they are perfoming, Miss Skai will be working with small groups of children, learning about items which are powered by electricity or batteries.

Outside, Miss Howe will be playing a game called ‘electricity or not?’ which the children need to use their knowledge to decide if certain items are powered by electricity or not. There will be two signs, one for items that need electricity and one for items that do not. The children will be shown images and they need to move close to the sign that shows how each item is powered.

Mrs. Cashmore will be playing ‘electricity tag’, a game of tag where the chaser tries to catch other people. When a person tags their friend they will say ‘buzz’ and then they begin to work together. Mrs. Cashmore will explain to the children that electricity can pass through certain objects and when we tag somebody in the game the power to tag moves onto them.

 

WALK IN THE DARK CANCELLED THU 17TH NOV

Thursday, November 17, 2022

Due to the adverse weather conditions, the Walk in the Dark is cancelled tonight (Thu 17th Nov). We will attempt to try again next Thursday 24th November @ 5pm, weather permitting.

Nursery News 14th November 2022

Monday, November 14, 2022

NURSERY NEWS

14th November 2022 – Edition 278

Find out About

A. Little Nursery Options Forms for 3+ Nursery.

B. School Photographer

C Walk in the Dark.

D. Local Visits

E. Children in Need.

F. Please remember to call the office if your child is absent.

G  What are the children learning about this week?

 

A.Little Nursery Options Forms.

On the 17th October we sent out offer letters to all families in Little Nursery (with a date of birth between 01/09/2019 and 31/08/2020 inviting you to choose an attendance pattern for your child when they become entitled to 15/30 hours of funded education. I am pleased to say we have received paperwork back or spoken to all parents now. I have put all the Little Nursery names onto a big timetable for their 3+ time.

I can confirm that all parents in Little Nursery can have their first choice of attendance pattern as selected by them on their options form.

I now move to the waiting list, to fill all the empty spaces available, for children to join 3+ nursery in January, April and September 2023. The January 2023 intake is now full. I will shortly begin working on the April 2023 intake.

B. School Photographer.

As promised, the school photographer returned the photo proofs on Thursday 10th November. Since then we have been handing them out to parents, when your children have been in. Victoria has asked that all orders should be returned to Nursery by Thursday 17th November

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 17th November at 5:00pm. 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. We have 86 families who attend Willow Nursery School. So far only 25 have signed up.

It’s been a few years since we have had a Walk in the Dark. We turn off as many lights in school as possible. School is lit just by a few lanterns. The children’s faces are a picture when they come in and find their school in darkness. It looks completely different!.

So what happens?. Families come in at the front entrance of the school. Parents sign in. Children then collect a clipboard with a look and find sheet attached, with photographs of a number of soft toy animals that are hidden in the dark garden. Families then go off to find the hidden toys. If you have a torch, do bring it. The children love exploring with a torch!. Then, when you have found all the hidden characters it is time to stop for some refreshments….. Having something to eat in the garden, in the dark, is quite different. I’ve heard rumours that we may be having hotdogs ( or cheese rolls for vegetarians) cookies and squash.

This event is free.

The refreshments are free, too. We would like everyone to have to opportunity to come.

 

D. Local Visits.

A reminder, that this week, all children in Big Nursery will exploring the Local area near to the school in small groups, supported by staff. We are aware that heavy rain is forecast for parts of this week. Staff risk assess these local visits. We would not choose to take the children out in heavy rain, as we would be unable to achieve our learning intentions. Decisions will be made on the day, as to whether the small trips go ahead.

 

E. Children in Need.

Friday the 18th November is BBC Children in Need day. We are very happy to make a collection on behalf of the ‘Children in Need’ charity. A donation bucket will be available on the gate at drop off and collection times should anyone wish to donate.

 

F. Please remember to call the office if your child is absent.

We ask all parents to telephone the school and report your child’s absence, preferable before the registers are completed. Staff complete registers for their groups of children. I, Mrs Davies, then collate the information from the registers, noting down who is absent. I then double check with the school office to see if we have had a phone call from the parents of absent children. If we have not heard from a family, we will call you to find out why your child is absent.

Please help us by phoning in to the school office and telling us about all absences. We do have an answer phone, which we do check regularly during the school day, so please do feel able to leave a message about your child’s absence.

Some parents are really good at calling in, thank you, it helps us greatly.

 

Nursery attendance is not compulsory. School becomes compulsory for all children the term after they turn 5. However we are required to encourage good attendance and good timekeeping to get families ready for formal schooling.

When you update us about a child’s absence we can put the correct absence code in the register. For example, this morning when I did the register we had 17 children absent.out of a possible 62 children. That is an absence rate of 27%, which is quite high.

We can monitor if we have any childhood illnesses spreading, (such as chickenpox). We can monitor the incidence of tummy upsets. It is expected that children will get colds etc when children begin at nursery or school for the first time, because they are suddenly exposed to more viruses.

 

Please help us to keep our school as healthy as possible. Please do not send in children who are unwell. Children with temperatures should not be sent to Nursery. Children with an upset stomach, or vomiting should not be sent to Nursery. At Nursery we have strict adult to child ratio’s which must be adhered to. If staff pick up illness from the children and are absent it leaves us with a staff shortage.  Any staff absence impacts upon the children’s learning opportunities.

 

G. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is colour and light

In room three, Mrs. Brinkley will be using magnets to tell the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? The children will place the magnets on the board to help Mrs. Brinkley tell the story. This will improve the children’s colour recognition skills and boost their confidence with taking part in group activities.

In the link, Miss Gaffney will set up the dark tent and provide torches and other resources for the children to explore light and colour. The children will be encouraged to take turns in the dark tent to ensure safety. Encouraging turn taking will show the children how important it is to share our resources.

In Catkins, Mrs. Field will be making binoculars with coloured lenses. The children will choose which colour lenses they would like their binoculars to have and Mrs. Field will discuss what effect these lenses have when they look through them.

Outside, Mrs. Watson will be joining the children on a colour hunt. They will look around the garden to see how many different coloured items Mrs. Watson has hidden. As the children discover the hidden colours, Mrs. Watson will talk with them about their favourite colours.

 

The theme in big nursery is our local area

In room one, Mrs. Patterson will set up a supermarket for the children to role play in. they will use their first hand experience of shopping in the local area to act out scenarios in the shop. The children will be given shopping lists and asked to find the items on the lists, they will be asked to count out their items to ensure they have collected the correct amount.

In room two, Miss Skai will be investigating different ways to make marks on paper and symmetry. Miss Skai will demonstrate how to dip string in paint and place it on paper to leave colourful stripey patterns on the paper, she will then show how to fold the paper in half and create a symmetrical pattern as the paint imprints on both sides.

Outside, Miss Howe will be joining the children on an autumn hunt. Everyone will look around the garden for listed items and stick them onto a sheet. Miss Howe will talk to the children about the seasons changing and when and where these items can usually be found.

Mrs. Cashmore will provide Duplo bricks with pictures of the local area stuck to them for the children to examine. The children will be encouraged to build their own town using the images of the local landmarks that they may recognise from their travels.

 

Nursery News 7th November 2022

Monday, November 7, 2022

NURSERY NEWS

7th November 2022 – Edition 277

Find out About

1. School Photographer

2.  Moving Forward, Considering Covid…

3.End of Summer Term 2023

4.Volunteering as a Parent Helper in Nursery.

5.Walk in the Dark.

6. Local Visits

7. Central Bedfordshire Local Authority Childcare Sufficiency Survey

8. What are the children learning about this week?

 

  1. School Photographer.

Our school photographer was here last week on Wednesday 2nd November and Thursday 3rd November. Victoria Mitchell is a very talented photographer. She usually manages to get some wonderful images of even the most reluctant children. We had some very productive sessions. I have asked how long will it take for photo’s to arrive. Victoria says that she should have the proofs back to school in about a weeks time, then parents have about a week to make their orders, if they wish to do so, and the completed prints should be returned after one further week, so all in all, the entire process should take around three weeks.

2. Moving Forward, Considering Covid….

Covid -19 has had a major impact in all our lives in the past two years. At this time last year I was about to tell all our parents about all the Open School Activities we were planning. At the same time, the Omicron variant was becoming the dominant Covid strain. We then experienced our worst two months at Willow with regard to staff absence due to Covid 19. We were unable to invite parents to come into school at all last year.

So, this year we are keen to offer a normal programme of activities. We have Open School Activities in each term that we invite parents to. We also organise a range of activities for the children, such as our Local Visit which will be happening next week.

I do not like outlining details of any activities and then finding ourselves having to cancel an activity. We do not want to let any child or parent down. All of these things that we plan can only go ahead if we have the sufficient adults to supervise them.

We still do not know quite how Covid will affect us all this winter, or further into next year. I do not like to plan too far ahead with schedules and dates for parents in case our plans change.

However, after sending out my newsletter last week which had information on regarding the Christmas parties, one of our pupils’ parents contacted the school and asked if there would be any other days in our year when the school would close early or be partially open so please see the next point….

3.End of Summer Term 2023

There is just one other day where we do something very special for the children and that is the very last day of Summer term. On this day school is closed to all the Little Nursery Children. We have a special Leavers Event for all those children leaving us from Big Nursery and going on to Primary Schools. We plan to hold our Leavers event on Friday 21st July 2023 from 8:50am to 11:50am. This event is for all Big Nursery children regardless of your child’s normal attendance pattern. Further information will be given near the time.

4.Volunteering as a Parent Helper In Nursery

During Covid we were unable to routinely have parents in to school. This is something we really missed because each year we always encourage parents to volunteer to help us in school. I haven’t written to parents regarding parent helpers since November 2019, which seems such a long time ago.

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 team 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.

 

5. Walk in the Dark. A reminder….

Miss Howe is organising a ‘Walk in the dark’, an activity for children and their parents to attend together, after school, on Thursday 17th November at 5:00pm. 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….

 

6.Local Visits

Going out of school on a small trip or visit provides the children with good learning opportunities. Miss Howe and Mrs Patterson spent an afternoon planning these short trips. Staff will explore the area finding talking points to discuss with the children. A change of environment can create lots of opportunities to share ideas These trips have been rigorously risk assessed and a Senior member of staff will accompany the children at all times.

Big Nursery Children will be going out of school in very small groups (maximum of 8 children) during week beginning Monday 14th November to explore their Local environment, from Goldstone Crescent to the post box at the junction of Wilbury Drive and Ridgeway Avenue. Staff to child ratio will be 1 adult to every 2 children.

 

7. Central Bedfordshire Local Authority Childcare Sufficiency Survey

I have recently taken part in a childcare sufficiency survey with the Local Authority.

 

Central Bedfordshire Council have also been promoting an online survey about childcare to local parents, carers and guardians. This survey is not focused on individual provisions – it seeks to find out from parents how they feel about their broad childcare options across the Local Authority area.

 

The survey is open until Friday 11th November, if you would like to share your views please follow the link below:

 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/CBCSA22

 

8. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is fireworks

In Room three, the children will be beginning to recognise the letters in their name. Miss Gaffney will show the children their names and how to write each letter. She will support the children in trying to copy the letters in their name onto paper squares. Together they will order the letters in their name and create named firework pictures.

In the link, Mrs. Watson will be using lots of bright coloured paint and salad spinners to produce artwork. The children will talk about the effects of spinning paper quickly to mix paint and create beautiful paintings.

Outside, Mrs. Brinkley will be making firework streamers using coloured crepe paper and lollipop sticks. She will talk to the children about any fireworks they may have seen over the weekend and the noises they may have made.

In Catkins, Miss Tyler will be using scratch paper and wooden sticks to design vibrant pictures that look like fireworks displays. Miss Tyler will talk to the children about the sights and sounds of the fireworks and any experiences that the children may have had over the weekend.

The theme in big nursery is colour and light

In room one, Miss Howe will be sharing the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see? with the children. She will teach the children that print has meaning, using the words and pictures in the book to tell the story.

Mrs. Cashmore will be playing ‘Doodlebugs’ with the children. ‘Doodlebugs’ is a colour and picture matching game which teaches the children to recognise and match colours and pictures. In the game the children should take turns to choose a card that matches the card on the table, they can match by colour or picture or both.

In room two, Mrs. Patterson will be decorating large Elmer the elephant pictures using coloured paper and glue. The children will scrunch up the paper and glue each piece into a square on Elmer’s body. Mrs. Patterson will also supply the children with lots of loose parts to use at the playdough table, this is to encourage free, imaginative play and allow them to be as creative as possible.

Outside, Miss Skai will have road signs out to teach the children about stopping, getting ready and moving around on bikes. She will encourage children to be mindful of others as they cycle and move safely around the playground. Miss Skai will have some leaf templates and wool for the children to wrap around the templates. This will build on the fine motor skills of the children as they hold the templates and wrap the wool neatly around their leaves.