Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
Nursery News 24th April 2023
NURSERY NEWS
24th April 2023 – Edition 295
Find out About
A. Willow Nursery School Ofsted Inspection 21st April 2023
B.Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates A reminder.
C. Strike action.
D. Mrs Davies will be doing Jury Service. From Tuesday 9th May to Friday 19th May 2023
E. What the children are learning about this week?
F. Please could you collect empty toilet roll tubes for Mrs Cashmore
A. Willow Nursery School Ofsted Inspection 21st April 2023
As I am sure you are all aware we had Ofsted Inspectors here last week on Friday. They give very little notice, telephoning the school at 11:00am the day before to announce the visit. As we are a Maintained Nursery School, we are inspected under the schools framework in the same way as all primary and secondary schools. It was a very intense day.
At the end of the day the Inspectors gave feedback to Mrs Davies and Miss Howe as the school’s senior leaders, and Mr Hassall our Chair of Governors.
Their findings have to be Quality Assured before their findings are published on their website, which we have been told to be in about 30 days time.
I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all your support. We were told that 26 parents completed the Parent View questionnaire (that is a good number for the size of our school!) and whilst we were not allowed to see the comments the lead inspector shared a few key words with us to show the response was overwhelmingly positive.
Your children were so very well behaved, and as always, lots of wonderful things were going on in the classroom.
We had two parent helpers here too, so I must give them a special mention, as those extra pairs of eyes made a big difference.
School governors were involved too. They talked very passionately and knowledgeably about the school.
We have been waiting 6 years for this inspection, our last was in 2017.
I will update you, when I am allowed to, but in the meantime as the Ofsted Inspector put it, the school will be operating with ‘Business as Usual’.
B. Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates. A reminder
I plan to leave this information in the newsletter for the next few weeks as there are a number of Bank Holidays coming up….
Monday 1st May 2023. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.
Monday 8th May 2023 Bank Holiday Monday for King’s Coronation, School Closed.
Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June 2023, Half Term Week, School Closed (29th May is a Bank Holiday)
Thursday 20th July 2023 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.
Friday 21st July 2023 school will be open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be a morning only session from 8:50am to 11:50am
C. Strike Action
The National Education Union will be holding two more strike days. One this week on Thursday 27th April 2023, and one next week on Tuesday 2nd May. As I have outlined before Willow Nursery School plans to stay open on strike days.
D. Mrs Davies will be doing Jury Service. From Tuesday 9th May to Friday 19th May 2023
I have been asked to attend for Jury Service between the above dates. This two-week attendance is the minimum. Jurors may continue for longer, if their case continues. I will stay in close contact with the school staff, but I may not be contactable during the school day. Our Deputy Head teacher, Miss Clair Howe will run the school on a day to day basis in my absence.
There will be no ‘Nursery News’ newsletter on Monday 15th May.
E. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme in Little Nursery is keeping healthy.
In Catkins, the children will be trying their best to complete a mini obstacle course. There will be steps for the children to climb, tunnels for them to crawl through and a balance beam for them to walk across. This will build the children’s confidence as well as improve their movement skills.
In the link, Miss Gaffney will be showing the children how to brush their teeth, using a large scale brush and set of teeth. She will also provide paint, paper and sponges for the children to create a painting to represent a mouth. As the children work, Miss Gaffney will explain the importance of brushing our teeth twice daily.
In Room 3 Mrs Brinkley will be completing two shared reads with the children. The first will be How Do I Eat It? And the second will be I Care For My Teeth. She aims to teach the children how to look at books together and follow along with the words.
Outside, Mrs Watson will be developing movement with the children through encouraging them to ride bikes, kick balls, stretch their bodies and generally move around the playground in different ways.
The theme in Big Nursery is animals.
In Room 1, Mrs Patterson will have a pet shop set up for imaginative role play. There will be a variety of pets, pet beds and carriers, food bowls and other accessories available for the children. She will also provide the children with writing tools so that they are able to note down shopping lists and receipts as they play.
In Room 2, Miss Skai will support the children with exploring patterns and animal prints. They will have paints and images to help them copy their favourite animal patterns onto paper. Miss Skai will also show the children how to create their very own animals using paper plates and other materials.
Outside, Mrs Cashmore will be making animal print binoculars with the children. They will be asked to choose which animal print they like most and can decorate their binoculars with that pattern.
Miss Howe will be supporting the children to go on a word hunt around the garden. They will be asked to look for letters that they can piece together to make words that they have recently learned to spell.
F. Please could you collect empty toilet roll tubes for Mrs Cashmore
Mrs Cashmore would like to help children to make some pretend binoculars!
Nursery News – 17th April 2023
NURSERY NEWS
17th April 2023 – Edition 294
Find out About
A.Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates
B. Reminder: An Open School Event: Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.
C. What the children are learning about this week?
A.Term Dates. Bank Holiday Dates.
Welcome back everyone. We are now into the third term of the school year- The Summer Term. I just wanted to outline key dates across this term for your information.
Monday 17th April 2023, Summer Term begins.
Monday 1st May 2023. Bank Holiday Monday, School Closed.
Monday 8th May 2023 Bank Holiday Monday for King’s Coronation, School Closed.
Monday 29th May to Friday 2nd June 2023, Half Term Week, School Closed (29th May is a Bank Holiday)
Thursday 20th July 2023 will be the last day of term for all children. School opens for normal hours.
Friday 21st July 2023 school will be open only for the Big Nursery children that are leaving us. The session will be a morning only session from 8:50am to 11:50am
B. An Open School Event. Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.
A reminder!
Miss Howe has invited all parents of Big Nursery Children to come in and watch your child take part in their phonics session, during week beginning Monday 17th April. Sessions run at 3 different times throughout the week. Groups are based on your child’s attendance days and not their Keyworker groups. Sessions last around 30 minutes.
C. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme throughout nursery is growing and planting.
In Catkins, Mrs McGrath will be making cress heads with the children. They will all plant cress seeds in small pots and Mrs McGrath will take photos of all the children. A picture of each child will be placed on their plant pot and as the cress grows, it will look like the children have cress for hair!
In the Link, Mrs Watson will show the children how to make celery stamp paintings. She will model how to dip the celery into paint and press it onto paper, making pretty flower pictures. As the children work, Mrs Watson will talk to them about the different parts of a flower.
Mrs Brinkley will be planting carrots and peas outside with the children. She will show the children how to plant their seeds and discuss how the seeds will need water, soil and sunshine to grow. The children can water their seeds every day and observe the changes.
Miss Gaffney will also be planting in Room 3. The children will be planting sunflower seeds and Miss Gaffney will talk to the children about helping the sunflower seeds to grow. She will explain to the children that the seeds will grow into very tall flowers with enough sunlight and water.
In Room 2, Mrs Patterson will provide loose parts for the children to explore creatively. She will also display some beautiful tulips for the children to focus on for still life painting. The children will be encouraged to look closely at the tulips and choose the appropriate colours to paint them.
In Room 1, Miss Howe will have a flower shop set up for the children to role play in. She will provide gardening tools, tills, flowers and plant pots for the children to use as props. There will also be a game called How Does Your Garden Grow for the children to play, they will take it in turns to find pictures of leaves to add to their flower pots and the child with the most leaves at the end of the game is the winner.
Outside, Miss Skai will be planting grass seeds. The children will decorate their own plant pots using stickers and pencils to draw a face on their pot. Miss Skai will discuss the importance of giving the seeds plenty of water to help them grow and as they begin growing, the children can bring their grass home to show you.
Nursery News 27th March 2023
NURSERY NEWS
27th March 2023 – Edition 293
Find out About
A.Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Thursday 30th March. School Re-opens Monday 17th April 2023 for the Summer term.
B. Little Nursery Orange group, 3+ attendance patterns.
C. An Open School Event: Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.
D. What the children are learning about this week?
A. Term dates. Last day of Spring Term Thursday 30th March. School Re-opens Monday 17th April 2023 for the Summer term.
The last day of term for all children is Thursday 30th March. The Nursery is open for normal hours on this day. School re-opens for the Summer Term on Monday 17th April.
B. Little Nursery Orange group, 3+ attendance patterns.
Children who attend Little Nursery, whose Date of Birth is between 1.1.20 and 31.3.20, are known as Mrs Brinkley’s Orange group. In April, they will become 3+ children. We already have 10 children here in this age group. Three more new children will join them. We have a letter for all parents of Orange group children. Each letter is individually written, showing your child’s attendance pattern, arrival and departure times, and details your child’s first day. We are giving these letters out this week. We will look out for parents in the queue each morning, as we know some children only attend once or twice per week. You are welcome to pop in and pick the letter up from the school office at any time, should you wish to.
We would like all parents to be aware that there will be slightly more parents queuing in the Little Nursery queue. The Summer term is our busiest term. In the Summer term, in any one session, we can have fifty 3+ children in Big Nursery. In Little Nursery we can have twenty-six 3+ children and twelve 2+ children in one session.
C. An Open School Event. Big Nursery ‘Phonics’.
Miss Howe would like to invite all parents of Big Nursery Children to come in and watch your child take part in their phonics session, during week beginning Monday 17th April. Sessions run at 3 different times throughout the week. Big Nursery Keyworkers will give out slips to parents this week, inviting parents to attend on a particular day and time (wk beginning 17th April), as groups are based on your child’s attendance days and not their Keyworker groups. Sessions last around 30 minutes.
We try to offer a variety of Open School Activities both during the school day and in the early evening, hoping that parents might be able to attend some of them. We understand parents have different family and work commitments, so we do not expect all parents to attend. It is just another option….
D. What the children are learning about this week?
What are the children learning about this week?
The theme throughout Nursery is Easter
In Catkins, Mrs Field will be showing the children how to make Easter baskets to bring home. She will provide cups for the children to decorate and fill with chocolate. Mrs Field will also be supporting the children as they build on their maths skills by counting out 2d eggs to stick onto a nest picture.
Mrs Watson will be making Easter cards in the link with the children. She will model lots of language to the children when working with them. Mrs Watson will encourage the children to be as independent as possible when creating their cards.
In Room 3, Miss Gaffney will be supporting the children as they use one handed tools such as scissors, glue and sellotape to craft Easter baskets. Miss Gaffney will encourage lots of writing practice as she helps the children to begin forming the letters of their names. Everyone will work towards writing their names on their Easter basket handle.
Outside, Mrs Brinkley will set up a rabbit run for the children to play with. She will use small toy rabbits to explore positional language with the children, asking them to help her find the rabbits that are hiding. Mrs Brinkley will model lots of positional language to help the children grasp this concept.
Miss Skai will be working with the older children outside and she will work with small groups to hold an egg hunt. Every child will have the chance to look around outside for a chocolate treat left by the Easter bunny. There will also be some bunny races for the children to take part in, wearing bunny hats that they will make through the week.
In Room 1, Miss Howe will be playing a phonics game with the children which will support their recognition of letters and sounds. The children get to choose a carrot with a hidden letter on and try to think of words that may begin with the sound that letter makes.
Mrs Cashmore will be working with the children on recognising numbers and linking amounts of objects to each number. She will ask the children to name and copy down a number and then count out the matching amount of stickers which will be used to decorate egg pictures.
In Room 2, Mrs Patterson will be asking the children to help her decorate our Easter tree. The children will have the chance to decorate an Easter ornament and hang it on the tree for everyone to see. Mrs Patterson will also set up the easel for the children to practice fine motor skills as they paint freely.
Nursery News 20th March 2023
NURSERY NEWS
20th March 2023 – Edition 292
Find out About
A. Our New Finance Officer.
B. What the children are learning about this week?
A. Our New Finance Officer.
We have had a period of transition in the school office, and I would like to thank all our parents for being patient with us, and using our answerphone when a staff member has not been available to answer the phone.
I am pleased to say that our new Finance Officer has completed two weeks in the school office and is beginning to familiarise herself with our systems.
Her name is Mrs Katy Barber. She has a strong background in finance, coming from a finance department in industry. She is a parent of two young children, so understands the needs of families. She is looking forward to the challenges this role will bring.
I must just give a mention to Mrs Charlene Selth, our Office Administrator, who works alongside Mrs Barber. She has kept all our financial paperwork up to date during the last two months, working just three days per week and doing the job of two staff! If the transition has been seamless, it is down to her!
We are very fortunate to have such a strong team in our office. Many schools are having difficulty recruiting admin staff at this time.
B. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme in Little Nursery is Weather and Seasons.
In Catkins, the children will be creating rainbow collages, they will use different coloured materials including paper/card/pencils to decorate their own rainbow pictures. Mrs. Cashmore will talk to the children about when they might see rainbows and the beautiful colours on them.
In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will be working on paintings representing different types of weather. She will show the children how to create these paintings using their fingers instead of brushes. As the children work, Mrs. Brinkley will ask them about the current weather and encourage them to look outside the window to see what is happening.
In Room 3, Mrs. Watson will be producing weather clocks using paper plates. The children will learn how to attach plates and pictures together using split pins to create their clocks. Mrs. Watson will discuss the weather on the day and recent weather with the children.
Outside, Miss Gaffney will be planting grass seeds with the children. She will talk about what the seeds will need to grow and how the weather has a huge effect on plants. Miss Gaffney will add a picture of each child to the plant pot which will make the grass seeds look like their hair – it will be a very funny creation.
The theme in Big Nursery is Recycling.
In Room 1, Miss Skai will have a shared read set up. The children will read Josie and the Junk Box together. There will also be a recycling game set up for the children to learn how to recycle and the different items that can be reused. Miss Skai will ask the children which ways they recycle at home and teach them that we can recycle many different items.
In room two, Miss Howe will be repurposing egg boxes to use as planters. She will explain to the children that seeds can be planted in the egg boxes and placed in the ground because they are biodegradable and won’t harm the environment. She will also be showing the children how to create musical shakers out of old recycled bottles.
Mrs. Cashmore will be focussing on literacy with the children. She will be talking to everyone about their initials and how to write them in upper case. Mrs. Cashmore will ask the children to try and write their initials independently and then decorate them with recycled materials such as paper and card.
Mrs. Patterson will be working outside and using lots of exciting repurposed resources to teach the children that some things can have more than one use. She will use gutter pipes/milk crates/cardboard boxes etc. to show the children that sometimes if we use our imagination, it is easy to repurpose many items.
Nursery News 13th March 2023
NURSERY NEWS
13th March 2023 – Edition 291
Find out About
A. Availability of sessions.
B. A reminder to renew 30 hour codes
C. Reviewing our fees, for September 2023.
D. Phonics program: Slithery Snakes!
E. What the children are learning about this week?
A. Availability of sessions.
We have had a number of phone calls this week regarding the availability of additional sessions. Throughout the year, I work on admissions. A pattern has developed, and I work on each intake in turn.
We try to enrol children at the beginning of each term, to keep our paperwork, and classroom environments consistent.
When children become 3+ age (the term after they turn 3) they are all entitled to 15 hours funding and some are entitled to 30 hours funding. There is a cap on the total number of children we can have in Nursery due to our floorspace. We also have to maintain adult to child ratio’s. I have been recently working on the age group that are turning three years old between January and March. These children will begin their 3+ sessions in April in Little Nursery. I make offers to parents, and ask them to decide from a choice of attendance patterns. Planning for April 3+ intake, I had room for a total of 12 full time spaces. With our attendance patterns being offered around 15 hour or 30 hour attendance, this means I could offer between 12 and 24 places depending upon parental choice of sessions. I have recently filled all the sessions, first from children already attending Little Nursery, then filling the remaining spaces from our waitlist. I’m pleased to say this group is full. (We had to turn down 6 families from our waitlist)
Our January 3+ intake, Blue Group is similarly full.
I have had a number of parents in Little Nursery ask if they can increase their 15 hours by adding an additional half day on a Wednesday, to bring Wednesday up to a full day. Unfortunately this is not possible as we are full.
I will now begin working on the September 3+ intake. These are children who will turn 3 years old between April and August 2023. Most of the children of this age in Little Nursery have already completed paperwork, and made choices for September 2023.
We have five children of this age, who joined Little Nursery in January, who will be given paperwork this week for parents to make their choice of attendance patterns for September 2023. I would ask this paperwork to be returned by 23rd March.
I will then look at the waitlist, and begin to make offers to children from our waitlist, filling the classlists until we have filled the year group. Again, depending upon parental choice of 15 or 30 hours, we can accommodate 50 to 100 pupils.
What about Little 2 year olds –Catkins Class, in the Summer term? At the moment we have not made any decisions about additional spaces for the Summer Term.
I would say that it is very unlikely that we would enrol any new children into Catkins Class in the Summer term.
Our next enrolment point into our 2 year old class would be September 2023.
If we have any spaces available for Catkins class in the Summer Term, it is likely that we will offer additional spaces to those children that already attend, because the number of available spaces will be so small.
Any availability of additional spaces will be advised through this newsletter, but will not happen until April. We may choose to offer no additional spaces.
B. A reminder to renew 30 hour codes
Parents who are entitled to 30 hours free funded Nursery hours must ensure a valid code is in place by 31st March 2023 if they wish to have 30 hours funding for the summer term 2023. Codes need to be renewed approximately every three months. The government does usually send out reminder emails directly to parents. Do check your Junk Mail or Spam folders, as sometimes the reminder can end up there.
If the code is not valid your child will not get the funding from the government, and would have to fall back to 15 hours attendance or choose to pay for the additional 15 hours.
C Reviewing our fees, for September 2023.
We have not increased our fees to parents since 2016.
I have chosen not to increase fees during all this time, in order to keep our fees as low as possible. However, our costs are escalating. I have discussed this with our Governors. We are planning to increase our fees for September 2023.
We receive our yearly budget from the Local Authority on the 31st March 2023. We are unable to plan our budget forecast until we hear from the Local Authority.
We will be mindful that all families are under increasing financial pressure, and our fees charged are to meet costs. We do not aim to make profit.
D. Phonics program: Slithery Snakes!
Phonics began last week in Big Nursery. Your child will have made a sock Snake hand puppet, which they will have hopefully brought home. We try to make our sessions interactive and playful. Children will remember the ‘SSSSSS’ sound if they have fun playing with their snake, making a ‘SSSSS’ sound. Adding a movement to the sound does help children to recall it at a later date. Spend just a few minutes each week going over the sounds at home. Each letter sound will come home on a Jolly phonics page, which allows the child to colour in a picture associated with the sound, has some dotted practice letter shapes to write over, and has a little picture at the side of the page to show how the movement should be made that supports the memory of this phonic sound. If you build up your child’s letter knowledge, week by week, adding new letters to the already familiar letters, they will progress with their phonic knowledge.
Give this a go. This will REALLY help your child to learn their phonic sounds which will in turn help them to read and write!
Look out for some ‘Ants on my arm’….. this week.
E. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme in Little Nursery is Hospitals.
Mrs. McGrath will set up a hospital role play for the children in Catkins, she will provide hospital beds, bandages and dressing up clothes for the children to use as they play. She will also set up a Peppa Pig small world hospital for the children to use and expand their imaginative play.
In the link, Mrs. Brinkley will be focusing on literacy with the children. She will be supporting them as they begin to make marks on paper and write their initials. She will support the children with holding their pencils effectively and model how to write different letters.
In Room 3, Mrs. Watson will also have a hospital role play area set up and she will model lots of language for the children. As the children play, Mrs. Watson will talk to them about various medical professionals that they might meet and their job roles, encouraging children to take an interest in different occupations.
Miss Gaffney will be outside with the children where they will be building up their physical skills. Miss Gaffney will be playing action songs for the children to dance along to and she will encourage them to try hopping, skipping and jumping as they move.
The theme in Big Nursery is the Three little pigs.
In Room 1, Miss Skai will be completing a shared read of The Three Little Pigs with the children. After they have read their books with Miss Skai, the children will cut, stick and sequence images onto paper to create their very own story books.
In Room 2, Miss Howe will be showing the children how to mix ingredients to create beautiful, shiny paintings. She will show the children how to mix icing sugar with water and drizzle it on paper, then using pipettes they will drip paint onto the icing sugar. The children can then bring their artwork home and tell you all about it.
Mrs. Cashmore will set up a tough tray with all the materials that the Three Little Pigs used to build their own houses. She will provide small world figures to allow the children the opportunity to discuss the story of The Three Little Pigs and begin to have extended conversations together.
Mrs. Patterson will be outside playing What’s The Time Mr. Wolf? With the children. She will also provide materials for the children to build three houses just like the Three Little Pigs in the story. Mrs. Patterson will use these teaching opportunities to extend ideas that the children have and model lots of different vocabulary for them.
