Goldstone Crescent
Dunstable
Beds
LU5 4QU
Phone: 01582 662600
Email: office@willownursery.co.uk
Latest News
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.
Nursery News 30th September 2024
NURSERY NEWS
30th September 2024 – Edition 346
Find out About:
A. Important dates
B. Parent Consultations
C. Forest School Program
D. Willow Lending Library.
E. What are the children learning about this week?
A. Important dates
It is time to give parents an overview of the term, as most families are now enrolled and attending in Big Nursery and Little Nursery.
The school year has three terms, Autumn, Spring and Summer. Each term has a Half Term break in the middle of the term. So dates for this term are:
Mon 28th October 2024 to Fri 1st November 2024: Autumn Half term – School Closed
Mon 4th November –Teacher training day- School Closed.
Thursday 19th December 2024 Last normal school day of the Autumn Term.
Friday 20th December 2024 School open for Christmas Parties only (As a guide: Last year Little Nursery Party 9:00am to 10:00am Big Nursery Party 11:15am to 1:00pm, but this may change slightly when we begin planning for this year)
Monday 6th January 2025 –Teacher Training Day- School Closed
Tuesday 7th January 2025 First day of Spring Term- School open.
We have some other notable dates to share with you. Further information will be included in these newsletters nearer to the time, regarding each event.
Wednesday 6th November and Thursday 7th November-School Photographer to visit.
Thursday 14th November 5pm- Open School Event ‘Walk In the Dark’.
Friday 15th November ‘Children in Need Day’ We make a collection for this charity.
Wednesday 20th November Open School Event Big Nursery Green Group –Parents to watch Basic Skills Literacy Session.
Week beginning Monday 2nd December Open School Event: Big Nursery Parents invited in to watch their child’s Music Session.
B. Parent Consultations
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.
These consultations will be on the telephone, will last 5 minutes and will be available at the following times:
Monday 21st October Mrs Brinkley’s Orange Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 3:55pm
Tuesday 22nd October Miss Gaffney’s Blue Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 4:20pm
Wednesday 23rd October Mrs Cashmore’s Little Yellow Group Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations, between 1:00pm and 1:25pm
Thursday 24th October Mrs McGrath’s Little Yellow Groups Consultations, 5 minute telephone consultations between 3:15pm and 3:35pm
Big Nursery will be having their Parent Consultations (on the telephone) during week beginning Monday 4th November, 2024. Dates and times for appointments will be detailed in Nursery News 348 (published on Monday 14th October).
C. Forest School Program
Mrs Brinkley has started teaching our Forest School program to Big Nursery Yellow Group. I just wanted to tell you a little about Forest School at Willow.
Mrs Brinkley spent a year studying to become a Level 3 Forest School Practitioner. In order to support her work in school, all other school staff studied to become Level 1 Forest School Practitioners.
What is a Forest School? -this is a quote which outlines what a Forest School is and the ethos of them:
‘An inspirational process that offers children, young people and adults regular opportunities to achieve, develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences in a local woodland environment’ (Forest School (England) network 2002)
Whilst we have some trees and shrubs, we acknowledge that we do not have a ‘Forest’, but Forest School teaching and learning is all about participating in activities in the outdoors, learning new skills, building strong relationships and thinking creatively. Mrs Brinkley has planned 7 activity sessions that Big Nursery children will take part in during their final year at nursery. Mrs Brinkley will work with a small group once a week for 7 weeks. We aim to have worked with Yellow, Green and Red group children by Summer 2025.
So, for your information, these are the seven activities the children will be participating in:
1.Fairy/ Gnome Dens. Children will use natural materials that they find in the garden to build a small den for an imaginary fairy or gnome.
- Making Fairies or small people. Children will be shown how to make a fairy using twigs and clay. Children will be encouraged to make their own character, using their imagination to add hair, wings or other accessories.
3.Larger Dens. Working as part of a small group children will build a den from tarpaulins and ropes. Children will then join Mrs Brinkley inside the den for a story together.
- Clay Faces. Children will mould a flat circular clay shape onto a tree trunk. Children will then add natural objects to the clay to create a face. Children will be shown how to make marks in the clay using sticks found in the garden. Children will compare their own features with those of their friends. Children will discuss similarities and differences.
5.Bug Hunt. Children will look around the garden areas, trying to find bugs to put into their bug collecting pot. They will tip their collections out onto a white paper surface, then use a magnifying glass to look carefully at the bugs. We will be teaching them about being careful with the wildlife and to look after nature.
- Mud Kitchens, Mud Potions and Mixtures. Children will be provided with pots and spoons. They will have the opportunity to mix soil with sand and water to make liquid mud. Children will then be able to add leaves and grass, and anything else that they find in the garden, into their mixture.
- Making Woodland Medals. Children will be shown how to use a hand drill to drill a hole in a small disc of wood in order to make a medal. Children will decorate their medals using felt tip pens
Mrs Brinkley’s Thoughts….
I am really excited to be now teaching our children ‘The Forest School Way’. The children are enjoying the new experience and their ideas are extending learning further. Forest School learning has so many benefits to the child’s learning and covers all areas to support the overall well being of the children.
Welcome to Forest School learning Willow!
D. Willow Lending Library.
Miss Howe worked hard last year to create ‘Willow Lending Library’ which has proved to be quite a success. We want to invite all new parents to explore our Lending Library:
Willow Lending Library
Welcome to Willow outdoor lending library. We are open every day from 8.15-8.45am and from 3.00pm-3.30pm.
Please choose 1-2 books with your child and write the names of the books under your child’s name in their colour group folder before taking them home to read together.
You can change the books as frequently as you wish.
Please look after our books.
*Please ensure that you have left the library area at 8.45am prompt before children start to enter the school gates in the morning. THANKYOU J
Top Tips for Reading with your child
- Let your child choose what they would like to read.
- Make sure there are no distractions.
- Sit close together. Encourage your child to hold the book and turn the pages too.
- Look at the pictures. Talk about what can be seen on the page.
- Ask questions and talk about the book. Give your child time to talk.
- Have fun – there is no right or wrong way to share a story.
Free tips and advice in more than 20 languages on ‘sharing books with young children’ can be found at:
E. What are the children learning about this week?
The theme this week is ‘All about me’ and staff will be working with the children to teach them about the similarities and differences they may have with each other. Staff will talk to the children about themselves, each other and being part of the Willow Nursery community. We feel that it is important to have a strong sense of identity and this comes from knowing about yourself and those that are close to you.
During some activities, children will be encouraged to look at themselves in mirrors, to see their key features and will be encouraged to talk about what they can see. Staff will model language for those that are unsure of naming features such as cheeks, chin, eyebrows, etc. Other resources we may use to maximise the learning opportunities are playdough, potato heads, puppets and chalk drawings. Through using these tools, we can encourage the children to share similarities and differences they may have with each other. Children will be encouraged to celebrate their differences because this is what makes them unique. We have received lots of family photo’s from parents for our display board and these are often a talking point for the children. If you haven’t yet sent in a family photo, there is still time to do this. The children get very excited to have the opportunity to share their own experiences with their friends and their photo’s are a tool we use to support this.
