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Nursery News 2nd June 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Monday 2nd June 2025 – Edition 373.

Find out About

A. Summer Heat and Nursery.

B.Is your child ready to learn?

C. What are the children are learning about this week?

A. Summer Heat and Nursery.

We now find ourselves in the last seven weeks (and 2 days!) of the Summer Term. Higher temperatures will now be arriving. Staff are bracing ourselves, as the Summer extreme hot weather brings its own problems.

Across the school, children respond differently to the heat. Some children can take the heat in their stride, and are happy and content. Some children really struggle with the heat, they get too hot, become flushed and sweaty. The intense heat can sap children’s energy. Some children can become extremely grumpy and tired in the hottest part of the day. Staff spend most of their time worrying about keeping everyone safe.

So to help:

• Ensure children have their water bottles with them every day.
• Provide a hat for your child, please put their name on it somewhere.
• Please keep the donations of fruit and vegetables coming in for snack time. These help to keep the children hydrated, and snack time inside is a restful pause away from the heat. I think we have enough fruit in the fridge for two weeks so please don’t buy any just yet!

• Donate some Ice Pops, again these can create a reason to pause and sit quietly. The ice also helps the children to cool down.

This is something we have done for many years at Willow. The children look forward to the ice pops as a treat mid-afternoon.

However, we are aware that the government is introducing a new Nutrition Policy for all Early Years settings in September 2025. There are very strict guidelines that we will have to follow. So this may be the last year we will be allowed to give ice pops to the children. The Nutrition Policy will be implemented in September. We will share the new guidance with you. Some of the staff are worried that if we give children ice pops this summer some of the them who will still be here in June 2026 will be disappointed when we explain ‘No Ice pops’ next year.  I know some parents have already sent some ice pops in, so we already have some in our freezer.

So, I have decided that we will go ahead with Ice Pops this summer.

B. Is your child ready to learn?

Parents always look eagerly towards finding out which Primary school their child will be attending. Parents of children leaving us in July 2025 have found out which school their child is going to. We work very hard in school to prepare children for the next stage in their learning at their new school. There are some preparations that parents should be aware of, and can work on with your child in order to make your child ‘School Ready’.  So together, as teachers and carers, we need to make sure all our children receive the very best possible start.

Central Bedfordshire Council has put together a leaflet which describes some essential skills that your child should be working towards in order to get the best out of school. This leaflet is known as the ‘sixteen ticks’ as it has sixteen things to work towards. These ticks are relevant to all our pupils, even the youngest, because they are all eventually going to go on to Primary School.

I have attached a poster along with this newsletter which details the sixteen ticks and suggests some points for you to consider.

There is an additional link sent with this newsletter. This is the 16 ticks poster.

Please have a look at it, to see the variety of skills children need to have in place in order to have a successful start in their primary school.

 C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Our learning intention this week is for expressive arts and design: to enjoy joining in with moving, dancing and ring games and our 7C’s learning intention is for the children to be able to challenge themselves safely.

We will have some caterpillars visiting us at school and the children will have the chance to watch them grow and change. This may seem familiar to the children, as we have been sharing the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. There will be lots of artwork and activities that relates back to this book, including creating symmetrical butterfly paintings and retelling the story.

We will be learning lots of songs and expressing ourselves through music this week. The children will be encouraged to sing and dance to music, learn how to follow simple dance routines and to understand rhythms as they play instruments. There will be opportunities for the children to make and play their own instruments in the box modelling area and we can play them together as we listen to the children’s choice of songs.

There will be lots of exciting ways for the children to challenge themselves throughout the nursery this week as they work hard to create obstacle courses and practice balancing on the climbing equipment in the garden. The children will be able to challenge themselves inside as they use scissors and other resources to create artwork. As they complete different tasks throughout the school, everyone will be encouraged to consider their own safety and the safety of those around them. Staff will prompt the children to remember to stay safe as they work and play.

Nursery News 19th May 2025

NURSERY NEWS

Monday 19^th May 2025 – Edition 372

Find out About

A. Half Term Holiday –Monday 26^th May 2025 to Friday 30^th May 2025. School Closed.

B. A big ‘Thank You’ for all the fruit.

C. Staffing Update

D. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Half Term Holiday –Monday 26^th May 2025 to Friday 30^th May 2025. School Closed.

The school will be closed for half term next week. The school year is speeding along quickly!

We hope the children will be able to have some time to rest and relax next week, to be ready for the last half term of the Academic Year.

B. A big ‘Thank You’ for all the fruit.

We have had some very generous donations of fruit.

Thank You!

If anyone reads this and thinks….

‘Oooh I need to buy

some fruit for school…’

Could I ask you to pause for a few weeks, as it is half term soon and currently the school fridge is very full of apples! We are aiming to use the fruits that will perish first for snack time this week, and store the apples in the fridge for after half term.

When our supplies are running low, I will add another request to the newsletter. Thank you all for supporting the school.

C. Staffing Update

I would like to let everyone know that Mrs Watson will be leaving us at the end of this week. She has been working here at Willow since April 2021 as a Teaching Assistant. She originally joined us for a short maternity cover contract, but luckily for us, and the children, she has stayed with us for a few more years!    Most recently she has been working as part of our Little Nursery team. She is now moving on to a new opportunity which she is very much looking forward to.

Mrs Watson says…’I would like to thank all the lovely families that I’ve worked with. I will miss all your lovely, amazing children. I wish them lots of fun in their new schools.’

D. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is ‘Chicks’.

We have 10 healthy chicks!!!

In Nursery we have been observing as our eggs hatched and chicks were born. We have been looking after them and making sure their needs are met. The children have been very excited to see the change in the chicks and how they have been growing.

This week, they will be able to sit with the chicks and hold them. The children will be supervised as they handle the chicks and the staff will ensure that all chicks take turns being held, so they do not become overwhelmed. Children will learn the importance of being quiet and gentle as they hold the chicks. They will learn of the importance of hygiene when holding the chicks and will wash their hands with soap and water after handling them.

The skill we will be focussing on this week will be pencil grip/control/mark making. We will use a variety of methods to support strengthening the muscles in the hands and fingers to enable a better pencil grip when making marks. There are many ways to do this including building with Lego, chalking on paper or pavements, using tweezers to pick up items and even playing with playdough.

Every child has their own name card in school and they are encouraged to use their name card for guidance when writing their name and forming the letters that they need to use. Whenever children create some artwork, they are encouraged to try and write their name so they can bring it home and share with friends and family.

Nursery News 12th May 2025

NURSERY NEWS

 Monday 12^th May 2025 – Edition 371

Find out About

A. Milk and Fruit time.

B. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Milk and Fruit time.

The government provides all children at Nursery with a free carton of milk each day. All children in the nursery will be offered milk at mid-morning snack time. (Unless parents have informed us that their child has an intolerance to cows milk)

We aim to provide all children with a fruit snack

We ask all parents to donate some fruit, so we can share these at the snack table. We ask parents to donate a bag of fruit such as apples, satsumas or bananas, for all the children to share.  If every parent was to donate a small bag of fruit every half term, we will have lots to share.

B. What are the children learning about this week?

This week the theme is chicks.

We are very lucky to be able to help look after some chicks this week. We will have some eggs arrive in an incubator, which will be placed in Room 1. The children will learn about the life cycle of a chick and that they begin their life inside eggs. They will be able to observe the eggs inside the incubator and keep a watchful eye on them, in case they begin to hatch. Staff will explain to the children that it is important for our eggs and chicks to stay inside their incubator because it helps them to keep warm until they have hatched and are a little bigger.

Ten eggs have been delivered to the school. We are told they should hatch on Wednesday.

Our learning intention this week is to recall a sequence of events in everyday life and stories. The children will be learning about the life cycle of our chicks and staff will support them with sequencing the different stages of a chick’s life. This will be done by discussing the changes form egg to chicks that the children notice through the week and also through reading and completing puzzles.

The discussions staff will have with children will help to support our 7C’s learning intention to confidently use a developing vocabulary appropriate to the individual child’s capabilities. Staff will use a range of vocabulary to explain why we have eggs and chicks in school, how to look after them and where they will go when they leave our nursery.

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Nursery News 6th May 2025

NURSERY NEWS

 Tuesday 6^th May 2025 – Edition 370

Find out About

A. Summer Term Challenges

B. Summer Term Opportunities

C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.

D. What are the children learning about this week?

E. We have had two cases of Chickenpox in school. Advice on symptoms…

A. Summer Term Challenges

Summer is our busiest term at Willow Nursery School. Our numbers increase each term from September around to July and the school steadily fills. We have had twelve new families joining us this term, bringing the total number of pupils using the school to 98 children.

This means that we have a lot of children to take in safely at the beginning of their session, matching them to the correct staff and room base. We also have to ensure children are matched to the correct carer at going home time.

So, to help us greatly, please be on time wherever possible. (We appreciate parents cannot be in two places at once if other siblings attend other schools.)

The staff collect their children in a particular order. Please, if you arrive a little late, be patient and a staff member will invite your child in when someone is available to take them to the correct classroom. If you are a Little Nursery family, and the Big Nursery children are being admitted, please wait in the Little Nursery queuing area until the Big Nursery children have gone in. If Little Nursery families arrive late, all the Little Nursery Staff are already very busy working in Little Nursery, settling in the children.

Please help us to keep the queues moving steadily.

Please leave adequate space at the front gate for families to drop off and move away from the front gate.

We are trying very hard to release children at the end of the session promptly.  These times of coming and going are called ‘transition times’, where we have to move children around the school. Transition times have to be carefully managed and it takes all the staff in school to manage these times safely. Some children are nervous of transition times, particularly new children. Some children become upset when it is time to go home.  It may take us a few weeks to find a successful routine to escort the children out as efficiently as possible.

Please ensure all lunchboxes and drink bottles are named. It is difficult to find a child’s drinks bottle quickly when bottles are not named.

B. Summer Term Opportunities

The Summer term is when the school can use the inside and outside areas to their full potential. We try to move many of the inside activities outside. As the term goes on we offer painting and craft activities outside, and provide lots of water play. Mrs Brinkley and Miss Skai have already created a big outdoor role play area, with lots of resources, which the children are using to develop their own role play games. This week a group of boys created a pizza making shop and were all very busy cleaning and washing up plates and pots. Sometimes a change in the environment can stimulate some exciting play.

C. Holiday forms and pupil absence.

We are at the point in the year when some families begin to take holidays. If you have a planned holiday during term time, please ask a member of staff for a holiday form. We ask that you fill in this very short form so that we can update attendance registers correctly.

Please can we also remind parents that if your child is absent for any other reason please telephone the school office and let us know. The school telephone does have an answering machine which is regularly monitored, so do please leave a message letting us know the reason for their absence and again we can update registers.

D. What are the children are learning about this week?

What are the children learning about this week?

This week the topic is planting. The children will be learning about the growth and change of people, animals and plants. Staff will explain that everything in nature grows and changes, they will use lots of hands on activities to show how this happens. Children will be offered the opportunity to do some of their own planting, they can then look after their plants and observe the transformations that occur from seed to plant. There will be planting inside and outside and it will be the children’s job to take care of all of the seedlings until they are fully grown.

The 7C’s learning intention this week is to develop attention and listening skills in a range of contexts. Staff will support the children to develop these skills by asking them to join in with shared reads, learning new songs and talking to the children about what they have been learning through the week.

We will also be focusing on ball skills in the garden, which will include football, basketball and target practice. The children will get to try their hand at bowling in room two and keeping records at how many pins they have managed to knock down. These activities are perfect for team building and supporting each other to try our best.

E. We have had two cases of Chickenpox in school. Advice on symptoms…

(From NHS Website)

Chickenpox

Chickenpox is a common infection that spreads easily and mostly affects children. It usually gets better on its own after 1 to 2 weeks without needing to see a GP, but can be serious in some people.

How chickenpox is spread

You can spread chickenpox to other people from 2 days before your spots appear until they have all formed scabs, which is usually 5 days after your spots appeared.

The spots start appearing around 1 to 3 weeks after you caught chickenpox.

You can catch chickenpox from:

• being in the same room as someone with it
• touching things that have fluid from the blisters on them
• someone who has shingles if you have not had chickenpox before (but you cannot catch shingles from someone who has chickenpox)

Symptoms of chickenpox

The main symptom of chickenpox is an itchy, spotty rash. It can be anywhere on the body.

Before or after the rash appears, you might also have:

• a high temperature
• aches and pains, and generally feel unwell
• loss of appetite
• Chickenpox happens in 3 stages, but new spots can appear while others are becoming blisters or forming a scab.

Stage 1: small spots appear

The spots can:

• be anywhere on the body, including inside the mouth and around the genitals, which can be painful
• spread or stay in a small area
• be red, pink, darker or the same colour as surrounding skin, depending on your skin tone
• be harder to see on brown and black skin

Stage 2: the spots become blisters

The spots fill with fluid and become blisters. The blisters are very itchy and may burst.

Stage 3: the blisters become scabs

The spots form a scab. Some scabs are flaky, while others leak fluid.

How you can treat chickenpox yourself

If you have chickenpox, you’ll need to stay off school, nursery or work until all the spots have formed a scab. This is usually 5 days after the spots first appeared.

Nursery News – 28th April 2025

NURSERY NEWS

 28^th April 2025 – Edition 369

Find out About

A. Sun Safety

B. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Sun Safety

We are moving swiftly towards the hottest part of the year in school. I have been doing some research online to ensure I can give parents good advice about Sun Safety.

I have taken some information from Cancer Research UK’s website:

• The best way to enjoy the sun safely and protect your skin is to use shade, clothing and sunscreen.
• Shade and clothing are better than sunscreen at protecting your skin.
• Sunscreen shouldn’t be used to spend longer in the sun. But they can be useful for protecting the parts of skin not covered by clothing or shade.

Clothing

Clothing should cover your shoulders and have long sleeves. The more skin that’s covered by your clothing, the better the protection.

Choose clothing that’s loose-fitting and darker in colour

Look for materials with a close weave- as a guide you can hold the material up to the light to check you can’t see through the fabric

Hats

Choose a wide-brimmed hat that shades your face, ears and neck for the most UV protection.

Shade

Spending time in the shade is one of the best ways to protect your skin from the sun’s UV rays.

So what does this mean for us at Willow?

We still go outside every day, but we do limit how long children can go outside if it is very hot. We encourage all children to drink plenty, reminding them that their water bottle is always available. We do encourage children to come inside for a rest in the shade. At some points in the day we completely close outside, so that we know all children have had a break from the sun. We are very lucky in that our school remains fairly cool in the summer, with lots of windows for ventilation.

You know your child best!   

Some children are more vulnerable to the sun than others. I have red hair and freckles, which means that I can burn very easily, (Sometimes in very strong sun, in as little as 20 minutes). Some children are less likely to burn than others. People with naturally dark or brown skin burn less easily. But people with darker skin can still burn – it might feel itchy or tender rather than changing colour.

So, I can give advice, but you must make day to day decisions regarding your child’s sun safety.

How can you help us?

Dress your child appropriately. Try to avoid too much bare skin. A t-shirt gives much more protection from the sun than a strappy sundress or a vest top. Think about children’s feet. Exposed skin in sandals may burn.

We would ask you to apply sun protection cream to your child before they attend morning or afternoon sessions. We will assume that all pupils will have had sun protection cream applied at home.  If your child attends all day and you wish your child to have additional cream applied at lunchtime, please send a bottle of sun protection cream into school (please pass it to their Keyworker) and we will store it safely in the classroom, out of the children’s reach. This cream should be left in school.  Ensure their name is on it. Staff will assist children to apply sun protection cream at lunchtime. We will help pupils to apply sun protection cream to their face, neck and arms.  Please do not leave sun protection cream in your child’s bag. We do not want children sharing their cream with their friends. One year we found a pair of children applying it to their teeth to use as toothpaste!

Please provide your child with a hat with their name on when the weather is sunny. A hat with a broad brim is better than a cap for sun protection. A cap is better than no hat. Remember 2, 3,and 4 year olds cannot always remember the whereabouts of clothing that they have taken off. Put their name on it if you want it to return home!

More information regarding the summer term:

Consider what you would like your child to wear at school for safety. Children are still climbing and riding bikes so long sundresses and strappy sandals are not always practical!                                 Messy Play:   As the weather improves we take more and more activities outside. More water is used and play can become much messier. Please ensure clothes are play friendly and send in spares as children can become soaked if they pour water down their clothes, even with aprons on!

B. What are the children are learning about this week?

The theme this week is Handa’s surprise

This week the learning intention is for the children to be able to respond to both formal language used to describe shapes  and common shape names. To support the children with this, the staff will be teaching about shapes using a variety of resources. There will be shape sorting and inset puzzles, magnetic shapes and picture boards, drawing opportunities and hammer and pin boards. Staff will model age appropriate language to teach the children about the shapes that we see in our everyday environment, there will be lots of opportunity for the children to practice their shape recognition as the week progresses and staff will encourage this by playing games, reading books and singing songs.

We will also be reading the story of Handa’s Surprise, which is a tale of a little girl that wants to give a fruit basket gift to her friend. She meets lots of animals on her journey and when she meets her friend, the fruit has been eaten and there is an entirely new surprise for Handa to give to her friend. The children will be encouraged to think about the similarities and differences between themselves and the characters from the book. They will pay attention to all the little details in the pictures and share what they have noticed.

Staff will share a Handa’s Surprise story sack with the children and encourage them to act out the roles of Handa, her friend and all of the animals from the story. This has always been a popular story at Willow and hopefully the children will enjoy retelling it to you at home.