Nursery News 20th February 2023

NURSERY NEWS

20th February 2023 – Edition 288

Find out About

A. Changes taking place to Breakfast and After School Club at Hadrian Academy that will impact upon Willow Nursery School pupils

B. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 2nd March 2023 at 5pm

C. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills. Wednesday 8th March. (Time to be confirmed in personal invitation.)

D What the children are learning about this week?

 

A. Changes taking place to Breakfast and After School Club at Hadrian Academy that will impact upon Willow Nursery School pupils.

There are some changes happening to the Before and After school club that operates from the Hadrian Academy school site.

In the past, the Before and After school club was open to pupils from Hadrian Academy, and Willow Nursery School pupils (once they were 3+ age).

The Principal of Hadrian Academy, Mr Ross Griffin, has written to me explaining that at the moment they have a waiting list on most days at their Breakfast and After School club meaning that they are turning away families.  Due to the space, they cannot increase their numbers beyond 45.

The changes they are introducing are as follows:

1) They are no longer accepting ‘new children’ from Willow Nursery School to attend the Hadrian Academy Before and After school provision. Children from Willow Nursery School who currently attend can continue to do so until the end of the Summer Term 2023.

 

2) From September 2023, Hadrian Academy will not be able to offer this provision to children at Willow Nursery School. The After school and Breakfast club from September will just be for children who attend Hadrian Academy.

 

Mr Griffin said it was a very difficult decision to make, but wanted me to pass this on to Willow families swiftly to give you as much notice as possible.

 

B. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories

Thursday 2nd March 2023 at 5pm.

All Big Nursery children are invited to bring a parent along for a bedtime story at Willow Nursery School. Children and parents will join your child’s keyworker for a bedtime story. Children can come in their pyjamas and bring a teddy bear or favourite cuddly toy with them. Older and younger brothers and sisters are welcome, but please remember the stories will be aimed at 3 and 4 year olds. Parents will be asked to monitor the behaviour of brothers and sisters, and will be expected to take noisy or wriggly children out of the story circle so as not to upset the quiet atmosphere created. We expect stories to last approximately 30 minutes (perhaps less for the youngest children) and we will then have warm ‘Hot Chocolate’ and cookies together.

 

C. An Open School Event: For Big Nursery Red Group Parents: Basic Skills.

Miss Skai teaches Big Nursery Red Group children ‘Basic Skills’ on a Wednesday morning. The children move to a quiet space in Room 5 where they work in small groups (approx. 8 children) to learn reading, writing, mathematical skills and problem solving. We would like to invite Miss Skai’s Red group parents in to observe a 30 minute reading/writing activity on Wednesday 8th March. A further invitation letter will follow to Red Group parents so that we can match up time slots, so parents can join their child’s small group. Green Group had their Basic Skills groups in the Autumn Term 2022, Yellow Group have Basic skills in the Summer Term 2023. Eventually all parents will be invited to observe Basic skills sessions when their child is being taught.

 

D. What the children are learning about this week?

The theme in Little Nursery is showing care and concern for the environment.

In Catkins Mrs. McGrath will be investigating in the garden and on the lookout for leaves on the ground. She will show the children how to paint the leaves collected in the garden, then push them onto paper creating leaf patterns. Whilst out in the garden, Mrs. McGrath will support the children to look high and low for lots of different creepy crawlies.

In room three, Miss Gaffney will use a range of resources to help the children make their own interpretations of a bird. The children will think of the anatomy of a bird when building their model. Miss Gaffney will discuss the importance of taking care of animals in the environment.

In the link, Mrs. Watson will have hedgehog templates ready for the children to decorate. She will ask all children to collect a handful of sticks from the garden, which will then be used as prickles for their hedgehog pictures.

Outside, Mrs. Brinkley will be bird watching. There will be binoculars for the children to use, but they must remember to take it in turns. We are very lucky and sometimes see a Red Kite fly near our setting and Mrs. Brinkley will point it out to any children if it makes an appearance.

The theme in Big Nursery is the fairytale story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’.

In room one, Miss Howe will set up the house of the Three Bears for the children to role play in and retell the story of Goldilocks. She will also be using compare bears to recreate patterns. Miss Howe will make some intentional mistakes when she recreates some patterns to see if the children can spot the mistakes. Mrs. Cashmore will make porridge with the children, using water and oats. All children will have the opportunity to make the porridge and then go for a walk in the Nursery garden whilst it cools down, just like in the story.

In room two, Mrs. Patterson will have the easels set up for the children to paint portraits of characters from the story of ‘Goldilocks’. She will urge the children to think about the colours and features of each character and use appropriate colours for each painting. Mrs. Patterson will also have dry porridge oats on the tuff tray for the children to explore in a sensory manner.

Outside, Miss Skai will be playing the ‘walk like a bear’ game. In this game the children have to think about the size of steps that each bear would take and walk like them e.g. small steps for Baby Bear, medium size for Mummy Bear and big steps for Daddy Bear. She will also have some numbered bear shapes set out for the children to practice threading and build on their fine motor skills.