NURSERY NEWS
21st February 2022 – Edition 252
Find out About
Mrs McGrath is back this week after her maternity leave. She will be re-joining Catkins class part time, at the end of the week.
2. Get Well Soon for Mrs Davies
As you all know, Mrs Davies has been unwell. She has recently had an operation and is now recovering. She will be back with us as soon as she is able to.
3. Letting us know if someone different is collecting your child
It is really important that you tell us if someone different is collecting your child. If we do not know about someone different collecting your child, we will not let your child leave until we have spoken to you. We have to keep the children safe.
4. Not putting food in children’s backpacks
Due to a serious allergy in big nursery, we do not have any food in the classroom. Please do not put any food in your child’s backpack/school bag. If any food needs to be passed on to a grandparent or childminder, please hand to a member of staff who will ensure it goes home with the child.
5. Bookstart Treasure Packs
If your child attends the Big Nursery and is in Blue, Orange or Yellow Group they will bring home a big envelope containing a book from the Book Trust on WEDNESDAY 23rd February. This book is for your child to keep. Book Trust is the UK’s leading reading charity. Every year they give over 5 million books and resources to children across the country. Children receive this pack in their final year in Nursery, so our younger children will receive them in future years.
6. Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Public Holiday 2022
As you will be aware, an additional bank holiday has been announced for 3rd June 2022 for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
The Department for Education (DfE) has laid regulations to reduce the minimum number of sessions schools are required to meet in the academic year 2021/22 as a result of this additional bank holiday.
Most schools will be on their half term breaks in the week commencing 31 May 2022 and the DfE has advised that schools and councils should observe the Bank Holidays on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd June. In practice, this means that where this additional bank holiday falls during half-term week, schools will be able to identify another day of ‘holiday’ elsewhere in the year on which staff will not be required to work and will be given an equivalent day’s paid leave.
To reflect the additional bank holiday, the School teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2021 reflects a change in the number of days that teachers must be available to work under their terms and conditions for this academic year. Teachers will be required to be available to work on one less day for the academic year 2021/22, An extra day of holiday, therefore, will need to be allocated by individual schools.
After discussion with the staff and governors, Willow Nursery School will be closed for an additional days holiday on Monday 27th June 2022.
7. What the children are learning about this week?
The theme in little nursery this week is showing care and concern for wildlife.
In Catkins, Miss Tyler will be talking to the children about wildlife and what animals they can see in the garden. Miss Tyler will support the children in threading cereal hoops onto pipe cleaners which will build on their fine motor skills and using these to feed the birds. The children will bring these bird feeders home for you to put in your gardens.
Mrs. Watson will be doing a similar activity, using lard and bird seed to make a different type of bird feeder. Mrs. Watson will talk with the children about ways in which we can look after wildlife in our surrounding areas.
In little nursery, Miss Gaffney will be helping the children to remember the school rules, reminding them to be kind to each other and share when they play. These are very important social skills for the children to learn.
Mrs. Brinkley will be making binoculars with the children for them to use in the garden. These will help them to spot any local wildlife.
The theme in big nursery is Goldilocks and the three bears.
In room 1, Mrs. Cashmore will have a goldilocks and the three bears role play area set up for the children to act out the story. There will also be an area for the children to think about maths and the language of size. The children will work on creating patterns with different sized bears, focusing on the language of big, medium and small.
In room 2, Mrs Patterson will be working with the children to create images of the different characters. The children will be using paint and materials to create their pictures. There will be a sensory opportunity for everyone to explore the texture of porridge oats, when filling and emptying different sized bowls.
Outside, Miss Skai will be focusing on movement and playing the game ‘move like a bear’, where the children need to move in different ways around the playground. Miss Skai will also have some laminated bears of different sizes for the children to apply their threading skills.