Nursery News 3rd July 2023

NURSERY NEWS

3rd July 2023 – Edition 303
Find out About:
A. Arrangements for September 2023.
B. Reminder about consultations this week.
C. What are the children learning about this week?

A. Arrangements for September 2023.
We have finalised our plans for the beginning of term in September 2023. So this information is for all the families staying with us in September. We had to make some changes to the way the school operated due to Covid in the last few years. Some of the changes made have felt very positive. One of these changes was how we managed the first few days in September. So, in discussion with the staff we have decided to roll out the beginning of the Autumn term in 2023 the same way as we did last year. We are aware that a number of our parents are working parents, and look for the school to be operating for all children as soon as possible. We have made our plans trying to strike a balance for everyone’s needs.

Let us start with Catkins Class in Little Nursery…..

Little Nursery will reopen on Thursday 7 th September. In the Autumn term all children in Little Nursery are 2+ children known as Catkins Class. Children’s attendance patterns remain the same, unless you have spoken to me about additional hours for your child. New starters in Catkins Class have received paperwork advising parents what their child’s first day will be. In Catkins Class each
Keyworker will settle only one of their new keyworker children in each session. New Catkins Class children have start dates somewhere between the 11th September 2023 and 2nd October 2023.
Catkins hours remain 8:45am – 11:45am for a morning session, 11:45am-2:45pm for an afternoon session or 8:45am to 2:45pm for a full day session.
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Big Nursery:
Tuesday 5th September 2023 and Wednesday 6 th September 2023 have been scheduled as visit days. The school will not be open as usual on these two days. Attendance on these days is by invitation only. See details below:
Tuesday 5 th September:
All children who will be moving from Catkins 2 year old class to Big Nursery Yellow Group in September are invited to attend a Stay and Play session, lasting for 90 mins , with a Parent. Invitations will be given to parents this week within the Yellow Group Big Nursery Starter Packs. Yellow Group have all been allocated a start date between Thursday 7th September and Wednesday 13th September. These start dates have also been communicated to the brand new Yellow Group children, joining in September, from our waitlist.

Wednesday 6 th September.
This day will offer a transition session for all 3+ children (and their parents) in Miss Gaffneys/ Mrs Watson’s Blue Group and Mrs Brinkley’s Orange Group. We will offer a morning session or an afternoon session. The idea of these sessions are that you and your child will arrive at school to have a scheduled meeting lasting ten minutes with your child’s current Little Nursery Keyworker and with your child’s new Big Nursery Keyworker So, Blue Group children will meet with Miss Gaffney/Mrs Watson and Mrs Patterson Orange Group children will meet with Mrs Brinkley and Miss Skai. You will arrive at your specified appointment time, meet with your child’s Keyworker’s and discuss anything you wish to share to enable the transition into Big Nursery to go as smoothly as possible. You will then be free to move around the school together, both inside and outside. Classrooms will be set up with activities, and we invite you and your child to explore their new spaces and chat to staff who will be available to talk with you.

Morning session: 10 minute appointments will be available to choose from between 8:50am and 10:20am. Parents may choose to stay and play after their appointment, but all parents and children should leave by 11:00am.

Afternoon session: 10 minute appointments will be available to choose from between 12:30pm and 2:00pm. Parents may choose to stay and play after their appointment
but all parents and children should leave by 2:40pm. All these meetings/ stay and play are optional. You do not have to attend, but it will be a way to see the school with your child. You may choose to just have the meeting and then you and your child can choose to leave to go home. You may choose to have the meeting and then stay for a short time and then go. We cannot offer meetings at alternative times or dates as we are looking to get the school up and running as quickly as possible for those parents who are working. Parents must stay with their children at this event.
Parents can arrange these appointments for Wednesday 6th September with their Little Nursery Keyworkers (Miss Gaffney/ Mrs Watson/ Mrs Brinkley) during the parent consultations that are scheduled for this week. If you do not have a consultation this week please do not worry as staff will get in touch with you regarding a transition session in September.

Thursday 7th September – Big Nursery Re-opens for regular Nursery sessions. Blue Group, Orange Group and Yellow Group (who have attended in Little Nursery) return to Big Nursery, attending for their agreed attendance pattern. So for example, if your child currently attends for two and a half days at the end of the week, they would return on Thursday 7th at 8:50am with their lunch box.
Big Nursery hours are:

Morning session: 8:50am to 11:50am
Wednesday afternoon session: 11:50am to 2:50pm.
Full day session: 8:50am to 2:50pm

B. Reminder about consultations this week.
We will have face to face parent consultations for all the children on 6th, 7th and 8th July 2023 as follows:. All consultations will be 5 minutes long. Parents of Little Nursery children will have an end of year meeting where staff will hand over your child’s Little Nursery Yearbook:
Tuesday 4th July

Miss Cashmore’s Catkins Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:05pm Catkins children will all receive their Yellow Group Big Nursery Starter Packs.

Mrs Watson’s Blue Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Wednesday 5th July

Mrs McGrath’s Catkins Children. Five minute appointments available between 9:00am and 9:30am Catkins children will all receive their Yellow Group Big Nursery
Starter Packs.

Miss Gaffney’s Blue Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Thursday 6th July

Mrs Field’s Catkins Class Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:50pm Catkins children will all receive their Yellow Group Big Nursery Starter Packs.

Mrs Brinkley’s Orange Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:15pm

Parents of Big Nursery children will have a Leavers Consultation, where staff will hand over your child’s yearbook :

Tuesday 4th July

Mrs Patterson’s Green Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:25pm

Wednesday 5th July

Miss Skai’s Red Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 3:55pm

Thursday 6th July

Miss Howe’s Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:10pm

Miss Cashmore’s Yellow Group Children. Five minute appointments available between 3:15pm and 4:00pm

C. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme in little nursery is traditional and fairy tales In Catkins the children will focus on literacy skills, there will be a variety of fairy tales for the children to look at in thecosy corner. They will be encouraged to choose which book they would like to sit down together to read. To follow along with the fairy tale theme, the children will use different resources to create magic wands.
In Room 3, Mrs Watson will be telling the children the story of The Gingerbread Man using both the screen and a book. She will discuss what happens in the book with the children and they will be given the opportunity to retell the story to their friends. This will build the children’s memory skills and confidence when talking in big groups.
In the Link, Mrs Brinkley will focus her activity around Goldilocks and the Three Bears. She will provide props such as porridge, bowls and spoons for the children to use. They will be acting out scenes from the story and Mrs Brinkley will model lots of story-telling language for the children to copy. Outside, Miss Gaffney will be re-enacting stories such as The Three Little Pigs, The
Billy Goats Gruff and The Gingerbread Man. She will encourage the children to act as different characters from each story building on their memory recall to retell what they have learnt.

The theme in big nursery is transport – air and water
In Room 1, Miss Skai will be talking to the children about summer holidays. She will be explaining to them that if they go abroad for a holiday that they will need a passport. Miss Skai will show the children what passports look like and they will get to make one of their own. The children will practice writing as they put all their information on their passports, and practice drawing as they design their own passport photos.
In Room 2, Miss Howe will be making peg aeroplanes with the children. The children will work on their fine motor skills as they colour in wooden pegs and lollipop sticks. They will attach the pegs and sticks together using glue and once the planes are dry, the children can take them home and fly them. Mrs Cashmore will be making shape boats with the children, there will be an example boat for the children to use as a reference. They will be asked which shapes they would like to use on their boat pictures and then Mrs Cashmore will talk to the children about the properties of the shapes they have chosen.
Outside, Mrs Patterson will encourage the children to use their imagination to fuel unstructured play. There will be crates and wooden boxes available to support the children’s play ideas and they will be encouraged to use their imagination to create anything they want, enabling open ended fun. Mrs Patterson will provide building ideas if the children need some imaginative prompts.