Our Week in Nursery
Please also remember to read the weekly school Newsletter for whole school and local community updates.
Dates for the Diary
20th November 2025 - Phonics Workshop for EYFS parents (9am-10am)
12th December 2025 - Nursery Christmas Show. 9.00am - 10.00am. We’d love for the children to wear a festive Christmas jumper for the show — and it would be wonderful if the grown-ups joined in the fun too and wore a Christmas jumper! The performance will take place in the classroom, so space is a little limited. To make sure everyone’s comfortable, we can welcome two adults per child. Younger siblings are welcome to join us.
14th November 2025
Dear Parents/Carers
This week we have been learning about Diwali, Remembrance Day and we have been thinking about how we can be kind, to others.
The children have decorated their salt-dough poppies with glitter, using their pinchy fingers and they have created a lovely field of poppies, using potatoes (to print) and poppy seeds, for the centre. These are on display and look lovely. A lot of thought and attention went into them. We continued to learn a song and poem and we joined in with a one minute silence. This involved us watching the Remembrance animation on cbeebies, a poignant animation that we discussed, leading us into thinking about the feeling 'scared'.
Our learning about Diwali started with a dance workshop. The children joined in with the actions whilst learning the story. We have continued to use the moves whilst retelling the story, in class. The main characters in the story are Rama, Sita, the Goden Deer, Ravana and Hanuman. Ask your child about what they can remember from the story. At the end of the story lights are lit to light the way home for Rama and Sita, to lead them back home in the dark and to remind us of this we created our own Diwa lamp.
On World Kindness Day we focused on how we are kind and help others. We shared books about what it means to be kind, we listened to some songs and we thought about how we can be kind to others, in class and at home. In Nursery we have been highlighting the acts of kindness that we have seen. We also shared the story 'The Good Samaritan, from our very special book the 'Bible'. The children are still being encouraged with good manners, particularly using the kind words please and thank-you.
Thank-you so much for attending this weeks Parent Consultations. It was lovely to see you all and to hear that your children are happy coming to Nursery.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
7th November 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back to the second Autumn half term. This is always a busy one and Christmas will be upon us sooner than we think. We have our Nursery Christmas Show on 12th December 2025, at 9am-10am. Please join us for our festivities.
This half term we are looking at the theme 'Let's Celebrate'. Over the coming weeks we will be thinking about how we celebrate with our family and friends and how this is the same/different for each of us. We will learn about some Festivals of Light, that take place around the world, Diwali and Hanukkah and we will think about birthday celebrations. This learning will lead us into thinking about the very special birthday that we celebrate on Christmas Day.
This week we have come back to Nursery and settled back into the routine, well. We have been reinforcing our class rules, especially the tidy up one! The children are now being encouraged to self-register, when they come into Nursery. The children are encouraged to find their own name and to add it to the Colour Monster feelings chart.
Thank-you for going on an Autumn walk, over the half term and for collecting the objects. The children have been busy exploring them, this week. We have shared the story Leaf Man and we have made ourselves out of the Autumnal objects that were brought into school. The children took time to consider their creations and they look amazing. I will add them to Tapestry.
We have also been learning a little about Bonfire Night. The children had been commenting about the Fireworks that they have been hearing and seeing in the night sky. We learnt a Firework number rhyme and we have been moving like a Firework, in the hall.
On Sunday it is Remembrance Sunday and we have been thinking about this. The children have been introduced to a Poppy and we have been talking about why the Poppies are worn, at this time of year. In November, we remember. We have started to learn a poem and a song about Remembrance day and we will continue to learn these, next week. We will join the school in a one minute silence, on the 11th November.
On Monday we have our Diwali Dance Workshop, this will be a great learning experience and it will introduce us to the story of Diwali.
Next Wednesday we have Parent Consultations, in the afternoon. Please ensure that you have signed up and that you pick your child up at the earlier time of 1.15pm.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
24th October 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
Can you believe we have reached the end of the first half-term? The children have settled in well and they have been amazing. We have been impressed with them all. Please have a well-deserved rest, over the holidays, the children have got a big half term ahead. The run up to Christmas is always very busy.
This week we have been thinking about how God created our family. We each drew a picture of our family and chatted whilst we did so. We talked about who was older/younger/bigger/smaller in our family. The children did some good work.
We have continued to learn the Nursery Rhymes 'Incy Wincy Spider' and 'Little Miss Muffet'. The children did perform these to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, and they did well. Unfortunately, the recording of this was too quiet so we performed it again, in the classroom. I have added the classroom recording to Tapestry. Maybe you could ask your child to perform the rhyme and actions at home.
Pumpkins have become a topic of conversation, this week. This came from the children talking about the pumpkins that they had decorated for the Autumn Antics. This gave us the opportunity to talk about the size, colour and shape of pumpkins. We also talked a little about the pumpkins growing from a seed. We cut open a pumpkin to explore what was inside, so many seeds. Mrs Barber and the children used pumpkins in a baking activity to make Pumpkin and Ginger cakes. They were delicious.
Have a lovely break
Miss Whittaker
17th October 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
This week we have continued to focus our learning around the story of Creation and Spiders! Today, we have been moving around like Spiders, in the hall and we have been creating our own movements for a Spiderling, an egg, making a web and catching a fly. We have continued to share different versions of Incy Wincy Spider and we have introduced Little Miss Muffet, with actions.
The children are being encouraged to add their name to the Colour Monster feelings chart. We are teaching the children to recognise their own name. Their name is important to them.
The children have each produced a lovely painting of their face, looking closely at a photo of themselves, choosing from a selection of colours. We talked about how God made our eyes to look, our ears to listen, our mouths to talk and eat, our nose to sniff and our hair, to keep our head warm. Just imagine if God hadn't created these body parts. God made us and God loves us. These paintings are now on display and they look great.
The weather is starting to get cooler. Please ensure that your child has a coat in school, everyday as we go out in all weathers. We are teaching the children the 'flip-trick' when putting on their coats; his will help them to become more independent.
Step 1: Child to put the coat down on the floor/a table.
Step 2: Child to stand near the hood (hood to toes).
Step 3: Child to put their arms through the arm holes.
Step 4: Child flips the coat over their head.
Also, we are teaching them that the floor is not a peg. They are to hang their coats on their peg.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
13th October 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
You child has brought home a Book Bag Bundle, today. The bag contains four books. Please share these books with your child. They are to be returned on Thursday. Each week your child will receive a Book Bag Bundle on a Monday and they are to be returned on Thursday, the same week.
Enjoy sharing the books with your child.
Miss Whittaker
10th October 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
This week has been Spider themed. You may have noticed more spiders when you are out and about, or more in your home, it's Spider Season. We are teaching the children about these lovely creatures that God has created.
We have been learning a number of spider themed songs, creating new words and rhymes and we have shared a couple spider themed books namely 'Aaarggh Spider' and 'Incy Wincy Spider'. We are sharing non-fiction and fiction books, to find out more. Over the next couple of weeks we will continue with this learning, including learning the life-cycle of a Spider.
The children have had the opportunity to create their own spider, using different materials, glue and a spatula. They have been encouraged to count out eight legs. These amazing, individual creations will be on display, soon.
The children have been exploring shapes, with Mrs Barber. They did this with toast. The children were able to use a knife to butter their slice of toast and then they sliced the toast into different shapes including a rectangle, square and triangle.
In the hall today we played a game of spiders and flies. Mrs Barber was the spider and she was catching flies (the children), to take back to her web. Once caught the flies had to stay in the web until all of the other flies had been caught. A lot of fun was had getting away from the spider!
Today, your child has brought home their Home-Wow Book. Please follow the instructions inside the book to find the Home-Wow challenge. You will find it on the Nursery Home Learning, webpage. Please return on Tuesday so that we can share our learning.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
3rd October 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
'God made me, God loves me', has been a big discussion point this week as we share the story of Creation from our special book, the 'Bible'. We have been learning a new song and the children are starting to join in with the chorus. 'God made me', is something that we have been learning about and the children were asked to draw a picture of themselves for the classroom door. We talked about the names of body parts and that we are all loved by God.
We have also been thinking about the shapes circle, rectangle, square and triangle. The children did some lovely cooking with Mrs Barber creating an 'Apple and Pear Turnover'. The children created square shapes with the pastry before turning them into triangles. They did a great job at slicing the apples and pears. We also talked about the apples and pears growing on the trees that God has created.
We also had to talk about Christmas trees and we created one with our hand for the MCCA Christmas card activity. The children did very well with these and we look forward to you seeing the end result when they are distributed by the MCCA.
During our hall time we played a listening game. Each child was allocated a marker and the children were instructed to move between markers before returning to the one they were at when a signal was given.
All of the children have now been out into the big playground and they have had fun exploring.
The weather is turning more Autumnal. Please ensure that your child has a coat in school, everyday. Please continue to encourage personal hygiene, at home.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
26th September 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
We have reached the end of the first full week and the children have done really well. We have been learning more rules, playing lots of name games and we have been encouraging the following of simple instructions.
This week we have shared the story 'The Enormous Turnip' and we have used the language big, small and enormous. We have encouraged the children to join in with the story and we have used different characters to create a new version. As part of our learning the children helped to create a Harvest vegetable soup using the ingredients leek, potato, carrot, sweet potato and swede (we couldn't get turnip). The children used knives to cut the vegetables and they did some great slicing. We did talk about where the vegetables came from and that God has created the sun and rain to help the vegetables to grow.
This week Mrs Barber has started to take small groups of children into the 'big playground'. We do this as a class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but we are taking out small groups to teach the rules. We have also taken the class to the hall to play a listening game, using markers, they did very well.
There has been a lot of sneezing and coughing which has led to us sharing the book 'Germs are not for Sharing'. In this book it talks about catching our coughs and sneezes, washing our hands and throwing tissues in the bin (not on the floor). Please encourage your child to develop their personal hygiene, whilst at home. Especially, washing hands after going to the toilet.
Thank-you to those parents who joined us for the 'Meet the Teacher' evening, on Wednesday. I have attached the slides (in PDF format), below.
Have a lovely weekend
Miss Whittaker
19th September 2025
Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome to Genesis class.
What a great first week we have had. I am pleased to say that the children appear to be settling in and they are starting to adapt to Nursery life. You may find that your child may be reluctant to come into school. This is all part of settling as they realise that they will be coming to school five days a week. In our experience we find that this is short lived and will soon pass.
This week we have been introducing 'Whole Body Listening' and this will be reinforced throughout the year. We have been learning our Nursery prayers, singing songs and sharing stories. The children have been exploring inside and out and next week we will start to learn some of our Nursery rules. The children are being encouraged to tidy up and this will also be reinforced everyday, throughout the year. Please encourage your child to tidy up after themselves, at home.
Please make sure that all of your child's clothing is named and add a keyring to your child's school bag so that they can recognise it.
We look forward to welcoming you back next week. On Monday the children finish at 2pm and then going forwards the end of day will be 3.30pm.
Have a great weekend
Miss Whittaker