Please also remember to read the weekly school Newsletter for whole school and local community updates. 

Dates for the Diary

Early Learning Time - 9th May and 16th May (Please refer back to the letter that you received to check the date that you can attend.) 9am-9.30am

CHANGE OF DATE - Please be aware that one of the 'Early Learning Time' dates has been changed. The original date was the 20th June 2025 and it has now been changed to the 27th June 2025. 

Early Learning Time  - 6th June 2025 and 27th June 2025

Wednesday 4th June - 2.45pm - Nursery class Liturgy (parents/carers can attend) 

Monday 9th June - School Readiness Session- 2.20pm-3.30pm

Friday 20th and Monday 23rd June - school closed

Thursday 3rd July 2025 - Nursery trip to Kew Gardens (a letter will follow shortly)

16th May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

We have had some good news this week!  We now have seven small frogs and two tadpoles. A new habitat has been created for our little frog friends and they are doing well, hopping around. It's been an amazing speed of transformation, quicker than expected! We created a healthy  edible frog-lifecycle. Ask your child to tell you about the fruit/vegetables that we used to create a yummy, healthy frogspawn, tadpole, froglet and frog (we used spinach leaves, apple, grapes, carrot and raisins). They life-cycle was soon gobbled up and most of the children enjoyed the spinach leaves! Whilst doing this activity the children were also encouraged to do some careful counting. They had a picture to look at and they had to take the correct number of fruit/veg to complete each part of the life-cycle. We have continued sharing frog themed 'non-fiction' and 'fiction' books. The children also planted their growing beans out into the garden. We will return to our journey of a bean, next week. 

The children have been introduced to three sounds in phonics. The sounds 'f' and 'r' were out of sequence but these were taught because we thought about the sounds that could be heard in the word 'frog'. We also taught the sound 'k'. Next week we will be revisiting all of the sounds that we have learnt so far.

During our RE learning we have shared the stories 'On Easter Day in the Morning' (John 20. 1-10), 'The Good Shepherd' (John 10-11-15) and the 'Catch of Fishes' (John 21. 1-14). The children were encouraged to talk about what happened and the feelings that they felt, whilst listening and joining in with the songs and actions. Next week we will start to learn about the Ascension of Jesus and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Have a lovely weekend

Thanks to those who attended today's Early Learning Time. The children do enjoy sharing this time with their grown-ups. 

Miss Whittaker

9th May 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

It's been a shorter week but we have managed to fit a lot in. 

On Tuesday, we started to share the book 'Beans on Toast'. Whilst doing this we thought about the sounds that we could hear in the word 'on' and we started to learn about the journey of a baked bean, from stalk to plate. Next week we will continue with this learning and link it to the beans that we currently have growing in our classroom. The bean seeds in our classroom have been growing quickly, we can see the roots, shoot, stalk and leaves. The tadpoles are also changing quickly. The back legs have appeared, on most and we spotted one that has two front legs. A lid has now been put on our pond! 

On Wednesday we returned to learning about Mary, the Queen of Heaven, a mother to all. The children have started to paint a picture of Mary and these will be put on display once they are all complete.

On Thursday, it was VE Day. We talked about how on this day we celebrate people using kind words and actions instead of being unkind to each other. We looked at the Union Jack and talked about how these could be seen around some streets and we looked at the shapes on the flag. Mrs Barber and the children made cupcakes with the 3 colours red, white and blue in celebration of the 80^th VE Day and we listened to some music that might've been played during the celebrations.  During our two-minute silence, at 12pm, we watched the fly past that took part over Buckingham Palace on Monday. The children linked the red, white and blue smoke from the Red Arrows to that on our flag. 

Thank-you to those parents that joined us for this week's 'Early Learning Time', this morning. The children do enjoy sharing this time in Nursery with you. Hopefully you found it useful. We look forward to welcoming the remaining parents/carers, next week. 

Please remember to send your child to school with a cap and wearing sun cream. Your child should also have a water bottle in school, everyday.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

2nd May 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been sharing the story 'Jack and the Beanstalk', thinking about Jack's journey and talking about what happened. We created a story map and thought about how many times Jack went up and down the beanstalk. We have shared different versions of the story including 'Jack and the Jelly Bean Stalk'.

The children made 'Magic Bean Stew' with Mrs Barber. They prepped the vegetables by peeling and slicing them and we added 5 different varieties of beans. The stew was well received with many children going back for more. The magic part, all of the ingredients were all blended together.

Number 5 has been a common number this week, we have 5 beans growing on our window, we used 5 different beans in our stew and a child brought in 5 golf balls (for our new golf course). We also recalled that we had 5 eggs and 5 ducklings. As part of our number learning we played a track game, Jack and the Beanstalk. We had to take turns to roll a die and move along a track. The winner was the first to reach the top of the beanstalk. 

Our tadpoles have started to change. Some of them have got back legs growing. They are on their way to becoming a froglet. Our beans that are growing on the window have also started to grow. We are noticing that there are roots and shoots. The children are still waiting for their individual bean to grow.

The sounds that we have introduced in phonics are 'm' and 'b'. We have also been using our letters to make the rhyming words mat, bat, cat, sat and pat. The children were taken on a listening walk. We lay down in the Nursery garden and closed our eyes. We heard lots of different sounds. We then went into the big playground to see if the sounds were the same or similar. 

During our hall time we played the 'Bean Game'. The children had to listen very carefully to a bean instruction and move like that. We had jelly bean, frozen bean, jumping bean, baked bean, string bean, runner bean and broad bean. We will continue this game, next week. 

Father Jim came into class to visit after today's May Procession (we attended the assembly)  and we noticed that he had a blue cross on his stole. He talked to us about blue being a colour associated with Mary. We have now added a blue cloth to part of our Prayer Table and a statue of Mary so that we can remember her in the month of May. Thank-you to the children who created flowers for the statue that is in the office. We will make some more for our classroom. 

Please be reminded that the children need a hat and water bottle in school, in the warm weather.  Please also apply sun cream before your child comes into school. 

Have a lovely long weekend. See you on Tuesday.

Miss Whittaker

25^th April 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to the Summer term, the children have settled back in well and are eager to learn.  The theme of our learning this half term is Journeys and we have already begun.

On the first day back, we joined the rest of the school in learning about Earth Day. We shared the story 'A Good Place' and we thought about the journey that a bee, ladybird, dragonfly and beetle had to make until they found a good place to call home. We discussed whether or not our garden is a good place for insects to live and we decided that it is. We also shared a book 'Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer' which led to a discussion about pollution and the importance of looking after our planet. 

On Wednesday we had a very exciting delivery. We now have 11 tadpoles in our classroom. We created a 'pond' for them and we will observing them over the next few weeks to see what happens on their journey from tadpole to frog. We also shared the story 'Jasper's Beanstalk' and we have planted some bean seeds in the hope that we can grow our own beanstalks. We will be investigating 5 different varieties of beans to observe the similarities and differences, when they start to grow.

This week we have changed our Prayer Table colour from purple to gold/white. We have been celebrating Easter, looking at the change in our Easter garden and eating the Easter Egg and biscuits that we had on the table, during Lent. Whilst cracking the egg we thought about Jesus coming out of the dark tomb and, whilst eating the egg, we thought about how good Jesus is. To remember Pope Francis, we have added a black cloth, candle and some photos of Pope Francis, next to our Prayer Table. 

During phonics we recapped on the sounds that we learnt before half-term and we have been learning the sounds 'o' and 'g'. This half term we will thinking about the number 5 and doing problem solving with this quantity. This week we shared the rhyme 'Five Little Men in a Flying Saucer' and did some number problems with this. 

The weather is warming up. Please ensure that your child has sun-cream applied before they come to Nursery. The children are not to have bottles of sun-cream in their bags. The school cap is recommended for our outdoor play. Children should have water bottles in school, everyday and please check that all items of clothing are labelled. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

4th April 2025

Dear Parents/Carers

We have come to the end of our second term in Nursery and the children should feel proud of all of the hard work that they have done. 

This week we have made Easter cards, eaten Hot Cross Buns and made a very special Easter Garden. When we do our Easter learning we do not go into detail about what happened to Jesus before he died on the cross. It's enough for them to know that Jesus died on the cross. In our Easter Garden we added the Easter symbols, stone (for the rock that was rolled in front of the tomb), the cross (Jesus died on the cross) , an egg (representing new life), the purple ribbon (for Lent), a plant (the garden) and the children have each been given a gold ribbon so that they can change it from purple on Easter morning. When eating the Hot Cross Buns the children talked about how the cross on top reminds us of the cross that Jesus died on. We shared the song 'Five Hot Cross Buns in a Bakers Shop' which is the same as five currant buns but there is a cross on the top. We did a little problem solving with four Hot Cross Buns and the children thought about what happened when we shared the buns in different ways between a duckling and Jesus!

Some of the children wanted me to share the link to 'Boom Chicka Boom Easter' a song that we have been listening to in class  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVFn2oZXWE

Thank-you so much for your support in helping your child to create an Easter Bonnet. The children were all very proud to show off their creations and they looked fantastic. 

Have a lovely Easter break and we will see you on the 22nd April 2025

Miss Whittaker

28th March 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Last week saw us doing our Sponsored Scoot, for Catholic Children's Society.  The Nursery did a brilliant job of completing laps in 10 minutes, keeping going for the duration. We would like to say a huge thank-you for all of the donations that we have received to help other children. We can proudly say that Nursery raised a staggering £613.86 this is a superb achievement and the children are all Scooter Superstars. A huge thank-you to everyone that donated and for your support, it's hugely appreciated. 

This week we have continued to grow in caring, during Lent. We have been looking after the ducklings and our grass heads. Some of the children joined Mrs Barber out in the garden planting tomato seeds that we will all help to look after. There are so many changes in our garden. Buds are starting to grow on the trees, we have a lot more flowers blooming and the children are noticing the changes. Some of the children have been painting pictures of the Mascari (Grape Hyacinth) that we have growing, looking very carefully at the detail that is required. 

We have said goodbye to the ducklings but we have appreciated the time we have had with them. We have had some great learning and it's a wonderful experience to have been involved in. We have been sharing the song '5 Little Ducks' and we have been doing some problem solving with our ducklings. How many ducklings are in the water tray, how many are on the floor etc. 

The children have been introduced to the sound 'd' and the children are being encouraged to blend words that are segmented for them.  They are getting on well with hearing the initial sounds in words.

On Sunday it's Mother's Day. We have been thinking about how much we love our mum and all that they do for us. The children have worked very hard to create beautiful flower pictures. The children printed with fruit/vegetables to make their picture.  They have also created a lovely drawing of themselves with their mummy, whilst talking about why they love them. We hope that all of our mummy's have a lovely day.

Have a great weekend

Miss Whittaker

21st March 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Eggs, ducklings, grassheads, church visit, frog spawn, sponsored scoot...it's been a busy week!

Thank-you so much to all who volunteered their time to join us on the trip to the church. Without your support we would not of been able to go and I know the children enjoyed the experience. 

We have had egg-citing news this week with the birth of five ducklings. The children are helping to look after them and the ducklings have been a great way to talk about New Life. The grassheads are continuing to grow and we are taking care of them, well.

This week we have been doing a little problem solving when discussing how many eggs/ducklings there have been in the incubator and brooder. We used the language more/less and compared quantities. The children have been introduced to the sound 'n' and we have been reinforcing the sounds s, a, t, p and i. We are making words with these sounds and reading the words, together. 

We are raising money for the Catholic Children's Society as part of Lenten charity week. Today your child is bringing home a certificate and this will have on it the total number of laps that the child did during our Sponsored Scoot. Please return all money by next Thursday. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

14th March 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been thinking about Spring. We have been looking for signs of New Life and went on a Spring walk around the school environment. Daffodils have been a focus, looking at and naming the different parts including stem, leaf, bud, petals and corona. We have thought about how many petals there are on a daffodil and the children have created a lovely daffodil using salt dough (these are still in the oven). 

The children are continuing to look after their Grassheads and we are happy to say that we have some shoots. The grass is starting to grow, The children will be encouraged to look after their own grass, growing in love and caring during Lent. 

How do we make green? We had no green paint so we had to find another way of making it. We used the two colours blue and yellow to explore colour mixing. 

We have introduced the sound 'i' this week and we are continuing to reinforce the sounds s, a, t, p. We have used Robot Arms to sound out CVC words and the children are growing in confidence when blending. 

Some of the children brought in the books that they bought at the Book Fair, thank-you for sharing the children loved having their books read.  I shared a book that I bought 'Bun on the Run'. This book is a great take on the Gingerbread man and we all enjoyed sharing it. We have finally got around to finishing 'The Pet Potato'. Up until now I have concealed the ending of the story from the children as we waited to see what would happen to the potato we kept in our Wonder Windows. The potato sprouted and it is now buried in some compost, with some potato friends and we hope that we can grow many more potatoes! 

Next week we are off to the church. Thank-you to all who have volunteered, we are looking forward to welcoming you all on our visit to see Father Jim. We are very grateful for your support.  We may be doing a little detour through Lammas Park, on our way from the church. This week we have been told about the many frogs that have visited the park to lay frogspawn and this will be great to see as next half term we will be learning about the life-cycle of a frog.

Today the children have brought home a sponsor form and a box. We will be doing a sponsored scoot around the scooter park to raise money for our Lenten Charity, the Catholic Children's Society. The challenge is to see how many laps we can do in ten minutes around the Scooter Park, at school. The children will be using the school scooters.  I will let you know how many laps your child completes next Friday, after school. Please put any sponsorship money into the box and return to school by 27th March, thank-you for your support with this. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

7th March 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have had two workshops, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, World Book Day and parents in to read. It has been a whirlwind of activity and the children have coped very well with the changes in routine. 

On Shrove Tuesday Mrs Barber and the children made some lovely pancakes. The children had a choice of fluffy pancakes or crepes and they also prepared their own topping; slicing up strawberry, blueberries and banana. On the following day, Ash Wednesday, we had a visit from Father Jim and Mrs Crouch. They put the sign of the cross onto our forehead with ashes. Lent is a time for growing in love, caring, goodness and kindness. We are learning a new prayer, that we will say everyday during the Lenten Season. Some of us have given up some sweet treats and there is now a packet of biscuits and an Easter Egg on our Prayer Table that we will share when we come back to school, after Easter (if they make it that long!).

We have created our very own 'Grasshead' that we are going to care for and we have had a closer look at a daffodil bulb and daffodils. We have been learning the vocabulary bulb, root, shoot, stem, bud and petals. Next week our planting will continue and we will be looking for signs of Spring around our playground. The children have been talking about why we shouldn't pick flowers in our playground and we have to be careful when stepping around plants.

Thank-you to all of those who have volunteered to come on the walk to the church, you are all very welcome to join us.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

28th February 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Spring two. This half term we are focusing on the theme 'New Life' and there will be lots of growing! 

This week we have started to share the story 'The Pet Potato'.  We have not finished reading the story as this will give away the ending but we have been thinking about what it would be like to have a Pet Potato or any pet. We have put a potato in our Wonder Windows and we are observing if the potato changes. So far we have spotted that there is a sprout growing. 

Some of the children have been talking about Volcanoes and Mrs Davies very kindly brought us back some black volcanic sand from her latest holiday. We have been learning a little about the 'Ring of Fire', and found out that this has 452 volcanoes!

We have been learning about Mardi Gras, making masks and taking part in a parade. We have been thinking about the colours associated with Mardi Gras purple, green and gold and the children have been encouraged to mix red, blue and white to make purple. We have been singing songs and dancing to music.

Next week we will be making pancakes, on Shrove Tuesday and we will learning about Lent and what it means. This will be linked to our Mardi Gras learning.

We have focused on the sound 'p' this week and we have been thinking about words that begin with this sound. The children have also been learning about the number four and how this can be partitioned. During our hall session the children used mini parachutes and bean bags using the language up, down, side to side. We had to move the parachute trying to keep the bean bag on it.  This is tricky and we worked with a partner to do this. 

On the 18^th March we are off to the church to see Father Jim. A letter has been sent home about this and we would appreciate parental help for this trip. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

14^th February 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have focused on scripture from the Bible continuing to focus on 'Jesus and the Children' and the 'Baptism of Jesus'. We have shared our experiences of Baptism and the children have taken part in role-play, learning about how a baby is Baptised. Luckily, Father Jim popped in and he was also able to talk about what he does during a Baptism. We talked about the oil, water and the candle that is lit. 

We have focused on love this week, love for ourselves and for other people. Jesus loves everyone, Jesus was born for everyone. We are friends and we play in love and peace, sharing and taking turns. We made a paper chain, with each link having a child's name written on it. We are not alone in Nursery, we are all friends. The children each decorated a heart shaped biscuit to give to somebody else. 

Have a lovely half term

Miss Whittaker

7th February 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been busy baking. Over three days we created some delicious tasty treats including bread, jam tarts and gingerbread men. The children made dough, pastry and used gingerbread dough to cut and decorate a shape. They talked about the ingredients and the changes that occurred when baked. 

We have shared the story 'The Gingerbread Man' thinking about what happens, the characters in the story and the setting. We have also been making up our own versions, including adding the children to the story. 

We explored what happened to a Gingerbread Man when it was put into water. We can easily say that it's not a good ending for a Gingerbread Man! He went very soggy and broke apart. 

This week we have been taking part in 'Children's Mental Health Week', with the theme 'Know Yourself, Grow Yourself'. We have been thinking about what makes us happy or sad, what we enjoy doing, what our favourite toy is and people that are special to us. For home learning the children have been given a task of finding out more about you. 

Some of the children have been exploring the Beebots, small robots that we can programme to go forwards, backwards and to turn. We have been teaching them to switch them off and on.  

Thank-you to the group that attended this morning's 'Early Learning Time'. The second session is next week, for remaining children. A letter was sent out highlighting the dates for you to attend. If you have misplaced the letter, please let me know.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been learning about Chinese New Year. We have shared the story 'Maisy's Chinese New Year' and we have been sharing the story 'The Great Race'. We have been retelling the story using props and twelve small world animals. The children have been encouraged to think about the initial sound when naming the animals and we have been sharing two versions of the story. The endings are the same but some animals encountered a problem during the river race, the rabbit, horse and ox. I wonder if your child could tell you what animal we have been celebrating this year. A clue is this animal slithers.  I was born in the year of the monkey and Mrs Barber is a dragon (!), we found out that the children in Nursery were born in the year of rat or ox. Maybe you could find out what year you were born in. 

The children have created some decorations for our classroom. We went looking for sticks and decorated these with pink/white tissue paper to create blossoms, we made patterned snakes, using the lucky colours red and yellow and we have started to make Chinese Lanterns. We have used the language short and long when looking at snakes. 

Mrs Barber created her own Chinese restaurant and the children helped to prepare a lovely meal of vegetable noodles and we had vegetable spring rolls for snack on Friday, dipped in Sweet Chilli Sauce.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

24th January 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been sharing the story 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'. We have been using props, instruments and small world figures to help us to retell the story. We have shared different versions, with alternative endings and the children have been thinking about what a troll would be like. The children have created some lovely troll paintings and they were encouraged to talk about what happened in the story. We thought about some descriptive words for example  huge, smelly and grumpy we have focused on the setting. Other vocabulary we talked about included big, middle, small, goat, gruff, bridge, river and grass.

Everyday we do phonics learning, in the Nursery. This week we have focused on listening to words that start with an 'a' sound. 

I have noticed that some children are using all capital letters when writing their name. Just a reminder that there is only a capital letter at the start. 

In our RE learning we have been thinking about Jesus being a grown-up. He wasn't always baby Jesus! We have started to share 'Jesus Blesses Little Children'. We will be continuing this over the coming weeks and thinking about Baptism. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

CHANGE OF DATE - Please be aware that one of the 'Early Learning Time' dates has been changed. The original date was the 20th June 2025 and it has now been changed to the 27th June 2025. 

17^th January 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

We started the week with a workshop about 'People Who Help Us'. The children acted out some roles, played games and did a little singing. Lots of fun was had and the children enjoyed it. The children have continued to talk about some of the people who help us and the Police seems a popular choice in role-play!

This week we been sharing the story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. We have listened to some different versions of the story, talked about the characters, and we have been sharing a song. The children have made porridge with Mrs Barber and they had to make sure that it was 'just right' before they ate it all up. Ask your child what topping they chose for their porridge, there was a few to choose from. We thought about how we made the porridge and recalled what we did.  We have been continuing to learn about  the number three and we are starting to think about the language of size. 

The children have continued sharing the story of the Three Wise Men and we have started to learn the prayer 'Glory Be'.  Over the next few weeks we will be learning about Baptism and it would be great if you could share some photos of your child's Baptism, with us. Please send them into school. Please also talk to your child about how you celebrated and what happened at their Baptism. 

The children requested that we play the snowball game in the hall so we had more fun, getting very tired and competitive throwing the snowballs away from our team side.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

10th January 2025

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to the Spring Term. This half term our theme is 'Once Upon a Time...', over the next 5 weeks we will be sharing some well-known traditional tales. 

This week we have been sharing the story of 'The Three Magi' from the Bible. The children have been acting out the story and we have been discussing the long journey that The Three Magi went on, following a star, to get to Jesus. 

This week we experienced some cold weather; the children even saw a few minutes of snow. This caused excitement in the classroom. We shared the books 'Snowball' and 'Say Hello to the Snowy Animals'. The children had a lot of fun when we had a snowball game (giant pompoms), we split into two teams and had to see which team had the least amount of snowballs at the end of a given time. Mrs Davies was very competitive with her throwing!  We tried to see what would happen if we left some water, containing objects, outside overnight but unfortunately the temperature didn't get low enough to freeze the water when we tried it. We will try our investigation again another day. We have found a lot of ice around the garden. We talked about how the ice was made and we looked at what happened to the ice when it was brought indoors. 

The children have been introduced to the sound 's' as part of our phonics learning. They have been encouraged to think about objects that begin with this sound and we have been doing some super sorting, separating objects that begin with 's' from those that don't. 

The children have been reminded of our Class Rules and they are being reminded about flushing the toilet and washing their hands after using the toilet. 

Just a reminder that the deadline for Reception applications is nearly here. The final date is the 15th January. There is a link below.

Please remember to look at the 'Nursery Home Learning' page to see the weekly learning that your child can do at home. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

13th December 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been working hard learning songs and actions for our show and they have done very well. We have been learning the story 'Nativity' and the children have been busy making hats, carrying on the pattern theme, and biscuits ready for the show. 

The children took part in the Christmas Lunch and we have put on a show. Thank-you so much for attending, I know the children appreciate you being there. They did a superb job and we are very proud of them. 

Next Thursday is Christmas Party afternoon, across the school. There is no need for the Nursery children to bring in food. The children will prepare their own little snack, in class. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

6th December 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been busy preparing for Christmas and for the small Christmas show that we will be putting on next Friday. The children have been learning the story, actions and songs  and they are doing really well. You are invited to join us, next Friday at 9am for a hour of Festive fun. Please remember your Christmas jumpers. 

On Wednesday the children had a visit from the theatre and watched the show 'The Imagination Train: North Pole'. It was about a train ride and the children met Pippa the Penguin, saw igloos and the Northern Lights and went to Jack Frost's party. It was fun and the children were very involved. 

Each day we have had a visit from a special Elf. He takes messages back to the North Pole and the children have been told that a little bit of magic will be lost if the Elf is touched. We are also opening our Advent calendar, each day we are learning more about the Nativity. 

The children have been making decorations for the classroom and they have been encouraged to use handwriting patterns including dots, swirls, circles, lines, zig zags and arcs (rainbow). They have done some great work and the decorations will look lovely hanging in our classroom. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

29th November 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have started our Christmas preparation.  We have been very busy learning three songs that we are going to share at the Christmas Fair, on Sunday and we have been making Candy Cane patterns for a hall decoration. We have been using 2/3 colours (printing with paint)  to create a repeating pattern and thinking about how we make these with other objects around the room. 

The children have been introduced to Angel Gabriel and Mary. We have shared the 'Annunciation' story and have been learning a couple of songs relating to this. The children have been busy creating Angel pictures and we have been reinforcing that they are not Fairies!

We have started to get out the Advent Wreath and calendar and the children will be learning more about this through the Advent season. The Christmas tree will be put up on Monday and the children have been making a decoration, out of salt-dough to put on it. The children have also been told that Christmas is a time for celebrating the birth of a very special baby, Jesus.

We hope to see you all at the Christmas Fair. the children have been working hard to learn the songs and actions. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

22nd November 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been learning about the Jewish Festival of Light, 'Hanukkah. We have shared a few books, relating to the Festival and we have been learning about how it is celebrated. There are eight days in the Festival and the children have been taught about a Menorah. There are eight candles to light on a Menorah, one for each day of the Festival, there is a ninth candle the Shamash (helper candle) that is used to light the other candles). The children have made Potato Latkes with Mrs Barber. These went down well.

At the start of the week we were thinking about Fireworks so we created our own. We used a paint, a pipette and a salad spinner to make our creations. The children were really surprised to see what had happened to the paint once it had been spun. The had made new colours and the paint had spread around the paper. 

We thought about some different sources of light and the children have been busy exploring the torches. As part of home learning the children have been asked to look for sources of light around their home and when out and about. 

The weather has turned colder this week and the children have been busy discovering patches of ice around the garden and their was a bit of excitement when we had a snow flurry. It is now taking a lot longer for us to get ready to go outside. Please practice fastening up zips and putting on scarves/hats. We recommend that the children have mittens, unless they can put gloves on by themself. Also, please ensure that all clothing is named. 

Next weekend we will be having the Christmas Fair. The children will be singing on stage at 12.15pm so it will be great if you can get to the stage for 12.10pm. We will be starting our Christmas learning, next week. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

15th November 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

We started our week thinking about Remembrance Day, with us having a minutes silence at 11am. The children used glitter to decorate their poppies and they are now on display in the classroom. See the photo below. 

On Monday afternoon the children were introduced to the Festival of Lights, Diwali. We had a lovely workshop and the children learnt about the Diwali story with the characters, Rama, Sita, Hanuman and Ravana. We were introduced to some dance moves and we put them together in a sequence. It was a great experience.

Throughout the week we have continued with our 'Let's Celebrate' theme, thinking about how Diwali is celebrated. The children have made Diya lamps, using clay, tools and beads, they been introduced to Rangoli and Henna patterns and we have made and eaten Chapattis . We have been learning a Diwali related song (What is Diwali? - CBeebies) and we have learnt a few more dance moves. 

The stories we have shared include 'The Best Diwali Ever', 'Chapatti Moon' and 'The Runaway Chapatti'. We have also used the  following website to help with our learning.

Diwali - CBeebies 

The children have been thinking about the shapes, circle, square, rectangle and triangle and they have been encouraged to look for them around our environment. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

8th November 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome back to Autumn 2. Our topic this half-term is 'Let's Celebrate!' and this week we have been thinking about a celebration that we are all aware of, birthdays! Thank-you for sending in a photo of your child, celebrating, they are on display in the classroom and the children are enjoying looking at them. Mr Troll was a little upset this week because his friends had forgotten that it was his birthday. The Nursery children soon cheered him up by singing happy birthday drawing him pictures and making food to eat. Please send your child in with a photo, if you have not yet done so so that they can be added to the display. 

On Monday we started to think about all the Autumnal changes that we are seeing at the moment and we shared the story Leaf Man. On Tuesday we created our own Leaf person, using the leaves that the children had collected. I have added the children's creations, below. Once made they did get blown away... We have been busy learning an Autumnal song and in the hall today the children pretended to be leaves, swirling and whirling to the ground. Mrs Barber then used a pretend broom to sweep the leaves (the children) into a pile before jumping into the pile with the children. I have added the song for home learning, enjoy sharing it. 

The children have been introduced to a Poppy. Many people wear them at this time of year. We shared a poem and song which I have added below. The tune for the song is 'Lavenders Blue'. The children made a Poppy, using salt-dough. These are still drying and I will share photos once finished. We have also created some beautiful poppy paintings using potatoes, to print and poppy seeds. I will add these to the website, next week. 

We also touched on Bonfire Night, on Wednesday. We talked about some of the fireworks that we had seen in the night sky. We will continue to think about fireworks, next week, when we learn about the celebration of Diwali. 

Parent consultations will be going ahead next Wednesday. We ask that you join us for the 30 minute slot, from 8.45am-9.15am. I am aware that you are allocated a time for the consultations but it is great for your child to spend time with you in their learning environment.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

25th October 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

Can you believe that we have reached the half term? Time has flown by but I can see that we have some tired children. 

This week we have been investigating pumpkins, listening to Gospel music, thinking about Autumnal changes and talking about spiders (keep looking for them!).

On Tuesday the children went into the hall to listen and to join in with singing from some Gospel Singers. This was great. We were singing the chorus from 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' and 'This Little Light of Mine'.  The children did a little dancing and we joined in with the actions. 

On Wednesday we shared a non-fiction book, 'Spiders'. Did you know that spiders have pale blue blood? Or the reason for spiders not sticking to their webs? We had to do a little investigation. Flies and other bugs stick to a web but not a spider. This is because spiders have oily legs. We used sticky tape, baby oil and our finger to recreate a spider on its web. 

Mrs Barber made a lovely Autumnal treat, on Thursday, This was inspired by a child who brought Mrs Barber, Mrs Davies and I a Gingerbread man, for a treat. We looked through our recipe book and found a recipe for Ginger and Pumpkin cake. The children helped to mix the ingredients and make the cakes. They were very yummy! We investigated a pumpkin and started to think about the life cycle of a pumpkin. It's amazing to think that such a large pumpkin grows from a tiny seed. 

We have had a few songs this week. We have continued with a song about creation, we have had a skeleton song and a pumpkin counting song. 

The children have been spotting the Autumnal changes. This week we learnt a poem, as part of poetry week and it was about the different coloured leaves that we can see on trees. Maybe your child can share it with you, 'I see Leaves'. 

I am setting some home-learning for other the holidays. You will find this on the home learning section of the website, link below. 

Have a lovely half term

See you on the 4th November

Miss Whittaker

18th October 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

This week we have been continuing with our spider learning. Sharing the songs Incy Wincy Spider and Little Miss Muffet. The Little Miss Muffet book that we have been sharing has lots of rhyming text and we have been encouraging the children to listen out for words that rhyme. For example, a parrot took Miss Muffet's carrot, mice took her rice and a bear took her pear. We have continued sharing the story 'Aaaarrrrgh Spider' and shared two different versions of Incy Wincy Spider.

Mrs Barber had fun reprising her role has 'Big Bird Barber' chasing all the little spiderlings. Whilst playing this game we encourage the children to look out for others and to move around safely. There is also a lot of listening to instructions. The children had fun making bread dough and making this into Spider bread. The children were encouraged with their careful counting. 

We have been thinking about the story of Creation and how God created all creatures, big and small. We thought about how some of us have pets at home and how we take care of them. We also discussed if we could have any pet what would it be? We need to look after all of the creatures, big and small, including spiders! 

Christmas came very early in the Nursery. The MCCA requested the annual Christmas card so we turned this into a printing session. The children used their hand to create a Christmas tree and a brown block to print a tree stump. The children then added a star and decorations with a paint brush. 

This morning we had a foggy start to the day and lots of spider webs were spotted. As part of our movement to music we danced creating circles, straight lines and spirals/swirls. We then demonstrated how to create a sparkly spider web, creating a spiral shape with white paint and glitter. We carried on printing, this time using our thumb/finger to create a spider body shape before adding 8 legs. 

I have asked the children to look out for spiders, over the weekend. Hopefully they will see quite a few. You could always take a photo and add to class-dojo, for us all to see, if you spot any.

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

11th October 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

The weather this week has been up and down and we have made the most of it. We have had so many weather changes that we had to talk about this. The children have been learning that there are seven colours in a rainbow; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. I demonstrated how to mix colours and we created some wonderful rainbow paintings. These are hanging in the classroom.  

This week we have been learning the story of Incy Wincy spider and we have been using jingle bells and shakers to create music. The children made spiders using four cucumber sticks, four carrot sticks, two raisins and one circle of bread. The children were encouraged to select the correct amount of items and to count carefully as they created a spider. The spider was soon gobbled up.

We have shared the story 'Aaarggh Spider' and we have been thinking about the family and their pets. As part of our RE learning we have been thinking about how God created our Family. We have started to draw pictures of our Family and this will continue next week. 

In the hall we played a game were 'Big Bird Barber' was catching spiders to take back to her nest. The children were encouraged to look out for others as they escaped to the safety of the web. Lots of fun was had. The children have had the chance to go on bikes and scooters  in the big playground and we have been doing lots of ball kicking. 

Please ensure that your child has a coat in school, everyday. We have also been talking about catching our germs when we cough and sneeze, by covering our mouth. Please continue to encourage this at home. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

4th October 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

'God made me, God loves me' has been a big discussion point this week as we continue to learn about the story of Creation. We have continued to think about the wonderful world that God created for us and we will be continuing to talk more about this over the coming weeks.  The children have created some lovely self-portraits and they were encouraged to look at a photo of themselves as they painted.

We started the week thinking about what we can use our hands for. We have focused on the positives, for example, drawing, painting, eating, drinking etc and we have talked about what hands are not for, for example, pushing, hitting, taking from others etc. We have reinforced this learning through the week, highlighting positive uses of hands. We have also been reinforcing helping, at tidy up time. The children are expected to tidy away what they have been playing with.

Apples and pears have grown on trees, created by God and we have been learning about the harvesting of apples. We found an apple tree in one of our playgrounds with one apple left growing on it and Mrs Barber managed to find an apple on a tree and she brought it in to show us. We used apples and pears to make a lovely Autumnal treat, an 'Apple and Pear Turnover'. I hope that they shared this with you. The children worked hard slicing up the fruit and folding the pastry.

We have been looking around for shapes including rectangles, squares, circles and triangles. When making the turnovers we created squares and triangles  with the pastry.  Some of the children wanted toast this morning and we sat in the kitchen looking for shapes and shapes were created when slicing the toast. 

Please ensure that your child has a coat in school, everyday. These MUST be navy blue, this is our uniform. Also, hair must be tied back with blue/yellow accessories to match the school uniform. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

27th September 2024

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. 

It has been a very busy week. At the start of the week the children started spotting Ladybirds on one of the trees in the garden. Some of them also spotted Larvae so this led to us learning a little about the Ladybird Life-cycle, learning the words egg, Larva, pupa, ladybird. 

We have been sharing the story The Enormous Turnip and talking about Harvest time. We have shared a few versions of the story, with different characters. As part of our learning the children helped to create a Harvest Vegetable soup using potato, carrot, turnip, sweet potato and leek.  The children used knives to cut the vegetables and they did some great slicing. We found out a little more about where carrots come from 

This week we have been out in the big playground, this is part of our routine on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The children started to explore the climbing equipment and we got out the balls. We have taken the children to the hall for some listening games and we have done our first 'Movement to Music', using scarves to practice making lines. 

As part of our RE learning we have been starting to share the story of Creation and this will continue over the coming weeks. 

It's been a wet week which has led to us singing lots of rain themed songs and the children are encouraged to join in. 

Please ensure that all clothing is named, including coats and please continue to encourage your child to wash their hands after using the toilet. 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Whittaker

20th September 2024

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children have settled really well into staying for lunch. We have so many good eaters this year and some have been having quite a few helpings!  Since the start the children have been having a snack at 10am, as we didn't want the milk/fruit to go to waste. This has been phased out towards the end of this week. The children have lunch at 11.15am and then we have a snack, as part of our carpet session, around 1.30pm.

We have continued to focus on some of our class rules including, Whole Body Listening, washing hands, toilet before lunch, walking in a line, staying on the left and walking around the environment. The children are encouraged with tidying up and we are noticing that more tissues are being required for the noses so we are encouraging the children to put used tissues in the bin, not on the floor! We ask that you continue to reinforce toileting, washing hands and the managing of personal hygiene. 

Next week the children are in from 8.30am-3.30pm. You may find that your child is tired, they may not want to come to school or they may be a little upset coming in. It's a big adjustment for your child and I can assure you that this behaviour is to be expected. If you have any concerns please let us know. 

Thank-you for attending last night's meeting. I have added the 'Meet the Teacher' presentation, below. Any questions, please email the school office. 

Have a great weekend

Miss Whittaker

13th September 2024

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 nicely 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 can I request that if there is a late change to pick-up arrangements that you phone the office and not email. I check my emails at the start, middle and end of the day. If an email is sent during teaching times it will not be seen by me but if you phone the office they will pass on the message. 

We look forward to welcoming you back next week. We will continue to be part time for the following week. I know that this may be an inconvenience for you but it does benefit the settling in for your child. 

Have a great weekend

Miss Whittaker