School newsletter 24/25 – Term 1, newsletter 9
Hi All
Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:
Wow experience – This week the children made Diwali Sweets – Coconut Squares which linked to our theme of ‘Diwali – The Festival of Light’, we discussed how during this festival people celebrated by going to parties, dancing, watching fireworks, and eating.
Indoor focus – The room was bright and colourful this week as we embraced celebrating and learning all about ‘Diwali’. The children enjoyed using their strength to make large patterns, using their fine motor skills by using tweezers to sort collections and colours. We introduced a puppet theatre and acted out the story of ‘Rama and Sita’, the children really engaged with this and were interested in the story, the different characters and the roles they played within the story. Here is a link to some Diwali clips, we shared these with the children to help with their understanding of how ‘Diwali’ came about and how it is celebrated today – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/lets-celebrate-diwali
Outdoor focus – The highlight this week had to be the ‘dark’ shed, Jenny crated a cosy space for the children to enjoy, she placed battery tea lights around the shed and there were torches available for the children to use. The children (and staff) enjoyed reading books and looking for ‘spiders and cobwebs’ in the shed, lots of lovely discussions were observed. The children also had the chance to make clay ‘Diva Lamps’ and Rangoli Pattens using rice, powder paint and chalk.
Forest School – On Thursday we started our Forest School Sessions, Please see the list attached to see when your child will be doing Forest School as it will be every other week. You can provide waterproof’s for your child but we do have these available for the children to use. It would be really helpful if you could ensure your child has a pair of wellies which you can leave these at school (please name). The sessions this week were great, the children were actively encouraged to get themselves ready, we then headed up to the Forest School site. We checked in with our feelings, discussed building a mini beast hotel, looked for potential hotel guests and enjoyed listening to nature around us while having a hot chocolate and a biscuit. The sessions were quite magical and brought a real sense of belonging and togetherness.
Maths focus – We explored pattern this week, we did this in many ways from physical patterns ie., jump, clap, jump, clap to making our own AB patterns using loose parts and resources.
Phonic focus – This term we will be focusing on instrumental sounds, this builds on from environmental sounds which we focused on last term. We had fun ‘passing the sound’ around the circle at group time, where the children copied a ‘short’ or ‘long’ sound.
Core Song – It’s Diwali
Poem – Who Has Seen The Wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you.
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I.
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
Reminders / Information
– Children in Need – Friday 15th of November: To help raise funds for Children in Need your child can come dressed in party outfits or dressing up clothes. We will have several dance parties where they can dance the Piggle Wiggle and party away. We are asking for a £1 donation if you can, there will be a collection pot on the day.
– Please don’t forget to apply for your child’s Primary School place for September 2025, please see the ‘Memo’ I sent during the week. You have until January the 15th 2025 to apply. Please do ask for help if you need it. Here is the link to the application page – https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/schools/apply-school-place/reception-applications/make-application
– Our interim headteacher Sarah O’Leary will be writing a termly newsletter for you shortly, so please do keep an eye out for this. This will include some key information and dates for the term to put in your calendar.
Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week.
Kind regards
Zoe