School newsletter 24/25 – Term 1, newsletter 10

Hi All

Here is an overview of our week at Nursery School:

Wow experience – This week the children made ‘Cheese Twists’ and added poppy seeds. This linked in with discussions around ‘Remembrance Day’ where the children were encouraged to express their ideas and feelings.

Indoor focus – On Monday we recognised it was ‘Remembrance Day’ and discussed in simple terms what this meant. We watched a clip on CBeebies called Poppies – https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/watch/poppies  this allowed the children to share their thoughts and ask any questions. In the creation station the children created their own poppy art using red, green and black media. The children were practising their cutting skills by cutting out poppies to make their own wreaths / pictures. The new hibernation station role play area has proven popular, the children have enjoyed discovering lots of animals that are hibernating and acting out scenarios within their play.

Outdoor focus – The children have had the opportunity to make big circular movements when painting and creating large poppies, we attached some large boxes to the fence for the children to decorate. We also introduced a pattern obstacle course which was physical and fun. The children really enjoyed being up at the top of the garden this week where they were busy in the mud kitchen, sand pit and experimenting on the wooden trim trail and climbing equipment. We even went on a few ‘bear’, ‘skeleton’ and ‘dinosaur’ hunts, this is always a great way to encourage children to retell and act out familiar stories.

Forest School – This week on Thursday the children in groups C & D did Forest School. The children were excited and keen to engage, we checked in with our feelings, collected natural resources for our mini beast hotel, discovered more potential hotel guests and of course enjoyed a hot chocolate and a biscuit.

Maths focus: Pattern – the children are beginning to understand what a repeated pattern is, we focused our maths group times around this concept and there were many opportunities available within provision to reinforce this learning intention.

Phonic focus: Instrumental sounds, building on from environmental sounds – During group times we added new words to old songs and used percussion to accompany the new lyrics. We also explored a range of animal sounds and discussed which instrumental sounds matched the different animals thinking about if the animals made a quiet or loud sound.

We said goodbye to Fiachra this week, we wish you well in your relocation and will miss you all.
Please do keep in touch 😊

Core Song – 5 Little Speckled Frogs

Poem – Mice

I think mice are rather nice.
Their tails are long, their faces small,
They haven’t any chins at all.
Their ears are pink. Their teeth are white.
They run around the house at night.
They nibble things they shouldn’t touch.
And no-one seems to like them much.
But I think mice are nice.

Information / Reminders

– Children in Need: Thank you for helping to raise funds for ‘Children in Need’, we had a great day doing the piggle wiggle and dancing away in our party / dressing up clothes. We will let you know how much we raised in total next week.

– Snack donations: Please remember to bring your weekly donation of fruit, vegetables or a savoury option if you can. Thank you this really does help.

– Settling in reports: Yesterday, you will have received a settling in report for your child from last term. This gives you an overview of how your child settled back / into Nursery School. Please do ask if you have any questions regarding these reports.

– Applications for Primary School : 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 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend 😊

Kind regards

Zoe