Nursery

What a chilly week it’s been! ❄️ As the weather suddenly turned icy, we reminded ourselves how important it is to look after our bodies—lots of handwashing to keep those sneaky winter germs away, and wrapping up warm before heading outside to play. The children have been fantastic at remembering their hats, coats, and gloves!

On Tuesday, we set off on a mindful walk through the forest. The children walked quietly, listening carefully for the sounds of nature. We heard the wind, rustling leaves, and snapping twigs—but not a single bird! This got everyone wondering: Where do birds go in the winter?

Once we were back in our cosy classroom, we did a little research to find out how birds keep warm in the cold, wet winter. We learned that birds need plenty of food to give them energy when the weather turns frosty. So, we decided to help our feathered friends by making bird feeders!

The children had such fun mashing bananas and mixing them with birdseed to make bird cakes. They pressed the mixture into pinecones to create delicious, easy-to-eat treats. After freezing them to make them extra firm, we hung them outside—and we’ve already had a very grateful visitor who happily enjoyed the feast! 🐦

In literacy, we continued exploring rhyming words, listening carefully for the sounds at the end of words that make them rhyme. Concept Cat also came to visit this week, helping us learn new vocabulary—“through” and “side.” The children did brilliantly identifying when and where to use these words. Well done, everyone!

How you can help at home:

Encourage your child to practise writing numbers 1–5 (or higher if they’re ready). Then help them match each number to a group of objects—teddies, buttons, toy cars, anything you have at home!

Pick a word (e.g., cat) and let your child find something in the house that rhymes with it—or make up a silly rhyme if there’s nothing that matches!

Look out of your window or take a short walk to see if you can spot any winter birds. Talk about what they might need to stay warm and how your child could help care for wildlife.

We hope you all have a warm and cosy weekend. Stay snug!

What a wonderfully busy and exciting week we’ve had in Nursery! The weather certainly kept us talking. We began the week with bright sunshine and blustery winds blowing leaves around the playground then found ourselves splashing through sudden rain showers and finally ended the week surrounded by fluffy, magical snowflakes. The children loved noticing the changes each day and chatting about what the sky might do next.

In literacy, we continued our work on rhyming words, which has brought lots of giggles and brilliant thinking. We enjoyed reading Oi Frog and listening to Poo in the Zoo, and the children tried really hard to listen for the sound at the end of each word. They were very proud of themselves when they spotted rhyming pairs like “gibbons and ribbons” and “puffins and muffins” and we started making up our very own rhyming strings. Some of the animals in the stories were new to us, so we looked in non-fiction books to find out more about them. There was so much excitement as the children discovered new facts, and they were even more delighted when they realised they could write their very own fact books. We have some very enthusiastic authors in Nursery!

Maths was just as lively this week. We have been focusing on recognising numerals to 10 and finding groups of objects to match each number. The children are becoming so confident at using their fingers to show the numbers too. It’s lovely to see how proud they are when they get it just right.

We also spent some time outdoors helping Mr Johnson plant new saplings in the field. The children were incredibly enthusiastic gardeners, working together to dig the holes, place the baby trees inside, and cover them back up. Since planting them, they’ve been eager to check on them each day, excited to see how they might grow.

And then, of course, came the snow! Everyone arrived at school sprinkled in huge fluffy snowflakes, and the excitement in the classroom was contagious. We decided to test our scientific thinking with a snowy experiment. The children made predictions about what might happen if we brought snow indoors, and we set up two bowls—one inside and one outside—to compare after an hour. The children were amazed to see that the snow inside had melted into a big bowl of water while the snow outside stayed crisp and white. We carried on the snowy theme with some beautiful snowflake art, exploring different shapes and patterns with paint.

How you can help at home:

Choose an everyday object and see how many silly rhyming words your child can come up with.

Pick a number from 1 to 10 and find groups of objects around the house to match it.

Use snow or ice cubes to explore what melts quickest and why—try placing them in different spots and comparing.

What a brilliant week it has been. We can’t wait to see what next week brings!

We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

xx The Nursery Team

What a lovely week we have had in Nursery! The children have been busy exploring, creating and learning in so many different ways.

This week, we talked about Remembrance Day and why it’s such an important time to pause and remember. The children showed great respect as we held our minute’s silence while listening carefully to The Last Post being played on the bugle. It was a very special moment.

Together, we made a beautiful poppy wreath using all sorts of materials. The children experimented with different techniques to colour and decorate the petals, some used paint, others tissue paper, and even crayon rubbings! Everyone worked so well together, and the finished wreath looks wonderful on our classroom wall.

We also watched the short story “Poppies” to help us understand why we wear poppies and how they help us remember those who served. The children had some thoughtful conversations about remembering and saying thank you. https://youtu.be/pv_ub7Be7oA?si=rDRrIpKoqF0YoW1F

Our story this week was the hilarious “Oi Frog!” and it had us all giggling! We loved spotting all the rhyming words and thinking of our own silly ones. We played lots of listening games to hear which words rhyme and which don’t, and we matched small objects that rhymed like cat and hat, or frog and log!

Some of us even started to make our own rhyming books, drawing pictures of rhyming strings. It’s been so much fun hearing the children play with sounds and words.  We have some brilliant little poets in the making!

We’ve been continuing our learning all about positional language — words that tell us where things are. The children have learned to use words like in, on, under, next to, in between, around, behind, and in front.

We played games where one child gave instructions and the other had to follow and there was lots of giggling when teddies ended up in funny places like under the chair or behind the teacher! Everyone is becoming really confident using these words.

How to help at home:

Here are a few fun ways to keep the learning going:

Rhyme Hunt: Pick an everyday object (like a “sock”) and see how many rhyming words your child can think of — even the silly made-up ones count!

Poppy Craft: Have a go at making your own poppy picture or collage at home using paper, fabric, or things you find in the garden.

Position Play: Hide a favourite toy and give clues using positional words like “It’s under the table!” or “Look behind the cushion!”

It’s been a thoughtful and creative week in Nursery full of teamwork, laughter, and learning. We’re so proud of how beautifully the children have engaged with everything we’ve explored.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone!
💖 The Nursery Team

What an amazing start to the new half term it’s been! The children returned to school this week full of smiles, energy, and excitement, ready to dive into lots of new learning adventures. It was wonderful to see them walk through the door with such confidence and enthusiasm to be back together again.

In Literacy, we have been enjoying the story Mog’s Birthday by Judith Kerr. The children absolutely loved hearing about Mog’s special day and all the funny little things that happened in the story. Inspired by Mog, we decided to have a bit of a “party week” of our own! The children got busy writing party invitations to Mog’s birthday, carefully thinking about who to invite and what details to include. The children also came up with their very own recipes for Mog’s birthday cake and of course, the best part was heading out to the mud kitchen to make it themselves!

In Maths, we’ve been learning all about positional language, words like: under, over, next to, behind, in front of, and between. The children have had lots of fun giving and following instructions to move around the classroom and playground, using these special words. We also learned some catchy songs to help us remember how to use positional language and you might even hear a few of these tunes being sung at home!

As part of our topic on celebrating different cultures and festivals, we learned about The Gunpowder Plot and why we celebrate Bonfire Night. The children were fascinated by the story of Guy Fawkes and his secret plan. They listened carefully and were eager to act out and retell the story with their friends. It was lovely to see their imagination come to life as they made bonfires with the wooden bricks, used the flour as gunpowder and pretended to be King James I. To finish off our week, we made our own fireworks using Pom Pom blasters! The children were very careful and followed all our safety instructions.  What a fun and colourful way to combine learning with play!

We are so proud of how engaged, curious, and enthusiastic the children have been this week. They have settled back beautifully into the nursery routine, and we can’t wait to see what the rest of the half term brings!

How you can help at home:

Make your own party invitations. Use paper, pens and stickers to create an invitation for a pretend party at home. Talk about the important information to include: Who is it for? What day? What time?

Positional language treasure hunt. Hide a favourite toy and give clues using positional words, e.g. “It’s under the chair!” or “Look behind the cushion!”

Make firework art. Use paint and straws to blow colourful paint fireworks across the page, or sprinkle glitter and sequins to make your own sparkling night sky.

Well done, everyone, for such a fantastic first week back. We hope you have a lovely weekend and we can’t wait to see what fun learning next week will bring!

The Nursery Team xxx

What a wonderful week it’s been in Nursery! We started the week with a real bang after watching fireworks light up the night sky. The children came into school on Monday, buzzing with excitement and eager to tell us all about the colours, shapes and sounds they saw in the sky. It was lovely to hear them describing the fireworks using such imaginative words, we even had some brilliant sound effects too!

Screenshot

In Literacy, we listened to the story of Rama and Sita and learned about how the Festival of Lights, Diwali, began. The children were completely fascinated by the story and enjoyed talking about the characters and the message of good overcoming evil. This story inspired us to explore lots of fun and colourful Diwali activities throughout the week.

We made our own rangoli patterns outside using coloured rice, the children worked so carefully to create bright and beautiful designs. We also had a go at drawing mehndi patterns on our hands, practising swirls, flowers and shapes with great concentration. To finish off our celebrations, we even tried some Bollywood dancing! The children had such fun learning new moves, following the rhythm, and showing off their best dance poses.

In Maths, we practised counting objects and matching them to the correct numerals. The children also worked hard on putting numbers in order from 1 to 10, using songs, games and plenty of teamwork to help them remember.

For Art, we made our very own diva lamps using foam clay. The children rolled their clay into balls, pressed their thumbs in to make a space for a candle, and pinched around the sides to shape the lamps. Once they were dry, we painted them in bright colours and added a touch of sparkle,  They looked absolutely beautiful!

It’s been such a busy and joyful week full of colour, music and creativity.

How you can help at home:

Go on a colour hunt around your home or local park — how many different colours can you spot, just like the fireworks?

Continue practicing counting everyday objects such as conkers, leaves or toys.  Can you order numbers from 1-10?

Can you make your own fireworks night sky picture at home, drawing all the beautiful colours on a black background?

We hope you have a lovely, bright and happy half-term, everyone!

Best wishes,

The Nursery Team

What a lovely, busy week we have had in Nursery! Our learning this week has been inspired by the story “The Leaf Thief”, which quickly became a favourite with the children.

We started the week by heading out to our forest area to explore the changes we could see all around us. The children loved collecting leaves of all different colours, shapes and sizes  and they were fascinated watching the wind “stealing” the leaves from the trees, just like in our story!

Back in Nursery, we used our leaves in lots of creative ways. The children had fun with a nature colour matching game, looking carefully to find leaves that matched different shades. We also used paint to make beautiful leaf prints, and some children even created their own imaginative leaf creatures!

As we talked more about where leaves go and who might use them, the children began to wonder about animals that make their homes in piles of leaves. This led us to learn all about hedgehogs and we found out some interesting facts, looked at pictures, and then made our very own playdough hoglets! The children were fascinated to learn that hedgehogs, along with other animals, hibernate during the winter. This sparked lots of great conversations about which animals sleep all winter long and how they keep warm.

In maths, we have been practising counting objects carefully, matching groups of items to the correct numerals, and working on our number formation. The children are really developing their confidence and accuracy and it is wonderful to see their progress!

We’ve also had a big focus on fine motor skills this week. Through lots of fun, hands-on activities, the children have been strengthening their finger muscles, all great practice for zipping up coats, doing buttons, using cutlery, and becoming more confident mark-makers.

How you can help at home:

Go on your own leaf hunt! Collect a few different leaves and talk about their colours, textures, and shapes. You could even make up your own “Leaf Thief” story together!

Use leaves, conkers, or acorns to practise counting. Line them up and count carefully, then try matching the groups to written numbers on bits of paper. You could even sort them by size or colour for an extra challenge!

 You can use tweezers or tongs to pick up small autumn treasures like conkers or pebbles and pop them into pots.

It’s been a fantastic week full of curiosity, creativity and learning. We’re so proud of how engaged and enthusiastic the children have been, they have really embraced the autumn theme! 🍁

We hope you have a lovely, cosy weekend!

The Nursery team xx

This week in Nursery, we have been fully embracing the wonderful changes that autumn brings. The children have been noticing the change in the weather each day, checking our weather chart carefully and recording what they could see and feel outside. This has helped us think about how the weather can change very quickly and what signs of autumn we can spot around  us.

One of our favourite activities has been exploring the forest area, where we looked closely at the changing leaves. The children collected a variety of colourful leaves and practised their fine motor skills by threading them together. They showed great concentration and perseverance, and their finished leaf strings looked beautiful!

In our outdoor kitchen, the children created their very own “Autumn Stew.” Using playdough, chickpeas, pasta and conkers, they stirred, poured and mixed, showing fantastic imaginative play. We also explored our autumnal tuff tray, which was full of treasures to spark curiosity. The children demonstrated wonderful observation skills, noticing textures, colours, and shapes.

We also enjoyed listening to the story Stick and Stone, which taught us the importance of kindness and looking after our friends. After the story, the children had fun collecting stones in the playground as we continued our hunt for Stick and Pinecone! This gave them a chance to retell parts of the story in their own play.

In maths, we have been working really hard on counting objects from 1 to 5 with accuracy, as well as beginning to recognise numerals. The children have been so enthusiastic about learning our number formation song, which has been helping them remember how to write their numbers. Perhaps you could try singing the song together at home to practise!

https://youtu.be/pzmB0GoEKkA?si=rKcXDglg_IaTPfpw

How you can help at home:

Ask your child what the weather is like during the weekend. Encourage them to use words such as sunny, cloudy, windy, or rainy. You could even keep a little chart together at home.

Try to collect some Autumn leaves on a walk. At home, use them for a collage and talk about the different colours, shapes and textures they have found.

Practice their number formation song.

It has been such a busy and exciting week, full of learning, creativity and fun. We are looking forward to more autumn adventures next week!

We hope you have a fantastic weekend!

The Nursery Team  x

  What a fun-filled and busy week we’ve had in Nursery! (more…)

Due to technical issues we have been unable to upload photographs this week.

This week in Nursery, we have been exploring the magical world of books! We looked closely at different book covers to see if we could guess what the story might be about. The children learned where to find the title, and we talked about the illustrations on the front cover. Then we looked at the back cover and read the blurb. Everyone loved sharing their ideas and making predictions about the stories – there were some very creative guesses!

In Maths, we became pattern detectives! We learned that a pattern is something we do again and again. The children had so much fun making their own patterns with sounds, movements, shapes and colours. It was wonderful to see them spotting patterns everywhere and showing off their creative ideas.

We also talked about the importance of washing our hands to keep germs away. The children were amazed during our “glitter germs” experiment. Just a little glitter spread to everyone so quickly! It was fascinating for them to see how easily germs can travel. When we washed our hands with soap, the glitter moved away as if by magic – showing the children just how important it is to wash their hands properly.

It has been a week full of learning, fun, and discovery, and the children have shown curiosity and excitement in everything we did!

How you can help at home:

Can your child collect different objects while on a walk that illustrate the change in season?  Can they use some of the crunchy leaves and conkers to make their own repeating patterns?

When your child gets ready for bed, can they pick a book and predict what it might be about by looking at the picture?  Can they try to find the title of the book on the front cover?

We hope you have a lovely lovely weekend.

x The Nursery team

Wow, I almost can’t believe that the children have completed their first week in Nursery!

As can be expected, the first few days in a new setting  there a couple of wobbly lips in the mornings (from mums and children) but as the week progressed we are greeted with beautiful smiley, happy faces!  Settling in will look different for every child, so please be patient and POSITIVE and you will soon have a confident little person running into Nursery without a backwards glance.

The children have done incredibly well, getting used to the adults in the room, exploring in the different areas and having loads of fun while not even realising how much they have already learned!

We have explored our features in mirrors and used loose parts to recreate our portraits.

In maths we started learning about repeating patterns and enjoyed making patterns with loose parts we found in the class.

They have enjoyed painting their ducklings with a range of techniques and had fun decorating them to give them their own personalities.

How you can help at home:

Look for patterns around your house? Can they find a striped T-shirt?
Play I spy with numbers when you are out and about – what numbers can your child recognise?
Play listening games where your child needs to try and identify sounds they hear in the environment – can they hear an aeroplane, a knock on the door or children laughing in the park?

As this year draws to an end, we would like to say a fond farewell to those children leaving Merry Hill and moving to new schools. We wish them lots of luck settling in and making new friendships – we will miss you all!

We have had the most wonderful time this year; watching the children grow in confidence, developing their skills and forging friendships. It has been a delight to have each and every child in Nursery and we wish them all lots of luck as they continue their journey in Nursery or begin the next part of their journey in Reception. We are pleased that we will still see the majority of them in the Early Years and look forward to watching them bloom further!

There are too many wonderful experiences to name them all but some of our favourite things have been our visit to Ruislip Lido, nurturing and watching our duck eggs hatch, exploring the forest, learning lots of new skills in PE, having parents and carers teach us some dancing or reading us stories, taking part in sports day, creating houses for the Three Little Pigs, learning to retell stories, write our names and performing in our first Nativity show! Here are some of the highlights of our year:

We would like to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to all the families for their support this year, it really does make a huge difference to your child’s learning and experiences. They love having their grown ups share their achievements on WOW cards, coming in to share special festivals and celebrations, reading stories with our surprise readers and having familiar faces on our school trip!

The Nursery Team would also like to say thank you for your kind words, cards and gifts. We wish you all a restful summer break with your families and look forward to seeing lots of you in September.

Please enjoy a summer full of adventures, fun and memory making. Remember to stay safe, keep learning and check your uniform is labelled before we next see you!

How you can help at home:

• Go on adventures and explore the natural world – forest walks, climbing trees, splashing in puddles.
• Talk about your day – narrate what you are doing or what you can see on your walks or car journeys.
• Share the social story together so that your child is excited and has some familiar things to look out for in September.
• Encourage your child to be as independent as possible – peeling their own fruit, getting dressed and undressed, helping to pack their bag, putting on their own shoes and coat.
• Read as much as you can and visit the local library – your child came home with a bookmark detailing the summer reading challenge which is free and fun to take part in!
• Check your child has the correct uniform, including PE kit and that everything is named clearly.
• Continue working on writing your name!
• You might like to write a ‘postcard’ about your holiday adventures.
• Encourage your child to spot numbers and sounds in the environment – you might like to try playing I Spy, naming the initial sound for objects you can see.

We are nearly at the end of a fantastic year in Nursery,  during which the staff have had a wonderful time getting to know your children and watching them grow into independent learners. They have all made huge progress this year and we are immensely proud of them.
We look forward to seeing the children next week for their final few days in Nursery (a reminder that Nursery’s last day is Thursday 17th July).
Keep an eye out for the blog next week when we will be making some suggestions of activities you may want to try during the summer holidays to prepare your child for starting Reception or as they continue their learning in Nursery in September.