Nursery

What a week we have had at Nursery! With the scorching heat, we made sure we did everything we could to help the children stay cool, comfortable, and safe while still enjoying lots of exciting learning opportunities.

We spent plenty of time in the shade, offered lots of water play activities, and made the most of our lovely forest area. The covered forest provided a wonderful cool breeze and gave the children the perfect space to explore, play, and enjoy the outdoors while staying protected from the heat.

This week we also welcomed our new friends who will be joining us in September. It was wonderful to see how kind and welcoming the children were. They helped our new friends feel included by inviting them into their play, showing them our activities, and involving them in our learning. We were very proud to see such caring and thoughtful behaviour from the children.

Our fairy tale topic has continued to capture the children’s imaginations. The children have loved acting out traditional tales, beginning their stories with “Once upon a time” and finishing with “and they lived happily ever after”. They have been busy creating props to support their storytelling, including making gingerbread men from playdough, exploring the Three Little Pigs in the tuff tray, and giving the sandpit a wonderful fairy tale makeover.

This week our focus story was The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and the children showed a particular interest in building their own bridges using Duplo bricks. They worked together to design and create different structures while also making stick puppet characters to help retell the story. It has been fantastic to see their creativity, teamwork, and confidence grow as they bring stories to life through their play.

Although we had to cancel sports day due to the extreme weather, we turned this into a valuable learning opportunity. We talked with the children about how to keep ourselves safe in the sun and why it is important to look after our bodies in hot weather. We still enjoyed our movement breaks and created some fun games to encourage everyone to drink plenty of water.

The children particularly loved their Danny Go movement breaks in our cool, dark classroom this week. Using glowsticks made the experience feel extra special and brought lots of smiles and excitement to our day.

Even with the heat keeping us busy, we still found time for phonics learning. This week we introduced the sound v and explored lots of words that begin with this sound or have it in the middle. The children especially enjoyed learning about vicious venomous vipers and sharing their own ideas of words containing the sound.

It has been a busy and memorable week filled with imagination, creativity, friendship, and lots of fun. Thank you for your continued support in helping us make every learning opportunity count.

How you can can help at home:

Share a favourite fairy tale together and encourage your child to act out the story using toys, drawings, or homemade props.

Look for things around your home or when you are out and about that begin with the sound v, and practise saying the sound together.

Talk about staying safe in the sunshine by practising applying sun cream, wearing a hat, finding shade, and remembering to drink water regularly.

What a wonderful week we have had in Nursery! We continued our Traditional Tales topic and this week we explored the story Stone Soup. The children absolutely loved this story and enjoyed talking about the important message behind it: when everyone shares a little bit, everyone can have a lot.

Inspired by the story, we went on our own adventure to the forest to search for the perfect stones to make our very own stone soup. The children carefully thought about which stones would work best, using their measuring skills to check that their chosen stone was the right size to fit into our pretend cooking pot and not too heavy to carry. There was lots of wonderful mathematical language being used as the children compared the size and weight of different stones.

The children also enjoyed practising their pouring skills as they carefully added ingredients to their soup. They concentrated hard to make sure they did not spill any of their delicious lunch. It was lovely to see them using their imagination, working together and developing their problem solving skills as they created their own version of the story.

The warm weather gave us lots of opportunities to talk about how we can look after ourselves and stay healthy during sunny days. The children shared some fantastic ideas, including having a paddling pool to cool down. Although we could not make that happen, we created our very own bubble foot spa instead and the children absolutely loved it! We also enjoyed lots of water based activities to help us stay cool whilst learning and having fun.

We talked about the importance of drinking plenty of water, wearing a sunhat, applying suncream and finding shade when the sun is too hot. The children showed a great understanding of how these small actions help us to look after our bodies and keep ourselves safe.

We have also been busy creating our very special Father’s Day cards. The children used their impressive fine motor skills to create line drawings of their dads, carefully adding details that made each picture unique. They then explored different patterns, textures and materials to create beautiful textured backgrounds. We are sure all the dads will love their extra sparkly cards, especially the thoughtful messages explaining why they are so special.

It has been lovely to see the children’s creativity, kindness and curiosity shine through this week. We are so proud of all their learning and the wonderful ways they continue to explore, share and learn together.

How you can help at home:

Read or retell the story of Stone Soup together and encourage your child to create their own imaginary soup using household items or play food. Talk about what ingredients they would add and why sharing helps everyone.

Find objects around your home and encourage your child to compare their size and weight. You could ask questions such as which object is heavier, which is smaller or which one would fit inside a container.

Talk about ways to look after ourselves on sunny days. Encourage your child to fill their own water bottle, choose suitable clothing, wear a sunhat and find shady places to play.

What a fantastic week we have had in Nursery!

This week we have continued our learning about traditional tales, exploring a range of well-known stories and comparing them with more modern books. The children have been developing their understanding of what makes a story a traditional tale and have become very confident at spotting some of the key features. They know that traditional tales often begin with “Once upon a time” and end with “They lived happily ever after.” We enjoyed listening to different stories, discussing the characters and settings, and talking about how traditional tales have been passed down through generations.

As part of our traditional tales topic, the children have been helping to create our exciting new role-play area. They have shown great enthusiasm and teamwork while painting the walls to create a magnificent castle backdrop. The children were involved in making decisions about what resources should be included, choosing dressing-up clothes, small world characters and a variety of traditional story books. It has been wonderful to see them sharing ideas, cooperating with their friends and taking pride in helping to create a space that will inspire imaginative play and storytelling.

In our maths learning, we have continued to link our activities to traditional tales. The children enjoyed counting, sorting and comparing objects from different stories. We explored mathematical language such as more, fewer, same, big, bigger and biggest while comparing characters and objects from familiar tales. We also practised counting carefully, recognising numerals and talking about patterns and size through fairy tale-themed activities. The children particularly enjoyed using story props to support their mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.

In phonics, we have continued learning new sounds and this week focused on ‘l’and ‘ll’. The children had lots of fun making up silly sentences and listening carefully for words containing the /l/ sound. We practised identifying whether the sound appeared at the beginning, middle or end of words, helping to strengthen both listening and early reading skills. The children are becoming increasingly confident at hearing sounds in words and applying this knowledge during their play and learning.

We have also been busy becoming authors! The children have been writing and illustrating their own books, drawing upon the stories we have shared together for inspiration. They thought carefully about their characters, settings and story ideas, and worked hard to represent their thoughts through pictures, marks, letters and words. It has been lovely to see their confidence growing as they develop their early writing skills and begin to understand that print carries meaning.

The highlight of the week was undoubtedly our whole-school trip to the Radlett Theatre to see The Cat in the Hat. The excitement began long before we arrived, with the coach journey itself proving to be a huge adventure! The children loved travelling together and were full of anticipation as we approached the theatre. Once inside, they were captivated by the atmosphere and thoroughly enjoyed watching the story come to life on stage. There were lots of laughs, smiles and excited conversations afterwards as the children shared their favourite parts of the performance. It was a wonderful experience and a fantastic opportunity for the children to enjoy live theatre together.

We are incredibly proud of how engaged, enthusiastic and creative the children have been this week. They have embraced every opportunity to learn, explore and work together, making this a very special week in Nursery.

How you can help at home:

Read a traditional tale together and talk about how you know it is a traditional story. Can your child identify the characters, setting and the special beginning and ending?

Go on a sound hunt for the letter l. Look around your home for objects that contain the /l/ sound and discuss whether it is at the beginning, middle or end of the word. Challenge your child to think of their own silly sentences using lots of l words!

Use maths in storytelling. Count objects from a favourite story, compare sizes of characters, or ask questions such as “Who is the biggest?” or “How many bears are there?” to reinforce counting and mathematical language.

It has been so lovely to welcome everyone back after a well-deserved half term break. The children have returned full of smiles and stories about their adventures, and it certainly looks as though many of them have enjoyed spending time outdoors in the warmer weather. We noticed lots of happy faces with a healthy summer glow!

Although the weather did not quite cooperate with us this week, we made the most of every bit of sunshine we could find and threw ourselves into some exciting new learning.

This week, we began exploring traditional tales and talked about what makes them different from modern stories. The children shared their ideas about stories they already knew and quickly noticed that traditional tales are often passed down through generations and usually include familiar characters and repeated phrases.

Our focus story was The Gingerbread Man, and the children absolutely loved joining in with the repeated refrains. We read several different versions of the story and compared them together. There were lots of surprised faces when the children discovered that the ending is not always the same! In some versions, the Gingerbread Man cleverly escapes from the sly fox, while in others he gets gobbled up. This sparked some fantastic discussions about which ending they preferred and why.

In phonics, we have been learning the ‘f’ sound, which linked perfectly to our story. The children had great fun thinking of alliterative phrases using words that begin with ‘f’. We came up with some wonderful examples, including fantastic foxes and flamboyant flamingos. The children enjoyed listening for the repeated sound and practising saying their funny phrases aloud.

Our maths learning was closely linked to our story too. The children became bakers as they measured ingredients to make play dough for their very own gingerbread men. They carefully scooped, measured and mixed the ingredients, developing their understanding of quantity and measurement while strengthening their fine motor skills. Once the dough was ready, they used their imaginations to create fantastic gingerbread men and pretended to bake them in our class kitchen. It was wonderful to see such creativity and teamwork.

We have also started an exciting new project in our outdoor area. The children have been busy helping to transform our greenhouse into a brand-new role-play space. We are keeping the theme a surprise for now, but the children are working incredibly hard and are very excited to reveal their creation soon. Watch this space!

How You Can Help at Home

Read traditional tales together and talk about how they are different from modern stories. Ask your child to retell the story in their own words or imagine a different ending.

Practise the ‘f’ sound by playing alliteration games. Can your child think of funny phrases using words that start with ‘f’, such as friendly frogs or fuzzy feathers?

Explore measuring during everyday activities, such as baking or cooking. Encourage your child to help count spoonfuls, measure ingredients and compare quantities using words like more, less, full and empty.

We are looking forward to another exciting week of learning and discovery! 😊

What a wonderful and busy term we have had in Nursery! The children have amazed us every day with their enthusiasm, curiosity, and love of learning. It has been such a joy to watch them grow in confidence, independence, and friendships over the past few months.

This term our topic has been growing, and we have explored this through many exciting stories and activities. The children thoroughly enjoyed listening to stories such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Teeny Tiny Tadpole, Sam Plants a Sunflower, and many more. They were completely engrossed in learning about how plants, animals, insects, and people grow and change over time. We explored the life cycles of plants and insects and talked about how we ourselves have grown bigger and learned new things.

The children took part in a wide range of activities to show their learning. They created beautiful artwork inspired by flowers, caterpillars, butterflies, and nature. They also loved using their imagination to write their own stories based on Jack and the Beanstalk. It has been wonderful to see their creativity and confidence shine through during our activities.

In Maths, the children have been working hard to develop their number skills. They have learned to count accurately, match numbers to numerals, and practise subitising. The children are beginning to notice how small numbers can make a larger number, for example understanding that 5 can be made from 3 and 2. We are so proud of the progress they have made and the excitement they show during our Maths activities.

In Phonics, the children have impressed all the adults with their growing knowledge and confidence. They have been sounding out words, recognising letters and sounds, and beginning to form their letters carefully to write simple labels. It is truly heartwarming to see the love the children have for reading and writing, and how eager they are to share their achievements with us each day.

Alongside all of the academic learning, the children have also grown so much socially and emotionally. They have become taller, more confident, more independent, and more mature. It has been lovely to watch them support one another, build friendships, and develop the skills they will need for their next adventure in Reception. We are incredibly proud of every single one of them.

How you can help at home:

Share stories together every day and encourage your child to talk about the characters and events in the story.

Practise counting objects during everyday activities such as setting the table, climbing stairs, or tidying toys away.

Encourage mark making and writing by asking your child to draw pictures, write labels, or practise forming letters in fun ways such as using paint, chalk, or sand.

Thank you so much for all of your continued support this term. We truly appreciate the partnership between home and school and all that you do to support your child’s learning journey. We wish you all a restful and enjoyable break and we are ready to welcome the children back on the 2nd June for our last term in Nursery.

Lots of love,

The Nursery Team xxx

The children also enjoyed expressing their creativity and developing their listening, and music appreciation skills this week. Outside, they had a wonderful time pretending to be butterflies as they danced to a range of different music while using colourful ribbons. They listened carefully to changes in tempo and rhythm and explored different ways of moving their bodies to match the music. The children also had a fantastic go at following a simple dance routine and tried hard to keep to the beat, showing great enthusiasm and confidence.

We have continued with our topic, learning all about growing and life cycles. The children have been very engaged and curious as we explored how living things grow and change. Alongside this, we continued developing our phonics knowledge and focused on learning the h sound. The children enjoyed using this sound in their label writing and have been working hard to read CVC words during our class sessions.

In Maths, we have been practising subitising numbers up to 6 and have also been counting and ordering numbers to 10. The children have been showing increasing confidence when recognising numbers and have been trying hard to form numerals to record their work.

How you can help at home:

Practise spotting and saying words that begin with the h sound around the home, such as hat, hand and house.

Count everyday objects together and practise putting numbers in order from 1 to 10.

Put on different types of music and encourage your child to move in different ways, clap to the beat or create simple dance moves together.

A huge well done to everyone for trying their best this week. We are very proud of all the effort, determination and enthusiasm shown by the children. We hope you all have a well deserved restful weekend.

Lots of love,

The Nursery Team x

This week in nursery may have been a little shorter due to the Bank Holiday Monday, but it certainly didn’t feel any less busy! The children have had a wonderful time learning, exploring and celebrating together.

We spent lots of time outdoors this week, making the most of the fresh air as we prepared for a very special birthday. Although the weather was a little cloudier and cooler than last week, that didn’t stop the children from choosing to play and learn outside as much as possible.

Our greenhouse continues to be a place of great excitement. The children were amazed to see just how much their beans, sunflowers and corn seedlings had grown over the long weekend! This sparked lots of curiosity, and we decided to start measuring the plants to keep track of their progress across the week. The children explored language linked to measuring and comparing, using non-standard units to see how tall their seedlings had grown—and even began measuring anything else they could find! It was lovely to see their enthusiasm and growing confidence with this kind of mathematical thinking.

A real highlight of the week has been learning about Sir David Attenborough as we prepared to celebrate his 100th birthday. The children were fascinated as we watched clips from his documentaries and listened to him talk about his favourite animals and the importance of looking after our planet. This inspired us to become little nature explorers ourselves!

During our time in the forest, the children enjoyed pretending to be naturalists, making close observations of the world around them. They loved discovering and talking about the many tiny creatures living in our school forest.  There were certainly lots of exciting finds! The children also began to record their observations so they could share what they had discovered with others.

To mark this special celebration, we created a fantastic mud mural. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sensory experience of using squelchy mud to paint their handprints onto a large “100.” It was messy, creative and full of joy, just the way we like it! As part of the celebrations, the children also loved their Atten-bear picnic on the field, which was a lovely way to come together and enjoy the occasion.

Of course, we have also continued our phonics learning. This week we focused on the sound ‘r’. The children had great fun thinking of as many ‘r’ words as they could, working together to build a class list and practising saying the sound clearly.

It has been a short but very full and exciting week, and we are so proud of all the children’s curiosity, teamwork and enthusiasm.

How you can help at home

• Go on a mini nature walk together and encourage your child to spot and talk about different plants, insects or animals. What can they see, hear or feel?
• Practise the ‘r’ sound by playing simple word games—how many ‘r’ words can you think of together?
• Try some measuring at home using everyday objects (e.g. hands, blocks, or spoons) and compare sizes—what is taller, shorter, longer or smaller?

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Lots of love,

The Nursery Team xx

Welcome back! It has been so lovely to see the children return to school so happily after the break. They came in full of smiles, excitement and ready to learn. I am sure they have all grown over the past two weeks because they looked so grown up when they came back.

The warmer and sometimes unpredictable weather has given us lots of wonderful opportunities for learning this week. We started by sharing the classic and much loved story The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children were so pleased to read this familiar favourite again and joined in beautifully with the story. It led to lots of lovely discussions about the life cycle of a butterfly. We are now busy creating our own versions of the life cycle using a range of arts and craft materials in the classroom, and the children have shown so much creativity.

We then enjoyed another lovely story by Eric Carle, The Tiny Seed. This inspired us to create our very own greenhouse in the classroom, where the children have been able to plant their own seeds. Before we started, we talked together about what seeds need in order to grow. The children had some fantastic ideas, including water, sunlight, soil and plenty of care.

Once everything was ready, the children were very excited to begin planting. They have been taking their new job as gardeners very seriously, carefully spraying the seeds with fresh water each day and checking closely to see whose seed might sprout first. There have also been a few surprised and slightly disappointed faces when some children realised that seeds do not grow into plants in an hour. It has been a lovely way to learn about patience and how living things need time to grow.

In phonics, we learned how to recognise the grapheme k. The children enjoyed practising the sound and had great fun thinking of silly alliteration sentences using words that begin with k.

In maths, we were inspired by the beautiful symmetry of butterflies. The children experimented with paint to make their own symmetrical pictures and were delighted to open them up and see the patterns they had created. We also explored repeating patterns by making caterpillars inspired by the monarch butterfly.

It has been such a happy and busy start to the term, and we are so proud of how enthusiastically the children have come back to school and settled straight into their learning.

Here are three lovely ways to continue the learning at home this week:

Discuss the lifecycle of your child’s favourite animal, can they make their own depiction of their lifecycle.

Plant a seed at home and encourage your child to check on it each day and notice any changes.

Look for patterns and symmetry at home or outside, such as on flowers, leaves or butterflies.

This week in Nursery has been full of energy, excitement and wonderful learning. With the sun shining brightly, the children have brought an extra sparkle to their play and exploration. We have made the most of the beautiful weather by spending lots of time outdoors, where there have been plenty of opportunities to move, climb, ride and explore.

The children are already very familiar with the big playground and always enjoy using the large equipment. This week, we made a particular effort to use this space to help channel some of our extra energy in a positive way, while continuing to develop important physical skills. It has been fantastic to see the children climbing, balancing and exploring with growing confidence. Back in our own playground, the bikes have been a huge favourite. It has been lovely to see the children making their own choices, whether that is riding trikes, trying out balance bikes, or bravely having a go on the pedal bikes. Each child is developing at their own pace, and we are so proud of their determination and growing confidence.

All of this active play is not just fun, it plays a very important role in the children’s development. Gross motor skills, which involve the large muscles in the arms, legs and body, are essential foundations for many other areas of learning. When children climb, pedal, balance and steer, they are strengthening their core muscles, improving coordination and developing control over their movements. These skills are vital when it comes to writing. Before a child can hold a pencil with control, they need strong shoulders, arms and core stability. These larger movements support the smaller, more precise movements needed for handwriting.

Alongside our outdoor adventures, we have been very focused and diligent in practising our writing skills. The children have been working hard on recognising and forming the letters in their names, as well as the phonic sounds that they have learned so far. We have now learned the sounds s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g and o, and it has been wonderful to see the children becoming more confident in attempting to form these letters. We are also beginning to spot these sounds in our environment, which is a fantastic step in early reading and writing development. We have been encouraging correct pencil grip and giving lots of opportunities to practise mark making in fun and engaging ways.

One of our favourite activities this week has been making marks to the tempo and pitch of classical music. The children explored how their movements could change depending on what they heard. Some created slow, gentle lines to calm music, while others made fast, energetic marks to lively pieces. This activity not only supports early writing skills, but also encourages creativity, listening and expression.

In literacy, we have been listening to both fiction and non fiction books about people who help us. The children have had a great time exploring different occupations, including doctors, teachers, bakers and builders. There has been lots of imaginative play, and one of the highlights was dressing up and pretending to be fishermen on their boats, catching the fish that we enjoy for our lunch on Fridays. It has been a wonderful way to bring stories to life and deepen the children’s understanding of the world around them.

It has been a joyful and busy week, and it is wonderful to see the children growing in confidence, strength and independence.

How you can help at home:

Encourage your child to climb, balance, run and ride bikes or scooters. Even simple activities such as walking along a low wall or playing in the park help to build the strength needed for writing.

Play different types of music at home and invite your child to draw or paint what they hear. Talk about whether the music is fast, slow, loud or quiet, and how that changes

Practise recognising the sounds s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g and o in everyday life. You could look for them on signs, in books or on packaging. Encourage your child to have a go at writing these letters and the letters in their name using fun methods such as chalk, paint or forming them with toys.

We hope you have a lovely sunny weekend ☀️

Lots of love,

The Nursery Team xx

This week in Nursery has been full of curiosity, excitement, and a great deal of wonder as we celebrated Science Week. The children spent time thinking about what it means to be a scientist. We talked about how scientists ask questions, explore ideas, and carefully observe what happens. It turns out that Nursery children make wonderful scientists, especially when there are experiments to try and new things to discover.

Our classroom quickly became a busy little laboratory as we explored a wide range of experiments together. Some gave us immediate results, which led to many delighted reactions, while others encouraged us to watch carefully and notice small changes over time. The children were completely absorbed in the process of discovering what might happen next.

We investigated static electricity and were fascinated to see how it could move objects in surprising ways. Our walking rainbow experiment kept us watching closely as the colours slowly travelled and mixed together. The milk fireworks created beautiful swirling patterns that were quite magical to observe.

The children also enjoyed exploring planting and growing, learning about what plants need in order to thrive. During our floating and sinking investigation they carefully tested a variety of objects and shared their predictions with great enthusiasm. The skittles rainbow created a bright burst of colour that slowly spread across the plate, which was met with great delight. Magnets proved very popular as the children discovered which objects they could attract. One experiment that caused particular amazement involved pushing pencils through water filled sandwich bags and seeing that not a single drop of water leaked out. There were many impressed faces and some very thoughtful scientific conversations.

Alongside our experiments, we continued to observe the weather each day. The children enjoy looking closely at the sky and carefully marking the weather on our chart. During our time in the forest we also noticed many signs that spring is beginning to appear. The children were very excited to spot fresh growth and the bright green shoots appearing on the trees. It has been lovely to see them noticing these changes in the world around them.

In phonics the children have continued to learn new sounds and they are becoming increasingly confident in recognising them. They are also practising blending sounds together to hear words, which is an important step in their reading journey. The children are very proud when they can read decodable words and their enthusiasm is wonderful to see. It has been especially lovely to watch them using their phonic knowledge in their play when they write cards, notes, and lists for one another.

This week the children worked very hard to spot the letter d in their environment. Once we began looking carefully, we discovered it in many different places around the classroom. We also had great fun creating alliteration with Dante Duck, which led to some wonderfully imaginative ideas and plenty of smiles.

With another special day coming up on Sunday, the children have been thinking about the special person in their lives who does so much for them each day. They have worked incredibly hard to make a very special surprise for every mummy. A great deal of care, thought, and effort went into these creations and the children were very proud of their work. We hope the surprises bring many happy smiles at home.

Activities you might enjoy at home:

Fill a bowl with water and collect a few objects from around the house. Ask your child to predict whether each object will float or sink before testing it together.

Take a short walk together and see what signs of spring you can find. Look for buds on trees, tiny new shoots in the ground, and listen carefully for birds singing.

Choose a letter sound such as d and see how many things your child can find around the house that begin with that sound. You could also have fun making your own silly alliteration, just like Dante Duck.

We would like to wish all of our wonderful mothers a very happy Mother’s Day. We hope you are able to enjoy a lovely day and perhaps even a little peace and quiet. You certainly deserve to be celebrated.🌷

Lots of love, the Nursery Team x