Nursery

What a Year It Has Been!

Well… here we are at the end of another amazing year in Nursery and we are honestly not quite sure where the time has gone!

It only feels like yesterday that many of our children were taking their first steps into Nursery, some feeling a little unsure, holding onto Mum or Dad’s hand, and wondering what this new adventure was all about. Fast forward to now, and what a difference a year makes!

We have loved watching every single child grow into confident, curious and happy little learners. They have made wonderful friendships, learned how to play together, share, take turns and look after one another. Seeing those friendships grow has been one of the loveliest parts of the year.

It has been amazing to watch the children become so independent too. Those little things that seemed so tricky at the beginning of the year, putting coats on, doing up zips, finding their own belongings and settling into our daily routines, have become second nature. They come into Nursery ready to learn, join in so beautifully during carpet times and are brilliant at listening, following instructions and giving everything a go.

We have packed so much into the year! There have been exciting science experiments, lots of messy fun and plenty of moments where the children have amazed us with their questions and ideas. We have learned all about reptiles, cared for our plants, explored life cycles and loved watching the children discover just how fascinating the world around them is.

Our phonics sessions have been full of smiles too. It has been so exciting seeing the children learn their sounds and begin to put them together to read. Watching that little spark when they realise, “I can read that!” never gets old.

In maths, we have been busy counting, measuring, sorting and comparing all sorts of objects, as well as hunting for 2D shapes everywhere we could find them! It has been lovely watching the children become much more confident with numbers, accurately counting objects and beginning to subitise.  They have loved exploring maths through games, practical activities and everyday play.

More than anything though, we are proud of the confidence they have found. The children who walked through the Nursery door at the beginning of the year are so different from the children leaving us now.

They have grown in confidence, resilience and independence, and they have become such an important part of our Nursery family. We could not be prouder of every single one of them.

To our families, thank you. Thank you for all the early mornings, the reading at home, practising phonics, remembering book bags, (most of the time 😉), coming along to our events and for working alongside us all year. We know raising little people is a team effort, and we really appreciate everything you have done to support both your children and our school.

For most of our children, the next stop is Reception, and we know they are more than ready. They will have so many exciting new adventures ahead, and although we will miss having them in Nursery every day, we cannot wait to watch them continue to grow.

And here is the best bit. We are not saying goodbye completely! Every morning, as our Reception children line up ready for their new school day, we will be right there with a big smile and a wave, cheering them on from the Nursery door. We cannot wait to see them looking so grown up in their new classes, and we will always be keeping an eye out for them.

For the children who are staying with us in Nursery next year, we cannot wait to welcome you back after the summer and make even more wonderful memories together.

Have the most fantastic summer holiday. We hope it is filled with sunshine, adventures, ice creams, laughter and lots of special family time.

Thank you for letting us be part of your children’s journey this year. It has truly been a privilege, and we will miss seeing their smiling faces every day.

See you all soon, and good luck to our amazing Reception superstars. You have got this!

Lots of love,

Mrs Jones, Mrs Parker and Mrs O-J xxx

The milder weather this week has been lovely, and the children have had so much energy for learning and playing. They have especially enjoyed being outside, making the most of our outdoor areas with their friends.

One of the favourite activities this week was making lemonade in the tuff tray. The children had great fun mixing, pouring, and experimenting with different ingredients, as well as splashing and exploring in the water tray. While they were busy playing, they were also developing their hand eye coordination, using their imaginations, building their language skills, and exploring early maths through measuring and using words such as full, empty, more, and less.

As we start thinking about the children moving on to Reception, we have been chatting lots about what that will be like. Some children will be moving just next door, while others will be starting at different schools. We want everyone to feel happy, excited, and confident about the next step in their learning journey.

The children loved talking about their time in Nursery and sharing some of their favourite memories. We also thought about all the things they can do now that they could not do when they first started. They were so proud to talk about hanging up their coats, doing up their zips, riding bikes, recognising sounds, and learning their numbers. It was a lovely opportunity for them to see just how much they have grown.

We also enjoyed reading When I Grow Up by Tim Minchin. This led to lots of funny conversations about what the children think adults do every day, and there were plenty of giggles along the way. The children loved talking about different jobs and sharing what they would like to be when they grow up.

Nurses

Landscapers

Engineers

These conversations inspired lots of imaginative play throughout the week. The children enjoyed pretending to be people with different jobs and then got busy in the creative area making pictures of their future selves. They used painting, collage, bubble printing, and lots of other creative materials to bring their ideas to life.

In phonics, we learned the new sound w. The children were brilliant at spotting the sound around the classroom and enjoyed thinking of funny alliterative sentences using words that begin with w. They also worked hard to practise writing the letter, showing how much their fine motor skills are improving.

It has been such a lovely week, and it has been wonderful to see the children feeling so proud of everything they have learned as they get ready for their exciting move to Reception.

How you can help at home:

Spend some time talking about starting Reception. Ask your child what they are excited about and encourage them to share some of their favourite Nursery memories.

How many w words you can spot when you are out and about or reading together? Have fun making your own silly alliterative sentences.

Let your child help with simple measuring activities at home, such as pouring drinks or helping with baking. Talk about words like full, empty, more, and less as you play and learn together.

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.