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Nursery

Welcome back.

We are really pleased to welcome you and the children back to school and hope that you have enjoyed the Easter holiday. This page gives you lots of information about us and about what we do in the Nursery, here, at St Mary's. It also lets you know what we will be doing this term so that you can support your child's learning. If you have any questions please feel free to telephone school and leave us a message. We will phone you back as soon as we can (usually when the school day is over) or we will make an appointment to see you. It can be tricky to answer queries when the children are being dropped off or collected as the priority at that time is the safety of the children but we can sometimes answer short questions at the end of the day if you can wait until all the children have safely gone home.

About us - the Nursery team

The staff in Nursery are as follows:

Mrs Searle - Class Teacher

Miss Bowen - Keyworker and Learning Support

Ms McEntee - Learning Support

Ms Young - Learning Support

Ms Bailey - Learning Support

Ms Casey - Learning Support

Miss Mulchrone - Learning Support

Ms Whyte - Learning Support

Mrs Murphy - Learning Support

Dropping Off And Collecting Your Child

The Early Years gate opens at 8.30am and closes at 8.45am. If your child has a full-time place or an afternoon place you can collect him/her at the Early Years gate at 2.50pm each day. If your child has a morning place then you should collect him/her outside the main school door at 11.30am. If your child has an afternoon place please bring him/her to the main school door at 12 noon where we will meet you and take your child in to school.

What Your Child Needs In School

Your child should have in school the following

a waterproof coat which can be brought in each day
a pair of wellies which should stay in school
a drawstring bag containing a few changes of clothes which will be sent home when your child has been changed during the day

Outdoor Learning

Learning outdoors is a very important part of the curriculum here at St Mary's, offering the children so many valuable opportunities to explore, talk, create. develop their physical skills and build their confidence. The nursery children have access to the outdoors for most of the day every day and so it is important that your child brings a waterproof coat into school each day. It is also vital that they have a pair of wellies in school to use when accessing our Let's Explore area which can become very wet and muddy.

This term we will be looking at some of the insect life outside and we will be taking walks around the school grounds, especially in the forest, to observe changes as the seasons change from Spring to Summer.

Reading and Learning Logs

We will continue to send book bags home each Friday in which you will find two books to share with your child. Please enjoy reading these books together and note in your child's reading record how s/he responded to the books. We want all our children to develop a life long love of reading and this begins with sharing and discussing books with adults. Please return bookbags to school on Wednesdays.

You will also find your child's Learning Log in their book bag. The Learning Log will contain a short fun task for you and your child to work on together at home. The task will be designed to support your child's learning. Please return your child's Learning Log with their bookbags on Wednesdays.

Tapestry Online Learning Journal

Tapestry is an online learning journal with photos and comments which is a lovely way of sharing some of your child's experiences in nursery with you. It is also a way for you to show us some of the things your child has been doing at home as you can post your own comments and photos in the journal too. Once the children have settled in to school we will send you an email with a link to your child's learning journal.

This Term's Topic

This term's topic is Growth and Looking After Living Things and we are reading Hairy Maclary, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Jack and the Beanstalk . To support your child's learning you could look at these books together at home or find them being read aloud on You Tube.

Phonics

Phonics helps children to develop their awareness of sounds in words. You can support your child's developing phonological awareness by spotting rhymes in books and nursery rhymes, by clapping syllables in words and by talking about the first sound in words eg. playing I Spy or just noting when words begin with the same sound. In school this term we will be practising blending and segmenting words with 3 sounds in them such as c-a-t or d-o-g. You can support your child by practising this at home with them too.

Maths

This term we will be focusing on position words such as on, over, under and behind and we will be reading Rosie's Walk to support your child's understanding of these words. We will also be focusing on comparing quantities and using the terms, 'same as', 'more than' and 'fewer than'. We will continue to sing counting songs and practising counting and recognising digits.

Names

The children will continue to trace over the letters of their name regularly and when they are ready they will begin to copy their names rather than trace over them. Please encourage your child to recognise and try writing their name at home by tracing over the letters at first and then moving on to copying the letters.

Religious Education

This term we will be celebrating the Good News of Easter and will then look at the events and the meaning of Pentecost. We will also be considering God's gifts to us and what God provides to keep us happy and healthy. We will talk and think about how important it is to share those gifts.

In our Ten Ten SRE programme we will be looking at how to keep ourselves safe and healthy and people who help us.

Welcome to St Mary's -Tour of Nursery Classroom

The Early Years Framework

As you may already be aware, the DFE (Department for Education) have introduced a new EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) framework, commencing September 2021. Your child will follow the updated EYFS framework and will work towards the final assessment at the end of the Reception year, using the new ELGs (Early Learning Goals). These goals are short statements that teachers assess your child against at the end of the year. During the nursery year your child will be learning within the '3 to 4 year old' stage. The 7 main areas of learning remain the same. These are;

Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Expressive Arts and Design
Understanding the World

As part of the changes to the new framework, it also means that there is less emphasis on recording paperwork, meaning we, as adults, can spend more time with your child getting to know them and having those quality interactions. The new framework is also more aligned with the KS1 curriculum, further ensuring your child’s educational journey from nursery, then reception and into KS1 is building upon previous knowledge. See the attached link below for the statements that your child will be assessed against at the end of the early years. We have also provide a link below to the Development Matters 2021 document, which outlines the principles behind the new framework.

Early Learning Goals

eyfs-elg-one-page-document.pdf

Development Matters 2021New EYFS Framework

What to expect in the Early YearsA guide for parents/carers

Partnership with Parents

It is important for parents and early years settings to have a strong and respectful partnership. This sets the scene for children to thrive in the early years.
This includes listening regularly to parents and giving parents clear information about their child's progress.
The help that parents give their children at home has a very significant impact on their learning.
Some children get less support for their learning at home than others. By knowing and understanding all children and their families, we will offer extra help to those who need it most.
It is important to encourage all parents to chat, play and read with their children.

Useful Information for parents from the NSPCC

Positive parenting (nspcc.org.uk)

Look Say Sing Play: to build your baby’s brain every day (nspcc.org.uk)

Handle with care: How to keep your baby safe (nspcc.org.uk)

Talking about difficult topics | NSPCC

Helping Your Child Cope with Your Divorce or Separation | NSPCC

Online Safety for Children - Tips & Guides | NSPCC

Useful Information for parents from Early Education

Babies - learning starts from the first day.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Children as artists.pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Going out to play and learn (3).pdf (early-education.org.uk)

Helping children cope with change.pdf (early-education.org.uk)