Wow what a busy time we had on Open Morning this Friday and your children were stars. They managed so well with lots of visitors in their classrooms and were 'more outgoing towards unfamiliar people and more confident in new social situations' which is one of the PSE self-confidence and awareness statements in the EYFS.

The three Nursery classes have been learning about autumn foods this week and I have walked into rooms to find them eating triangular sandwiches which they had made using a homemade blackberry jam, exploring textures and printing with leaves they had collected in the garden and sweetcorn, which they were rolling in orange paint, and investigating the pumpkins which they had grown from seed in our pond / gardening area. Supporting their number learning I became aware of the Busy Bees having a drama session in the hall and their acting out the “Three little Pigs” story, having enormous fun taking turns being the characters and reciting the story together. Lots of red and yellow paint has been mixed with some wonderful orange displays now brightening up the classrooms.

In our first full week the Nursery children continued to settle in to their new environment, make new friends and adapt to our routines. They discovered how to make the colour pink by making the playdough with red and white paint as well as the usual ingredients, creating Number 1’s using printing techniques and painting generally with the pink colour they had created. Hot lunches are proving to be a great success!

The week commencing 17 September the 3 Nursery rooms will discuss “Farming”, the number 2, the colour red and the letter r. Any toy incorporating red would be lovely as a “Show and Tell” item.

Head over heels in excitement about the thought of Nursery Sports Day and wow what a Sports Day! Your children never fail to astound me and showed depths of resilience beyond their years, an ability to follow instructions and a huge willingness to take part. You must be very proud parents and deservedly so.  

The nursery classes have created some lovely rainbow pictures this week and have made sun-catchers with old CDs, rain makers to create the sound of rain, windmills which they tried to operate using electric fans, sun collages with shapes and have talked about weather in general. With the sun and heat they have done lots of talking about protecting their skin and have been using the shade of home-made tents (sheets over washing lines and fabrics pegged to fences) in the garden area.

Transition children have continued learning about minibeasts, their similarities and differences. They played the minibeast “What am I?” game, talked about exo-skeletons, have made spiders using clay and chenille stems and created bee pictures from shapes.

New children have been visiting again this week in preparation for their start in the Autumn term and, as always, your children have shown great kindness to them.

What a lovely week it has been exploring for minibeasts in the garden and pond areas. I have spotted children out with their clipboards and tally sheets enthusiastically searching for little creatures and getting so animated when they find them! Minibeast models and clay tiles with insect imprints have been created, and some lovely paintings of these little creatures have been done.  Language has been developed with the children learning about the head, thorax and abdomen sections of an insect’s body.

Nursery and Transition classes have been practising for Sports Day, are getting faster week by week and, oh joy, they seem to be staying within the track rather than running across the field!

Transition children have had a very busy week looking at a whole range of minibeasts. They have identified the parts of an insect, have observed their caterpillars turn into chrysalises and are eagerly awaiting the next stage of development. Butterflies have been made to hang from the ceiling and a variety of minibeast masks made, as well as playing with spaghetti worms and plastic creatures in slime.

At the time of writing the boys transferring in September to our Junior Boys site, Ridgeway, have just returned with Miss Green and seem to have had an enormously happy time meeting their new teachers, seeing the rooms and outside play space and making decorated biscuits and kites. The girls transferring to our Junior Girls upstairs are singing their hearts out with Mrs Challis and about to return to their new classroom with Mrs James and Mrs St. John with smiles on their faces. I have to say that both girls and boys seem so at ease and relaxed about their new experiences and that is down to the nursery staff who build their confidence so well.

PLEASE SLIDE THE BOLT SHUT ON THE METAL GATE WHEN ARRIVING AND LEAVING THE NURSERY

With the topic of “Planting and growing” this week it was wonderful to hear about Mr McGregor’s garden when Peter Rabbit visited the Nursery yesterday. RBWM Libraries began by reading ‘The Tale Of Peter Rabbit’ by Beatrix Potter to all the children, as well as a lift-the-flap board book, ‘Peter Rabbit: Where's Peter?’, which had all the children laughing and entertained whilst they tried to discover where Peter Rabbit was hiding through following clues and unfolding flaps. The children then had the opportunity to cuddle Peter if they wished. I am certain that you all love reading to your children anyway but have sent home the leaflet about the top 10 tips for reading with your child which Peter Rabbit gave us.

The growing season has started well and the nursery classes have been busy planting sunflower seeds, cress and grass to make Grass Heads. They have created some amazing paintings of sunflowers, the cress is growing in long egg box sections and is beginning to look like caterpillars crawling along the window sill and the grass will soon be looking like hair! The children have made sandwiches linked to the story of “The Little Red Hen” with the growing of wheat so it has been a very busy week as always. The children are really enjoying the strawberries which they are harvesting on a regular basis.

Transition children have been busy exploring different life cycles, have cut out and sequenced pictures of frog life cycles, have loved discovering tiny frogs in the tank and playing the frog sequence game. As always their vocabulary has been expanded and their learning has taken another leap. The caterpillars arrived this week so we are really looking forward to their development and being able to release painted lady butterflies into the environment. To support the topic the children have been learning about symmetry when creating pictures of ladybirds and looking at their life cycle.