The week commencing 18 September the 3 Nursery rooms will discuss “Farm Animals”, the number 2, the colour pink and the letter m. Any toy incorporating pink would be lovely as a “Show and Tell” item. The Transition children will be talking about “Wild Animals” and the letter “i”.

Reminders

• We are a “No Nuts” environment as we have some children with severe allergies and this includes products such as pesto and chocolate spread. We have been advised that kiwi fruit is also to be avoided. Fruit such as grapes need to be cut into 4 pieces to avoid choking hazards and avoid cutting foods into circular shapes for this reason for example cut a sausage lengthways rather than across.
• Any child who has sickness or diarrhoea must remain at home for 48 hours after the last bout.

Charity

We will be collecting food for our local branch of the Salvation Army as part of our Harvest Festival assembly on Friday 29 September. Boxes are in Transition and the Nursery Hall for your kind donations from Monday 18. We keep our assembly very low key so it is just the children, not the parents, attending. Thank you.

Some research

I know that I wrote about this a year ago but feel that it is worth repeating. “Every movement counts” is the motto of a Department of Health campaign to encourage children aged less than five to be physically active for at least 3 hours a day.

Research undertaken by Loughborough University has shown an alarming statistic that only one in ten children aged two to four is active for the minimum the recommended amount of time. When I walk into our classrooms and outside areas I am glad to say that I observe children who are incredibly active, whether it is developing their gross motor or fine motor skills. In this first full week I have seen children using tweezers to pick up marbles and place them on golf tees, making and playing with dough, using writing and mark making materials, transporting sand with a variety of tools, taking part in their gym sessions, moving to music with Mrs Challis, running, climbing frames, riding scooters and the list could go on and on. We are an active rich environment and I am certain the team here are getting your children “school ready”.

I feel sure that you encourage physical activity as I hear from the children about trips to the park, walks in the woods and the physical toys they have at home but just a reminder and that is if your child can walk rather than sit in a buggy it all contributes to that 3 hours.