Welcome to Nursery
Teacher: Mrs. Riley
Teaching Assistants: Mrs. Eley (Monday – Wednesday)
Mrs Beattie (Wednesday – Friday)
A weekly Nursery Newsletter can be found in the section “Keep in Touch” found on the “Home” page. This will keep you informed about the learning in Nursery week by week.
Words of the Week – we are introducing our children to new vocabulary each week, please ask your child what these words are, what they mean and encourage your child to use them as often as possible when speaking.
Each week your child will have the opportunity to bring home a ‘library book’ from our classroom. These books are for you and your child to share and enjoy together.
There are a wide variety of story books, information books and rhyming books for your child to choose from. There are also a number of books that contain just pictures and no words.
After reading your child’s library book together, talk about what has happened at the beginning, in the middle and end of the story. Can your child retell the story or answer questions about what has happened? (Talking about the story will help to develop your child’s speaking and listening skills and will get them ready for reading and writing stories independently as the progress further up the school).
There is no set day for your child to change his/her library book – just get them to bring it back to school when you have finished with it and they can choose another to take home the same day.
We love to read in our school and believe
‘The more that your read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go’.
A child
A book
A read
A chat
That is the way the mind grows,
Not with a test, but a tale….
Michael Rosen
Some useful information for the year ahead...
Nursery – Dates for your Diary
(Please note the Graduation Assembly has been moved to 13th July at 9:30am and is only for those children moving to Reception in September.)
Nursery Curriculum Map 2021-2022
Nursery Home Learning Lockdown Timetable
How to login to Google Classroom
Have a look on Twitter and keep up to date with our latest news and suggested activities…
and
A big thank you to all the parents who have supported the many new school routines and rules to enable us to reopen safely. Following a summer of many emails and phone calls to find out information on each child changes in the usual transition procedures were obviously needed. Home visits were to be replaced with visits to Nursery one family at a time but due to building work this was unable to happen. Nursery staff did doorstep visits in September alongside phone-calls to update parents on the situation. Information was gained on each child’s experiences during the period of lockdown and concerns parents had relating to support needed for their child to settle into Nursery. Transition involved short stay and play sessions in much smaller groups than usual with parents wearing masks and keeping at a safe distance. All children have amazed us with their independence at the beginning and end of the session where parents are usually welcomed into the room to help with settling their child.
A big focus in Nursery continues to focus on children’s speech and language development. All children are assessed within the first half-term using “WellComm”. This toolkit identifies children needing speech and language support, which can make a crucial difference to their confidence and attainment.
Once the children have been assessed parents will be given information on how they can also support their child at home in similar ways to staff in Nursery. Greatest impact will be when home and Nursery work together.
If you do have any concerns about your child’s development please do not hesitate to speak to a member of the Nursery staff.
Google Classroom will be used if your child tests positive for covid and has good health. Each child has their own password and username.
New admissions to Nursery
We are more than happy to welcome parents and children to view the Nursery within the school day, in this way you can get a true feel of the ethos of our school. Give the school office a ring on 228-1506 or send an email to arrange a date and time that suits you.
Parent comments from Parent-Teacher meetings February 2022
“We’re very happy with how _ is progressing. She is learning a lot, this is apparent in how she is starting to emphasise sounds in words, and asks about what letters, words start with. Socially, _ is progressing and enjoys spending time with her friends.”
“So happy with _’s progress.”
“_ has progressed so much in his Language and Communication since December. His writing skills have improved so much now to being able to recognise all his letters and numbers and writing his name. Very proud.”
“_ is growing in confidence all the time.”
“I’m very happy with _’s progress.”
“We are really happy with the progress _ is making and can see how much she has come on in the last few months. St Anne’s is a lovely nursery, makes all children feel happy and safe.”
Parent comments from Parents Evening November 2021
” _ has settled into Nursery amazingly. She really enjoys going and loves all her friends and teachers.”
” _’s personal development is brilliant.”
“It is lovely to see how well she is doing.”
” _ loves learning so Nursery is the perfect place. So proud of how well he is getting on and I know he will only progress further.”
” _ enjoys every day and has made a lot of friends. She has come a long way in a short space of time.”
“I can see so much progress in her social skills, confidence and enjoyment in learning. It was great to hear the areas where she is being supported so that we can mirror these interventions at home. Overall, _ is content, happy and comfortable in Nursery, which has allowed her to flourish.”
“I am really pleased how far she has come.”
“I’m so happy with how _ has settled into school. She loves coming in and playing and learning. She’s come on so much.”
Useful Websites
Thinkuknow is an education programme from NCA-CEOP, a UK organisation which protects children both online and offline.
The Thinkuknow websites offers advice about how to help keey your child safe when they’re playing on a phone, tablet or computer. As well as advice, the website also offter a series of short age appropriate activities to do at home with your child linked to online safety.
Thinkuknow Parents Support Tools – home activity worksheets, early-years
Some useful videos from BBC Children in Need. Dr Radha shares her top tips on looking after your wellbeing.
BBC children in Need – Dr Radha’s Wellbeing Tips
Every pupil from Nursery to Year 6 has a user name and password for Education City. This enables children to continue their learning at home, playing fun activities linked to what they have been working on in class. If you you have misplaced your password or login details, please get touch and we can reissue them J
Reading
A nursery account for ‘Oxford Owl’ has been set so that you and your child can continue to access story books at home. The ebooks are free and are feature some really lovely stories for you to share with your little one.
On the web page go to the pink/purple ‘My class login’ button and insert the username and password:
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/please-log-in?open_loginbox=true
Username: nurseryriley
Password: stanley
Anything that you do to develop your child’s love of language is a good thing. If you are looking for specific ideas, there are lots of starting points here on Phonics Play.
We have a lot of fun in nursery exploring pre-phonics skills. There are many ideas for developing these skills at home on the Phonics Play website.
The website is currently free to access (just type in the username and password below).
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/1
Username: march20
Password: home
There is also a handy parents page that is all about helping your pre-school child at home – none of the suggested activities on the webpage need to be planned, are formal or are a big deal. They are just little things that can be added into everyday play with your child – we hope that you find them useful J
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/parents/pre-school-children
Phonics Bloom is another popular website that we use regularly at St. Anne’s. Many of the games are free to access on this site (we only use the free ones in school) and again the Phase 1 games are similar to activities that we practise in class.
https://www.phonicsbloom.com/uk/game/list/phonics-games-phase-1
As the year progresses in Nursery, we start to learn our letter sounds too. We follow “ReadWriteInc” in line with the rest of the school. See the weekly newsletters for links to videos.
https://youtu.be/euxN7LGOoLc
Corma Beanstalk are working with Very UK, to bring you a series of online Storytime sessions. There are some brilliant books featured and they are being read by some very familiar faces.
Each week a new story will be available, and each one will also be accompanied by some top tips to help make sharing books fun and engaging!
We love to read J
Did you know that reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world?
It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word.
In Nursery and Reception, we encourage all our children to take home a library book each night – please try and find a quiet moment to share a story each night with your child. Library books can then be brought back to school the next day and your child can choose another story to take home J
For helpful advice and tips on reading at home please visit the ‘Booktrust’ website below:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice
Many little things light up hungry little minds. Children take everything in, and even the smallest things you do with them can make a big difference.
Children love it when you chat, play and read with them, even when they’re too young to understand everything. Whatever the time and wherever you are, you can turn almost anything into a game and every little thing you do together will help set them up nicely for the day they start school.
We understand that due to the coronavirus outbreak, you and your children are spending more time at home and you might be looking for a bit more inspiration for things to do. Start by trying some of these simple, fun activities.
Family Zone is full of free activities and ideas to keep your child busy at home, whilst also benefiting reading, writing and language development.
