Nursery
Welcome to Nursery!
"Children get off to a flying start in the Nursery." Ofsted 2017
The Foundation Stage Curriculum
“The effective early years provision lays firm foundations for children’s future progress. Nursery children, in particular, thrive in the enticing and exciting environment.” Ofsted 2017.
The Foundation Stage is part of the national curriculum and covers the years from birth to the end of the Reception year.
Nursery at Ley Hill School follows the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum as set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. This Framework underpins all future learning and is a statutory requirement for children from birth to five in Early Years settings. It covers seven areas of learning:
The Prime Areas
· Communication and Language
· Physical Development
· Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The Specific Areas
· Literacy
· Mathematics
· Understanding the World
· Expressive Arts and Design
This week has been World Nursery Rhyme Week in nursery. On Thursday we were learning Old MacDonald Had A Farm so we decided to visit Crabtree, just across the road. Sandy and Jeff (the owners) very kindly told us all about their pigs and hens. We found freshly laid eggs in the hen house before going in the coop to feed them. We were even allowed to hold the hens and stroke them! It was a really fun morning.
This week we have been learning about hedgehogs. We painted our own hedgehogs and covered them with real leaves, we drew prickles on hedgehog pictures, we made playdough hedgehogs with lots of prickles before going outside to build a leave pile for the hedgehogs to hibernate in during the cold winter. It has been a very busy week!
Nursery have been learning about apple trees. We first had to go on a hunt to find an apple tree. We were looking for a tree with oval shaped leaves and round juicy apples on it. Once we found it we each collected an apple and put it in the wheelbarrow.
Once we had collected the apples we chopped them up and cooked them. Some of us thought they tasted delicious! Any spare apples we had we have used in our own mud kitchen to make our own pies and crumble.
Activities for over the summer
Virtual tour of the Nursery
Welcome to Nursery from Mrs Forage and Mrs Correira who are our Nursery teachers
Welcome from our Nursery staff Miss Wells and Mrs Moore
...and from Mrs Legge
Communication Week
World Book Day was really fun for us in Nursery. All the children came dressed up as characters from their favourite books and even the teachers dressed up! We went to show Reception our lovely outfits and got to see who they had dressed up as. During the day we listened to all the stories that had been brought in and made a special book mark for our Mums and Dads.
We have had a very important week learning about Road Safety. We got to meet a real police officer and look at his police car. We looked at how big and hard cars can be and realised they could hurt us. We learnt to always hold a grown ups hand near a road, to always wear a seat belt in a car, and what to wear in the dark so we can be seen. We had lots of fun driving cars on our pretend road and learning how to cross a zebra crossing and a pelican crossing safely. We even made our own zebra crossing for in the classroo
During the week of harvest we were lucky enough to make some yummy bread roll hedgehogs. We took it in turns to stir the mixture before we kneaded the dough. We then made the dough into a ball and gave it prickles like a hedgehog. Once it was cooked we got to take them home to share with our family. They smelled delicious.
The nursery children have settled very well and are starting to make new friends. This week we have been focusing on playing together and working as a team. We have decided friends make nursery more fun.
The Foundation Stage Curriculum in Our Nursery
The Foundation Stage curriculum is applied through a creative and stimulating approach both inside and outdoors. Staff plan a wide range of learning experiences that build on children’s interests and what children already know and can do. These learning experiences encourage “playing and exploring”, “active learning” and “creating and thinking critically” – the characteristics of effective learning.
Nursery is well resourced to ensure children have a wide range of learning opportunities. We pride ourselves on our outdoor learning and make full use of the school grounds all year round and in all weathers. Children are encouraged to become independent learners and learning through play and self-directed activities, together with carefully planned adult-led learning experiences are at the heart of this excellent provision.
“Throughout the early years, the environment is bright, vibrant and well organised. It is particularly enticing and stimulating in the Nursery, where the learning and challenge created by the activities provided promote children’s learning extremely well. The Nursery outdoor environment is exceptionally rich, with enticing and imaginative activities keeping children purposefully engaged.” Ofsted 2017
Nursery Curriculum Overview
The curriculum is taught through half termly topics. Some activities are adult-directed and some are child-led. A wide variety of resources are provided to encourage children to be active and independent learners and to ensure they experience a range of activities both indoors and outdoors and build a firm foundation for their future learning.
Our curriculum may change to reflect children’s interests and enthusiasms.
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Autumn 1 |
Spring 1 |
Summer 1 |
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Autumn and Harvest
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Traditional Tales and Nursery Rhymes
Celebrations
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Plants and Small Creatures
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Autumn 2 |
Spring 2 |
Summer 2 |
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People and Celebrations
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Safari
Celebrations
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The Sea
Celebrations
Transitions
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Phonics: Letters and Sounds Phase 1, SALLEY
General Information Letter
Ideas and Activities To Do With Your Children
Hungry Little Minds
This website is designed for parents of children from 0-5 and has simple, fun ideas and activities to do with your children. It also has suggestions for apps for 2-5 year olds and other websites to look at for information.
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/
Chat Play Read
Small talk is a great website with lots of ideas and activities for chatting, playing and reading with your children. Check out the 3-5 years ideas.