Nursery 2023 - 2024

Miss Robinson

Teacher

Welcome to Nursery...

We would like to offer the warmest of welcomes to all of our children and families. The Nursery staff are Miss Griffiths, Mrs Jones and Ms Robinson. Mrs Wisinger will be working with us on Fridays. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak to us. If you would like more information about joining Highfield Nursery, please get in touch with the school office on 01244 259650.

Each term, we have a focus on personal, social and emotional development and well-being to ensure the children have the best chance to settle well into school routines and establish good relationships with their teachers and the other children.

In September 2021, a new framework was introduced to Early Years. To learn more about this framework and find out how we use it to create our curriculum and assess how the children make progress, please see the files below named 'New EYFS Framework - Guide for Families' and 'EYFS Areas of Learning'.

Here at Highfield we have an over arching theme, each term, which runs through the whole of the school. This term it is ‘Migration Incredible Journeys’. In Nursery, we explore each theme through a 'Narrative Immersion Curriculum'. Each term the story box gifts us a new text. As we enter story world we learn how the plot of the story unfolds and we get to know each character well, often helping the different characters to overcome problems along the way! This term we will be reading 'The snail and the whale' by Julia Donaldson. Through this story we will explore the themes, 'travel broadens the mind', 'living in harmony' and 'where there's a will there's a way'.

The snail and the whale is a delightful story of friendship and adventure. One little snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of an enormous whale. Together, with the snail and the whale, we go on an amazing journey, passed icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, as the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world. But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, will we be able to work with the tiny snail to save the day?!

A copy of the story can be found from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmMnaSkeKqQ

All of the children have a Purple Mash account which can be found by following this link:

https://www.purplemash.com/login/

In the Early Years at Highfield, we use Tapestry to keep parents up to date with how and what the children are learning. You may also use this to communicate with us and we will always try to answer your queries as soon as we can.

Image result for tapestry online learning journal

We LOVE seeing what the children have learned at home! Please feel welcome to upload your photos and observations about what the children are doing. If you would like to do this, we have added a guide to the files below named 'How-to guide for creating observations' which tells you step-by-step what to include in your observations.

Reading in Nursery

Your child will come home with two books. One will be a library book and the other a scheme book. The scheme books have no words. They are for you and your child to talk about the illustrations. What are the pictures describing? Make up a story by looking at them. This helps your child to decipher what they can see, the start of early reading skills. Write in your child's reading record every time you read. You can add comments and share information with us about what they have liked or something they have said. Your child's book changing day will be either Monday or Thursday. It will be written into the front of their reading record. Your books do not have to be returned until your child's changing day. However, we do ask that you bring in a named bag, each day, to put in any pictures they may have drawn.

Points to note

Swimming lessons- We have swimming on Tuesday mornings up to February half term then they will change to Friday morrnings so all the Nursery children can take part. Please dress your child in jogging pants and either a school polo shirt or a PE top, and school jumper. You may wish to send them in our school PE tracksuit which you can purchase from Uniformity in Handbridge. Please can you send you child in shoes they can try to put on themselves. Shoes with laces are fine, if your child can tie them.

Forest School- Nursery will be having Forest School on Thursday afternoons from the 5th October 2023. Children DO NOT need to wear school uniform. They should come dressed in comfortable layers that covers arms and legs and bring in wellies and waterproof trousers and a jacket, or an all in one. Bring in two named waterproof bags, one for footwear and the other for clothes.

Extra websites you might like to try are:-

https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/early-years/

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=37

https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cosmic+yoga

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-songs-index/zhwdgwx

Offline

Tapestry have provided recommended activities you can do with your children which you can find in the 'Files to Download' section below.

http://www.tts-group.co.uk/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-TTSSharedLibrary/default/vaea75f5663a038b8658d258fd198e57ce70b35d6/images/homepage/Early_Years_Home_Learning_Collection.pdf?version=1,584,037,589,000