COVID-19 UPDATE
As rules begin to ease with regards to Covid-19 please keep an eye on the Famly app where we regularly communicate updates and changes as they happen. We continue to work hard to make the nursery a safe and fun environment for all of our children and want to thank you for your support and understanding during this difficult time.
Can we also please ask that parents remain vigilant for signs of your child being unwell and keep them at home if they are not themselves. All children should be clear of both a temperature and Calpol for 48 hours before coming into nursery.
Please also remember to keep sanitising both big and little hands on arrival at the nursery and wear masks for drop off and collection. We will continue to provide feedback via the app or telephone, to limit contact between adults.
If you have any questions or specific concerns, please do not hesitate to discuss these with a member of the team (socially distanced of course!) or message us through the app.
Bluebells (Ages 3 – 5 years)
In the month of September we have continued to explore our theme of Minibeasts. The children have shown such an interest and have become a lot braver with picking up bugs they find in the garden and on our walks. Their favourites have been ladybirds and caterpillars! The children have taken part in making bug hotels and finding bugs hidden in grass, using tweezers to save them.
We have started our French lessons this month with a lovely lady called Louise. The children have participated fully in her sessions and are beginning to learn some of the French words through songs. The songs that Louise has been teaching us in French have been: Incy Wincy Spider, The Wheels on the Bus, Boom Boom went the Little Green Frog and Old MacDonald had a Farm. We will continue to share handouts over the next few months of what we have been up to so you can support this at home too!
We had a great time celebrating Roald Dahl day where the children explored various activities from the different books. We made chocolate playdough, made our own peaches, explored George’s Marvellous Medicines, played with snozzcumber slime and peaches in the home corner. We made some dream jars for the children to take home that glow in the dark and sparkle too!
As oral health is becoming a significant topic to teach younger children, you may find that we are exploring different activities around this. Please help encourage this at home and if there is anything we can support with then please do let us know.
As all of our older children have now left us to go to big school we have decided that this term we will be reintroducing our golden rules to the children, along with our pom pom jar and hello song in the morning. We will slowly begin to introduce letter and number of the week again, however it is the best time for the children to be able to understand the expectations within Bluebells. (Our Golden Rules are: We are kind to our friends, We look after our toys, We listen to our adults, We use our walking shoes inside, We use our indoor voices)
Our theme we have chosen for October is going to be all about ‘Autumn’. Whilst out on our walks the children have been interested in the more autumnal items such as conkers and the change in leaves on the trees. Some of the children have been speaking already about pumpkins and Halloween and how it is starting to feel colder; therefore we felt it would be a lovely theme to choose.
This month lilies have really enjoyed exploring colours in different ways. They went from looking and investigating colours and shapes around the nursery to the different colours we could find in nature and at our home environment. Because they really enjoyed this topic and showed a huge interest in the changes in their environment as the weather begins to change, next month we will be looking at colours in autumn. We will look at the changes in the colours of the leaves, the different natural resources we can find such as conkers and create different activities in with leaves, sticks and anything else we find out on our walks.
In addition lilies will explore the different kinds of foods we have in autumn and which animals we can see. All the activities will be connected with the EYFS and we will use our outdoor space more often in order to observe the trees starting to change colours and to try and find natural elements to add in our tufty trays and everyday activities.
Jumping in the puddles will be one of our best activities so make sure all children have wellies and wetsuits at nursery!
Daisies (Ages 15 – 24 months)
We have been having so much fun during September focusing on our favourite songs and nursery rhymes! We have explored these in lots of different ways. Daisies have shown great listening, singing and actions during circle time singing sessions and have loved using different props such as puppets, musical instruments and sticky boards. We have also incorporated nursery rhymes into our sensory and creative activities through exploring ‘incy wincy spiders’ tuff trays, making our own ‘twinkle star’ biscuits, ‘oranges and lemons’ water play and much more!
Along with the Daisies interest in songs this month, we have also noticed many of the children have a strong interest in books and stories. We will be following this as our new topic throughout October. We’re looking forward to exploring all of our favourite stories including ‘the very hungry caterpillar’, ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’ and ‘the Gruffalo’.
We would also love to hear which stories the children are enjoying at home so please feel free to share these.
Tulips (Ages 3 – 15 months)
Over the last month Tulips have had lots of fun exploring animals. We have a variety of different types of animals in which we created sensory tuff trays based on their habitats. We have enjoyed getting involved in animal related song times singing some of our favourites including old MacDonald and Five little ducks as well as incorporating stories throughout the day.
Over the next month we will be exploring Autumn. We will be going out and about around the farm looking at the seasonal changes, exploring the texture of crunchy leaves and other things we collect on our way. The children will get the opportunity to experience a variety of tuff trays incorporating autumnal colours, sensory bottles, painting with natural resources and exploring pumpkins.
We are also going to be creating family photo albums for the children. Please could you bring in a few printed family photos for us to add to the albums to share with the children in their book corner.
Outdoor Clothing
Whilst the weather is getting cooler just a reminder that we follow guidance based on the UV levels when applying sun cream and ensuring the children are wearing hats and so there will be certain points in the day the children cannot go out without a sunhat on. Please note that even if it is a cloudy day it may still require your child to have sun cream and hats on!
We are also going to start entering into the colder and wetter weather… please can you bring in a named puddle suit for your child to have at nursery when they go out to play in the garden and on walks. It would also be handy if you could bring in a named pair of wellies for us to keep at nursery so we can make the most of the farm and get stuck in in all the mud and the puddles without ruining our shoes!
As the nursery continues to get busier, please can you make sure all clothing items are labelled with your child’s name or initials so we can make sure they are returned to the correct family.
EYFS Changes
From the 1st September 2021 the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has been reviewed and updated by the Department for Education. The EYFS is the curriculum we use within the nursery that lays out the statutory requirements and the outcomes that we support children to achieve whilst they are in our care.
The management team have been putting new things into place over the last few months ready for these changes including revising the planning to follow ‘In the Moment Planning’ and carrying out lots of training meetings with the staff to ensure they are confident in their understanding of the new EYFS.
With regards to our practice not much will change however, how we assess your children and their development will. We will post further information to Famly for you to read and if you have any questions on what this will mean for your child then please do not hesitate to get in contact with Natasha/Abi for more information.
Monkey Puzzle Astwick
