• Squiggle While You Wiggle!
• Starting Primary School

We would like to welcome you back to another fun filled year and a big welcome to all our new families! We hope you have had a fabulous summer and we cannot wait to hear all about your adventures. This term our topic is 'All About me', this theme alloww us to get to know all about your child and their families. Our role play area is set up as a house to help incoporate a family environement. Miss Halligan's group will also start their new Pathways book which is 'Peace at Last.' This book looks at our daily routines, let's us learn all about our likes and dislikes and ties in lovely with our topic theme!

Our  Nursery is split between two classes a Pre-School class (3-4yrs) and a Nursery (2-3yrs) and we are always very busy! We have three members of staff who are committed to ensuring that our children are happy, safe and love coming to school to learn- Miss Halligan, Miss Pendlebury and Miss Greenslade. Miss Halligan takes our Pre-School class and Miss Pendlebury and Miss Greenslade take our Nursery. However, some parts of the day we have 'play together'. Each staff member is a key person and looks after a group of children. Each key person works hard to build strong and supportive relationships with the children and their parents/carers.

Everything we do to help the children to learn and develop is based on The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and is broken down into 3 Prime areas and 4 Specific.

Prime areas of learning and development-

• Communication and language
• Physical 
• Personal, social and emotional

Specific areas of learning and development-

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

We plan activities and topics based on the children's interests, as we believe that children learn best when they are motivated and fully engaged. We feel that it is imperative to empower the children by asking them what they would like to learn and how they would like to do it. We work hard to ensure the children are confident and independent learners that take an active role in their own education.

We also value the partnership between school and home and throughout the year parents/carers will be invited to stay and play sessions, key worker catch- ups, parent's evenings and parent panels.

Some more information:

• Settling in- Parents are welcome to come into the setting each morning with their children to help settle them. We appreciate that some children need a little more support with the transition from home to school and we will happily work closely with you on this. Some children are far more confident and happy when their parents come in for a little play and a chat!
• Snack- Each day a healthy snack is prepared for the children and they are encouraged to taste different foods. As they become more settled they prepare the snack themselves, hand out the bowls and cups, set the table and then wash their bowls (all with support and supervision). If your child has any special dietary requirements please let us know and we can accommodate them.
• Water bottles- We feel it important that the children have access to a drink whenever they want one. Please could you bring in a named water bottle each day. These will be filled with water each morning and topped up when needed. The bottles will be placed on an easily accessible table so the children can help themselves throughout the morning. If your child ever forgets their bottle we will continue to ensure that they have a drink whenever they need one. 
• Wow Stars- Every Friday we will give the children a 'Wow star', these can be taken home to record a special achievement over the weekend i.e. your child tidying their room, helping to make cakes, counting to 10, drawing a nice picture etc. These will then be celebrated in school Monday morning and then stuck into your child's Learning journey. 
• Toileting- If your child wears nappies can you please bring a named bag to school each morning, containing nappies and wipes. We are happy to support parents in the toilet training process- your child's key person will work closely with you to devise a plan that works best for your child.
• Star of the week- Every Friday each teacher in the school picks a child from their class to be star of the week. These achievements are shared in a special assembly and the 'star' gets to take our class 'Geoffrey the Giraffe' home and certificate. 
• Please remember this important message- If you are ever unsure or concerned about something (however small or big you think it is) please come and chat to us about it. If you think your child might be unhappy or worried about something please let us know. Your child's happiness, safety, learning and development is our priority. Let's work together to make sure they have the very best start in life...

And finally what to Expect When...

An amazing booklet that parents can use to help understand what children should be able to do depending on their age. It also has tips to support learning. 

Download it here:  http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2015/03/4Children_ParentsGuide_2015_WEB.pdf