Lower Foundation – Kangaroos

Welcome to our Nursery!

We aim to be a friendly, welcoming environment where every child feels happy, safe and secure.

The Nursery children are the ‘Kangaroos’. Mrs Kenworthy is the teacher supported by Mrs Hunt and Miss Goodair. Mrs Battye and Miss Wakenge also support our children who have additional needs.

In nursery, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum with a strong emphasis on the ‘Prime’ areas of learning; Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development. These areas are fundamental and work together to support development in other areas of learning called the ‘Specific’ areas of Learning; Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

In nursery, we aim to provide an enabling environment where children learn through play and are challenged, stimulated and engaged. This is planned through fun, purposeful activities, both indoors and outdoors, responding to the children’s interests and stage of development. We are committed to providing positive relationships where children are a valuable member of the team and community. We encourage all children to cooperate and share and to have the confidence to make choices and decisions for themselves.

An information board for parents is displayed in the cloakroom and hard copies of leaflets linked on this page and items of interest for young families are available to read.

Meet the Nursery Team

Every term parents are invited to our Open Evening to look around our environment with their child and talk about what we have been learning about. Parents will also receive regular updates on ‘Seesaw’ about what their child has been up to at school.

Parents are also encouraged to upload their own photos onto ‘Seesaw’ to show us what your child has been doing at home!

School and Parent/ Carer communication continues to be vitally important to us so please do come and speak to us in person or use ‘Seesaw’ as a way of working in partnership.

Take a virtual tour through our nursery.

Our Indoor Provision

Our Outdoor Provision

Our Wow Wall!

In our Nursery we have a ‘Wow Wall’ so that we can record special events in your child’s life. Wow cards, completed by parents/carers, give a wonderful display of achievements and events that the children feel very proud of. They don’t need to be amazing feats, just special to your child. So it could be that, ‘David slept in his own bed all night’, or ‘Jane got dressed all by herself’, or ‘ Tom tried a new fruit and liked it’.

Wow cards are a huge boost to your child’s self esteem and confidence, and show them that their life events are truly important to the adults around them. Each time your child brings in a new wow card, we place the previous card in their individual learning journey folders.

Session Times:

Morning sessions

8:30 – 11:30

Afternoon Sessions

12:20 – 3:20

(Please note that we open the doors 10 minutes before the end of each session to ensure the children are released in the safest way possible while allowing staff to pass on any messages regarding your child)

Attendance is really important, should your child be unable to attend their nursery session, please inform a member of staff.

It is very important to us that you and your child feel happy and settled at Nursery, therefore if you have any queries or concerns please do not hesitate to talk to any of our nursery staff.

We are sure your child will thoroughly enjoy their time with us!

Our Topic for Summer 2  is ‘Commotion in the Ocean!’

What do you already know?

What do you want find out?

Our Curriculum Map for Summer 2: ‘Commotion in the Ocean!’ 

Nursery Experiences 2022-2023

Summer 1 – To Infinity and Beyond!

Another fabulous term done. The children have thoroughly enjoyed exploring the wonders of space. We have enjoyed dressing up as astronauts, role – play in our very own space station, creating jet packs, planets and not to mention creating our own constellations. We even had time for a little space yoga!

We finished off our topic with a quick trip to the moon to have a little picnic!

Spring 2 – All Things Bright and Beautiful

And that’s another term done! We’ve had so much fun learning about ‘All Things Bright and Beautiful’ we’ve looked at the life cycles of chicks, including hatching our own, and butterflies, we learnt about the celebration Easter and joined in with some festive activities. Not to mention ‘Red Nose Day’ and ‘World Book Day’.

Unfortunately at the end of this term we had to say ‘Goodbye’ to our fabulous Headteacher – Miss Tomlinson. We celebrated with a party and showing our appreciation for all she has done for us at HPA!

Easter Egg Hunt

Before the end of the term the Easter Bunny came and left us a challenge to find all the eggs that had been hidden in our woodland area. The children did a fantastic job at finding all the eggs. We shared an Easter story in the woodland then brought our eggs back to the nursery hoping the Easter Bunny would swap them for some treats and guess what? The Easter Bunny returned over night and swapped all the eggs we found for some chocolate bunnies! Thank you Easter Bunny!

Caterpillars

In Nursery 5 tiny weeny caterpillars arrived. We observed them carefully in their transparent cup. We created tiny caterpillars using cotton buds and our finger tips dipped in paint. We made them bigger and bigger and bigger! We shared the story of the hungry caterpillar, retelling it using the story puppets. We manipulated the dough to create our own caterpillars. Then we became the hungry caterpillar and tasted different fruits then we voted for our favourite fruit. We also made some symmetrical butterflies. Unfortunately our caterpillars had not gone through all the stages of metamorphosis so we sent them home to be care and observed for by Jude’s family, can’t wait to see whats happened!

Red Nose Day – Superheroes

Wow, what a week! It has been jam packed with loads of fun activities in order to support and understand what ‘Red Nose Day is?’ The children have thoroughly enjoyed designing their own red noses, painting giant red noses for targets, cutting out superhero masks, sharing superhero stories, dancing and copying actions, balancing on the beams then jumping, egg and spoons around the track and hit the red nose!

World Book Day

We had a fantastic day! We all dressed up, shared stories and talked about the different characters.

EGGS!

Look what arrived in Nursery! 10 eggs!

We waited and waited and waited, then CRACK! The chicks started to hatch.

Meet the brood!

We have been super busy observing the changes that have happened to the chicks. We did some careful observational drawings and manipulated the play dough to create our own chicks. The children have been super helpful in helping to look after the chicks ensuring that they have plenty of food and water as well as a clean cage.

Spring 1 – ‘Stomp, Stomp, Stomp!’

This half term we welcomed more new starters into our nursery, who have all settled well into our nursery routine. We have also been exploring some gigantic dinosaurs, learning more wonderful words whilst finding out about these amazing creatures! We played in our dinosaur museum, carried out archaeological digs in our sand pit and made dinosaur fossils using clay.

Chinese New Year

In January Nursery learnt about how the Chinese celebrate their New Year. We shared the story of the Jade Emperor and how he decided of a way to measure time. We also tasted some Chinese food and voted for our favourite as well as learning about the story of Nian. We danced around the classroom with a dragon costume and then made lots of noise using tambourines and clapping – this was to scare Nian away! We had lots of fun!

Internet Safety Day

In nursery we were challenged to find technology in our home. We also explored motion toys in nursery. On Internet Safety Day we shared the story ‘ The Adventures of Smartie the Penguin’, learning how to stay safe whilst having fun online! We looked at and talked about the different internet symbols.

Autumn 2 – Let’s Sparkle!

Wow! What a busy half term. We have looked at and joined in with many celebrations. Here are just a few of the fun activities we have been doing in nursery.

Bonfire and Halloween

In nursery the children had lots of fun dressing up, dancing and playing games. They looked at our pumpkins, helping to carve them and remove all the insides as well as retelling stories using puppets and creating fireworks using a range of media.

Diwali

In nursery we learnt about Diwali. We shared and retold the story of Rama and Sita. We created mehndi patterns, coloured and paint the story characters and made clay divas. We also tried some Indian food and talked about what we liked and did not like.

Remembrance Day

In nursery we enjoyed exploring and playing with a range of activities focused on Remembrance day. We made poppies in the dough, coloured poppies, created sticky poppies and made poppy biscuits.

Children in Need Day

We came to school in non uniform to raise money for ‘Children in Need’. The children had lots of fun adding spots to the bear at the funky finger station, manipulating the dough to make Pudsey bear, colouring Pudsey and sponge painting Pudsey.

Birthdays

In nursery we engaged in lots of play about birthdays. We made cakes with playdough, sung happy birthday, played party games and found out when our birthday is on the birthday board!

Christmas Fun

In nursery we have been very busy retelling stories, dressing up, setting the elves to work in Santa’s workshop, making a Christmas list and many many more fun activities!

Reindeer Run

In nursery we took part in an obstacle course challenge to raise money for Wakefield Hospice.

Party Day & Sing Along!

We played party games, won prizes, enjoyed some party food then climbed onto the stage to sing some songs to our families and friends! Then… Santa came and delivered some presents.

Display

Here is what we created from the magic moments we had in Autumn 2.

Autumn 1 – Marvellous Me!

Displays:

What a busy half term. Once all the children had settled into our setting we started our topic ‘Marvellous Me!’ We started by looking at ourselves in the mirror and talking about what we could see, eyes, nose etc. We explored our environment and recreated our faces using different objects and materials. We have shared photos of when we were babies and compared them to now and how we have changed. We also looked at our own family pictures and talked about the members in our family.

Communication and Language:

We have introduced our Rhyme Challenge. It involves learning 6 rhymes over 6 weeks. The rhymes below are what we will be learning then performing to the Upper Foundation Meerkats and Ladybirds. This is a fun challenge where all the nursery children will sing the nursery rhymes they have learnt as well as raising some vitally important funds for the nursery to buy new resources for the year ahead. With the funds raised, we are hoping to buy some sensory toys, role play resources and outdoor equipment.

Phonics 

This half term we have been developing our listening skills, talking about what we use to listen and learning how to be a good listener. We have been exploring instruments and listening to the noises they make.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:

I am pleased to say that all the children have settled well into our nursery routine. This has been with the support of our class ‘Buddies’. Everyday we have chosen some children to be the class buddy and these children have risen to the challenge and supported their peers, through being a friend to play with or helping them in whatever they are doing, eg opening their straw, putting on their coat.

Physical Development:

In nursery we have enjoyed copying dances and moves, making hedgehogs in the playdough, using scissors, squeezing pegs on to paper hedgehogs, building and balancing and much much more!

Dough Disco

As the bones in our hands are not fully formed until we are seven years old it is really important that we support the development of structure and strength in our hands. Everyday we warm up our fingers and hands with some fun ‘dough disco’ activities.

Literacy:

We have started to find and recognise our own names. We have loved looking at and sharing stories. We have enjoyed retelling the story ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘The Little Red Hen’ at our story table with friends. We have also enjoyed retelling ‘Owl Babies with the puppets.

Mathematics:

In nursery we always start our day with the daily calendar, changing the day and date and learning language to talk about time, such as ‘today is…, yesterday was…’ We have also been counting out the correct number of candles for the cakes and exploring our environment.

Understanding the World:

In nursery this half term we have been exploring our environment and developing an understanding of the natural world around us. We went on a ‘leaf hunt’ in search of signs of Autumn! Their excitement and visible displays of awe and wonder were infectious and they just cant wait to put on their wellies and go back to our forest! When we came back to our nursery we used the leaves to create hedgehogs at the creative table

“I’ve found a long yellow leaf!” – Albie

“I got a brown leaf!” – Rosie

“I found an acorn! Squirrels like to eat these!” – Pixie

“There’s lots of leaves here!” – Layla

“That’s a small orange pumpkin!” – Riley

Expressive Arts and Design:

In nursery we have explored the materials in the modelling area and enjoyed finding ways to join them together to create models. We have also been enjoying pretending in the role play area, making lots of delicious meals and cups of tea!

Celebrations

Every week we choose children who have tried really hard, who we are super proud of and share their achievements and give them a big ‘faaaan-tastic’. We have also celebrated some birthdays!

EYFS Phonics Meeting for Parents

In the Autumn term, Tuesday 1st November at 6pm, we will be holding a parents meeting to share how we teach phonics. We are really pleased to be able to invite parents in to school to share and discuss how phonics is delivered and taught. If you would like any further details please speak to a member of staff.

Useful Booklets

Aspect 1 Environmental

Aspect 2 Instrumental Sounds booklet

Aspect 3 Body Percussion booklet

Aspect 4 Rhythm & Rhyme booklet

Aspect 5 Alliteration Parent booklet

Aspect 6 Voice Sounds – Parents booklet

Aspect 7 Oral Blending

Phase 2

Useful Websites:

Oxford Owl

Letters and Sounds

Phonics Play

ICT Games

We have created some long term goals for our children to achieve by the end of nursery. These goals will be supported with a variety of opportunities and experiences throughout their time with us.

We recognise that all experiences at this age are learning opportunities and therefore we love to hear about your child’s home experiences. This can be done through seesaw (where you can upload photos, videos and messages).

You can also send a ‘wow’ card in to school to say what your child has done to support and achieve each goal, these can then be celebrated with their peers and displayed on the ‘wow’ wall. These are displayed and available in the classroom.