Welcome to Nursery!

St Augustine’s CE Primary school                       

Nursery Newsletter

Autumn 2

Welcome back, we hope you had an enjoyable half term break. We are looking forward to an exciting seven weeks full of fantastic learning opportunities.

Reminder of routines

As we have been doing in the first half term, due to Covid-19 safeguards, we have a soft The Nursery start time is from 08.45 am to 09.00 and pick up is 12pm from the Nursery playground.

Please only bring in a coat, book bag and water bottle. Children are not allowed to bring in toys, sweets, games or their own stationary.

We will be following government guidelines, as set out in the school’s risk assessment, with social distancing in place and regular hand washing.

Topic

Our topic this term is Colour, Shape, and Pattern. We will be looking at a range of books such as ‘Brown Bear, Brown Bear’, ‘Elmer’ and ‘Mouse Paint’. We will be learning about colours, 2D shapes, and patterns and identifying them all around us.

There are lots of different events happening around the world during this term, including Diwali, Remembrance Day, Bonfire Night and of course Christmas. The children will be learning about these events and discussing how their families celebrate different occasions.

Communication, Language and Literacy

This half term we will be exploring our topic again through language, singing, and learning new vocabulary. We will be introducing some Phonics Phase 1 activities from the ‘Letters and Sounds’ scheme. Phase 1 is about exploring sound. For example, hearing a car toot its horn and identifying that the noise came from a car. This supports children’s later reading and writing skills.

Mathematics

In maths this half term we will be consolidating our knowledge of numbers 1 to 10. We will focus on one number a week for numbers 1-10. Through resources set up in the environment children will be able to explore the number of the week counting it, learning to identify it and use it. We will also be learning the names and characteristics of 2D shapes such as a circle, square, triangle, oval, and rectangle. This will also be done through having a focus shape of the week.

Building Self-Awareness and Personal Independence

By the age of 36 months it is expected that children will develop a greater awareness of how to manage their own personal needs. As parents, you can help them by offering them choices i.e. do you want the blue socks or the red socks? They can also join in with the process of dressing themselves, as it will help their physical development and improve their self-confidence. An easy assist to this is to provide your children with loose clothing, which they can pull up and down themselves. Equally, being toilet trained will have a great impact in their emotional wellbeing and is also an age expected target. Please speak to staff if you require any support in this area. We understand that as their parents you will continue to support them while achieving these new milestones.

Home-school Reading

Please continue to read with your child for at least 10 minutes each day, discuss the book with them, and please fill in your child’s reading record.  Nothing makes a greater impact on their progress than regular reading at home.

Cooking at Nursery

We will continue cooking with the children this term. For this we ask you to bring in £4.00 every 6 weeks. Please put it in an envelope and in your child’s book bag. This money is used to buy the ingredients needed. This is a great learning opportunity for the children to take turns, supports mathematics skills such as measuring and counting, and explore the process of turning ingredients into something new.

Key Dates

Please remember…

As the weather gets colder please ensure your child has a waterproof coat with hood, hat and gloves as we learn outside every day (please be aware that some of the best learning can be very messy!) Please ensure your child is wearing appropriate footwear - wellies can be kept in a bag on pegs for rainy days (please make sure they have your child’s name written on).  Plimsoles are not suitable for wet weather. It is also recommendable to provide them with good grip shoes. They will also need a warm hat and gloves (they will need to be named or attached to their coats)

Don’t forget that for their wellbeing and cognitive development they will need a good night of sleep. A recommended sleeping time would be no later than 19:30.

Best wishes,

Miss Ricart, Miss George and Miss Major

Teacher: Miss Raquel Ricart

Nursery Nurse/EYFS Senco: Miss Sharon George

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Magdalena Major