Early Years Foundation Stage 1

WELCOME TO NURSERY (FS1)

Staff:

Miss Inglis, Mrs Wales, Mrs Miley and Miss Stanley are your child’s key workers

 

Our day

We welcome children in at 8:45 for the beginning of our morning session. We ask the children to wave good bye at our classroom door and go to hang up their possessions on their pegs independently where possible. We love to encourage open communication with staff in the morning to give us information about the children that may help to support them throughout the day. We also encourage communication with parents through email. You can always contact our staff by emailing kerr@anlabyp.co.uk

 

Throughout the day, children have access to both indoor and outdoor provision. We encourage independent learning through play; all adults interact with the children to help build communication skills and develop relationships with their peers. Our neutral classrooms include quality resources that we have provided to help your child engage in meaningful activities. We also spend time learning together in circle times, as well as spending time singing, and sharing stories from home.

 

Children are offered a healthy snack each day. During this time, we find that children enjoy chatting to their friends and we take this opportunity to promote good manners, self-care and to share a story with the children. Children will need to bring a named bottle (containing water only please) to drink from in the classroom during the day.

 

             

How we learn in Nursery

The Nursery curriculum is based around the 'Early Years Foundation Stage Framework' (EYFS) which covers 7 different areas of learning. These are:

  • Communication and Language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design

Learning is play - based which means that, on the whole, children choose activities that they would like to do and their learning is supported and extended by adults in the classroom, as part of their play. Learning also takes place in small groups, or whole class sessions.

Further Information can be found by clicking on the links below;

What to expect, when? Guidance to your child’s learning and development in the early years foundation stage

Development Matters

Our Topics

This year, our 3 main topics are

Autumn Changes: In this topic we look at seasonal changes, including life cycles of plants and animals. We also look at Diwali and Christmas traditions around the world.

Once upon a time: Here we look at fairytales, including Hansel and Gretel, The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, The Runaway Wok, and Jack and the Beanstalk.

How does your garden grow?: We look at spring and summer growth, again including lifecycles.

We also follow the children’s interests and provide experiences that they are showing an interest in. For example, when a child found a worm in our garden we ended up with a thorough investigation about x-rays and bones by the end of the week!

 

Daily sessions

Each day we include the following short, game based circle time sessions:

Phonics. We spend time developing their listening skills through fun activities, and some children learn letter sounds when we feel that a child is ready to do so.

Literacy. Writing sentences as a group helps to develop our use of language ready for writing in Reception. We also read stories to help foster the love of reading that is essential to life.

Maths. We spend time counting, recognising patterns and shapes and sizes through carpet inputs and activities.

We also have daily activities set up to encourage children to develop a range of skills (covering areas of physical development, personal, social and emotional development and expressive arts and design). These activities are planned to meet the needs of the children and to support their continuing learning and development.

Session Times and Costs

Children can join our nursery from the term after their 3rd birthday. All 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours per week free childcare during term time.

Our Topics

This year, our 3 main topics are

Autumn Changes: In this topic we look at seasonal changes, including life cycles of plants and animals. We also look at Diwali and Christmas traditions around the world.

Once upon a time: Here we look at fairytales, including Hansel and Gretel, The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, The Runaway Wok, and Jack and the Beanstalk.

How does your garden grow?: We look at spring and summer growth, again including lifecycles.

We also follow the children’s interests and provide experiences that they are showing an interest in. For example, when a child found a worm in our garden we ended up with a thorough investigation about x-rays and bones by the end of the week!

 

Daily sessions

Each day we include the following short, game based circle time sessions:

Phonics. We spend time developing their listening skills through fun activities, and some children learn letter sounds when we feel that a child is ready to do so.

Literacy. Children find our Drawing Club so exciting and engaging! It really encourages children to begin their mark making journey.

Maths. We spend time counting, recognising patterns and shapes and sizes through carpet inputs and activities.

We also have daily activities set up to encourage children to develop a range of skills (covering areas of physical development, personal, social and emotional development and expressive arts and design). These activities are planned to meet the needs of the children and to support their continuing learning and development.

Session Times and Costs

Children can join our nursery from the term after their 3rd birthday. All 3 and 4 year olds are entitled to 15 hours per week free childcare during term time.

Our session times are:

08:45am - 11:45am Morning Session

12.20pm - 15:20pm Afternoon Session

Each session costs £12 if not covered by the free childcare

Children who attend the Nursery during the morning (15 hours) can stay for the full day (8:45 - 3:20) at a cost of Â£14.00. If staying all day, children are asked to bring a packed lunch or they can order a school lunch costing Â£2.40 per day.

 

We also offer places for children who receive 30 hours funding. For more information about this please speak to Mrs Randerson in the school office. Follow this link to check if you are eligible for the funding  

https://www.gov.uk/30-hours-free-childcare

 

Uniform

Although children wear school uniform in Nursery, we do have some differences from the older children. Black shoes that fasten with velcro, and elasticated and comfortable trousers are encouraged. Please make sure that all your child's items are clearly labelled to avoid them getting lost or mistaken. Please also bear in mind that play in Nursery can be very messy! Whilst we take every opportunity to remind children to wear aprons to protect their clothes in play, sometimes they forget or the aprons do not protect every part of their clothing. As such, it is recommended that children keep spare clothes in a bag on their peg in case of any accidents, and we will happily change them in order to keep them clean and comfortable.

 

As we spend a lot of time outside, we request that children come to school in a sensible outdoor coat/clothing appropriate for the weather conditions. In winter, children will need a few more layers to keep warm. As the weather is unpredictable, we recommend that they have a pair of wellies and a suitable coverall in a bag on their pegs so that we can access our outdoor area whatever the weather. During the summer, we ask that children are provided with sun cream and a sun hat to leave at school.

 

Nappies and Potty Training

It is important not to rush your child into using the potty or toilet. As parents, we can often feel pressured into presuming they are ready as they approach two years old, however often they show signs they are ready closer to three years old and we will support families when you are ready.

Signs indicating they are ready include:

  • Knowing when they have got a wet or soiled nappy.
  • They get to know when they are having a wee and may tell you they are doing so or;
  • they know when they need a wee and tell you in advance.
  • The gap between wetting a nappy is at least an hour. (If it’s less, potty training may fail and at the very least will be extremely hard work for you.)
  • They can or are beginning to dress themselves with little or no adult support.

 

Spare clothes: If your child is potty training, we recommend you supply at least 2 tops and 3 pairs of underwear, socks and bottoms. Trousers need to have an elasticated waist to allow your child to easily pull them down and up, buttons and poppers often result in frustration and accidents. Trousers with an elasticated waist are great!

 

Wow Moments and Achievements

We love to share with you any achievements the children have made within school as well as hearing about all the successes they achieve outside school. To make this as easy as possible, we use the Tapestry App.

We love to see all of your child's achievements, it could be anything from putting on their own coat, going to the toilet independently, learning to ride a bike or learning to swim, every little step is an achievement that needs to be shared. Please feel free to share these on Tapestry: we will always congratulate and share these achievements in class with their friends.

 

Coffee Mornings / Stay and Play

We aim to do an event each half term where parents can come in to class to join in with activities with the children. We will let you know the dates for these as the year progresses.

If you have any questions, or want to find out more, please contact Mrs Miley by emailing kerr@anlabyp.co.uk

If you wish to find more information about how to support your child with phonics click on the image below;