​Wow we cannot believe we are already at October half term! We are so proud of how well all the Nursery children have settled into their new environment. It has been so lovely to see them getting more comfortable each day – making new friends, forming relationships with the adults in the classroom and exploring different activities. 

Phonics
We have started our phonics sessions in small groups. At school we follow the Letters and Sounds phonics programme. We have started by focussing on phase 1 phonics. Phase 1 phonics is the first stage of early reading development and it focuses on helping children develop strong listening and speaking skills before they begin learning letters and sounds. During this phase, children take part in fun, play-based activities that help them tune into the sounds around them and sounds their bodies can make. They also enjoy rhymes, songs, and stories to help them recognise rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration (words that start with the same sound). As their confidence grows, children begin to explore how words are made up of individual sounds, practising skills like blending sounds together (e.g. hearing “c-a-t” and saying “cat”) and breaking words down into their separate sounds. These early listening and sound awareness skills are essential building blocks for learning to read and write later on.
 
Lunchtimes
We really enjoy lunchtimes in Nursery and the social side of it too. Just a reminder that if your child has grapes or other small fruits/vegetables in their lunchbox, please ensure that these are chopped (lengthways and then halved again).
The children have set times for a drink at snack time and lunchtime, but we also have the children’s drinks bottles accessible throughout the day for children to have a drink when needed.
As these drinks are accessible for children throughout the day, we would like to remind you of the Department of Education’s advice that water is a healthier option than juice.

Library
The children will begin going to the school library after half term and will bring home their chosen book in a reading wallet each week. Please could they be returned to school on your child’s set day:

• Nursery beginning of the week and full-time children: Wednesday
• Nursery end of the week: Thursday

 
School applications
Just a reminder the Reception applications are open and the deadline to apply is the 15th of January 2026. Applications need to be made for all children, irrespective of their current Nursery place. Please chat to one of us if you want to know more about the process.

A huge welcome to all of our new children into Nursery, we are so excited to get to know you all and your whole family properly. We loved having all the children and adults in Nursery on Wednesday, it was brilliant to see all the children exploring the different areas both in our indoor and outdoor classrooms. We have also spent this Thursday and Friday completing home visits.

Next week (week beginning the 8th of September) we will continue with our transition programme and welcome children into the nursery for two 2- hour sessions. We encourage these sessions to be drop-off, but we will obviously work with yourselves if you feel you want to stay in nursery for a little bit to help settle your child. During these sessions, we will be exploring the areas some more, having a story and snack together.

Then from the week beginning the 15th of September 2025, children will be in for the full allocated hours.

Now you have all met us, we thought we would just let you know who will be working when:

If you have not yet returned your forms, it would be great if you could bring them to the sessions next week. We have some spare forms too if these are needed, so please do ask one of us. Over the weekend, we will be setting up Tapestry accounts. If you have returned the Tapestry letter and consented, then you will be receiving an email to activate your account. Sometimes these emails do go to the junk folder, but if you have consented and not received your email by Monday please speak to one of us. Tapestry is our online tool that we use each week. This online service allows us to share all the amazing things we’ve been up to in nursery, show you photos of your child’s learning and adventures and offer some key communication updates.

Please bring a packed lunch for your child to enjoy at lunchtime and the following items to be kept in school…

• A pair of named wellies.
• A bag with spare clothes and underwear.
  
  

We look forward to seeing you all again next week.

Dear Parents and Carers,

We hope you’ve had a lovely break and your child is looking forward to an exciting and busy final term in nursery! 

This half term we are continuing our whole school Quest of ‘Who Do I Aspire To Be?’ enjoying lots of activities.  Through rhyming stories, we are learning to listen out for rhyming words and enjoy playing games such as rhyming pairs and continuing rhyming strings e.g. cat sat mat rat, pig jig wig.  This maybe something you could play with your child, along with games such as I spy.

Our outdoor learning environment is an ever-changing wonderful space for your child to learn and play. We will be looking for the signs of summer, playing imaginary games in the meadow and observing minibeasts such as the damselflies and dragonflies around the school pond.  The children really enjoy this area of the school grounds and I’m sure we will notice new wildlife arrive and plants growing over these summer months.

We’re also really looking forward to our nursery visit to Tatton Farm.  Here is a reminder for you!

Nursery children will wear high viz vests provided by nursery and will be allocated to an adult with one to three ratio.  Please bear in mind we will be outside for most of the day, so please send children with appropriate footwear e.g. trainers.  As the forecast is sunny and warm, your child must wear sun cream and a sun hat along with an extra drink!

We will be having lunch at Tatton Farm (either outside or in the covered picnic areas), so please could you provide your child with a packed lunch. Please bring their lunch in their own small, named rusk sack, with items that we can dispose of before returning to school. We will be returning to school for approximately 2.45pm.
​
As ever, thank you for all your support
The Early Years Nursery Team

The children across the nursery have been busy creating a Kindness Garden together. 

We talked about what made us feel happy and how we can make each other smile in circle time!

​The children explored a range of materials to make their flowers and then had lots of fun painting, cutting and sticking and finally adding sparkles and glitter to this masterpiece!
 
We hope our Kindness Garden is enjoyed by all those who are visiting our school, as it will be displayed in the school hall.

Dear Parents and Carers,
​
The children have settled back well into nursery and are enjoying playing with their friends again. 
 
Last week, the children enjoyed talking about their new toys and also had lots of fun playing in the snow.  We also launched our new whole school Quest, ‘When Do I?  Where Do I?’, and started talking about our families and our homes. 
 
This week, we are learning more about toys and would like parents/grandparents to talk to your child about toys you/they used to play with.  We will be looking at a range of toys, books and games from the past and beginning to recognise how they have changed.  Please feel free to send in a photo through Tapestry or your child could show a toy from the past and say who it belonged to (we’ll be very careful!).
Also, in nursery, we are continuing to learn: -
● Counting out small sets of objects to match a numeral
● Practising to hear the first sound in a word – s s s snake   a a a apple    t t t tiger – sounds s a t p i n
● Writing our name and mark making activities
●  Sorting toys e.g. old/new soft/hard, have wheels/no wheels, animals with 4 legs etc
● Using our imagination in our role-play toy shop’ to develop language and beginning to count pennies
● Noticing seasonal changes in the school grounds, such as frozen puddles, shadows in the winter sun, freezing and melting etc.
 
As the weather continues to be cold and now wet, could you make sure mittens/gloves and hats are brought in please. Labelled where possible as they often go astray.

Thank you so much for your continued support,
 
​The Early Years Nursery Team