Nursery Newsletter October 2025

​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. 

This term we have also been:

• Learning the new routines of our day
• Exploring our classroom, outdoors and all the fun resources
• Singing lots of nursery rhymes
• Finding our own name each morning in our self-register
• Sharing stories together
• Looking for signs of Autumn around us and finding out more about what happens during Autumn
• Counting small sets of objects with 1:1 correspondence
• Exploring colours and patterns

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.

Key dates for you diary

Thursday 23rd October
PA disco for Nursery, Reception
Year 1 and Year 2: 5.15pm – 6.15pm

Wednesday 22nd October/Friday 24th October
School finishes for half term

Monday 3rd November
INSET day - Children not in school

Week Beginning 3rd November
Parent/teacher meetings

Friday 28th November
PA Christmas Fair
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Wednesday 10th December
9.15am and 2pm
​Nursery and Reception
Christmas singalong