Welcome to Nursery and Preschool
Spring 2
Welcome to the Nursery and Preschool Class Page
Dear Parents,
Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful half term. Spring is in the air and we are looking forward to another exciting half term of learning.
Staffing in Nursery and Preschool is:
Mrs Morris (Class Teacher)
Mrs Ubaid (HLTA)
Miss Iqbal (TA)
Mrs Sabar (TA)
Nursery gates open at 8:30am (morning session) and 12:15pm (afternoon session) and close at 8:45am and 12:30pm. Please ensure your arrive on time so that your child does miss out on valuable learning time.
The gates open for home time from 11:15 - 11:30am (morning session) and 3:00 - 3:15pm (afternoon session). Please make sure if someone we have not met before is collecting your child, that you have informed the school and they know the password. Without doing this we cannot let your child leave. We understand this can be frustrating, but we are always vigilant at home time to make sure pupils leave safely. With this in mind, we encourage all children to hold an adult’s hand all the way home, or all the way to the car.
We encourage outdoor play in all types of weather, so please make sure your child is wearing suitable clothing and footwear to school. If you haven't yet done so, please send your child with a spare pair of wellington boots (wellies) to keep at nursery.
Curriculum and Learning
This half term our topic is ‘Step into Spring’. Please see the knowledge organiser for the list of stories, songs and rhymes we will be using to support our learning as well as key vocabulary to practise and talk about with your child.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This half term will see Nursery and Preschool pupils develop their confidence in social situations. Nursery pupils will be encouraged to express their thoughts, feelings, thoughts and ideas whilst Preschool pupils will be encouraged work together, extending and elaborating on each other's play ideas.
Communication and Language
Our curriculum is language rich and based around books and rhymes. Please see the knowledge organiser for a list of the stories, songs and rhymes we will be using this half term.
We want pupils to know many rhymes, to be able to talk about familiar books, and to be able to tell a long story. We will provide lots of opportunities, both indoors and outdoors to retell familiar stories using masks, story props and puppets. Staff will encourage pupils to speak clearly and to take turns when having a conversation.
Our learning environment is designed carefully to encourage pupils to follow their own interests and express their own ideas. The variety of resources both indoors and outdoors provide ample opportunities for children to practise new vocabulary and develop their language and communication skills. Staff model, stimulate and extend children’s interactions by asking open-ended questions. Alongside this, visual cues are used to aid language development and communication.
Nursery pupils will continue to talk about their feelings, identify familiar objects and talk their properties (e.g. ‘blue car’, ‘big teddy’). Preschool pupils will continue to develop their communication, talking in full sentences, understanding ‘why’ questions and learning to sing a large repertoire of songs.
Physical Development
Staff provide lots of different resources for pupils to grasp, hold and explore such as playdough, collage, finger paint, spoons, brushes, tweezers, pegs, shells, etc, to develop and strengthen their fine motor skills. Pupils will have daily opportunities to develop their gross motor skills using the bikes, large outdoor equipment and large mark making equipment. They will be learning to move confidently in a variety of ways such as running, jumping and climbing using the play equipment. This will help your children to develop core strength and strong bodies.
Specific targets for Preschool pupils this half term include using one-handed tools and equipment such as making snips in paper with scissors and beginning to form some letters accurately. Nursery pupils will begin to develop their ball skills (throwing, catching and kicking) as well as clapping and stamping to music. Nursery and Preschool pupils will also participate in daily toothbrushing sessions.
Literacy
Early Literacy skills are very closely linked to communication and language skills. Children need to communicate effectively if they are going to read and write. Stories are shared daily and left for children to access independently within our cosy and inviting reading areas. The books, stories and rhymes are carefully chosen to expose pupils to a wide range of vocabulary. Resources within provision provide pupils with opportunities to use this vocabulary in their play and conversations with others.
We strongly advise that you regularly share stories with your child at home. This is key to supporting their communication, language and speech development, and is also a wonderful bonding experience which supports their personal, social and emotional development.
Preschool targets for the spring term include counting/clapping syllables in a word (e.g. zeb-ra, 1,2) and spotting and suggesting rhymes (e.g. ‘cat’, ‘hat’, ‘mat’). Pupils will learn that print can have different purposes, for example, using instructions to plant seeds. Nursery pupils will develop their play around favourite stories using props, and repeat words and phrases from familiar stories.
Maths
The children will be supported to access maths in lots of exciting and practical ways. We will use number and finger rhymes in maths as a way to familiarise pupils with the numbers 1 to 5, when counting both forwards and backwards, and encouraging pupils to join in. This will then be supported through the use of games and activities such as playing hide and seek, or rocket-launch countdowns and within provision.
Specific maths targets for Nursery pupils this half term include developing counting-like behaviour, such as making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence, reacting to changes of amounts in a group of up to three items, and comparing amounts, saying ‘lots’, ‘more’ or ‘same’. Preschool pupils will learn to compare objects by weight (heavy, light, heavier, lighter), explore 3D shapes, begin to write numerals and match these to amounts.
Understanding the World
Understanding the World is about how children get to know about other people, the place where they live and about all aspects of the environment.
This half term will provide lots of interesting learning opportunities. Pupils will learn about spring, planting and growing, animal lifecycles (e.g. egg, chick, chicken), as well as lots of different types of animals. Through weekly religious education sessions, Preschool pupils will learn about festivals celebrated by people of faith, including Holi (Hindu), Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr (Muslim), Easter and Pentecost (Christian) and Vaisakhi (Sikh).
Expressive Art and Design
Pupils are provided with a variety of opportunities to develop their imagination and encourage creativity both indoors and outdoors. Our resources include drawing, painting, role play areas, songs, musical instruments, construction toys and junk modelling.
This half term, Nursery pupils will take part in action songs and express their idea and feelings through mark making. Preschool pupils will develop their drawing skills, creating closed shapes with continuous lines and drawing with increasing complexity such as representing a face with a circle and including the details, as well as showing different emotions in their drawings and paintings.
If you would like more detailed information about the Early Years’ curriculum at Brookhouse for the 2 year-old, 3 year-old and 4-year-old children, please visit the Early Years section on the curriculum page.
Mrs Morris, Mrs Ubaid, Miss Iqbal and Mrs Sabar.