Dear Parents and Carers,
Nursery News:
Easter
Egg Hunt
All
the children and staff in on Thursday morning took part in our annual Easter
Egg Hunt. We all had a great time and just missed the rain!
Menus
Thank you for all the feedback on the new menus, they will go live
after the Easter holidays (16th April). Please feel free to give
feedback up until this date.
Bank
holidays
A
reminder that it is bank holiday Friday (30th) and bank holiday
Monday (2nd) next week, we will open as usual on Tuesday 3rd
April.
Up Coming Events
29th March – Term time only and funded only children
break up for Easter
30th March – Closed – Bank Holiday
2nd April – Closed Bank Holiday
27th April – Muddy Puddle Walk
This weeks activities and events
In 2 Sports – This week at in2sports the children played the fun Mr. Men game
where they manoeuvred around the garden in different ways following
instructions. They then continued to build their football skills.
French – This week during French the children have had lots of fun singing
songs and colouring pictures. The children also read a story about 10 tadpoles
which helped them to develop counting in French. The children also had lots of
fun learning some animal names.
Forest
School – At
Forest school it was this groups final week in their block, they had lots of
fun making a fire and melting marshmallows for snacks. They then found a steep
hill and practiced moving up and down it.
Next weeks activities:
Each key person will be responsible for designing an activity
based on their key children’s needs; however, all children who are in on that
day will have the opportunity to access the activity too.
If the key person is on holiday or off, another staff member will
be able to lead the activity in their place so that the children do not miss
out.
For more information on the Early Years Foundation stage, the
guidance we use to support our planning and practice, please visit:
This week’s planned activities are also on the ILD’S.
Buttercups
Topic of the month: Easter
Tuesday – Jamie’s group will be building literacy skills
while telling rhymes with puppets.
Wednesday
– Hannah’s group is using the musical instruments enjoying sensory
experiences.
Thursday
– Leanne’s group are caring for the role play babies developing an
awareness of emotions.
Friday
– Sammy’s group will be developing their understanding skills while using sign
language flashcards.
Jamie is off Monday, Leanne is off Wednesday, Sammy and Hannah are
in all week.
Bluebells
Topic of the month: Transport
Tuesday – Megan’s group are making shortbread biscuits while
describing what they are doing supporting speaking skills.
Wednesday – Ruby’s group is painting using different shaped
sponges talking about their own creations and the shapes they see.
Thursday – Donna’s group will be discovering their favourite
books encouraging an interest in stories.
Thursday - Chloe’s group is making their own pizzas building turn
taking skills and health and self-care.
Friday – Maria’s group is building physical skills and
understanding while following instructions and manoeuvring around the garden in
different ways.
Donna is off Wednesday and Thursday, Chloe is off Monday and
Tuesday, Megan is off Thursday and Friday, Ruby and Maria are in all week.
Sunflowers
In the Sunflower room each Key Person plans and implements their
own Key Group activity, but the room works on the same area and aspect to
ensure the activity is individual to each Key Group and therefore meets the
specific Key Group’s individual needs.
This will work alongside their weekly planned activity list which
you can see in the room and on the ILD’S.
Becci’s group are taking part in a small group activity of their
choice. The children will be encourage to communicate their feelings and
express an understanding of how some actions or words can make other feels.
Ines’s group will be reading ‘The Colour Monster’ story building
an understanding and an awareness of different feelings.
Almu’s group will be helping set up and tidy away after meals
enjoying responsibility of small tasks and welcoming praise.
Topic of the month: Our bodies
The letter of the week is: P
The children will be:
Talking about words beginning with P
Writing the letter P on the easel
Walking like penguins.
Finding the letter P in the sand tray
The Number of the week is: 10
The children will be:
Talking about the number 10 and what it looks like
Clapping 10 times
Writing the number 10 on the easel
Playing a number puzzle
The shape of the week is: oval
The children will be:
Recognising the oval shape
Talking about the shape
Find ovals around the room
Making the oval shape with our hands
Becci is off Tuesday, Almu is off Thursday, Ines is in all week
and Almu is on holiday all week.
From the 9th April Ines will be going part time and
will have Tuesdays off to spend some time producing music. From this week
Ines’s days off will be Tuesday, Becci’s Wednesday and Almu’s Thursday. Any
questions just ask the team.
Jenni and Ottilia are in all week.
I am in every day 7.30 – 4.00. So I will get to see you all in the
morning, If you have any queries in the evening please speak to your child’s
Room Leader or Jamie.
Interactive Learning Diary
Don’t forget to check out all the exciting things your child has
done this week, on their ILD profile.
We aim to put at least one observation up per week.
Facebook
Castle Nursery and Preschool Facebook page promotes the company, engages with
parents and team members across our nurseries.
If you would be interested in following this page, here is the
link: https://www.facebook.com/Castle-Nursery-and-Preschool-790319011138020/. We will be
regularly adding events and photos to the page.
Menus
There are no planned changes to this week’s menu.
See attached document for the weekly menu.
If you would like to see a copy of our allergens menu at any time
please ask!
Useful websites
Here are the links for the Surrey Family Information Service, Free
Early Education (the 15 hours funding), Free Early Education for Two year olds and
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).
Our Policy of the Week:
Teaching policy
Aim of policy
The aim of the policy is to
state Childcare and Learning Group’s shared vision of teaching and to give
guidance to practitioners about what teaching means to them and the children in
their care. It links to the guidance Teaching and play in the Early years- a
balancing act? (July 2015)
Points to consider
Teaching can seem a scary
concept in Early Years, where learning through play is our way of life. However
it is important for staff, parents and children to understand that by working
with children we are teaching them.
High quality teaching is
not all about one preferred style or methodology but should help the children
to learn and reach their full potential.
Research shows that
children’s development is at its greatest between birth and five. Therefore the
activities that they do are absolutely crucial in giving them a good start in
life.
High quality teaching can
only come when we also have high quality, accurate assessments of the children.
Teaching should not be
taken to mean a formal way of working. It is a broad term that covers the many
different ways in which adults help young children to learn.
It includes their
interactions with children during planned and child- initiated play and
activities: communicating and modelling language, showing, explaining,
demonstrating, exploring ideas, encouraging, questioning, recalling, providing
a narrative for what we are doing, facilitating and setting challenges. It
takes into account the equipment and the attention to the physical environment
as well as the structure and routines of the day that establish expectations.
Integral to teaching is how practitioners’ assess what children know,
understand and can do as well as take into account of their interests and
dispositions to learning (characteristics of effective learning) and use this
information to plan children’s next steps in learning and monitor their
progress.
Early Educations is about
every aspect of a child’s development. It is about more than imparting
knowledge. It is about providing a wide range of experiences and opportunities
so that every area of development receives attention.
Childcare and Learning Group aim to achieve this by:
• Helping children to learn
• Teaching children to listen
to instructions and be attentive
• Teaching children to
socialise
• Motivating children to try
things for themselves
• Supporting children to
manage their personal needs
• Challenging children to
think and find out more
• Encouraging children to
speculate and test ideas through trial and error
• Providing good models of
language
• Developing children’s
ability to express their ideas and use their imagination
• Extending children’s
vocabulary and teaching them new words
• Teaching children the early
stages of mathematics and reading
• Focusing on children’s
learning
• Spending time engaged in
purposeful dialogue with children
• Giving children sufficient
time to practice and reinforce what is being taught
• Assessing children’s
skills, knowledge and abilities accurately and use this information to plan how
to improve children’s progress
• Ensuring staff have
sufficient expertise to teach children basic skills in the three prime areas of
learning as well as in literacy and mathematics
• Having a well organised,
regular and effective development programme that is improving the quality of
teaching.
• Ensuring that children are
supported to “catch up” if they start with skills that are lower than those
typical of their age.
• Having high, achievable
expectations
• Staff asking high quality
questions to the children
• Listening carefully to the
children and thinking about the best time to intervene rather than just jumping
in.
• Staff motivating children
and encourage them to be independent and support them to manage their personal
needs relative to their ages rather than being merely concerned with
supervising and caring for children.
• adults’ questions challenge
children to think and find out more by encouraging them to speculate and test
ideas through trial and error
• adults model language well,
develop children’s ability to express their ideas and extend their use of new
words
• Identifying what children
can do by themselves and what they can do when supported by a
practitioner.
• Equally important are times
when practitioners leave children alone to explore, make their own discoveries,
solve problems and learn skills through self-initiated play.
• Talking to the children
about what they are learning
• Sharing with parents what
we are teaching the children. In this setting we do this by: verbal handovers,
weekly newsletters, parents evenings, parent meetings, open door policy and
through the online ILD system
•
Linking with other settings that the child attends to share knowledge of the
child
In this the setting we make links with other settings the children
attends by:
Contacting the child’s
previous setting to discuss development
Contacting the setting the
child attends regularly and sharing information.
When possible visiting the
other setting that the child attends.
It is important that
practitioners meet the needs of every child who attends the setting. This may
include:
• Disabled children and those
who have special educational needs
• Boys
• Girls
• Children with starting
points that are significantly below those expected for their age
• Those who are able to
exceed expectations for their age
• Summer born children
• Children from disadvantaged
families and/or backgrounds or vulnerable groups including:
• Funded two year olds
• Looked after children
• Children from minority
ethnic groups
• Children who have English
as an additional language
• Children of service
families
Kind Regards,
Jess, Jamie and the South Hill Team
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