We hope that you had a lovely Summer and would like to welcome you all to Rainbow Nursery at Latchmere school. We will be getting to know your children as we support them in settling into nursery and learning about all the exciting activities they can explore. They will learn important routines and where everything belongs, to help them settle into nursery life. We look forward to learning about their interests and fascinations and to building a partnership with you to make the children’s nursery experience the best it can be.
Talking and Reading together
Developing children’s talk is an important foundation for their later reading and writing and this is one of our main priorities during the nursery year. We use all opportunities through play, sharing stories, singing songs, rhymes and poems and cooking, for example, to help children to pay attention, listen, follow instructions, learn new words and speak in longer sentences.
This term, we are planning exciting story-based opportunities to promote a love of stories and to make them irresistible to children. We strive to encourage conversations about the stories we explore with the children and for them to learn a selection of ‘wonderful words’ from each one. We will use these words in other situations which will help children to eventually use them in their own talk. We will make you aware of these words so that you can also use them at home with the family.
These are the ‘inside out’ stories and rhymes we will learn to remember this term:
This is a selection of stories we will explore this term to support our themes:
Some of you have informed us of the named adults who have your permission to pick your child up at the end of the session and we have compiled a list which we can refer to. If you have planned for a different person to pick up your child, please tell a nursery adult at the beginning of the session so that we can write it in the ‘message book’. You can also ring the office to notify them and they will send us an internal message.
Parent Representatives
Each year we value the support that our parent representatives give us, as a liaison between the class team and our parents. If any parents would like to volunteer to be a parent representative, we would be most appreciative. We would like two or three parents to volunteer for each nursery session, please. Please indicate your interest on the poster on the nursery noticeboard.
Seesaw
We use this learning platform to post group photos of the children each week to show you some of the exciting learning that they are engaging in. We have asked parents to sign a form giving us permission to share photos of their child within a group. Only nursery parents have access to this platform, using a login. Once we have received all permission forms, we will send you a QR code which will give you access to ‘Seesaw’. Please see a nursery staff member if you have not yet signed a permission form. Thank you.
Book bags
Each child will receive a named book bag from nursery so that we can send home sharing books with them each week. Please return bookbags on a Thursday so that we can send children home with a different book on a Friday.
Naming belongings
Please remember to name your child’s clothes, snack and water bottles so that we can support children in gathering their belongings at the end of the session.
Snacks
In line with our healthy eating policy, please remember to send in fruit and vegetables only. These are the only snack foods we have in nursery in order to keep children safe in case of allergies. School fruit is available for all children on a daily basis. Snack time is a good opportunity for children to see that their friends eat fruit or vegetables of different kinds and can may encourage them to try fruit when they might not normally.
Maths
Our curriculum aligns with the ‘Mathematics educational programme’ in the ‘Statutory Framework for the EYFS 2021’ and draws on the ‘White Rose Maths Programme’. The children will have opportunities to match, sort and count using real objects, counters and Numicon in their play and will have a short, active maths activity each day. Children will also be learning to recognise groups of up to 3 objects instantly, which is known as ‘subitising’ and will be learning to count. We will be singing lots of number rhymes.
Curriculum Highlights
This term the children will be learning about themselves and each other through our topics of ‘Marvellous Me!’ and ‘Let’s Celebrate!’. The children will begin by learning about their environment and how to select and use the resources available to them. They will be building relationships with each other and finding out how we all celebrate events and occasions that are special to us and our families. They will also be celebrating the similarities between themselves and others and finding out what makes us all unique and special.
You can find out more information about the Autumn term learning by looking at the Nursery Medium Term Plans and programmes of study on the website.
Weekly ‘Curriculum Highlights’ will be posted each Monday on the nursery class noticeboard, which is on the wall at the front of the nursery building. These will give a brief overview of the learning that is planned for the coming week.
Thank you for your support,
Best wishes from Mrs Booth, Ms Leung, Mrs D’Anelli, Mrs Harries, Mrs Hewitt and Mrs Lewis.
Key dates
All nursery parents, from both morning and afternoon sessions, are invited to our ‘Getting to Know You’ session on,
Wednesday 25th September at 9.00am
This will be an opportunity for us to give you more information about nursery routines, approaches to learning and the curriculum and for questions.
Updates and reminders
Session routines
We strive for a smooth transition for each child as they settle in and get to know the nursery adults and each other. Please talk to us about how your child is settling in and make us aware of any aspects of their transition that we can give further help with.
You are welcome to come into nursery with your child at the beginning of the session. Please let them show you how they can hang up their own coats and belongings and say goodbye to them when they are settled at an activity or with an adult.
While we are getting to know you, dismissing the children may take a little longer than usual. Please stand back from the nursery gate to enable us to see you all clearly so that we can hand over your child to you safely.