We returned to nursery to find a carpet of leaves in our garden. The children have enjoyed crunching through them and making “leaf snow”! They have also been comparing the different shapes, sizes and colours – and have been learning about the trees that don’t drop their leaves.

On our last day before the half term break the children enjoyed dressing up, doing some creative activities and listening to stories.

The children looked at sunflower pictures, including the famous Van Gough painting and painted their own versions. They also explored the different shades of orange and yellow – linking these colours to the colour of Autumn leaves.

We are learning about Autumn and the children have been pleased to find some conkers in our garden as they played and explored outside.

The children have been developing their physical skills on our outdoor trim track and looking for signs of Autumn.

We have made the most of the last sunny days and spent most of the time outside. As well as their usual garden areas, the children have also enjoyed visits in their groups to the Woodland area, and to the trim track.

The children are enjoying the familiar routines of nursery now. They are particularly enjoying playing alongside their peers; something which many of them had not have very much of this year. It is lovely to see the nursery busy again with happy children.

It has been lovely this week welcoming back our returning children (some of whom we haven’t seen for a very long time)  and our new children. They have all settled incredibly well – especially considering they all came through the door by themselves! The sunshine has allowed us to have lots of outdoor play, and the children are doing very well keeping in their bubbles and in their designated areas. We think it is helping them to settle quicker as they are not overwhelmed by too much choice.

Thank you everyone for keeping to your allotted drop off and collection times – you have really helped things run smoothly.

Please see end of year letter for all families

Summer holiday – letter

Those families returning to us or joining us in September will be receiving important information this week  as we prepare to welcome you for the next academic year. We appreciate that Covid 19 is creating uncertainty for everyone but we have turned the disruptive effect of this pandemic into an opportunity to create better ways to organise our learning for children. Our commitment is that no matter what the situation in September we will be ready to teach and engage with you as closely as we can through an educational experience that is as safe and protected as possible. In practical terms  this means that if your child can’t come to nursery for part of the term due to family self isolation we will use technology to keep you close to us. Parental presence within the nursery is not going to be possible due to social distancing rules so we will be taking measures such as taking email addresses, making and receiving phone calls and finding innovative ways of working together with you. We believe that as a nursery we have a lot experience of using email contact  and welcome phone calls from parents. Our leadership team will be available, either in person or remotely, as they have been over the last few months.

Our nursery school has faced many challenges in the last 50 years and with that breadth of experience behind us we feel we can look forward to the future with confidence, stay optimistic and continue to keep kindness to others as one of our core values.

We look forward to seeing you soon.