Nursery – Curriculum News 

 Autumn 2020 Topic – Happiness

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our parents and children, both old and new, who have already become valued members of our school.

The curriculum for the Foundation Phase is topic based, this term the Nursery topic is ‘Happiness’. This project has a Personal, Social & Development, Well Being & Cultural Diversity focus and teaches children about the importance of happiness, health, well-being and celebrations.

In line with the Foundation Phase Policy all seven areas of learning will be covered. These areas are:

• Mathematical Development
• Language, Literacy and Communication
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
• Creative Development
• Physical Development
• Welsh Language Development
• Personal and Social Development, Well-being and Cultural Diversity

As a Church in Wales School your child will take part in daily prayers and learn about stories from the Bible..

This term your children will participate in a variety of learning styles that will include outdoor learning and learning through play; this will be in compliance with both National Curriculum and Outcomes for 3 to 7-year-olds in Wales in the Foundation Phase.

Personal & Social Development, Well Being and Cultural Diversity – Our topic this term is rooted in this area.

We will discover how to look after ourselves in terms of healthy eating and hygiene. We will be discussing how to care for toys and items within the classroom and each other through our school’s ‘Five Finger Rules’. Our role play areas will also be a focus for social skill development and the children will be playing together interactively through a range of activities. This term our ‘Cornel Cartref’ (home corner) will be a place where children can re-enact special celebrations such as birthday parties and tea parties etc.   Here the children can experience structured and imaginative play whether it is to improve their table manners or practice role playing good hygiene. The children will develop their ability to share with their peers further and they will also develop their friendships whilst working in their learning environment. Circle time activities will have a big emphasis on the children’s emotional development. The children will have the opportunity to discuss their feelings ie what makes them feel happy and sad.

Religious Education - Your children will be discovering the world of Christianity through daily prayers and through bible stories.  This term our topic will be leading us to develop further understanding of what happens in traditional ‘happy’ celebrations such as weddings, birthday parties and christenings or any other relevant celebration. The children will be encouraged to bring photographs of their own events to school and explain what they show.  We will be thanking God for the things that we can do and saying thank you for His gifts (creation).

Language, Literacy, and Communication skills –

We will be focussing on language skills by encouraging the children to join in with class discussions, tell news and bring in topic related items to to talk about in front of the class.  There will be a ‘Show and Tell’ on a half termly basis, this will take place on the last Friday of every half term. Your child’s artefact for ‘Show and Tell’ should be carefully chosen to reflect your child’s interests or the current topic.

We will be looking at various different stories ie ‘The Colour of Happy’, Elmer, The Very Hungry Caterpillar (to name a few).

The children will be encouraged to recognise their names and begin to write their name. They will have the use the writing table in our class through free choice and directed activities, this will have a range of resources and mark making tools on it so the children can experiment and develop their writing skills.  Each week your child will focus on a topic based story and participate in Literacy activities based on this text.     

Mathematical Development – Numeracy skills will be taught through practical activities and play.  In Nursery we will be learning to recognise, write and count numbers 1-5 using a variety of different items, counting bears, pegs, leaves and writing numbers in the sand, paint and shaving foam.

We will be learning numbers 1-5 through songs and learning to count both forwards and backwards from 5.  

Welsh Language Development –The children will be using incidental Welsh daily such as numbers, colours, rhymes, songs and greetings and also learning a variety of topic related vocabulary relating to teimladau, (feelings), y tywydd (weather) and the days of the week.

Knowledge and Understanding of the World – The children will develop an understanding of how the environment (inside or outside) can affect their happiness and well-being. They will make a plan of their favourite place and label what is there. The children will make a map or plan of an imagined place and describe what it would be like and what features of it would make them happy. We will look at what people need to be happy as they grow.

During this topic we will also learn that being healthy is a big factor in being happy. We will learn names of different parts of the body and find out how to look after these through exercise and healthy eating. We will have lots of fun making healthy snacks (and eating them!) Our Reception children will also enjoy learning a range of playground games that will be lots of fun.

Physical Development – Nursery will be taking part outdoor physical activities using the bikes, scooters and outdoor playground to play games.

We will have 1 PE session a week Thursday pm and Friday am for the two different groups.  The children will not need a PE kit but are welcome to wear joggers and trainers to school on their PE day to make them more confortable.

Creative Development –

The children will make a variety of creative art models with a happy theme ie rainbows and musical instruments. Our topic will lead us to make observational drawings of their own faces when happy. They will use mirrors and photographs to help them. We will develop sculpting skills using clay when we make, paint and display our very own clay faces.

The children will play games, watch cartoons and tell jokes. They will dance to happy tunes, sing happy songs.  Every day the children will have the opportunity to take part in a creative activity, whether it is drawing, painting, making, colouring or singing.  The children will explore a variety of tuned and un-tuned Fairtrade instruments in group activities. 

At the end of the first half term we will host a ‘Happiness Morning’ which we will have worked towards throughout the term.   The children will design a healthy eating menu, create the food and provide each other with entertainment during our in house talent show where they will make each other laugh and feel happy.

I hope that from this brief summary you gain a feel for the teaching and learning styles we offer in our Nursery class. As a staff we are extremely excited about this topic and we know that our new children are going to relish each and every one of the experiences they meet. Please remember that you can speak to us at the end of every day should you have any concerns at all.

Best Wishes

Mrs Rogers, Ms Hughes and Mrs Knight

Further ways to help your child:

• Please ensure your children have appropriate weather proof clothing which is clearly marked with their names as they will be engaging in the outdoors every day.
• Please could your child have a pair of wellies they can leave in school for exploring the grounds, walks and wet play.
• Please ensure all of your children’s uniform is clearly marked with their names, this is extremely important.
• If clothing is borrowed for any reason we would appreciate it if you could wash it and return it to school.
• Please ensure your child has a healthy snack for morning play time if you are not taking advantage of our provision of fruit termly @ £15 per child.  As we are a healthy school, we do not allow chocolate, crisps or biscuits for snack time, and we don’t allow chocolate bars or sweets to be part of a packed lunch. We encourage the children to drink throughout the day but this should be water, not squash or sugary drinks. Drink bottles and snack boxes should be clearly labelled.
• Please check your children have their red bag with them every day and check its contents on a daily basis for correspondence from school.
• The children in Nursery will be provided with a drink of semi-skimmed milk every afternoon and will only be offered water as an alternative if requested by yourselves; so if your child does not like milk please inform us as soon as possible.
• If your children are away from school at any time, please inform the school as soon as possible and also provide a letter stating the reason.  If we do not receive a letter we will have to mark your children with an unauthorised absence.  Holidays within term time are unauthorised absences and a holiday request form should be completed prior to the children’s absence.  These can be obtained from Mrs Money’s Office.
• If your child is part of the ‘Wrap around care’ scheme please can you make sure you have filled in the appropriate forms (on parent pay) so we know which day your child needs to be walked over to playgroup or is attending ‘After school club’.
• To enhance your children’s learning at home please visit our website to keep yourself updated. 

A reminder for your fridge: NURSERY