Squirrels Nursery 2024 - 2025

 Welcome to Squirrels Nursery

Hello to faces new and old!  We are extremely excited to welcome you to the start of your journey here at Tattenhall Park Primary- we can't wait to get stuck in and have lots of fun!

We are a happy class of enthusiastic children taught by Mrs Williams (Mon-Thurs) and Mrs Edwards (Fri) and supported by our wonderful teaching assistant, Mrs Heath.

In class we like to be busy, exploring, playing and finding out about things. The most wonderful things about Early Years is that we like to follow the children's interests and therefore topics can change quickly or stay for a sustained period of time.  

This document is a useful read to find out more about early years education.
Click on link - http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/.../what-to-expect-when-a-parents-guide/

You should have received information with regards to Tapestry, our online portal where you can see all of the wonderful things that your child has been getting up to whilst in Nursery.  Equally, it would be great to see what fantastic things your child has been up to at home or out and about so please do upload photos and comments to their profile for us to share in school.

Important Information

Please be sure to label all of your child's belongings including items such as snack pots, water bottles and shoes etc.  Please ensure that you check these regularly as names can fade and labels can fall off.  This helps us to return any lost itmes to their rightful owner!

Please can you ensure that you send a pair of wellies in with your child to keep in school as we use them daily for playing outside. We will go out in all weathers, so if you would like to send an all in one suit in as well as your child's coat then that would be fantastic. Please ensure they are named. 

We would also appreciate if you could send in a spare set of clothes in case of accidents. These can be left in school if you wish. 

A packed lunch will need to be provided if your child is staying for lunches. Please ensure this is healthy and DOES NOT contain nuts as we are a nut free school due to a range of allergies. 

This term we will be working on independence and practising putting on shoes, coats and wellies independently, as well as using the toilet and washing hands well, as well as wiping their own nose. Please can you practise these at home. Many thanks

More information on what we are learning this half term is attached in the documents below. 

Reading

We send a library picture book home with your child weekly; we would be grateful if you could share these with your children over the week.  Encourage them to look at the front cover and discuss what they think may happen in the story.  When reading the story; discuss the pictures, how the characters might be feeling and where they think the story is taking place.  It's great practise to follow the words with your fingers so that your child can see the direction in which they need to read.  Most importantly, reading should be fun so enjoy this special time sharing a book with your child! 

School Readiness

We have added this document to our website so that it helps you prepare your child for starting school. We are very happy to talk to you if you have any questions or concerns. Please feel free to speak to any member of the EYFS team.

Useful Websites

https://tapestryjournal.com/  A link to access your child's online Learning Journey.

https://www.twinkl.com Lots of great resources to help with home learning (some resources are free, some are paid).

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks  Snappy animation and loveable characters combine with engaging story lines to gently introduce concepts of number to support early mathematical understanding.

https://www.tentown.co.uk/sign_in.php Ten Town is the unique early years numeracy scheme designed to improve number recognition and formation.

Use your personal logins found on Tapestry 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people Help for parents and carers in developing theior child's langauge and communication skills.

https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/filter/?age=3-4&activity= Ideas for talking, playing and reading with your child.

https://handsonaswegrow.com/activities/preschool-activities/ Ideas to encourage sustained concentration.

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ Supports phonics within the classroom in a fun and informative manner.

https://www.purplemash.com/sch/tattenhall- personalw logins have been added to Tapestry

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b01cz0p1/alphablocks Teaches children to use the pure sounds that we use in phonics.  It also shows the use of segmenting and blending.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?AgeGroup=1 A range of games to support most areas of the curriculum.

https://www.busythings.co.uk/ A range of activities designed to support the EYFS curriculum.

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/ Interactive books and reading activities to share with your child.

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html Lots of maths and literacy games.

Useful Apps

Pocket Phonics: a super resource for teaching letters and sounds including reading, writing and spelling.

Twinkl Phonics: great for letters and sounds, alphabet work, high frequency words and letter formation.

Doodle Buddy: a paint app which helps develop hand eye coordination. 

Bee Bot: an app which helps improve directional language (forwards, backwards, left right etc.)

Quick Math Jr: a maths app which helps with number work and shapes.

Toca Doctor: an app which helps the children learn about their body and helps with problems solving skills.

Collins Big Cat: a range of stories which you can download onto your tablets.

Scratch Jr: an  app designed for children to develop simple coding skills

We have attached some documents below that may be of use.  If you have any questions about our curriculum, the nursery in general or about your child then we are available to have a quick chat with at the beginning or end of the day or, if you require more time, please contact us to arrange an appointment.

We look forward to a fun year in squirrels 

Many thanks

Mrs WIlliams, Mrs Heath and Mrs Edwards