Dive into Summer 2 at Wells Nursery School! 🌊✨

Welcome to our final, action-packed term of the school year! This summer, we are turning our classrooms and outdoor spaces into a world of discovery, with a special focus on water, weather, and the wonderful world around us. 

🌟 Big Themes & Adventures

Our learning this term is inspired by the children's natural curiosity, the changing weather, and some fantastic core books. Here is a sneak peek at our weekly focus areas: 

• Week 1: Family, Feelings & Belonging ❤️

We are kicking off the term by sharing our half-term stories and talking about what makes a family. We'll be practicing our nursery routines, learning to listen in small groups, and having fun washing clothes and dinosaurs! 

• Week 2: Protecting Our Oceans 🐢

Timed with World Ocean Day, we will dive into books like 'Someone Swallowed Stanley' to learn about plastic waste. The children will explore how we can keep our seas clean and keep animals safe, even rescuing toy fish "stuck" in plastic waste in our water tray. 

• Week 3: Splash & Explore! 🐸

We will be exploring how water travels using guttering and big buckets. We'll also enjoy a bit of pond dipping to identify mini-beasts and use sponges to learn all about how clouds soak up water. 

• Week 4: Get Ready, Get Set, Go! 🏆

It's Sports Day prep week! The children will be reading sports-themed stories, writing invitations, and planning a wonderful family picnic. 

• Week 5: Rain Around the World 🌧️

We will look outwards at the wider world, discovering how vital the Monsoon season is for growing crops in countries like India and Africa. The children will also get creative by designing and building their very own rain-catching devices! 

• Weeks 6 & 7: Big Steps & New Beginnings 🏫

As we approach the end of the year, our focus shifts to transition. Through beautiful stories, we will talk about growing up, changing, and what it’s like to start big school. We will also explore the magic of color-mixing using pipettes and colored water. 

📅 Dates for Your Diary

Mark your calendars! We have an incredibly busy social calendar this term:

• June (All Month): Celebrating Pride Month and "Wild June". 

• Wednesday, 10th June: A very exciting Little City Visit right here at school! 

• Thursday, 11th June: The World Cup begins ⚽. 

• Thursday, 18th June & Tuesday, 30th June: Nursery Sports Days. 

• Sunday, 21st June: Father’s Day & the Summer Solstice ☀️ (The children will be prepping special cards the week before!) 

• Wednesday, 24th June: Ahoy, maties! It’s Pirate Beach Day 🏴‍☠️🏖️. 

• Wednesday, 8th July (2:00 PM): Our grand Nursery Graduation ceremony 🎓. 

🗣️ Daily Speech & Language Boosters

Every day, we weave explicit speech and language games into our play to build confident communicators. This term, we are focusing on: 

• Time words: Understanding first, beginning, end, start, and finish. 

• Pronouns: Practicing he, she, him, and her. 

• Position words: Playing games with in, on, under, next to, and in front of. 

• Language concepts: Exploring same vs. different and practicing action verbs. 

🌿 The "Extra Magic"

Alongside our core themes, we will be diving into the Wanderlust Nature Study Curriculum and the "50 Things to Do Before You’re 5" initiative to give your children hands-on, memorable summer experiences. Every week, your child will also participate in the Poetry Basket, learning fun rhymes and using props to bring poems to life. 

We can’t wait to share this final, sun-soaked term of learning and laughter with your children! As always, our continuous provision is packed with opportunities, and we will adapt our daily plans to follow the children’s specific interests and ideas. 

Let's make it a summer term to remember! ☀️🌈

 

Every day in Nursery is different, but a usual session begins and ends with carpet time. This is when we come together, to not only register and sort out who is having a packed lunch or hot dinner but to begin and end the session by connecting with each other. The content and length of the carpet sessions vary greatly from one end of the year to the other and sometimes from one day to the next. At the beginning of the year, only a short name re-calling welcome song may be appropriate. However, as children feel more settled and develop their focus and engagement, the carpet time reflects their need for longer stories and more periods of sustained shared thinking.

The main part of the session is dedicated to child-initiated learning: the children are taught and encouraged to access resources independently, and given the time to initiate, plan and carry out their own learning. This uninterrupted time allows the children to develop and apply the skills they need to be independent and inquisitive learners. During this time, our skilled Nursery team are observing and interacting with the children. All children are continually observed, supported and encouraged by trusted adults with whom they have built warm and positive relationships. All staff are skilled at making considered observations and recognising within these the ‘teaching moments’. It is through these many, many teaching moments every day that the children in Nursery thrive, overcome difficulties, and develop their key learning dispositions – namely communication, collaboration, involvement and persistence with difficulty.

We record our observations on EExAT, a secure online Early Years learning journey. Families have access to this and are encouraged to contribute. The purpose of observations is to help the adults understand how each child learns best, in addition to their strengths and needs. It shapes how the adults intervene to support, and helps to gauge and make the right judgements about what, how and when challenge can be offered.

Once a term each Nursery child, becomes the Focus child for that week. The aim is to involve all Nursery staff alongside parents and carers to build a full picture of a child’s interests, learning and development. This happens through a combination of extended periods of observations, play and conversations with the child, as well as feedback and conversations with parents. The resulting conversations give a full picture and a shared understanding of the whole child in all areas of development and characteristics of effective learning. This in-depth knowledge informs future planning of interactions and can include changes in the provision to better match or extend a particular area.