Nursery
Welcome to Nursery - Early Years Foundation Stage
Mrs Altiparmaki - Aster Class ealtiparmaki@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
In Early Years we have created a happy, secure and stimulating environment in which children can develop as unique individuals and where they develop emotional, social and academic skills needed to become independent, motivated learners and responsible members of the community.
Learning takes place both inside and outside the classroom. We also have a Forest School site where the children develop their awareness of nature, the environment and skills such as collaboration and enquiry.
The Early Years curriculum is designed to meet the needs of the youngest children in our school. Delivery of the curriculum is led through adult-led activities that introduce new skills and extend learning. There are also planned purposeful play opportunities and enhancement of provision, where adults observe and intervene with higher ordering questioning and engagement to extend the learning taking place.
Communication with parents is a strength in Early Years. We communicate with the parents on a daily basis and use an online platform called ‘Interactive Learning Diary’ which enables us to inform parents of their child’s weekly learning through observations, photos and videos. It also allows parents to contribute to their child’s learning, as we are all instrumental in ensuring that our children’s development is excellent.
Autumn Term Learning
Welcome to the children starting with us in Aster Class, their parents and carers, and welcome back to those returning to us! We hope you have had a lovely summer and are excited to begin your learning adventure. It is going to be a busy time! The new children will initially be settling in to the new routines and the ‘older’ children will be encouraged to show increasing independence in all areas of learning and to develop their social skills.
As always, the children follow a play-based curriculum. This takes place through a range of stimulating and engaging activities which allow children to explore, communicate, question and develop their understanding. The children will have opportunities to learn skills through focused activities and independent play and their learning journey will follow their individual needs within the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021). As well as settling into their new environment and routines, they will be learning skills through our topics on: Marvellous Me! & Celebrations.
Communication, Language and Literacy
- Join in with rhymes and songs and begin to move/do actions to music
- Concentrate for several minutes on an activity, listen to a story or at group time
- Understand and respond to simple questions
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Play cooperatively with a familiar adult and begin to initiate play and form friendships with peers
- Begin to be independent in self-care
- Join in a range of activities that interest them
- Begin to express feelings e.g. happy, sad, angry
- Begin to understand that some things have to be shared
Physical Development
- Control the whole body and negotiate space and objects
- Use large muscle movements to wave flags/ribbons, paint and make marks
- Begin to use fine motor equipment, e.g. threading beads, tweezers
- Begin to hold scissors/mark-making tools correctly
Literacy
- Use a range of tools in a range of media to make marks
- Begin Phase 1 phonics listening activities
- Join in with familiar songs, rhymes and repeat phrases from simple stories
- Take care of books and handle them correctly
- Show an interest in quality texts
Some of our texts which will support this term’s topics are:
Mathematics
- Show awareness of surroundings and curiosity to explore and make sense
- Perceptually subitise to 3
- Use numbers as labels to 3
- Understand that 3 is made of other numbers
- Begin to join in songs, action rhymes with counting or number patterns
- Start to use a 5 frame understanding concept images and ‘full’/’not full yet’
- Show ‘finger numbers’ up to 5
In conjunction with NCETM Numberblocks scheme:
- Categorise objects according to properties – colour, shape or size
- Identify shapes in the environment and select shapes appropriately for building
Understanding the World
- Begin to remember and talk about significant events in their own experience
- Imitate everyday actions/events from own family and cultural background
- Use the senses in exploring natural materials and explore how things work
Expressive Arts and Design
- Take part in pretend play
- Create closed shapes and continuous lines, and begin to use these to represent objects
- Show an interest in the way musical instruments sound; remember and sing some simple songs/rhymes
Please note that some aspects / topics may change in order to adapt to the children's learning needs and interests.
General Information
Reminders:
- Forest School sessions will begin later in the term on Wednesdays. If your child has not been before, please refer to the Forest School section on our website for information on the ethos of forest school. Look out for letters regarding details of sessions.
- ‘Lending Library’ is on a Friday. Please ensure your child brings in their book bag and Reading Record on that day, or every day, if they wish to. Please read with your child on a daily basis, talk to them about the book and check their understanding by asking questions about events and the characters’ actions. Please also explain new or unfamiliar vocabulary.
- We collect a voluntary donation of £1 per week at the end of sessions on Fridays to pay for snacks and other miscellaneous resources. Alternatively, you can pay £6.00 at the beginning of each half-term, if that is more convenient. Thank you for your support!
- Please ensure that your child brings a waterproof coat each day as we spend lots of time enjoying the outdoors. Please ensure outdoor clothing, cardigans, jumpers, etc. are all clearly named.
- If your child is not going to be in Nursery please inform the school office/teacher by phone/email.
- If your child is to be collected by someone who is not familiar to the Nursery staff, please inform us in advance.
- We are a Healthy School. Please do not send in sweets or other treats when it is your child’s birthday. If you want to celebrate your child’s birthday with their classmates, you could buy the class a book, send in a healthy snack such as boxes of raisins or buy stationery such as pencils, but due to the impact on the environment, we ask you not to send in plastic toys.
- Please remember to sign up to the Interactive Learning Diary. Don’t forget you can share your child’s achievements in nursery and upload information from home. Our weekly home learning ideas/activities will be sent out on the Learning Zone on ILD. This is available on the online version of ILD – not the app. Please ask if you are experiencing difficulties with signing in.
- If you have any questions or wish to raise a concern, please contact the class teacher in the first instance: ealtiparmaki@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
Diary Dates
Tuesday 10th September - Nursery re-opens
Monday 30th September to Wednesday 2nd October - Book Fair
Monday 21st October - School photographer (individual and sibling shots)
Friday 25th October - Inset Day (school closed)
Monday 28th October to Friday 1st November - half-term break
Friday 20th December - last day of the Autumn term