Welcome to Elm

In Nursery we see every child as strong confident and competent. 

Children who have their own strong ideas.

Children are encouraged to express opinions and make confident choices.

Together, children learn about respecting other people, co-operating and sharing.

We are proud to be developing our practice in ‘Sustained Shared Thinking’ and ensuring our children have a voice.

We know the difference early years provision can make to the life chances and opportunities that children have access to in later life; we value conversation, language and the ability to communicate effectively.

 We use Development Matters to inform our practice as a  guide to ensuring our provision meets the needs of all learners.

Our Nursery staff are:

Mrs Rachael Turney - Teacher 

Mrs Melissa Jacobs - Early Years Practitioner

Mrs Terry Travis - Teaching assistant

Nursery Forest School afternoons.

Nursery is starting Forest School on 12^th of November 2020!

Find out more here:

Dear children,

Mrs Jacobs, Ms Sharpe and I are well and we hope you are too.  This week we have been busy preparing the nursery for some amazing children, because a number of you will be returning to nursery for more fun learning!  Hurray!

It was lovely to hear from Thea and her family.  Thea has been writing her name, and she can form the letters in her name beautifully.  Well done Thea!

 Harshan and Varun have enjoyed their Lego.  Look at the different structures they have built.

It looks like a giant Lego town.  Can you see the different vehicles Harshan and Varun have built?   I wonder who lives in your Lego town Harshan?                                                                                                   

. 

We are very excited because our tomato plants are growing taller, and look strong and healthy.  They are growing up the two canes.

Children, we know many of you love strawberries and I wanted to show you how much our strawberry plant has grown. 

It will be wonderful to pick and eat our own strawberries.  Children, we will keep checking our strawberry plant for strawberries.  How exciting.

Harshan has been busy planting tomatoes and peppers in his garden.  He is very carefully pushing the soil down around the plant.  They look very healthy Harshan.  Your friends at nursery love tomatoes and peppers, especially Lucy.

Keep sending us photos of the activities you have been busy with – we love to hear from you. 

Please send photos to rachael.turney@whitehall.waltham.sch.uk

Love and best wishes to you all,

Mrs Jacobs, Ms Sharpe and Ms Turney

Please have a look at the information book below explaining the coronavirus to children.  It has been illustrated by Axel Scheffler the Gruffalo artist; and I think is a useful resource to help our children understand why so many things have changed.

We look forward to seeing all our children again, but in the meantime below are a few ideas of things you can do together with your son or daughter.

Enjoy stories with your child – read aloud to him/her – hearing the spoken word is vital for their language development and understanding.

Look at pictures together, in books, magazines and comics.  Encourage your child to look carefully at the pictures and talk about what you both notice together.

Cooking is great for maths.  Counting, measuring, and talking about quantity:  “We need more…we need to add two more heaped tablespoons of butter…..”  

Talk about how the ingredients change as they are mixture together, and after cooking.  Talk about the smells, taste and texture.

The children enjoy Cosmic Yoga and it is free from You Tube, download the free Cosmic Yoga App onto a tablet.

Lastly our playdough recipe, it is fail safe and very easy to make at home.
2 cups of salt
2 dessertspoons of cream of tartar
Food colouring – optional
6 – 8 dessertspoons of oil
4 cups of boiling water, mix all the ingredients together
3 cups of plain flour, mix and knead together 
The dough will be very hot.  Ensure you wear rubber gloves and wait until it is cool before allowing the children to play.

Whitehall Nursery is a happy, safe environment. We take pride in our highly qualified and dedicated staff. We offer a range of stimulating learning and play activities that encourage children to explore their interests and realise their full potential.

Our teacher is Ms Turney.

Our nursery practitioners are Ms Sharpe and Mrs Jacobs.

In the Foundation Stage our topics are on a 2 year cycle plan. This is to ensure progression so that if your child attends our nursery and reception classes they do not repeat the same topic coverage.

Our Topics for the next academic year are:

Autumn Term 1 2020: Wonderful Me

Autumn Term 2 2020: Celebrations

Spring Term 1 2021: Winter & Winter Animals

Spring Term 2 2021: Tales of Three

Summer Term 1 2021: Where the Wild Things are

Summer Term 2 2021: When are we going to get there?