Start of the term in Early Years.
What a start to our learning journey so far. The children in EYFS have been busy with activities, playing and learning. Best of all our children are happy and love being a part of Nadeen!
Our primary focus when children come to Nadeen is to ensure they are happy, settled and have a sense of belonging to our school. The settling-in process looks different as we learn to get to know each other, this can look a little differently in each year group.
Miss Kelly and Miss Karen have been reading stories, a crowd favourite is The Colour Monster by Anna Llenas. The children have loved reading this story again and again, you will often hear the children relating their emotions to the colour “I’m feeling yellow monster” That means ‘I’m feeling happy’ to you and me!
In reception, the children have had some fantastic play sessions alongside their phonics and maths. These long uninterrupted periods of play gives the teachers, Miss Lousie, Miss Amanda and Miss Fatima, the time to observe children in their natural element of play but also gives the children much-needed time to develop bonds, relationships and settle with their new friends and teachers. One of the most amazing learning opportunities is phonics in reception. What an experience to watch a child go from pre-phonics skills to recognising letters and sounds. The children have been working hard and using these skills, they are starting to read and write simple CVC (constant-vowel-constant) words. What superstars they all are!
Dilmunia
The EYFS team are so excited about our big move to Dilmunia! We were the first department to visit the new site on September 11th, and it did not disappoint. The EYFS block is heading underway, and we could start to see classrooms, outside learning areas and our lovely shared inside space – that was only from the outside! During the next construction phase, we are all looking forward to sporting our construction hats, and role-playing construction workers just like the children. We are thrilled to read the weekly updates, especially as so much has happened since we visited almost a month ago. We have loved being a part of the design and development of the new site and hope you are too!
Open Morning
We can’t wait for our next Early Years Open Morning; it was a great way to show new parents and children what we do and how we learn. We loved opening our doors to prospective families and inviting them to our play. The whole school Open Day and Early Years Open Morning are upcoming, and we hope to see you in the Early Years department.
EYFS Mentors
We welcome Alicia, Ananya, Joni and Stella to the Early Years team! The children in Nursery and Reception have loved spending time with our Year 6 Early Years Mentors. They have spent a session in each year group and have been modeling our school rules, supporting children in their play and being positive role models! I have loved seeing Stella and Alicia and thinking back to their Nursery experiences, remembering what they were like when they were three years old. Now, look at them in Year 6, 7 years later and helping in Nursery and Reception!
What’s next?
Looking forward, we have some exciting things planned. Our settling-in calls will be happening soon, conversations with parents to discuss their child’s settling-in process and a focus on their personal, social and emotional development. This is our next step in our parent-teacher communications and an excellent way for us to “check in” with parents more officially.
The great outdoors! As we prepare for the cooler weather, we will be taking our learning outdoors more often. Outside play is a favourite area amongst the children and we try to take advantage of the wonderful weather. We develop our play accessing natural play often picking or foraging resources from around school. The children in Nursery have been assembling faces and the children in reception have been making patterns with flowers, leaves, twigs and bark. The open-ended toys are bigger too which leads to bigger ideas and lots of imaginative projects! Here, we execute the 8Cs into our learning and enjoy spending the time outdoors with the children.
Throughout the school each class is allocated a buddy class, and we have started to meet with our big buddy classes. They have inspired children to create flipbooks, demonstrated safe and kind inside and outside play, and we are looking forward to many more activities with our big buddies. The older classes love visiting and set great examples for the younger children. It is such a big responsibility while Nursery and Reception have new playing partners. Happy children all around!
Our EYFS journey is well underway and we have only just begun!
Kacey Greig
