We are so excited to welcome our children and families to a brand new year at Little Leaves Nursery!
The beginning of Nursery is such a special time and our biggest priority during this first half term is simply getting to know your child. We know that children learn best when they feel happy, safe, secure and cared for, so we will spend lots of time building warm and trusting relationships with every child.
During the first few weeks, we will be discovering their interests, personalities and individual ways of learning. We will help the children become familiar with our Nursery environment, routines and the adults and children around them, while gently encouraging their confidence and independence.
Every child settles differently. Some children may be ready to explore from their very first day, while others may need a little more time, reassurance and support. We will follow each child’s lead and give them the time they need to develop a real sense of belonging within our Little Leaves family.
Our first topic of the year is Me and My Community. We will begin with the most important subject of all, the children themselves!
Throughout the half term, the children will explore who they are, their families, their friends and the people and places that are important to them. As their confidence grows, we will begin exploring our Nursery, our school and the wider community around us.
We will also meet some of the people who help us within school, helping the children to become familiar with the grown ups around them and understand the different jobs they do.
Our learning will be supported through stories, songs, conversations, role play, creative activities and lots of opportunities to explore through play.
This half term will also include our Harvest celebrations and a special Harvest craft morning.
Communication and language is at the heart of everything we do in Nursery. We will provide lots of opportunities for the children to talk, listen and communicate with both adults and their friends throughout the day.
Through stories, songs, play and conversations, we will introduce new vocabulary and encourage the children to express their ideas, experiences and feelings.
We will support the children to listen for increasingly longer periods, follow simple instructions and begin following instructions containing two parts. We will also encourage them to begin conversations with others and develop the confidence to keep those conversations going.
Developing a love of books and stories will be an important part of our first half term. The children will enjoy protected story times each day, explore books independently and begin talking about the characters, pictures and events they encounter.
In Phonics, we will begin Phase 1 of Letters and Sounds, initially exploring Environmental Sounds and Instrumental Sounds. The children will take part in lots of playful listening activities, noticing and identifying sounds in the world around them and experimenting with different ways of making sounds.
We will also begin exploring rhyme, syllables and the sounds at the beginning of familiar words.
At this stage, early writing is about so much more than forming letters. We want our children to develop strong hands, confidence in making marks and, most importantly, an understanding that their marks can have meaning.
The children will have lots of opportunities to draw, paint, make patterns and experiment with different writing tools across our Nursery provision. We will encourage them to talk about the marks they make and begin using their early writing within their play.
We will also use activities such as Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle to develop the large movements, coordination and physical skills that eventually support confident writing.
Our Mathematics learning will be practical, playful and woven throughout the Nursery day.
The children will develop their confidence with numbers by counting together and reciting numbers beyond 5. They will explore and compare groups of objects using mathematical language such as more and fewer and begin noticing numbers and quantities within their everyday play.
We will also explore 2D and 3D shapes and investigate patterns, encouraging the children to notice, copy, continue and create patterns of their own.
We will use White Rose Maths for Nursery alongside our continuous provision to support the children’s mathematical understanding through practical and engaging experiences.
Our Me and My Community topic provides lots of opportunities for the children to begin making sense of their own lives and the world around them.
We will talk about ourselves, our families and experiences that are important to us, helping the children recognise that every family and every person is unique. We will celebrate similarities and differences and encourage positive attitudes towards the different people within our Nursery and wider community.
The children will also explore the natural world using all of their senses. As summer begins to change into autumn, we will encourage them to notice what is happening around them, investigate natural materials and use new vocabulary to describe their discoveries.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development will be a particularly important focus during our first half term together.
Our first priority is building secure relationships and helping every child feel that they belong. We will support the children to form friendships, become increasingly confident around unfamiliar adults and children and begin playing together, sharing ideas and developing their play.
We will also encourage growing independence throughout the Nursery day. Children will learn where resources belong, how to choose and use activities independently and how to begin looking after their own belongings.
Everyday routines will provide opportunities to develop important self care skills such as putting on coats, managing toileting, washing and drying hands and beginning to make healthy choices.
Most importantly, we want every child to know that Little Leaves is a place where they are valued, listened to and cared for.
Creativity will be encouraged throughout our provision. The children will have opportunities to paint, draw, build, create and explore different materials freely, developing their own ideas and learning how different resources can be used.
We will encourage the children to add increasing detail to their drawings, particularly when drawing themselves and the people who are important to them, and explore how we can represent different emotions through art.
In Music, we will begin our Charanga unit Bounce into Action, enjoying songs, movement and instruments. The children will be encouraged to listen carefully to sounds, remember familiar songs and begin creating musical ideas of their own.
Physical Development will take place throughout our indoor and outdoor provision. The children will develop their balance, coordination and movement through bikes, scooters, ball games, climbing and active play. We will also strengthen fine motor skills through activities involving scissors, tools, dough, threading, mark making and other hands on experiences.
Our Woodland Mornings will provide wonderful opportunities for the children to explore the changing natural world as we move into autumn.
The children will investigate using their senses, collect and explore natural treasures and begin noticing seasonal changes around them. Woodland learning also gives us lots of opportunities to develop physical confidence, curiosity, problem solving and teamwork.
For children who are new to Little Leaves, these sessions will initially be about becoming comfortable and confident exploring the outdoors with the adults and friends around them.
Autumn 1 is just the beginning of our Little Leaves journey together.
There will be lots to learn and explore, but there is no rush. Our focus during these first important weeks is on building relationships, developing trust and creating a Nursery environment where every child feels safe enough to explore, confident enough to have a go and secure enough to be themselves.
We cannot wait to get to know our new Little Leaves and discover all the wonderful personalities, interests and ideas they will bring to our Nursery.
To see some important dates that are coming up this term, useful information about our class or current topic and hints for helping your child at home, please check out the Useful Documents & Links section on this page.
We love to share the children’s learning journey with you, so regular photos and videos will be added to the ‘Stories’ section on our Class Dojo page. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to send me a message on Class Dojo or ring the school office — we are always happy to help.
The Little Leaves Team,
Welcome Song:
We sing the first verse of this song together every morning.
“Hello, Hello, how are you? Hello, hello, how are you? Hello, hello, how are you? How are you today?”
Days of the Week Song:
SUAT supports and leads in the set-up of new academies joining the partnership. The services provided by the central support function cover both educational and non-educational support. In terms of educational support, SUAT is linked to the School of Education of Staffordshire University, which is an outstanding ITT provider.