Nursery

Welcome to FS1 

2024-2025 

Class Teacher: Mrs Anderson 

Teaching Assistant: Miss Channing 

Welcome to FS1, I hope that you have all had a happy and safe holiday. A very warm welcome to our new children and families, I am sure the children will all settle quickly into school life. A big welcome back to those children who have already started their school journey. I am sure they will help us to show the new children what to do too. 

I am very excited for the new school year and to be starting at Holy Family Catholic Primary School. I have been a teacher for many years, but FS1 is my favourite place to be. I have a family of 5 who keep me very busy at home as well as 2 cats and a dog. I enjoy reading and gardening in my spare time. 

Please remember the FS1 door is always open and if you have any queries or questions regarding your child or their education please do not hesitate to ask one of the FS1 staff. 

Just a few reminders: 

• Our morning session starts at 8.45 and finishes at 11.45. The afternoon session is 12.25 till 3.25. Please inform the office is someone else is collecting your child from school. 

• Please make sure that the office staff have your up to date contact details. 

• Please inform the office if your child is absent. 

• Please ensure your child brings a coat as we head into the cooler months, on wet days please also bring wellies for your child. We like to be outside in all weathers!  

• Make sure that your child comes to school in correct uniform, including ties and suitable footwear. 

• Please remember to label all your child's clothes. 

• Please provide your child with a water bottle. 

I am looking forward to an exciting and very busy year ahead and I can’t wait to start our learning journey together. 

Mrs Anderson

Back to School Prayer 

Thank you God for this new day, 

In my school to work and play, 

Please be with me all day long, 

In every story, game and song. 

Amen 

Maths in FS1

In maths we have been learning about colours. We have been recognising, naming and matching colours. We even went on our own colour hunt!

FS1 Phonics

This week in phonics we have continued to improve our listening skills. We listened carefully to the sounds that we can hear around us both inside and outside. We also explored drumming. We watched someone drumming and then we did some drumming too. We practiced drumming fast, slow, loudly and quietly on different surfaces. We noticed that when we drummed on different surfaces we created different sounds.

New School Year 2024-2025

All the evidence below is from the academic year 2023-2024.

In Nursery, the children have been remembering the D-day anniversary, by participating in a series of learning and physical skills such as marching like soldiers, standing to attention and developing their discussion by talking about what soldiers roles were. The children were able to identify and write initial sounds regarding the soldier’s uniforms when labelling pictures. The children also explored their creative attributes by using a colour wash background of the Normandy beach and soldier silhouettes. 

Children learnt all about keeping safe and unsafe outdoors and indoors and what they would do if they were poorly.

Children developed an understanding of the seasons through stories and the local environment. They used their fine motor skills to cut pictures of the season and stick them into the correct background. 

Children looked at the contrasting environments between life in the circus and life as we know it. They looked through books and looked at pictures on the internet.

Children in Nursery have been learning all about shape. They really enjoyed using lego to print different shapes.

Nursery used different media to create French flags for the whole school displays.

Hello!

I am Prayer Bear.

I am looking forward to coming for a sleepover at your house to help you learn your prayers. I will stay for the weekend so we can have lots of fun together. I like playing with lots of different toys and listening to stories. Don't forget to feed me and put me to bed so I can have a sleep! (Remember, I sleep in my bag to keep me safe!)

If you take some pictures, draw or write about our adventures you can share them with your teachers and friends at school. Please take good care of me and return me to school on Monday so I can continue to learn alongside you.

I am looking forward to seeing you all.

Prayer Bear

Nursery have had a very busy half term!

We have loved our topic 'Creepy Crawlies'. We enjoyed looking for minibeasts in our outdoor area and using the magnifying glasses to help us. We have learnt how caterpillars grow and change into butterflies, how tadpoles grow and change into frogs and how plants start off as a seed and grow into plants if they are given sun, water and food. We have drawn, painted and made minibeasts and plants. We have loved singing songs about garden snails, caterpillars, woodlice and daffodils and acting them out.

Nursery have been very busy learning about the events of Holy Week. We made palm leaves and acted out the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey. We watched a video about The Last Supper. Next we acted out Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and sharing the bread and wine. We pretended to be in the Garden of Gethsemane sleeping whilst Jesus prayed. Two guards came and arrested Jesus and put him in jail so we acted this out too. The following day we watched the story about Good Friday and we made dough models of Jesus on the cross. We also made some hot cross buns with a cross on them.

We had lots of fun in Nursery for World Book Day. We enjoyed doing lots of superhero artwork. We also went to the reading room where we enjoyed listening to a story in our book club before selecting books to enjoy ourselves and to take home.

In Nursery, we talked about things people do during Lent. We made promises and put them on a cross. We took them down to hang on our Lenten tree in school.

We have loved our topic of Once Upon a Time. It has been great fun acting out the different stories and using different voices for the range of characters. We have enjoyed building house and castles, making them with different materials and exploring what things are made of that we use every day.

In Nursery we have been getting better at knowing about celebrations. We learnt about how the parish family celebrate.

In Nursery we have been learning about Chinese New Year. It is a special time that is celebrated every year. We listened to a story about some animals arguing because they wanted the New Year to be named after them. We acted it out and pretended to have an argument just like the animals. We learnt that 2024 is the Year of the Dragon. We made a handprint dragon and even used some of our outdoor equipment to create an even bigger one. We loved watching the dragon dancing video, then had a go at dancing in time to the tambourine moving faster and slower. We have also been building the tall buildings that we saw on the photographs of Shanghai.

Nursery enjoyed copying and repeating actions. The children showed confidence and imagination.

In Nursery we love reading stories. Here are the ones the staff are particularly enjoying at the minute.

In Nursery, we have been exploring different materials inside and outside. We had great fun finding ice in the tyres, looking at the patterns it had on it, watching it melt with the warmth of our hands and smashing it up into little pieces. We sorted toys into different groups - plastic, metal, fabric and wood. We also went on a hunt to find other things and say what thy were made of. We made a bed for Goldilocks and and Three Bears and tried different materials to see which we thought they would like to make it comfortable for them.

Nursery have been exploring body parts and how they move in PE. It was not easy getting some body parts to touch the cones.

In Nursery we have been learning about Birthdays. We have been getting better at knowing that in Advent we are waiting for Jesus' birthday which is at Christmas.

We made elf hats to wear for our Christmas dinner. 

We enjoyed lots of food and games at our Christmas party. We played musical statues, this was very tricky for us as we couldn't stop moving! We played musical bumps and a corners game. We had lots of fun dancing to music during these games.

In our costumes after we performed Wriggly Nativity. We worked really hard to learn the songs and remember the actions we needed to do. It was a little scary in front of all our families though!

In Nursery we have been exploring different instruments. We have learnt how to play them, the sounds they make and we are getting better at knowing their names.

Nursery learnt about welcoming people into our school class and welcoming a new baby home. We learnt about belonging to our own family and God's family. We acted out a Baptism in our class taking turns to do the different roles.

Nursery wore odd socks and took part in an activity to decorate socks.

In Nursery we listened to 'The Last Post' being played. We looked at the soldier on the cenotaph in Stainforth and talked about the names of the soldiers on it. At 11 o'clock, we did a 1 minute silence to remember the soldiers.

In Nursery we use our listening skills in Phonics. We enjoyed our listening walk and heard a fire engine, birds singing, a lorry and children talking. We watched some drumming and then had a go at drumming fast, slow, loud and quiet on different things to hear how the sound changed. Developing our fine motor skills is very important for when we start to learn how to write so we practise by using lots of different equipment to build the strength in our arms and fingers. We enjoy sharing books, telling stories and acting things out to develop our communication and language skills.

We have been learning about Sir Mo Farah. We watched him winning a race in the Olympics, it was very exciting! We did some exercise just like him and did his famous 'Mobot'.

In Nursery we go outside all the time. We love looking for bugs, climbing and balancing, drawing with chalk and developing our gross motor skills. We don't even mind if it rains because we can splash and play in puddles!

We use interactive software on the internet. We use phones and other forms of technology such as kettles in our role play.

We had a visit from the Fire Service and the RSPCA after they had been called to rescue a cat stuck on the roof at a neighbouring house. They managed to rescue the cat and get it back home.

Fireman Sam and the other firefighters talked to us about what firefighters do and showed us the different hoses and equipment on the fire engine. We were even allowed to go up inside the fire engine. They showed us a hose squirting water, the blue lights flashing and just before they left, they put their siren on for us. It was very loud!

We had great fun.

Thank you.

In Nursery we have been learning about our name and our family. We have learnt that God loves us all and we are precious to God.

In Nursery we have been exploring drumming. We watched someone drumming fast, slow, loud and quiet. He also drummed on different things. We found some sticks in our outdoor area and practiced drumming fast, slow, loudly and quietly on different things just as he did to discover the different sounds we could make.

In Nursery, we are learning about colours. We are recognising them, naming them and sorting them into groups. We have also been finding two things that match exactly. We have lots of Autumn leaves in our outdoor area so we collected some and compared their size. We sorted them into big leaves and little leaves then made a wreath by pushing little leaves onto the wire and another one by pushing big leaves onto a bigger wire.

We made headbands with giant ears on to help us when we went on our listening walk in the outdoor area. We heard the wind, birds, the trees rustling, cars and even an aeroplane.

We have started to visit our Reading Room. We went very carefully up the stairs, making sure we held on tight. Once we were up there, we explored the books and chose one to take home to enjoy.

We enjoyed our first PE lesson. We were moving in our own space and trying very hard to follow different instructions such as; walking backwards, walking sideways and running on the spot.

Archived 2022-2023

Nursery children are using a range of different media to create fabulous art work to be displayed in our reading room. They chose 'What the Lady Bird Heard' as there reading for pleasure book linked to World Book Day 2023.

Children in Nursery talked about what bullying is and why we don't do it. We watched a short video about a little boy being bullied at school and we talked about the video. The children were given the opportunity to comment on what they had watched. Then as a group, they designed their own own Reach Out poster.

FS1 children read the story all about Harriet Tubman. They discussed emotions and sequenced her life events.

Welcome to Nursery and our new topic, Walk through Winter Woodland. Lots of purposeful provision to explore and activities to be made but most of all, lots of fun learning! We can not wait to start our Autumn 2 journey. 

In RE, Nursery children learnt all about Baptism. They collected a white robe, candle, Bible and water. Children reinacted this sepcial time.

Nursery children learnt all about God's Creation. They used a range of materials to represent each day, perfected fine lotor skills, used full sentences to explain the different creations and used colours for purpose.

Nursery worked together using a range of different materials to create a welcome sign for part of their RE topic, Welcome.

Nursery children gathered in the main reception area to say the Hail Mary prayer.

We explored the virtue of "Thankfulness" by gathering in a circle and the 2 of the children laid out the green cloth, while another turned the lights off.

We read the word of Luke 17:11-19 - Jesus Heals Ten Men With Leprosy. The children took away from this that” its kind to help people” and “when someone helps you, you should say thank you”

The children responded to this scripture by ringing the bells for something they are thankful for. "I am thankful for my sister”.

We have had a fantastic first week in FS1, the children have been amazing and enjoyed exploring all areas of the classroom, shared areas and outside.