Cranborne Primary School
Welcome to our Nursery webpage...The children are busy in class, and enjoying the learning opportunities around them...Don't forget to check in regularly for all our updates...
Summer Term - 2025 Meet the Nursery Team
Mrs Mottram (Class Teacher): smottram@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Mrs White (EYP): cwhite@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Miss Jennings (TA): ljennings@cranborne.herts.sch.uk
Mrs Waterhouse (LSA)
We are here to help you all. If you need anything or have any questions - no matter how trivial they may seem to you - we are always available to talk.
Key Dates for Summer Term 2025
- Tuesday 22nd April - INSET Day/Parent-Teacher consultations, details to follow NO CHILDREN IN SCHOOL
- Wednesday 23rd April - all children back in school
- Monday 5th May - Bank Holiday, school closed
- Thursday 8th May - Cultural Celebration Day - more information to follow
- Friday 23rd May - finish for half-term - normal time
- Monday 26th - Friday 30th May - Half-Term break - school closed
- Monday 2nd June - Children back in school
Link to the school calendar
Link to the school term dates
Welcome to the Cranborne Nursery Class Webpage. This is where we will be sharing useful information and reminders, alongside, updates on the children's upcoming and previous learning experiences with us.
We know that starting school can be a stressful experience for some, which is why we are always here to help everyone settle into our routines. We also understand that you may have lots of questions during the first few weeks (and across the year), so please ask one of us if there is anything you don't understand or just need a bit more information about.
Our Routines:
- We open our doors at 8.45am and encourage you to leave your child at the door, so they can independently put their coats and bags away before settling themselves at a busy fingers activity that will be set out.
- We go to the library on a Friday morning - please send them in with a book bag to take their library book home.
- Our PE day is Wednesday morning - your child does not need a school PE kit, however you can send them in wearing trainers (velcro please) and joggers/leggings that day.
- Also a reminder that toys from home should not be sent into school.
A few other reminders:
*Please send in a named water bottle daily for your child too.
*Please make sure your child is in labelled school uniform.
*Please send your child in with a named book bag - especially on a Fridays for library.
Our Learning
Below you can see our half-term Overview, but please bear in mind this can change as we follow the children's interests and current events that may occur.
Each week we will be posting pictures and updates on your children's learning experiences and time in nursery, so please remember to check back regularly.
What have we been up to?
Nursery Curriculum Overview Summer 1, 2025
March 24th- April 4th 2025
In Maths we have been spending time re-capping everything we have learned to date, which includes; the number system, counting, ordering numbers, recognising numbers, counting out amounts, talking about and making patterns, looking at ordering objects by size, and sorting objects.
In phonics we have been continuing to think about the letter sounds we can hear at the start of words, and playing games around this, alongside our usual oral segmenting and blending, and listening games.
We have spent time talking about eating healthy foods, and we had a good time chopping fruit to make our own friut salad.
We have also been enjoying using our new giant building blocks (that were kindly donated to us) to see who can make the tallest tower!
Some of us made and modelled our Easter bonnets and hats.
Over the last couple of weeks we have taken advantage of the better weather again, and continued using our outside area for our PE sessions. During which we have played some new listening and following instructions games, and using the area to practise different types of movement.
We have also had a lot of fun with both our Easter egg hunt, that we did with year 1 and the Easter Fayre.
The Learning Environment in Cranborne Early Years Foundation Stage
In the Early Years at Cranborne we strive to create an environment that promotes a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder in the children.
An environment that also enables plenty of opportunities for them to self-select and demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning, and where the children can practise, consolidate and rehearse taught skills.
We aim to provide the children with areas that are accessible to them and are organised in a way to promote independence and purposeful play.
The seven areas of learning are as follows:
Communication and Language*
Physical Development*
Personal, Social and Emotional Development*
Literacy
Maths
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Expressive Arts and Design
*Prime Areas of Learning
Below you can see some pictures and a video tour of the Nursery classroom.
Previous Learning 2024-25
March 10th- 21st 2025
In Maths we have been thinking about ordering numbers, making patterns and counting. We are getting really good at all of these.
In phonics we have been thinking about the letter sounds we can hear at the start of words, and playing games around this, alongside our usual oral segmenting and blending, and listening games.
We had lots of fun experimenting with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to make an actual errupting volcano as part of or learning about dinosaurs.
We all had a lovely day celebrating Red Nose Day, and looked great dressed in red!
Over the last couple of weeks we have taken advantage of the better weather, and have spent time outside doing our PE sessions.
We have also been over to the pond area to explore, and to the Trim Trail on the field for some more physical activity.
February 24th - March 7th 2025
Our first 2 weeks of this term have been fun and very busy!
We have spent time talking about everything we got up to over the half term, and reconnecting with our friends and teachers.
We have had a storytelling workshop in school that we really enjoyed taking part in.
Our mini-topic for the next few weeks is dinosaurs, and we have enjoyed learning all their names, what they eat, when they lived and what they looked liked.
In Maths we have looked at the vocabulary around size and size ordering.
We have also been over to the Trim Trail on the field and enjoyed music sessions on our outside stage.
In Phonics we have been continuing to develop our oral segmenting and blending skills alongside listening games.
We have had pancakes on pancake day and we all had a lovely day sharing our favourite stories on World Book Day.
January 27th - February 14th 2025
The weeks have flown by!
We have spent time reading another 2 very familiar stories - We're Going on a Bear Hunt and The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children have enjoyed acting out the stories, using props, puppets and their own story maps. We even incorporated the stories into our PE sessions in the hall, acting out the different movements we might have made during a bear hunt.
There has been lots of building going on in class, we spent time looking at different bridges, and trying to make some of our own.
We even made and tried some porridge, just like Goldilocks and the Three Bears from last week!
The children have also enjoyed some 'science experiments' making a walking rainbow, and making a skittles rainbow.
In Maths we have looked closer at numbers 1-10, and started to think about the many different ways we can represent these in terms of different groupings of objects.
In Phonics we have been continuing to develop our oral segmenting and blending skills.
We have also spent time talking about Chinese New Year, and making a giant dragon collaboratively.
January 13th - 24th 2025
We have had a busy 2 weeks in nursery!
We have spent time reading 2 very familiar traditional tales - Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and, The Three Little Pigs. The children have been talking about the characters and the sequence of events, helping the adults in their groups to draw story maps of each story. To help with this the children have also been re-telling the story orally, as well as using puppets and props.
We have also spent time looking at different homes, and buildings with different purposes, and have even built our own, using different construction materials.
All the children have also been enjoying using our mark making areas both inside and out!
In Maths we have delved deeper into numbers numbers 4 - 9, thinking about how we can represent them in different ways, and how we can form the numerals if we want to write them down.
In Phonics we have been continuing to fine-tuning our listening discrimination, and developing our oral segmenting and blending skills.
January 6th - 10th 2025
We have had a lovely week settling back into class routines, reminding ourselvs of class rules and expectations and seeing all of our friends again!
We have also started our new topic based around traditional tales and storytelling.
To start us off we looked at an old favourite of ours...The Gruffalo! The children have been re-telling the story orally, as well as using puppets and props.
We have spent time thinking about describing words (adjectives) to help us talk about what the Gruffalo looks like.
All the children have also had an opportunity to share some news from the 2 week break, and in doing so, they are building their oracy skills.
In Maths we have re-capped the numberline, and looked at numbers 0, 1 and 2 in more detail, thinking about how we can represent them in different ways.
In Phonics we have been fine-tuning our listening discrimination, and developing our oral segmenting and blending skills.
Do you need weekend inspiration?
Hertfordshire are partners in a great tool for parents. A list of 50 fun things to do with your child before they turn 5. There are lots of great ideas to do as a family or with friends. Maybe you can try some over the half-term? If you do, don't forget to take photos and upload them to Evidence Me. That way we can ask your childrne to tell us all about the fun they have had.
You can download it as an app, or use the web based version, either way it is a great resource for ideas of fun activities to do together.
Please see the link here: https://hertfordshire.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome for the web based version, or the document below for the app information.
Have fun!
Supporting Maths at home.
Below are some links to sites that give examples of how to support maths at home. There is also a document to show some ideas for how you can support the different areas of the EYFS maths curriculum at home, and when out and about with your child.
Thank you to everyone that came to the information meeting. Below you can find the slides that I went through with you.
Please do not hesitate to ask any questions.
Nursery Parent Information Meeting
Thank you to all the parents that made it to our New Parents Meeting on Thursday 6th June.
Below is a copy of the slides that we talked through.
New Parent Meeting June 6th 2024
Snow Day Ideas...
There are lots of different things you can do on a snow day. Below is a list of just a few.
1 Build a snowman - Don't forget they will need eys, nose, mouth, arms...what will you use?
2 Make patterns in the snow - this will help with mark making and writing skills.
3 Make a snow castle (just like a sand castle but colder!) and decorate it.
4 Make footprints with family and compare the sizes of your shoes and boots. Who has the smallest? The biggest? The middle sized? (can you find any footprints from birds or animals?)
5 Investigate melting! Find some containers to put snow in and put them in different places, inside, outside, wrapped up outside. Which melts the fastest? slowest? What happens when snow melts?
6 Find some snowflakes - can you find 2 the same?
7 Make some snowflakes - here is a simple tutorial How to make a simple snowflake
8 Describe the snow - What does it feel like?
9 Make some hot chocolate with a grown-up - What do you have to do? Can you describe the steps to someone so they could do the same?
10 HAVE FUN!
Whatever you do in the snow today, we would love to see pictures! Please upload any to Evidence Me and we can look at them together when we are back in class.