Weekly Newsletters

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are so lucky that the weather has been glorious and will hopefully extend into the weekend. Celebrations for V.E. Day are probably already under way in your household or street. Acknowledging this time in history with your child, however you choose to go about it, is an important element of developing cultural awareness. The children will notice flags, music, and media coverage so please share anything they notice, do, make or say on their Tapestry Learning Journal. A few activities have been added to the Weekly Suggestions.

Whilst the children are not in a school setting and socialising with extended family and friends it is even more important than usual to focus on your child’s Prime Areas of Learning.

Personal, Social, Emotional Development: self-confidence, self- awareness, managing feelings and their behaviour and making relationships.

This Prime Area of development is very important and an area, which in our current affairs, needs the most attention. Children adjust their behaviour to different situations and as adults we need to model the codes of behaviour we want our children to build on for life. Providing a positive, kind, open supportive, loving and happy environment, will enable learning and children will naturally want to take the lead in their play. Follow their play ideas, embrace Lego building, den making, collecting snails from the garden and map making, watch children’s movies together and recall and talk about favourite things and funny sentences.

Communication and Language: speaking, understanding and listening and attention.

Being a good speaker and listener includes waiting for one’s turn to speak and responding appropriately. As role models at this stage, the aim is to extract and extend their vocabulary, explore new word meanings and sounds within words.

Physical Development: showing good control and co-ordination in large and small movements, in a range of ways, handling equipment and tools effectively, health and self- care, managing their basic hygiene and personal needs.

I’m sure they have all mastered washing their hands and drying them effectively. Now they can work on dressing and undressing independently, putting on socks and shoes, opening containers, pouring drinks and balancing and carrying a tray. Think about the skills they will need to get themselves ready for school in the mornings and how they will manage school dinners in Reception. This is the perfect time to develop these skills in a safe, familiar environment.

It’s important to keep these Prime Areas as the back bone to all your child’s learning. Moving too quickly through the stages of development, for example onto reading and writing, does not allow your child to develop the greater depth of knowledge and skills to build upon into Reception and the school years to follow. By skipping this essential phase, we risk developing gaps in learning at a later stage. The Early Years Foundation Stage is named this, because this really is the time to build a strong base on which to build the rest of their learning. There is real value in enjoying this time and not rushing this wonderful and precious time in their life as a learner.

Wishing you a happy and safe weekend.

Lisa and Sharon.v

 Newsletter Summer 1. Week 3.  Nursery.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Next week we will be using a popular Julia Donaldson book, Stickman as the focus for the suggested activities. If you don’t have this book at home you can view the story on

 BBC iPlayer. Stories offer children practise to rehearse ideas, thoughts and language. If they know the story well challenge them with questions.

How many eggs were in the swan’s nest? Name some insects or animals that like to make their homes in trees? What if Stickman could talk, how would the story change?

Please share your own brilliant ideas with us on Tapestry.

Idea- Read Along with Michelle Obama. Weekly on YouTube.

Math. Length and Height.

Children apply the attributes of long, short, tall etc. in their language, for example, a bus is long, and my hair is short. Children then move on to finding objects that are longer / shorter than a given item. Encouraging them to use strategies such as direct comparison. For example placing objects side by side to determine which is longer. When comparing length and height verbally children should be encouraged to use language such as taller than/ longer than/shorter than. When comparing lengths directly children need to ensure that they align the starting points and compare like - for- like.

Change the story book, adapt the activities to your child’s favourite story. The skills remain the same. Enjoy.

Wishing you a happy and safe week end.

Lisa and Sharon

Newsletter Summer 1. Week 2. Nursery.

Dear Parents and Carers, Thank you for the wonderful ideas in celebrating World Earth Day, which you have been sharing on Tapestry. Please remember the importance of fine motor skills for pre writing skills. The joy of mark making without using a pencil, think chalk on the paving stones, water and paint brushes, finger painting with different mediums like cornflour or shaving foam. Developing children’s strength and dexterity in their wrists, hands and fingers is a daily activity. Below are a few fun ideas for the week, please refer to the Home Learning Ideas Week 2, for more ideas. Scrunch up one sheet of newspaper in one hand—great for building strength! Pick up small objects (beans, coins, dice) using kitchen tongs or smaller tweezers. Wash dolls clothes or small towels, squeeze out as much water as possible, then peg items on a low clothes line. Help to hand water the garden using small watering cans. Math. Where ever possible throughout the day, utilise math. Just being aware of all the opportunities that arise without a text book or pencil in hand. For example; Talk about the days of the week and the routine of the day ahead. Sequencing- ask your child to talk through what they need to do in order, laying the table, or getting dressed in the morning. Matching numerals to quantity, for example counting blocks, fruit, stones, match with the corresponding numeral on a card. Order the numbers 0 to 10. Play the game which number is missing in the sequence? Remove a number or two, can they identify the missing numbers? Hide numbers around the house, time how quickly can they locate, then order the numbers. Listening and speaking. Discriminating environmental sounds in a listening walk is a suggested activity for next week. Once home the walk could also be a memory game recalling what was heard, and where. cbeebies have some listening activities and sound affect bites to share. https://wwwbbc.co.uk/cbeebies/radio. Finally, we would ask parents to be aware of the possible increase of exposure your child may have to the internet while being in lock down. We would like to direct your attention to the Online Safety section on the school website. Here you find access to a number of resources for all ages. https://www.archdeaconcambridges.richmond.sch.uk/online-safety/ Wishing you a sunny, happy and safe week end.

Lisa and Sharon.