Hello, I'm Miss Eastwood. I teach our Nursery class and I am also the Early Years Team Leader.

I am a qualified teacher with experience in Key Stage 1 and Early Years. I am passionate about learning through play and love creating an inspiring environment that children love to explore. You can often find me recycling and upcycling to create interesting ‘treasures’ for our classroom.    

When I am not at school, I am a busy mum of two who enjoys family days out, beach combing, and walking through our spectacular local woods. I am particularly excited to notice seasonal changes with your children and explore why this might happen through stories and play, ultimately allowing the children to follow their interests. 

A day in Ducklings might include:

              

Bucket time: Stage 1 engages children's attention with a high-energy, exciting activity in which the teacher pulls objects from a bucket. Stage 2 elongates children's attention to a different adult-led activity. Stage 3 develops turn-taking skills and re-engages them by allowing some children to participate in an enjoyable activity. 

Sensology: Learning through all our senses; children will taste, smell, hear, see and touch their learning. For example, in week 1, term 1, we are learning about colours, specifically red. We taste strawberries, smell a red flower, hear red beads dropped on a drum, and see a red lava lamp. 

Dough Disco: Building our finger muscles to music using play-dough. This is an upbeat session where children enjoy developing their fine motor skills. 

Calm Time: Usually, after lunch, children lie down, listen to quiet music, and watch real bubbles float all around them. We discuss how to relax each part of their body and listen carefully to different parts of the music. 

Music: Nursery rhyme time! We are learning traditional songs and actions. We will enjoy a variety of genres and live and recorded music, and explore a range of instruments while learning to maintain a beat. 

Discovery Time: A time for children to direct their learning, enabling them to enact and cement their newly learnt knowledge, develop social skills, acquire new knowledge from others and develop their creativity and confidence. 

Story Time: This might be a well-known book with practised actions, a story bag with objects to enhance the storytelling or a book selected by the children. 

Squiggle Whilst you Wiggle: It's as good as it sounds! We develop our fine motor skills by incorporating dance, music and large movements to help children develop the fine motor control they need for writing.  They will learn a new gross motor movement to a piece of music while holding 'flappers' (bits of fabric). The children then transfer these movements to the floor and swap their flippers for writing tools (crayons/pens, etc.) to make marks. This could be in foam, on paper, in sand, etc. 

Maths: We explore colours, numbers, patterns, and shapes, using songs and everyday objects to bring the concepts to life! Along with the rest of the school, we follow the 'Master the Curriculum,' which allows for a consistent approach. 

Phonics: Beginning the year with Phase 1, including distinguishing between everyday sounds, then continuing with Phase 2 in terms 5 and 6, including recognising the graphemes and producing the phonemes. 

Supervised Toothbrushing: Following advice from Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust, funded by Kent County Council, we participate in supervised toothbrushing. 

Forest School: Using our school field, it's a time for children to develop newly acquired skills and knowledge learnt in the classroom in a 'new' environment. It supports play, exploration and risk-taking. It develops confidence and self-esteem through learner-inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

Little Link:  Little Link is a 12-week programme, designed by speech and language therapists, to help us boost the language skills of your 3–5-year-olds. Little Link is based on 6 stories about Ben and Teddy. Your children will be enjoying play-based activities linked to these stories as part of their day.

Here is a link on how to support your child at home:

https://family.speechandlanguage.support/nursery 

Dates for the diary:

Wednesday 17th June – Sports Day, 9:00 till 9:30, located on the school field

Wednesday 1st July – Parents attend the induction for their child starting reception, located in the school hall. 

Thursday 2nd July - Whole-school transition 

Monday 6th July – Nursery Graduation, for children who attend on this date.

Friday 10th July – Nursery Graduation, for children who attend on this date. 

Friday 17th July – Last day in term 6, finishes at 2 pm

Timings of the day:

Group 1 

Monday - 8:30 - 15:00

Tuesday - 8:30 - 15:00

Wednesday - 8:30 - 11.30

 

Group 2 

Wednesday - 12:00 - 15:00

Thursday - 8:30 - 15:00

Friday - 8:30 - 15:00

 

Things to remember for your child to have at the nursery every day:

• Baby wipes
• Nappies
• Nappy rash cream
• A shoebox with special items that can be kept at the nursery
• Change of clothing
• Coat
• Lunch box (if not paying for school lunch)
• Water bottle 

Note: Please clearly label all children's belongings with their names. 

Term 6 – Summer: Ready, Steady, Go!

We are excited to welcome the children back for our final term of the year! This term, our theme is Ready, Steady, Go!, where we will prepare for new adventures, celebrate how much we have grown, and explore the exciting changes that come with moving on. Through play, discovery, and hands-on experiences, children will develop their confidence, independence, and readiness for the next stage of their learning journey.

Literacy

Our focus texts are:

• Dinosaur’s Day Out by Michael Rosen
• Chu’s First Day at School by Neil Gaiman

Children will:

• Listen to and talk about stories, identifying key events and characters
• Explore rhyming words and alliteration through stories, songs, and nursery rhymes
• Continue learning and recognising Phase 2 phonics sounds
• Practise writing letters accurately and writing some or all of their name
• Develop confidence in mark-making and writing for different purposes
• Learn about different ways stories can be enjoyed, including books, eBooks, and iPads

We will also enjoy a range of nursery rhymes and songs such as London Bridge, This Little Piggy, Five Fine Bumble Bees, and Two Little Dickie Birds.

Maths

We will:

• Consolidate our understanding of numbers to 5
• Count objects carefully and understand that the last number counted tells us how many there are altogether.
• Match quantities to numerals up to 5
• Solve simple real-life mathematical problems
• Explore and describe 2D shapes using mathematical language such as sides, corners, and round
• Use positional language such as next to, behind, and in front of
• Recognise and create patterns

Activities will include number tracks, counting games, shape exploration, and practical problem-solving activities.

Understanding the World

We will:

• Reflect on how we have changed and grown since we were babies
• Talk about our families, memories, and important events in our lives
• Explore the summer season and observe changes in the natural world
• Learn about different people and jobs around our school community
• Visit important places around the school as part of our transition activities
• Use technology such as iPads, cameras, programmable toys, and Google Earth
• Learn about different countries and cultures around the world

We will also take part in summer walks to explore seasonal changes and our local environment.

Physical Development

Children will:

• Continue developing their coordination, balance, and movement skills
• Practise skipping, kicking balls at targets, and moving safely around obstacles
• Build independence by putting on and fastening their coats independently
• Develop fine motor control through Dough Disco, mark-making, and name-writing activities
• Explore movement linked to music and rhythm
• Strengthen pre-writing skills through our Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle programme

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We will:

• Develop greater independence in everyday routines
• Take responsibility for jobs around nursery, such as helping to tidy up and prepare for lunchtime
• Learn how to solve problems and work through disagreements with friends
• Build confidence in looking after personal needs, including toileting, handwashing, and brushing teeth
• Explore feelings about change and transition
• Prepare for moving to Reception and welcoming new children into Nursery

Our Jigsaw theme this term is Changing Me, helping children understand and cope positively with change.

Communication and Language

Children will:

• Use longer sentences joined with words such as because, and, and or
• Talk about past and future events
• Develop confidence when speaking to adults and friends
• Join in with familiar songs and rhymes from memory
• Practise listening carefully during stories, discussions, and group times

We will enjoy daily discussions, show-and-tell opportunities, and conversations about our learning and future goals.

Expressive Arts and Design

Children will:

• Create drawings, paintings, models, and collages using a range of materials
• Develop imaginative play through role play and small-world activities
• Experiment with colour mixing and different artistic techniques
• Join materials together using a variety of methods
• Enjoy daily singing and action songs
• Listen to and respond to music

As part of our Design and Technology learning, we will be baking savoury biscuits, learning how ingredients are mixed and transformed through cooking.

Christian Distinctiveness and Values

Through our daily routines, prayers, and learning experiences, we will continue to develop our school values:

Living Values

• Kindness
• Honesty
• Peace

Learning Values

• Perseverance
• Creativity
• Ambition

As always, learning will follow the children's interests and may adapt throughout the term. We look forward to an exciting final term filled with exploration, achievement, and preparation for new beginnings!

 

Learning through pictures, so far: