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, or 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 and exciting activity, whereby 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, which is all about 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, live and recorded music, and explore a variety of instruments, 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 floor level 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.

Important dates:

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 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 label all the children's belongings clearly with their names. 

 

Term 2 – Autumn, Let’s Celebrate

Welcome back! This will be a long term packed full of exciting learning, which can mean some tired children by the end of the day. To support them, we will be concentrating on labelling their feelings—such as happy, sad, angry, and worried—and guiding them in regulating these emotions during busy times.

Our focus texts this term are:

• The Three Little Pigs – Traditional Tale

• If It’s Christmas and You Know It by Katrina Charman

In maths, we are looking at numbers 1–2. We will explore these in depth through songs, actions (1 finger, 1 jump), pictures, and a five-frame. Some children who have had experience with these numbers before will be exploring more abstract concepts, such as “what is not 1” and “spot the mistake.”

We will also be looking at the world around us and celebrating autumn and its treasures. This includes going for walks and exploring pumpkins, conkers, and leaves in our tuff trays, as well as smelling and tasting autumn-inspired items such as cloves, gingerbread, and cinnamon.

As the weather begins to change, please ensure your child comes to school with a warm coat and a pair of wellies that can stay at school. This will help them stay dry and comfortable as we enjoy outdoor learning and explore the changing seasons together.

A quick reminder: our nursery now has a new entrance. Please make sure you use this entrance for drop-off and pick-up times. Signs will be displayed to help guide you.

Dates for your diary

• Christmas Celebration – Group 1 - Monday 15th December 2:30–3pm

• Christmas Celebration - Group 2 - Thursday 18th December 2.30 - 3pm

We’re looking forward to a fun and festive term full of learning, laughter, and seasonal celebrations!

 

Learning through pictures so far: