Nursery
Welcome to Nursery
Our Team
Early Years Leader - Mrs Langford
Class Teacher - Miss Deboo
Support staff - Mrs Bibi , Miss Sanzari
Here you will find information regarding the different activities taking place in Nursery throughout the year.
Our learning is based around the interests of the children and we have lots of fun learning through play.
Nursery Learning Overview
‘Children leave school with an appreciation of art. They have the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to ex[press themselves creatively as artists’
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Art |
0 – 3 years |
3 and 4 years |
Reception children |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Explore paint, using fingers and other parts of their bodies as well as brushes and other tools. Express ideas and feelings through making marks, and sometimes give a meaning to the marks they make. Explore different materials, using all their senses to investigate them.
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Create closed shapes with continuous lines and begin to use these shapes to represent objects. Draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and including details. Use drawing to represent ideas like movement or loud noises. Show different emotions in their drawings and paintings, like happiness, sadness, fear, etc. Explore colour and colour mixing. Show different emotions in their drawings – happiness, sadness, fear, etc. |
Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings.
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Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
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colour names, mix, paint, texture, push, pull, smooth, shiny, rough, prickly, flat, patterned,jagged, bumpy, soft, hard, collage, draw, chalking, lighter, darker |
Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people Finding ways to solve problems Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Making predictions Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect
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Design Technology |
0 – 3 years |
3 and 4 years |
Reception children |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Manipulate and play with different materials.
Use their imagination as they consider what they can do with different materials.
Make simple models which express their ideas.
Start to develop pretend play, pretending that one object represents another. For example, a child holds a wooden block to her ear and pretends it’s a phone.
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Begin to develop complex stories using small world equipment like animal sets, dolls and dolls houses, etc.
Make imaginative and complex ‘small worlds’ with blocks and construction kits, such as a city with different buildings and a park.
Take part in simple pretend play, using an object to represent something else even though they are not similar.
Explore different materials freely, to develop their ideas about how to use them and what to make.
Develop their own ideas and then decide which materials to use to express them. Join different materials and explore different textures.
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Explore, use and refine a variety of artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings.
Return to and build on their previous learning, refining ideas and developing their ability to represent them.
Create collaboratively, sharing ideas, resources and skills. |
Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
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design, plan, model, make, build, construct
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Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people
Finding ways to solve problems
Making links and noticing patterns in their experience
Making predictions
Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect |
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Geography |
Birth – 3 years |
3 and 4 year olds |
Reception |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Explore and respond to different natural phenomena in their setting and on trips.
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Know that there are different countries in the world and talk about the differences they have experienced or seen in photos.
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Draw information from a simple map.
Recognise some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries.
Recognise some environments that are different from the one in which they live. |
Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.
Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class. |
town, village, road, path, house, flat, map, plan, busy, quiet, pollution, earth, England, Smethwick, Oldbury |
Using senses to explore the world around them Taking risks and learning by trial and error Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time Thinking of ideas Finding ways to solve problems Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Making predictions Testing their ideas Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect |
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History |
0 – 3 years |
3 and 4 years |
Reception children |
ELG |
COEL |
Vocabulary |
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Begin to make sense of their own life-story and family’s history.
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Begin to make sense of their own life-story and family’s history
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Comment on images of familiar situations in the past.
Compare and contrast characters from stories, including figures from the past.
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Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher. |
Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people
Finding ways to solve problems
Making links and noticing patterns in their experience
Making predictions
Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect |
old, new, before, now, a long time ago, special time, family, after, changes |
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Music |
0 – 3 years |
3 and 4 years |
Reception children |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Enjoy singing, music and toys that make sounds. Use intonation, pitch and changing volume when ‘talking’. Say some of the words in songs and rhymes. Sing songs and say rhymes independently, for example, singing whilst playing.
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Sing a large repertoire of songs. Know many rhymes, be able to talk about familiar books, and be able to tell a long story. Listen with increased attention to sounds. Respond to what they have heard, expressing their thoughts and feelings. Remember and sing entire songs. Sing the pitch of a tone sung by another person (‘pitch match’). Sing the melodic shape (moving melody, such as up and down, down and up) of familiar songs. Create their own songs or improvise a song around one they know. Play instruments with increasing control to express their feelings and ideas. |
Listen carefully to rhymes and songs, paying attention to how they sound. Learn rhymes, poems and songs. Listen attentively, move to and talk about music, expressing their feelings and responses. Watch and talk about dance and performance art, expressing their feelings and responses. Sing in a group or on their own, increasingly matching the pitch and following the melody Explore and engage in music making and dance, performing solo or in groups.
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Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.
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banging, shaking, tapping, blowing, clapping, songs, instrument (tuned and untuned), sound, low, high, loud, quiet, repeat, copy, beat,
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Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people Finding ways to solve problems Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Making predictions Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect |
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EYFS |
0 – 3 years |
3 and 4 years |
Reception children |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Families, culture, celebrations, Diwali, Christmas, Eid, Halloween, bonfire night, remembrance day, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, fireworks, family, same, different, share.
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Science Curriculum Overview
'Children leave Rood End with an enthusiasm and curiosity for science and understand how it can influence their futures'
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EYFS |
Birth – 3 years |
3 and 4 year olds |
Reception children |
ELG |
Key Vocabulary |
COEL links |
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Explore materials with different properties. Explore natural materials, indoors and outside. Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials. Explore collections of materials with similar and/or different properties.
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Make healthy choices about food, drink, activity and toothbrushing. Talk about what they see, using a wide vocabulary. Explore how things work Plant seeds and care for growing plants. Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and an animal. Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things. Talk about the differences between materials and changes they notice. Explore and talk about different forces they can feel. |
Know and talk about the different factors that support their overall health and wellbeing: • regular physical activity • healthy eating • toothbrushing • sensible amounts of ‘screen time’ • having a good sleep routine • being a safe pedestrian Explore the natural world around them. Describe what they see, hear and feel whilst outside Recognise some environments that are different from the one in which they live. Understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them. |
Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet and understanding the importance of healthy food choices. Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants. Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class. Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter |
wood, plastic, metal, fabric, glass, hard, soft, rough, smooth, shiny, dull, natural, manmade, light, dark, night, daytime, hibernation, environment, hot, cold, planet, space, sun, moon, body parts, senses, growth, change |
Using senses to explore the world around them Taking risks and learning by trial and error Showing a curiosity about objects, events and people Maintaining focus on their activity for a period of time Thinking of ideas Finding ways to solve problems Making links and noticing patterns in their experience Making predictions Testing their ideas Developing ideas of grouping, sequences cause and effect |
Early Years Curriculum
Communication and language
- Start to say how they are feeling, using words as well as actions.
- Start to develop conversation, often jumping from topic to topic.
- Develop pretend play: 'putting the baby to sleep' or 'driving the car to the shops'.
- Listen to simple stories and understand what is happening, with the help of the pictures.
- Identify familiar objects and properties for practitioners when they are described: for example: 'Katie's coat', 'blue car', 'shiny apple'
- Understand and act on longer sentences like 'make teddy jump' or 'find your coat'.
- Understand simple questions about 'who', 'what' and 'where' (but generally not 'why').
- Enjoy listening to longer stories and can remember much of what happens
- Identify familiar objects and properties for practitioners when they are described: for example: 'Katie's coat', 'blue car', 'shiny apple'
- Understand and act on longer sentences like 'make teddy jump' or 'find your coat'.
- Understand simple questions about 'who', 'what' and 'where' (but generally not 'why').
- Enjoy listening to longer stories and can remember much of what happens
- Pay attention to more than one thing at a time, which can be difficult.
- Use a wider range of vocabulary.
- Understand a question or instruction that has two parts, such as: "Get your coat and wait at the door".
- Understand 'why' questions, like: "Why do you think the caterpillar got so fat?"
Personal, social and emotional development
- Express preferences and decisions. They also try new things and start establishing their autonomy.
- Engage with others through gestures, gaze and talk.
- Find ways of managing transitions, for example from their parent to their key person.
- Begin to show 'effortful control'. For example, waiting for a turn and resisting the strong impulse to grab what they want or push their way to the front. Be increasingly able to talk about and manage their emotions.
- Develop friendships with other children.
- Develop appropriate ways of being assertive.
- Talk with others to solve conflicts.
- Talk about their feelings using words like 'happy', 'sad', 'angry' or 'worried'.
- Understand gradually how others might be feeling.
- Make healthy choices about food, drink, activity and tooth brushing
Physical Development
- Develop manipulation and control.
- Explore different materials and tools.
- Use large and small motor skills to do things independently, for example manage buttons and zips, and pour drinks.
- Start eating independently and learning how to use a knife and fork.
- Continue to develop their movement, balancing, riding (scooters, trikes and bikes) and ball skills.
- Go up steps and stairs, or climb up apparatus, using alternate feet.
- Skip, hop, stand on one leg and hold a pose for a game like musical statues.
- Use large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks.
- Match their developing physical skills to tasks and activities in the setting. For example, they decide whether to crawl, walk or run across a plank, depending on its length and width.
- Increasingly be able to use and remember sequences and patterns of movements which are related to music and rhythm.
- Start taking part in some group activities which they make up for themselves, or in teams
Maths
- Take part in finger rhymes with numbers.
- React to changes of amount in a group of up to three items.
- Develop counting-like behaviour, such as making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence
- Compare amounts, saying 'lots', 'more' or 'same'.
- Develop counting-like behaviour, such as making sounds, pointing or saying some numbers in sequence.
- Compare sizes, weights etc. using gesture and language - 'bigger/little/smaller', 'high/low', 'tall', 'heavy'.
- Notice patterns and arrange things in patterns.
Literacy
- Enjoy sharing books with an adult.
- Pay attention and respond to the pictures or the words.
- Have favourite books and seek them out, to share with an adult, with another child, or to look at alone.
- Repeat words and phrases from familiar stories.
- Enjoy drawing freely.
- Make marks on their picture to stand for their name.
- Notice some print, such as the first letter of their name, a bus or door number, or a familiar logo.
- Pay attention and respond to the pictures or the words.
- Have favourite books and seek them out, to share with an adult, with another child, or to look at alone.
- Repeat words and phrases from familiar stories.
- Ask questions about the book.
- Make comments and shares their own ideas.
Understanding the world
- Explore materials with different properties.
- Explore natural materials, indoors and outside.
- Make connections between the features of their family and other families.
- Notice differences between people.
- Use all their senses in hands-on exploration of natural materials.
- Explore collections of materials with similar and/or different properties.
- Talk about what they see, using a wide vocabulary.
Expressive arts and design
- Start to develop pretend play, pretending that one object represents another. For example, a child holds a wooden block to her ear and pretends it's a phone.
- Enjoy and take part in action songs, such as 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'
- Explore different materials, using all their senses to investigate them. Manipulate and play with different materials
The statements are for your information only. They form the basis of the Early Years curriculum. Children develop at their own pace and this is a guideline only. If you have any concerns please raise them with the Nursery teacher Miss Deboo
Terms
Autumn
Spring
Maths
- Develop fast recognition of up to 3 objects, without having to count them individually ('subitising').
- Recite numbers past 5.
- Say one number for each item in order: 1,2,3,4,5.
- Know that the last number reached when counting a small set of objects tells you how many there are in total ('cardinal principle').
- Show 'finger numbers' up to 5.
- Link numerals and amounts: for example, showing the right number of objects to match the numeral, up to 5.
Literacy
- Enjoy drawing freely
- Add some marks to their drawings, which they give meaning to. For example: "That says mummy."
- Make marks on their picture to stand for their name.
Understand the five key concepts about print:
- print has meaning
- print can have different purposes
- we read English text from left to right and from top to bottom
- the names of the different parts of a book
- page sequencing
In Nursery we will be reading:
Communication and Language
- Enjoy listening to longer stories and can remember much of what happens.
- Use a wider range of vocabulary.
- Understand 'why' questions, like: "Why do you think the caterpillar got so fat?"
- Sing a large repertoire of songs.
- Know many rhymes, be able to talk about familiar books, and be able to tell a long story.
Physical Development
- Be increasingly independent as they get dressed and undressed, for example, putting coats on and doing up zips - ongoing
- Start taking part in some group activities which they make up for themselves, or in teams.
- Increasingly be able to use and remember sequences and patterns of movements which are related to music and rhythm
- Match their developing physical skills to tasks and activities in the setting. For example, they decide whether to crawl, walk or run across a plank, depending on its length and width.
- Choose the right resources to carry out their own plan. For example, choosing a spade to enlarge a small hole they dug with a trowel.
- Collaborate with others to manage large items, such as moving a long plank safely, carrying large hollow blocks.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Talk about their feelings in more elaborated ways: "I'm sad because..." or "I love it when ...".
- Learn to use the toilet with help, and then independently
- Select and use activities and resources, with help when needed.
- Become more outgoing with unfamiliar people, in the safe context of their setting.
- Show more confidence in new social situations
- Develop their sense of responsibility and membership of a community.
- Play with one or more other children, extending and elaborating play ideas.
Understanding the World
- Begin to make sense of their own life-story and family's history.
- Understand the key features of the life cycle of a plant and an animal.
- Begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things
Expressive Arts and Design
- Take part in simple pretend play, using an object to represent something else even though they are not similar.
- Begin to develop complex stories using small world equipment like animal sets, dolls and dolls houses, etc.
- Make imaginative and complex 'small worlds' with blocks and construction kits, such as a city with different buildings and a park.
- Explore different materials freely, to develop their ideas about how to use them and what to make.
- Develop their own ideas and then decide which materials to use to express them.
- Join different materials and explore different textures
- Create closed shapes with continuous lines and begin to use these shapes to represent objects.
- Draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and including details.
Phonics
In Nursery we focus on developing the important pre-phonics skills that will prepare children for future reading and writing.
These skills include:
- listening to sounds in the environment (animal noises, traffic sounds, noises around the home)
- exploring musical instruments
- making sounds with our bodies (repeating claps, clicks, stamps)
- listening to and recognising rhyme in stories, songs and nursery rhymes
- noticing and repeating alliteration (the sounds that words start with, eg. banana, book, bat)
- making different sounds with our voices
- noticing and repeating the sounds in words
Summer
Communication and language
- Start a conversation with an adult or a friend and continue it for many turns.
- Use talk to organise themselves and their play: "Let's go on a bus... you sit there... I'll be the driver."
- Understand how to listen carefully and why listening is important
- Learn new vocabulary
- Be able to express a point of view and to debate when they disagree with an adult or a friend, using words as well as actions.
- Ask questions to find out more and to check they understand what has been said to them.
- Articulate their ideas and thoughts in well-formed sentences.
- Sing a large repertoire of songs.
- Know many rhymes, be able to talk about familiar books, and be able to tell a long story.
- Connect one idea or action to another using a range of connectives
Personal, social, emotional development
- Talk about their feelings using words like 'happy', 'sad', 'angry' or 'worried'
- Be increasingly independent in meeting their own care needs, e.g., brushing teeth, using the toilet, washing and drying their hands thoroughly.
- Make healthy choices about food, drink, activity and toothbrushing.
Physical development
- Increasingly be able to use and remember sequences and patterns of movements which are related to music and rhythm.
- Skip, hop, stand on one leg and hold a pose for a game like musical statues.
- Use large-muscle movements to wave flags and streamers, paint and make marks.
- Match their developing physical skills to tasks and activities in the setting. For example, they decide whether to crawl, walk or run across a plank, depending on its length and width.
- Use one-handed tools and equipment, for example, making snips in paper with scissors.
- Use a comfortable grip with good control when holding pens and pencils.
Literacy
Engage in extended conversations about stories, learning new vocabulary.
Develop their phonological awareness, so that they can:
- spot and suggest rhymes
- count or clap syllables in a word
- recognise words with the same initial sound, such as money and mother.
Understand the five key concepts about print:
- print has meaning
- print can have different purposes
- we read English text from left to right and from top to bottom
- the names of the different parts of a book
- page sequencing
Engage in extended conversations about stories, learning new vocabulary.
Write some or all of their name.
Maths
- Talk about and identify the patterns around them. For example: stripes on clothes, designs on rugs and wallpaper.
- Use informal language like 'pointy', 'spotty', 'blobs', etc.
- Extend and create ABAB patterns - stick, leaf, stick, leaf.
- Notice and correct an error in a repeating pattern.
- Begin to describe a sequence of events, real or fictional, using words such as 'first', 'then...'
- Understand position through words alone - for example, "The bag is under the table," - with no pointing.
- Describe a familiar route.
- Discuss routes and locations, using words like 'in front of' and 'behind'.
- Make comparisons between objects relating to size, length, weight and capacity.
- Select shapes appropriately: flat surfaces for building, a triangular prism for a roof, etc.
- Combine shapes to make new ones - an arch, a bigger triangle, etc.
- Recite numbers past 5.
- Say one number for each item in order: 1,2,3,4,5.
Understanding the world
- Talk about the differences between materials and changes they notice.
- Continue developing positive attitudes about the differences between people.
- Know that there are different countries in the world and talk about the differences they have experienced or seen in photos.
Expressive arts and design
- Create closed shapes with continuous lines and begin to use these shapes to represent objects.
- Draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and including details.
- Play instruments with increasing control to express their feelings and ideas.
- Create closed shapes with continuous lines and begin to use these shapes to represent objects.
- Draw with increasing complexity and detail, such as representing a face with a circle and including details.
- Explore colour and colour mixing.
- Remember and sing entire songs.
- Sing the pitch of a tone sung by another person ('pitch match').
- Sing the melodic shape (moving melody, such as up and down, down and up) of familiar songs.
- Create their own songs or improvise a song around one they know
Phonics
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
This is the link to access the parents information page on the Little Wandle phonics website.
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/
resources/my-letters-and-sounds/weekly-reading-and-phonics/little-wandle-foundations/phonics/hey-diddle-diddle/
Hey, Diddle, Diddle | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)
This link is to one of the educational games sites we use in school. At the moment there are lots of Christmas games that the children are enjoying playing during Nursery sessions. They are free to play and no log in is needed.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk//Search.aspx?q=christmas
Useful information
Nursery hours:
Morning sessions
Children to be dropped off at the small gate on the Key Stage 1 playground, Gresham Road
8.30-11.30am (please collect from the small gate on the Key Stage 1 playground)
Afternoon sessions
Children to be dropped off at the small gate on the Key Stage 1 playground, Gresham Road
12.30 - 3.30pm (please collect from the small gate on the Key Stage 1 playground)
Water Bottles
Please make sure your child brings a water bottle every day. This must contain water only -no squash or juice please.
Spare Clothes
Please make sure your child has a spare change of clothes in case of accidents. These can be kept in school.
Cooking Fund
Each half term we ask for a donation of £2. This money is enables us to buy additional resources for cooking and craft activities to do with your children.
Useful Links
Apply for your Reception place here:
