Nursery & Pre-Prep

The ‘sprung’ element of this term is finally in full flow for us all! All the hard work and hunkering down has paid dividends, rewarding us with achievements to shout about. There is so much to celebrate in this season of change. In Reception, our first Love and Kindness Tea provided the perfect opportunity for children to appreciate the care they receive at home and to thank a very special person in their family with bespoke hand-crafted cookies and sandwiches, not to mention a beautiful bouquet and the finest rendition of ‘Kind Hearts are the Garden’ by HW Longfellow. Barely a dry eye!

The best changes also include an element of preparation, therefore our Curriculum Day focus was Life Skills! As a result we are now increasingly proficient at putting on seat belts, crossing the road safely, laying the table, zipping coats and tying shoelaces, and memorising parents’ phone numbers. Year 2 even learnt to make beds in the dormitories. Parents take note: practice makes perfect, make the most of it!

Concepts such as diversity and disability are important for young children to understand yet sometimes difficult to communicate. We were therefore incredibly fortunate to have Alison Wright from ‘Accept Listen Learn’ share her story. Alison was born with short arms and works hard to encourage people to accept others, no matter their ability. This was a truly inspirational and thoughtprovoking experience which considerably enhanced the children’s grasp of equality for all and what it really means in practice.

Finally, with Easter upon us, the Pre-Prep embarked on an ‘eggstravaganza’ (apologies) on the last day of term. The wonderful Meg from Danehill Church visited to teach us about the Easter Story which kicked off our Easter trail and scavenger hunt in Woodpeckers, courtesy of the Easter Bunny (aka Mrs Davis!). Can you guess what we found? Happy Easter, everyone!

Fergus Llewellyn Headmaster

Mrs Freeman Head of Pre-Prep

• Reception have been erupting volcanoes and creating fossils as part of their ‘Fire & Ice’ topic, drawing meerkats in chalk pastels as they explored ‘Amazing Animals’ and celebrated Chinese New Year with creative activities, baking and singing in Mandarin. They have also been busy spreading ‘love and kindness’ at a very special tea party.

used aerial photographs to identify human and physical features, learnt about the world’s oceans and penned diary entries about a day in the life of Katie Morag. We’ve also been exploring sea creatures with a fantastic trip to The Sealife Centre helping us in our fact-finding missions. We have all had a very exciting term full of fun, learning, teamwork and friendship.

• The Butterflies have continued to learn about ‘People Who Help Us’ with some very exciting visits from our emergency services and impressing the audience with their rendition of ‘I’m a Little Firefighter’ in our Spring Coffee Concert. Bravo!

• The Nursery children have welcomed to some special visitors to read this term including Mr Llewellyn and author Jane Hissey, who lovingly created the Old Bear stories.

• Year 1 have had an action packed term! Alongside some absolutely whizzy Maths, superstar reading and wonderful writing we have had a lot of fun learning all about different Explorers. We have been to the South Pole with Captain Scott, aboard a ship with Captain James Cook, visited the moon with Neil Armstrong and deep sea dived with Erika Bergman! A real highlight was our visit to Wilderness Woods where, despite the torrential rain, we had a super time building animal shelters, hunting for minibeasts and creating natural art work.

• Year 2’s topic of ‘An Island Home’ has been bought to life through the fictitious Isle of Struay. We have focused on mapping skills,

• We were also delighted to celebrate Isaac D’s success in the Young Art Competition. Huge congratulations for an excellent portrait of another Cumnor child at rest, reading a book.

A Spotlight on Reading

Now, more than ever, we need to nurture our children’s love of books. We must inspire them to engage with the written and spoken word, and to cherish the wonder and power of stories. We should encourage our reluctant readers to persevere, and, by our example, show them that reading can be empowering, comforting and great fun.

Reading is a life skill. It helps children to navigate the complexities of modern life and to develop empathy. With greater empathy, they can aspire to a gentler and kinder world. Children who read, understand the world better, and learn to express their ideas and thoughts effectively; they can write with greater confidence; they can make their mark. The hugely talented and committed teachers in our English Department are passionate about sharing a love of reading. As role models, they have the support of all teachers at Cumnor; they all play their part in developing reading skills in their subject areas and together they have put reading at the very core of our curriculum. Children have an increasingly wide and varied range of reading material; there is something exciting and engaging for everyone. If children cannot find what they want, the team will do their best to find it for them! Our library is full of avid readers every day; it is a sanctuary, and a friendly meeting place for many of our book-loving children.

These are some ideas for how you can help your children develop and maintain a love of reading.

• Prioritise reading – carve out the time

• Surround your children with a wide variety of books

• Reading at bedtime – nobody is too old for a bedtime story!

• Watch films and TV shows based on books

• Visit libraries, bookshops and charity shops

• Remember that not all reading for pleasure has to be fiction

• Talk to your children about books

• Listen to your children read and talk to them about what they’ve read

• Experience books beyond the page

• No need to ban screens!

Finally, don’t forget to check out Cumnor’s Must Reads on the Parent Portal.