Nursery

Nursery REPORT

New Term It was wonderful to welcome our returning and new children in August. Being dropped off and picked up at the iron gate has worked well for our children and they quickly picked up the routines.

Myself To help the children settle at nursery we started by looking at ‘Myself’ as a theme, with the children embracing opportunities to draw portraits of their friends and themselves as well as making simple graphs to record eye and hair colour and measuring and comparing heights. We have some budding artists in nursery who paid close attention to the detail of their subjects.

Autumn The children enjoyed learning about harvest and the role of farms in providing food for us. We used natural materials to make music and talked about what we were thankful for. Talking and learning about the changes on the farms linked in very well with the changing seasons and the children enjoyed investigating Autumn. There was plentiful opportunity for creativity when the children made their own bonfire and firework pictures. This was an excellent opportunity for discussions about safety near fireworks and was put into practice when the children were introduced to and held sparklers outside under the shelter.

Nativity Although our nativity did not take place in person this year, there was a lot of enthusiasm and fun had while learning words to the songs, wearing costumes and recording songs to share with parents. In nursery, the children were extending their early literacy skills by ‘writing’ cards to family and friends and listening to the Christmas Story. We joined the whole school in welcoming a real life nativity scene to the playground with beautiful donkeys to bring the term to a lovely end.

Penguins Upon return to nursery in the new year, the children showed a real interest in penguins. We used this interest to investigate different types of penguins, where they could be found, what they eat and how they look after their young. The children did science experiments and were becoming familiar with using a globe, maps and atlases to find where the penguins live as well as where we live and go to school. This led nicely on to celebrating Scotland.

Burns Using the globe as a starting point, the children learned about Robert Burns and his poetry and songs. This led to looking at the work of Scottish artist Steven Brown, who provided inspiration for the children to create their own ‘McCoo’ pictures and their own tartan. Each St Margaret’s McCoo was individual and bursting with personality. They were quite a work of art. This was also a great opportunity for the children to try a variety of traditional Scottish snacks such as shortbread, oatcakes and haggis, neeps and tatties. Some were more popular than others but the children were enthusiastic tasters.

Staff changes in February saw Mrs Lesley Dillon move within school to take up a post in the junior department and we welcomed Miss Audrey Fraser to the nursery team.

Dancing With COVID restrictions easing, we were delighted to be able to welcome Miss Gillian back into school. Our preschool children have really enjoyed taking part in the weekly dancing lessons and the children were so pleased to be able to invite their parents into school to watch a dance demonstration towards the end of term to show all of the skills they had been learning throughout the session.

Book Day The children enjoyed wearing their pyjamas to school on World Book Day and having had the opportunity to submit photos of them with their favourite books on the Google Classroom, the children were so pleased to see themselves on the ‘big screen’ and talk about their book to their friends.

Using The Gruffalo and other Julia Donaldson books as a theme was a fun way to introduce and reinforce rhyming words and sounds along with retelling the story in a variety of ways and making a giant Gruffalo and our favourite characters.

Outdoors We continue to value outdoor play, with the children having the opportunity to spend time outdoors all year round. Having their own waterproofs and wellies in the nursery means the children can go outside whatever the weather. The colourful umbrellas have been well used with the children for sheltering from the rain whilst watching their colours reflect in the water on the ground. Jumping in puddles provided wonderful opportunities to develop gross motor skills as well as some understanding of science.

Loose parts are a core part of the learning opportunities the children have. The children have been creative, cooperative and adventurous with their use of these open ended resources. Social skills have been challenged and negotiation skills developed while building and sharing the resources. The children have created and served some wonderful creations in the outdoor kitchen, as well as making their own ‘building site’ with diggers and trucks.

We were delighted to get back to Wee Green Spaces with our pre-school children embarking upon adventures at Bon Accord Terrace Gardens. Of course, the adventure starts in nursery when the children pack their own bags and get ready for their outing, whilst discussing safety and what to look out for when walking and crossing the road. We build an awareness of our local environment and familiar landmarks on the way. We often enjoyed looking in different shop windows and talking about what we could see. Once at the gardens, the children enjoyed investigating the area, developing gross and fine motor skills and learning more about their local environment.

Sports Day It was wonderful for the whole school to come together for Sports Day at the playing field. Our nursery children enjoyed watching the junior girls race and demonstrated great effort in the numerous races they participated in. A lovely ice cream treat finished off a wonderful sunny sports day.

Summer Show Welcoming parents in person for the end of term show was such a lovely experience for our children and a wonderful way to end the year. Their faces were beaming on stage as they spotted family members in the audience. The smiles stayed in place and the children sang and performed beautifully.

Jennifer Minett Nursery Manager Laura Simpson Nursery Teacher