Friday, 18 September 2026

Nursery Newsletter- 18.9.26

📢 Important Information

No more rucksacks, please. From now on, children should only bring a drawstring bag to nursery.
Remember to send in a family photo to nursery@broadford.havering.sch.uk
Please put a spare change of clothes in your child’s drawstring bag. This will be kept at nursery in case they need to get changed.
You should all have received a login for Evidence Me. We will be using the app to send out important information and updates, so please check the app regularly.
Little City Workshop will be visiting us on Thursday 15th October. We’re looking forward to a fun and exciting session!

Messy Play

Messy play is an important part of Nursery! Our children explore paint, crafts, mud and water every week. We provide aprons, but stains are sometimes unavoidable.

Please don’t worry if your child comes home with a mucky or stained uniform — we are happy for them to get messy and return in stained clothes! Messy play is an important part of our curriculum, giving children valuable opportunities to explore, create, develop skills and have fun. Thank you for your support! ❤️

Welcome to Our Nursery Family

We have been especially excited to welcome our new children and families to Nursery this week. They have had their settling-in sessions and have done brilliantly! It has been lovely to see their confidence grow as they become familiar with the Nursery, meet new friends and get to know the adults around them.

Exploring Our New Environment

There has been lots of excitement in the Nursery as the children have explored their newly organised environment. They have loved discovering new resources, investigating different areas and finding new things to play with.

It has been wonderful to watch their curiosity as they explore and make the environment their own. There has already been lots of imaginative play, building, creating, investigating and discovering!

Making the Most of the Outdoors

The lovely weather has meant that we have been able to spend lots of time outside this week. The children have enjoyed exploring our outdoor environment, playing with their friends and making the most of all the opportunities it offers.

There has been lots of running, climbing, investigating and imaginative play, with the children happily moving between indoor and outdoor learning throughout the day.

Lunchtime at Nursery

This week has also been a big milestone for many of our children as they have started staying for lunchtime. They have done so well!

It has been lovely to see the children sitting together with their friends, becoming familiar with the lunchtime routine and developing their independence. For some of our new starters, this is another big step in feeling comfortable and confident in their Nursery day — and they have taken it all in their stride!

What a Brilliant Start!

It has been such a lovely first week, and we are incredibly proud of all of the children. From settling into new routines and making friends to exploring their new environment and enjoying their first Nursery lunches, they have made a fantastic start.

We can’t wait to see their confidence continue to grow and to share all the exciting learning, friendships and adventures that the year ahead will bring.

Well done, everyone, you have been amazing!

Reception Learning - W.C 14.9.26

Year Reception: What We Are Learning

This term our topic is Marvellous Me. Our focus book this week was The Colour Monster.

Here is what we have been up to: we have been learning all about the different emotions and how to manage our emotions. We learnt about the Zones of Regulation and how we can use our toolbox to regulate ourselves. The Zones of Regulation is a framework that helps children understand and talk about their emotions, energy levels, and how they are feeling. It teaches children that all feelings are okay, while helping them learn strategies to manage their emotions and get ready to learn or cope with situations.

The framework uses four coloured zones:

🔵 Blue Zone — Low energy: The child may feel sad, tired, bored, lonely, or unwell. Their body and brain may need help becoming more alert or comfortable.

🟢 Green Zone — Ready to learn: The child feels calm, focused, happy, content, or in control. This is often the best state for learning, but being in the Green Zone isn't the goal all the time.

🟡 Yellow Zone — Elevated emotions: The child may feel worried, frustrated, excited, silly, nervous, or annoyed. Their energy is increasing and they may need support to stay in control.

🔴 Red Zone — Very high energy: The child may feel extremely angry, panicked, terrified, or overwhelmed. Their emotions and body are highly activated, making it harder to think clearly or make good choices.

The children have also been working hard in Read, Write, Inc this week. The children have learnt the sounds i, n, p, g, o and have worked hard to practise writing the sounds in their Read, Write, Inc books. Please practise the Set 1 Sounds at home. The reading folders have now gone home and we would like you to bring them in each week on your child's reading day. Remember to read and sign the record 5 times a week.

In Maths this week the children have been working hard to practise their number formation. They have used the Ten Town number formation rhymes to help them to write their numbers from 0-10. Please practise these at home with your child.

0 (Zero Pond): "Around and round and round we go..."

1 (King One): "Start at the top and down we run..."

2 (Tommy Two): "From top to toe..."

3 (Thelma Three): "Hands round to knees..."

4 (Freddie Four): "Over one hand..."

5 (Fiona Five): "Over the next..."

6 (Seal Six): "Down her back..."

7 (Sir Seven): "Slide down his tail..."

8 (Eric Eight): "Across his back..."

9 (Nina Nine): "All the way round..."

10 (Tia Ten): "Draw one, then a zero…

We were excited to welcome the award-nominated educational theatre group, The Drama Geezers, to our school for a special, interactive resilience project called Max and the Quest for the Rare Diamond.
This school-wide adventure uses the power of story and play to help children build life skills in a fun, energetic, and completely safe environment.

Well done Reception for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work!

Monday, 14 September 2026

Reception Curriculum Newsletter

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Reception Parents and Carers,

Please find the link to the Reception Curriculum Newsletter here

Friday, 11 September 2026

Reception Learning - W.C 8.9.26

Year Reception: What We Are Learning

This term our topic is Marvellous Me. Our focus book this week was Super Duper You.

What a fantastic start our Reception children have had! We have been busy getting to know our new environment and exploring all of the exciting provision both inside and outside. The children have been discovering new resources, making friends, choosing their own activities and learning how to become confident and independent learners.

We have also been learning our school routines, including getting ready for the day, tidying up, listening to instructions and moving around school safely. A very exciting milestone was having our first lunch in the dinner hall! 🍽️

These first few weeks are all about building confidence, independence, relationships and a sense of belonging. We are so proud of how the children are settling in, and it has been lovely to see their confidence grow each day. 💕

This week in maths, we have been busy exploring numbers to 5! The children have been practising counting objects carefully, recognising numerals and putting numbers in the correct order.

We have been using lots of practical activities and games to help us understand that numbers represent a quantity and that each number has its own place in the number sequence. The children have enjoyed spotting numbers around our environment and showing what they know in lots of different ways.

These early number skills are an important foundation for developing children’s number sense, counting skills and mathematical understanding. We are encouraging the children to count slowly and carefully, making sure they touch or move each object as they count.

The children have also been working hard in Read, Write, Inc this week. The children have learnt the sounds m,a, s, d and t and have worked hard to practise writing the sounds in their books. Please practise these sounds every day at home!

As part of our Topic work this week the children have made their own self-portraits. The children spent time looking carefully at their faces and thinking about what makes them unique. We talked about our different hair, eye colours, skin tones and facial features before having a go at drawing our very own portraits. We were so proud of the children for looking closely, having a go and celebrating their own wonderful, unique features!

This week we started our new Drawing Club, which we will enjoy every week. Our first challenge was to draw our very own superhero cape, including special symbols to show just how super duper we are! 🦸‍♂️ 🦸‍♀️

Drawing is a wonderful way for children to develop their fine motor skills, pencil control and hand strength, while also encouraging creativity, imagination and confidence. It gives children a chance to express their ideas and feelings through pictures, and helps them to develop the skills they will need for writing too.

Simple Ways to Support Your Child at Home ⭐️

Here are some simple resources you can use at home to support your child’s learning:

📚 Reading

Oxford Owl – Free eBooks and reading activities.
BookTrust – Book recommendations and fun reading ideas.

🔤 Phonics

PhonicsPlay – Fun phonics games.
Set 1 sounds - Read, Write Inc sounds

🔢 Maths

Topmarks – Fun maths games for counting, numbers and shapes.
White Rose Maths – Maths activities and ideas.

🗣️ Talking & Language

BBC Tiny Happy People – Simple ideas to build vocabulary and communication.

Learning Through Play 🎨

Remember that play is learning! Building with blocks, playing shops, cooking, drawing, puzzles, dressing up and playing outside all help children develop important skills.

Try using everyday items such as:

Pasta or buttons for counting
Post-it notes for practising sounds and letters
Empty food packets for playing shops
Pegs for fine-motor activities
Boxes for building and construction
Water, sand and natural objects for exploring

Well done Reception for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work!

Friday, 17 July 2026

Reception learning 17.07.2026

Year Reception: What We Are Learning

Our focus this week was Transition and enjoying our last week in Reception.

Here is what we have been up too;

In Maths this week the children have put their skills to the test in a range of challenges. We made patterns, practised tally marks, drew numbers with chalk, made numbers with sticks and rocks and noticed which containers held the most amount of water.

The children participated in the Colour Run where they walked, jogged, or ran through a course while being gently sprinkled with coloured powder at various stations. It was super fun and the children had giant smiles while doing it!

The children were great audience members of Broadfords Got Talent where we watched great singing, dancing and comedy! Broadford really is full of talent!

As the school year comes to a close, we would like to thank you for your support and encouragement throughout the year. It has been a pleasure teaching your children and watching them grow in confidence, knowledge, and independence.

We hope you all have a wonderful, relaxing summer break filled with happy memories. Thank you again, and we look forward to seeing everyone in the new school year!

Love the Reception team!