Mud Glorious Mud!

The mud kitchen is open! And what a lot of fun it has been. The children have thoroughly enjoyed diving into the muddy zone. 

Mud play is a fun activity to entertain and engage children, it is also brilliant for developing a child’s key skills. Children are able to develop their communication skills whilst role-playing with others in the mud kitchen, as well as developing physically through the movement and handling of the equipment.

When playing in the mud kitchen, children are also able to develop their literacy and numeracy skills as children will be counting out ingredients from mud pie recipes as well as also writing their own recipes/menus in role play situations. Some children turn the mud kitchen into a café, others work hard on using different natural resources such as mud, sand, flower petals and water to make ‘magic potions’. 

Thank you to all parents who have sent in wellies already, if you have some spares at home these would be ideal for school. We do have a few pairs of wellies the children can borrow but they are on the smaller side and may not fit all children. We have jackets at school for the children to use and endeavour to keep the children's uniform as clean as possible, however they will likely come home a little muddy. This is a sign of the fabulous time they have been having whilst learning. 

"I'm making turkey meatballs for lunch. do you want some?" Vanessa 

"The dinosaurs live here." Alex 

Nursery - Autumn Treasures

Now that Autumn has arrived we would love for your children to be on the look out for autumn treasures. If you find any bring them into Nursery so we can share, explore and use them to create own pictures!

Nursery Newsletter 1.10.18

Term: Autumn 1                      Date: 1.10.18

Dear Parents,

Each week you will receive a Nursery newsletter so you will know what the children will be focusing on in Nursery. From next week this will be electronic and you will be able to access it from the school website in the EYFS blog section shown in the photos below. You will also be able to read the newsletter the school Facebook page, there will also be regular blogs with pictures of the children's learning for you to see. If you are unable to access the newsletter or blogs please speak to a member of the team as key dates and experiences will be communicated via this.

 To find the EYFS blog click on More blogs.

     It has been lovely to see so many smiling faces as the children enter Nursery. Over the next few weeks we will continue to focus on supporting the children to get to know staff and children in the setting, ensure their experience is positive and model how to use the resources and areas.

The core Nursery Rhymes we are focusing on this week are:Twinkle, Twinkle and Here we go round the Mulberry Bush. This week we are sharing the book 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear' and the children are making their own toast. Adults will model how to follow the steps correctly and show the children how to carefully butter the toast and wash up their plates after.

  Soon all of the pictures will be available for the children to sign in and find their coat pegs. Please help your child to find their picture and move it to the correct space to show they are in Nursery. Please also bring in a spare change of clothes in a small, clearly named bag that can stay in school. Thank you to the parents/carers who have already brought these in.


k Each week you will receive a weekly newsletter to tell you more about your child's learning. The objectives we will be focusing will also be added to this.

We follow the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum).

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first.

These are:

• Communication and language;  
• Physical development; and
• Personal, social and emotional development.

These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:   Literacy;

• Mathematics;  
• Understanding the world; and
• Expressive arts and design.

These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. We make sure that activities are suited to each child’s unique needs. Children in Nursery learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outdoors.

      If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is   eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

       Kind Regards,

The Nursery Team

Reception Stay & Learn Dates

Come and join us in the classroom this term! 

Key dates for your diary: 

Reading Meeting & Storytime 

Tuesday 9th October: 2.15pm 

Phonics Stay & Learn Session 

Thursday 8th November: 9 - 9.45am

Parents/Carers are invited to join their children in the classroom this term. The reading meeting will take place in the hall and will be followed by storytime in the classrooms. The phonics stay and learn session will take place in your child’s class with lots of fun activities to try with your child. We look forward to seeing you!

What a fun first week!

As Reception finish the end of their first full week at school doing full days, we are all feeling very tired from all the activities we have been up to!

From creating our own small worlds to exercising our fingers all day long, we are ready for a nice relaxing weekend!



JJ: "Look, we can play football with the conkers!"
Dominic: "I know I can get all the bubbles popped!"

This week we had our first visit to the mud kitchen, serving mud pie and mud soup to any willing diner!


We didn't get many human guests at the mud restaurant, but a few 'dinersaurs' came in for some mud cake and mud jacuzzi.

Liam: "The dinosaurs need a bath!"
Flynn: "I am making waves in the bath with the hose!"

We have been busy making friends, learning how to share resources, play kindly and take turns.



At the end of a long week, we all need to either let our hair down like Vanessa, or take a leaf from Emma's book and use our conkers for a nice relaxing foot massage.

Afternoon Nursery - First full session

The children in our afternoon Nursery have also had a great first day. They have been exploring, making new friends and learning our new song!
"Squishy playdough!" Elkah
"I cook pizza!" Ahmed

Morning Nursery - First full session

The Morning Nursery have arrived for their first full sessions. They have settled in very well and it is lovely to see big smiling faces already! They are enjoying meeting new children and exploring all of the areas together. Here are some photos to show parents all the fun we are having:

Reception Newsletter 24.09.18

Term: Autumn 1                      Date: 24.09.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

Half days have flown by and we are very excited for the children to meet the rest of their class. The trial lunches were very successful last week and there was lots of smiling faces. School lunches are free for every child until the end of year 2, although they are welcome to bring a pack lunch instead. Children will select their lunch choice each morning when they arrive at school. If you need another copy of the school menu please ask your class teacher.


The children started our phonics scheme RWI last week. They were very enthusiastic and are picking the routines up well. The children will continue to bring home a daily sound sheet to complete at home. Please feel free to collate these at home for your use, the class teachers will not expect them back in school.

This week we will be reading the text ‘Rainbow Fish’ and carrying out related tasks which will involve sharing and considering the feelings of others.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
There will be lots of activities linking to our story Rainbow Fish, many of these will focus around sharing and taking turns.

Physical Development
This term there will be a big focus on fine motor activities to strengthen our hand and finger muscles for writing. These are all of the ‘fiddly’ activities you will see around the classrooms, such as threading, using tweezers, cutting etc. Of course we will still be working on our gross motor skills in the outdoor areas as well.

Maths
We will be introducing Ten Town to the children this week. Although some children already recognise many numbers, Ten Town provides handy rhymes to help with formation. We will also begin to look at different representations of each number to help develop a deeper understanding of number.

Expressive Arts and Design
We will be further exploring our self-service paints to celery print pictures of the rainbow fish. Along with exploring different collage materials and medias to create pictures of the rainbow fish.


Dates for your diary
Tuesday 9th October - 2.15pm
Reading Meeting explaining our new reading scheme and how you can support your children with reading at home. Afterwards join your children in their classrooms for story time before heading home at the end of the day.

Thursday 8th November - 9-9.45am
Join your child in their classroom for a Phonics Stay & Learn session. There will be activities and games to play together along with an opportunity to see a short phonics session.


Thank you to the parents who have sent in a named set of spare clothes and wellies. If you haven’t yet we would appreciate these as soon as possible. We will be opening the mud kitchen this week!


If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Kind Regards,
The Reception Team

Afternoon Reception enjoy lunch!

Today was the chance for the afternoon Reception children to try their first school lunch. Fish fingers was a popular choice! The children demonstrated fantastic manners and showed great coordination as they navigated carrying their lunch trays through the hall. There was lots of empty trays and smiling faces as the children tackled their first lunchtime with confidence. 

Home Corner Crazy

The Reception children have enjoyed participating in imaginative play and re-enacting home life experiences in our new and improved home corner. The children have spent a considerable amount of time stirring, filling, emptying, pouring, shaking, mixing, rolling, folding, zipping, buttoning, snapping, brushing, trying things on and taking them off. They have been imitating cooking breakfast and dinner which they have seen at home or pretending to feed our dolls and stuffed animals.

“You’re having egg on toast. It will be ready in three minutes.” Maci. 

“Do you want banana on toast or just toast?” Emily.

“It’s a treasure chest.” JJ.

By providing a setting for role play, the home corner allows children to make sense of their immediate world. Children have numerous opportunities to work together, express their feelings, and use language to communicate roles and respond to one another’s needs and requests.

Morning Reception Stay for Lunch!

Today the morning Reception children stayed for their first school lunch. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to experience lunchtime in the hall before starting full days next week. The children were very excited and demonstrated some good manners as they asked for their lunches. Some children also spotted some familiar faces once year one and year two arrived in the hall.

"Pizza is my favourite." Amber 

"Can we stay for lunch tomorrow?" Lillie 

"My mum made my lunch." Ralph 

Welcome to Nursery

The Nursery children are settling into Broadford life very well. After staying and playing with their parents they have been enjoying small group sessions this week. Each day we can see improved confidence as the children recognise familiar faces and learn new routines.

Bonkers about Conkers

Today Reception children were exploring the properties and qualities of conkers. We were finding out how to best extract the conkers from their shells without hurting our fingers on the prickly bits!

It wasn't easy and we had to be resourceful, using our various tools to help us get in.



Dominic: They smell like raspberries!
Jimmy: Watch out for the spikes!



Flynn: "It's like opening a scotch egg!"
Manuella: "It looks like a turtle coming out of its shell!"



We were very resilient to the prickles and eventually we managed to get our conkers, ready for counting in maths!

Reception Knead Real Dough

Today the Reception children spiced up their malleable play with the help of the herb garden.

Working as a team we cut and trimmed their herbs fresh from the garden, preparing them to add into their dough.

Alex: "They are good flowers! They smell a little bit like fruit."

The activity of de-seeding and de-leafing the herbs was a great finger gym, strengthening our fingers ready for learning to write!

We worked together, sharing the bowls and resources, whilst discussing all the delicious smells coming from the plants.

Manreet: "It smells like perfume!"

Manuella: "It smells really good!"

We then went back into the classroom and began kneading the herbs into our dough, making it smell lovely and fresh!

We love making our own creations with play-dough. Our glittery and perfume scented play-dough inspired us to make exciting cakes, snakes and much more!

Reception Newsletter 17.09.18

Term: Autumn 1                      Date: 17.09.18

Dear Parents and Carers,

Thank you for all your support in settling the children last week. Everyone is settling in well and they have all had a fantastic first week at school. Our focus at the start of the year is ensuring all children are settled and happy in the setting. We have been teaching routines, rules and expectations as well as exploring all of the resources available. We hope you have seen the children’s ‘First Day of School’ photos over on the Broadford Primary School Facebook page.

This week we will be starting our phonics scheme, Read, Write, Inc. The children will bring home a daily sound sheet to complete at home. Please feel free to collate these at home for your use, the class teachers will not expect them back in school.

This will be the last paper copy of the Reception newsletter you will receive as we are trying to go paperless. It will be posted each week on the school website, blog and Facebook. If you would like to request a paper or emailed copy please let your class teacher know.

Thank you to the parents who have sent in a named set of spare clothes and wellies. If you haven’t yet we would appreciate these as soon as possible.


School Lunches

This week the children will all have the chance to trial a school lunch. Please see the attached menu for what is for lunch this week. It is week 1 this week. 

Thursday - The morning children will stay for a trial lunch and go home at a later time of 12pm.
Friday - The afternoon children will come in at normal time but will start their session off with a trial lunch .

Messages:

• PLEASE NAME all items of clothing. This will help when reuniting lost items, particularly jumpers and cardigans with the right child. 
• Can all parents ensure their child has a named set of spare clothes and underwear on their child’s peg. This does not need to be school uniform. 
• If children could have a pair of named wellies in school, this would be great for use in the mud kitchen and on rainy days.

Dates for your diary:

Autumn 1
Friday 12th October	Animal Experience Workshop
Monday 15th October	Parents Evening 1
Tuesday 16th October	Parents Evening 2
Friday 19th October	Last day of half term
Autumn 2
Monday 29th October	Pupils back to school
Thursday 8th November	Parents invited in for phonics Stay and Learn session
Friday 7th December	Bedtime Stories
Tuesday 11th December	EYFS Nativity 10.30am or 2.00pm
Wednesday 19th December	Last day of the Autumn Term

INSET Dates & Polling Day  for 2018-19

Please note the school closure dates for this academic year.

INSET day 1	INSET day 2	INSET day 3	INSET day 4	INSET day 5
3rd September	4th September	7th January	29th April	5th June

Please note that the final day of the summer term will be on Friday 19th July, 2019.

If you would like to contact a member of the EYFS team via email the address

is: eyfs@broadford.havering.sch.uk.

Kind Regards,

The Reception Team

Reception's First Week of School!

It has been an exciting week with Reception at Broadford! We have had a wonderful first week of school, meeting our new friends and our new teachers.

This week we have learnt the rules and expectations of our new setting, whilst getting familiarised with all of the amazing resources that we have available to play with!

The children have been exploring all the different parts of our provision, making play-dough pizzas, seeing "real science" in action and performing sell-out shows.

Miraz: "I think I lost a hair tie because it's not tied up anymore."
Ryan: "I am doing a show."

The children have been learning about how to lead their own learning, choosing where to play and taking responsibility for tidying up after themselves.

Lucas: "Look how big this tunnel is! The tractors are going through!"



We have been doing team-building activities, teaching the children the importance of kind hands and kind feet.



Karimah: "Look! It's like real science!"

We are looking forward to the year ahead.

Stay and Play Nursery

We are very excited to welcome our new Nursery children to Broadford for Stay and Play sessions tomorrow. If you have a morning place we will see you at 9.30am and if you have an afternoon space we will see you at 12.30pm.