ND - Nursery - Mrs Duckitt 2023 - 2024

Class Teacher: Mrs Duckitt

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Martain, Ms Amis, Ms Main, & Mrs Shaw

We are delighted to have your child in our class and look forward to being part of their learning journey.  See below some useful information regarding our class.  

Latest Class News

Please see everything we have been up to in the 'Gallery' section at the bottom of this page or conveniently accessible via our School Spider App!

Class Gallery  

Throughout the year, please be sure to visit our class gallery regularly as it will contain updates regarding our class activities, including photographs for you to see for yourself how our exciting curriculum engages and stimulates your child.   The easiest way to access our class gallery is via the School Spider app, however you can also click on the gallery picture below. 

Our topic this term is: 'Roots, Shoot and Muddy Boots'

Personal, Social & Emotional Development - We will continue to build relationships with our friends and develop a sense of responsibility and membership to our Nursery community. We will be developing our confidence in new social situations and extending and elaborating on our play ideas. We will also learn to take turns and share appropriately, understanding how others may be feeling.

Communication & Language  - We will ensure all children engage in high quality conversations with adults and peers throughout the day. Our classroom is a language-rich environment. We are constantly commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively. 

Physical Development  - We will be using our fantastic outdoor learning environment as well as our Forest sessions to explore and build our gross motor strength, learning how to safely take risks and move our bodies. We will also build our fine motor strength by taking part in activities such as baking, playdough and using small manipulatives. 

Literacy - We will be using various media and materials to showcase our mark making skills. We will also have access to high quality focus texts based around our topic such as 'Jack and Beanstalk’, ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘The Little Seed’. We will also focus on alliteration, initial sounds and segmenting and blending words in our speaking and listening sessions.

Maths  - We will use our time to explore measures this half term. We will become experts in discussing our day, positional language, height and length. Subitising. We will consolidate our knowledge of counting to compare lengths using the vocabulary of longer/ taller and shorter. We will also consolidate our number sense by singing our daily Nursery Rhymes. 

Understanding the World - As part of our 'Roots, Shoots and Muddy Boots’ topic we will be exploring our local environment, looking for signs of wildlife and learning how to care for it. We will also be looking closely at plants; what they need to survive as well as their life cycle. The children will plant their own bean stalks and help plant flowers around the school grounds. 

Expressive Arts & Design - We will be developing our printing skills this half term and learning how to create leaf pop art using various mediums. The children will also continue to develop their love of design by creating abstract designs inspired by the artist ‘Giuseppe Arcimboldo’.

Woodland Learning

We are very proud of our ‘Woodland Learning’ offering, where your child will be experiencing a range of new skills in our forest every week. We want you to make the most of every session whatever the weather, so you will need to be appropriately dressed. Please make sure you wear PE/Woodland uniform on your ‘Woodland Learning Day’. 

Nursery's Woodland Learning days are Ms Amis- Wednesday  & Mrs Duckitt  - Thursday

Your child will also need to bring in waterproof clothes in a waterproof, draw-string bag and wellington boots. As the weather becomes colder they may also want to bring an extra jumper/fleece, an extra pair of warm socks, waterproof gloves and a warm hat.

Please ensure your child does not attend school wearing their wellies and arrives in alternative footwear as this ensures the spread of mud around school is kept to a minimum.

Class News

Please visit our class gallery regularly to see what we have been learning at school.

Updates will be notified to you via our School Spider app .   Via  the app you will be able to access gallery updates, school calendar and also school communications. 

The first time you log in to the app, you will be required to click "forgotten password" link.  This will allow you to set a password and access the app.   Please note some devices automatically include a capital at the beginning of entry fields, so please ensure the appropriate lower or upper case option is set for any characters you are entering.   

If you have any problems accessing the app, please contact the School Office who will be happy to help. 

Home Learning

It is expected that your child is reading a minimum of 3x per week.  However, you are encouraged to read every day. 

Code of Conduct

We will be looking at our 3 character traits: Look after yourself,  Look after each other, and Look after our School.  Any children following our code of conduct will be presented with ‘Dojo points’ which will enable them to receive a reward. Any children breaking any part of the code of conduct will be given a warning, which may be followed by a sanction.

At TPS we have a code of conduct that all children are expected to follow. We need your support to implement this.  Please also see our Behaviour Policy.

School Dinners & Snacks 

Dinner

All children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are provided with a school lunch, as this is funded by the Governments Universal Free School Meals Scheme.  Children in these year groups are not required to bring a packed lunch as both hot and cold options are available daily for children to chose from.   

Children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 may purchase a school dinner at a cost of £2.00 per day/£10.00 per week, which should be paid for in advance via ParentPay.  Alternatively, children in these years may bring a packed lunch to school if they wish.

Please see lunch menus for further information.  

Snacks

All children in Nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will receive a daily healthy fruit snack for them to consume during morning break. All children in remaining years (Years 3, 4, 5 & 6) are requested to bring fruit /a healthy snack to school for their morning break. 

Lost Property

Any named items will be returned to your child’s class.   Please ensure all items of uniform are clearly marked with your child’s name (not just initials).  All lost property is collected by each year group and is available for checking at each home time for parents/carers to claim any lost items. If you cannot attend at this time, please speak to your child’s teacher.  Alternatively another parent/carer may claim lost uniform on your behalf.   

Punctuality & Attendance

We are keen to ensure that every pupil attends well and at least achieves our school target of 100%. 

• School gates open at 8.30 am and class doors open at 8.45 am and close at 8.55 am         
• Registers are taken at 8.55 am – children must be in class at this time
• Please arrive on time to prevent the need to sign in late at reception
• Holidays are not permitted during term time. Parents who remove their children from school during term time will be fined.
• Incentive awards will be given for good attendance
• School ends at 3.15 pm 

Absences for Sickness & Medical Appointments 

Any absences must be reported to the School Office or absence line prior to 9.00 am. 

• School Absence line is 0151 652 8498 (option 1)
• Appointments should always made outside of school hours wherever possible. However, if this is not possible, please advise the school office of any appointments
• Appointments can be notified to the school office by email (TPSabsences@remat.org.uk)
• Please ensure a copy of your child’s appointment card/letter is also provided to school to ensure any medical appointment absences are duly authorised.
• Patterns in absence for sickness and appointments are monitored (e.g. repeated Friday afternoon appointments with no appointment confirmation provided) to ensure  children attend school unless there is a legitimate reason

How to Help at Home?

Please read with your child as often as you can, ideally every day.  Bedtime stories, nursery rhymes and engaging in role play will help significantly with your child's language development.  

Any concerns?

If you have any queries or concerns about your child or school, please do not hesitate to discuss these with your child’s class teachers in the first instance.  

Safeguarding Concerns about a child?

Everyone is responsible for safeguarding children, regardless of whether they are your own children.  If you have any concerns please report these to our Designated Safeguarding Lead, Mrs Keenan or a member of our Safeguarding Team.   If this happens out of school hours please do not delay making a report.   Outside of school hours, you may contact the Integrated Front Door on 606 2008.   Please don't feel put off by making a report.  If you have reason to be concerned, that is justification to make a report and school is always thankful for any safeguarding reports ensuring the safety and protection of our children and school. 

You can find more information on our Child Protection & Safeguarding page. 

Where to find more information?

Our website contains masses of information, not only about Townfield Primary School but also our exciting curriculum and enrichment activities.  Furthermore, you can find details of our staff (including how to contact our SENDCo directly), school policies, Governing Board, useful parent information (School Dog, term dates, lunches, communication, making payments, etc) and the additional services we offer to support our wider school community (nursery and wrap around care).   Our website is extremely user-friendly, however to help you identify the range of information available please see our  website summary guide.