An update from Lucy, our headteacher.
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you are all doing OK at home. Social distancing and isolation are such very different ways of being aren’t they, and something that is quite hard to explain and make sense of with our youngest children.
I have my 26 year old son at home again for the first time in 8 years!
I appreciate it’s so much easier having him here as an adult, rather than a 3yr old. I know I would have felt very isolated if it had been just me and him staying at home when he was little, so I can empathise with how insular life must feel for some of you.
I’m also thinking that all the ‘homeschooling’ pressure might feel quite overwhelming at times – like I’ve said before, the most important thing is keeping yourself well and just spending snatches of quality time chatting and playing alongside your children.
Our Website:
As you will see our team are trying to share songs and stories with you on our website and now on our own St. Pauls Nursery School and Children’s Centre YouTube channel.
These are for the children to enjoy! Our team are really missing them and are holding them in mind all the time. I know all key people will be giving you a phone call for a chat, and hopefully to talk to the children about what they have been doing on speakerphone whilst they are with you. Staying in touch is very important to us.
We will also be starting to post more things now for you to explore and consider when thinking about learning in the Early Years, but there is NO PRESSURE!
Home Learning:
I’m sure some of you may remember us talking about the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) during our induction meetings at nursery. This sets out the standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years.
Within this children are supported in 7 identified areas of learning and development:
- Personal, Social and Emotional – this is about children developing confidence and a positive sense of themselves, and others; having positive and respectful relationships, social skills and them knowing how to manage their feelings and behave appropriately
- Communication and Language – which is about children’s vocabulary and talking, expressing themselves, speaking and listening in a variety of situations
- Physical – this involves children being active and interactive; developing their co-ordination, control, and movement. It’s also about them understanding the importance of physical activity, and healthy food choices
- Literacy – this is about encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to start to develop the write skills for reading and writing. Children must be given access to a wide range
- Mathematics – involves children developing and improving their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating, simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measure
- Understanding the World – which is all about children’s sense of their physical world and their community. Exploring , observing and finding out about people, places, technology and the environment
- Expressive Arts and Design – this involves children exploring and playing with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology
We are sharing these areas as information… SO PLEASE DON’T STRESS about them!
I’m sure you can see already that everyday things like chatting about the day, talking about how you are feeling, singing songs, drawing, making up nonsense rhymes, sharing books, counting steps, jumping games, sharing out food, laying the table, cooking, washing up, using a phone/tablet/computer, thinking about your neighbours etc are all perfect for learning in the Early Years !
Over the next few weeks and months our teachers will be starting to post some examples of things we do at nursery, or could be done at home with our children that supports learning in each of the areas. We would love you to share your ideas too, if you could maybe put them in the comments on Facebook, please?
We are going to start with thinking about supporting PERSONAL, SOCIAL and EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, which is critical when you are little, and having to cope with big changes in your life.
We have a film of Robin coming shortly, with his children again, explaining why a routine is so important to young children’s well-being. I hope you enjoy it and it gives you some ideas for home.
This will be followed up soon by some ideas for supporting behaviour at home.
I will be in touch again soon. Until then, please keep in touch through our website/Facebook, stay home, stay safe and stay optimistic!
Lucy Driver
Headteacher
