Welcome to
Elder 1 – Nursery
In our EYFS we aim to provide a challenging and stimulating environment with an engaging curriculum designed to enable all children to reach their potential.
Below you will find all the information needed about our fabulous nursery. Throughout the year Class Dojo will be updated with news and pictures to show you the fun we have in our nursery class.
Our Nursery offers both 15 and 30 hours provision. This is free for parents who are eligible – check www.gov.uk to find out if you may be eligible. If you aren’t, we can still offer 30 hours at a cost. Please speak to Mrs Scarr in the office or any member of the EYFS team if you want more information about Nursery provision.
Autumn letter 2026
Welcome to Elder Class (Nursery/Reception)! It has been wonderful to welcome all returning and new children and parents into our class. The children have made a brilliant start and we are really looking forward to the year ahead! The main staff who will be working in our class this year are Miss Rigg (class teacher), Miss Summers (class TA), Mrs Calvert (class TA: Tuesday – Friday mornings) and Mrs Abraham (class TA: Mondays and Wednesday afternoon). Mrs Thompson will teach our class on Thursday mornings.
Every morning, the classroom door will open at 8.50am and will be closed at 8.55am. To develop the children’s independence, we encourage the children to come through the door independently and members of staff will be at the door and inside the classroom to support the children. The blue trolley will be outside the classroom door each morning for lunchboxes and named snacks from home. Inside the classroom, we will support the children with putting their other belongings away, including water bottles and bookbags, before they join a morning activity.
Our Curriculum
Throughout the week, the children will have play-based carpet sessions, both together and separately in Nursery and Reception groups. Once the children are settled and ready, we will begin daily Supersonic Phonics sessions. Our special days, through which we cover all areas of learning, will include Messy Mondays (Expressive Arts and Design), Travelling Tuesdays, Welly Wednesdays (Understanding the World), Thinking Thursdays (Personal, Social and Emotional Development and RE) and Physical (and Food) Fridays (PE, cooking/baking). We also add in Music and Computing opportunities throughout the year…lots of fun activities to keep us busy!
After we have done some settling in activities and our baseline assessments, which will be used to inform our planning and next steps for the children, our topic for the first half term will be ‘Home Sweet Home’. Within this topic, we will look at family, nursery rhymes and homes/houses through the story of The 3 Little Pigs. Please see the accompanying topic web which provides an overview of some of our learning. This is subject to change as, where possible, we follow the children’s particular interests to support learning and development.
We will keep you updated with current learning through our Class Dojo. Please remember to check your child’s Dojo regularly and contribute to it as much as possible. If you need any extra help or information regarding the Dojo app, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of staff. It is a great way for parents to be involved in their child’s learning and keep up to date with what’s happening in our class.
Book Bags/Reading
Reception Children
Your child should have now brought home their reading wallets for the first time – how exciting! Initially, the children will read wordless books which are important for developing storytelling language, discussing characters and what is happening on each page. As your child progresses through the Letters and Sounds programme and is ready, we will begin to send home a game linked to their Supersonic Phonics Phase to begin learning the initial sounds in words, followed by books with words for your child to read. These games and books will be sent home in your child’s reading wallet inside your child’s book bag every Wednesday night. It is really important that you return these wallets to school every day so that teachers can hear your child read and monitor your child’s progress. Please remember to sign your child’s yellow reading diary each time they read at home. Little and often is best!
Shared Books
Your child will have the opportunity to bring home a book for you to share together. Books will be chosen independently at some point during the day and brought home to share with you at night as a bed time story. This book will be for a parent/guardian/ sibling to read to the child and encourage a love of books. Please ensure that these books are returned to school daily in your child’s book bag.
PE
Our PE day is a Friday; Reception children will come to school wearing their normal school uniform and will get changed for PE in their classrooms before the session. We ask that Nursery children, attending on a Friday, come to school wearing clothing and shoes that are appropriate for our PE session. If we are in the hall, we may need to take our shoes off, therefore, please avoid sending your child into school in shoes with laces, tights or difficult fastenings on Fridays. If you haven’t already done so, please ensure that each item of clothing is labelled clearly with your child’s name.
Belongings & Snacks
We request that all belongings are named, including water bottles and snacks. Children can bring one healthy snack for the afternoon if they wish. Fruit and milk will be provided daily by school for the morning snack and the children’s drink bottles are available for them in the classroom throughout the day.
We also ask for all children to bring spare clothes in a separate named bag. We take part in Welly Wednesday (forest school activities) on a Wednesday. Please could wellies and waterproofs either be provided each week or left in school as we aim to get out in all weathers! We do have some sets of school waterproofs if you do not have your own.
Our aim is to make your child’s time in early years as enjoyable and memorable as possible and we are really looking forward to the school year, working with you and your children. The whole team values the philosophy of working closely in partnership with parents. If you have any celebrations of your child’s achievements, questions or queries, please do not hesitate to share these with us either via Dojo or we are available most evenings after school.
We are always grateful for any parents who might be able to come and help listen to readers during the week, whether this is a ‘one off’ or on a regular basis. Please let us know if you are able to help.
Kind Regards,
Miss Rigg, Miss Summers, Mrs Calvert and Mrs Abraham
