What a wonderful week our Reception children have had exploring and learning in the great outdoors! It has been fantastic to see our youngest children showing such enthusiasm and developing their independence as they settle into life at school.
Through a range of outdoor activities, the children have been developing their teamwork, resilience and determination. They have worked together to build exciting obstacle courses, putting their coordination, balancing and problem-solving skills to the test. They have also been practising the letters they have been learning in their phonics sessions, taking their learning outdoors in a fun and engaging way.
There has been plenty of opportunity to get active too, with the children enjoying team games such as football and cricket, as well as activities designed to keep them moving and fit.
Perhaps most special of all has been watching new friendships begin to blossom. It has been lovely to see the children’s confidence growing each day as they become more familiar with their new surroundings, make new friends and discover all that Reception has to offer.
We are incredibly proud of how well our Reception children are settling in and can’t wait to see what adventures and learning opportunities the coming weeks bring!
Our children have been exploring both indoor and outdoor environments, using their creativity and imagination to make marks in all sorts of different ways during choosing time.
Choosing time is such an important part of Early Years. It is when children have the opportunity to lead their own learning, follow their interests and apply the skills they have been developing in meaningful, purposeful ways. This is when we often see real learning taking place!
It has been wonderful to see our children understanding that we can make our marks everywhere! We have spotted:
Children writing their own kindness messages in our Message Centre.
Children creating their own wonderful paintings and pictures in our Painting Area.
Children making amazing models in our Construction Area and then writing labels.
Children writing a special sign for our bug house outside.
Children recording their mathematical ideas through recording.
We love seeing children realise that writing isn’t just something we do during a handwriting lesson. Writing has a purpose everywhere! Whether it is leaving a message for a friend, labelling a model, creating a sign or recording an idea, our children are beginning to see themselves as writers.
We have also started our daily handwriting sessions, and we have been blown away by the children’s concentration and enthusiasm! We have been learning all about our 4 P’s:
Posture – sitting comfortably and being ready to write.
Pencil grip – holding our pencil in a way that helps us to write effectively.
Paper – making sure our paper is in the right position.
Pressure – using just the right amount of pressure when we make our marks.
It is wonderful to see how much pride the children are already taking in their handwriting. They have shown fantastic concentration and are working so hard to develop the foundations they need to become confident writers.
Yesterday Y2 undertook amazing fieldwork to Doncaster Gallery, Library and Museum where we dove head first into toys through time.
Throughout the morning, Class Six spent their time in the Timeline Of Toys workshop. We discovered what the oldest toy ever was, how the teddy bear got its name and even about Doncaster’s special link to Paddington Bear. After all of our amazing learning we even got to explore and play with lots of different toys – we covered everything from diablos and pick up sticks to stacking dolls and marbles. We had the best morning!
In the afternoon, we spent our time wandering around the museum and art gallery. We look at fossils, dinosaur eggs, oil paintings and even a real life sun bear!
The children were all absolutely amazing, they listened, showed respect and were incredible mascots for our school. They should be incredibly proud of themselves! We are so so proud of them!!
Last week Nursery were hooked into our Be Kind, How do we show we care expedition with the launch of our key text The Everywhere Bear. Miss Tunney kindly provided Nursery with their very own Everywhere Bears that we can learn to care for, by taking them home each weekend for adventures.
Nursery learned that caring is looking after each other and our things. In our text, the Everywhere Bear gets lost and we have been thinking hard about how we could care for the bear to keep him safe. We thought how our own families are special and what belonging to a family means, as they help, love and keep us safe. The children took part in special family orientated crews on Wise Wednesday and Thoughtful Thursday, piecing together what makes our families special… quite literally.
The children took part in a thought shower of ideas that would keep the bear safe, from our own experiences of how our parents look after us. The result was that we decided to make identity bracelets for the bears.
Nursery then agreed it would be kind to share the love and safety around the school, to any other class or crew bears, to help be able to identify them easily if they ever got lost and to keep them safe. So the children gifted each class and staff members bracelets for their teddy bears.
Such beautiful and powerful learning to the beginning of expedition, to truly understand what it means to care for someone or something else – Well done Nursery!
This week, we completed our first Crew walkthroughs of the year — and what a wonderful opportunity it was to see our children and Crew Leaders already building such positive, caring and purposeful Crew communities.
Across NIS, we saw lots of examples of children belonging, caring for one another, working hard and growing their character. It was fantastic to see the care and attention being given to Crew time and the way our children are already beginning to understand what it means to be part of a Crew.
🐻 Our Care Bear Crews
Our Care Bear Crews showed some wonderful examples of positive communication, kindness and support.
We saw Crew Leaders using thoughtful prompts and communication to help children share their ideas and participate, alongside lots of kind, caring and supportive interactions. These small moments are so important in helping our children to feel that Crew is a safe and welcoming place where they are valued and listened to.
🪶 Crew Backshall
Crew Backshall showed a fantastic understanding of what makes a beautiful Crew circle.
The children were encouraged to think carefully about how they sat together and how they could make sure everyone could see and hear one another. One child explained:
“If our legs are crossed and knees are slightly touching we can make a perfect circle where we can see each other.”
What a brilliant explanation! 🌟
This is exactly the kind of ownership we want to see developing in Crew — children understanding not just what we do, but why it matters. The children were also encouraged to think about the care and attention they give to themselves, each other and their Crew.
💛 Crew Nightingale & Crew Earhart
There was a lovely warm and welcoming feel in both Crew Nightingale and Crew Earhart.
We saw children making clear connections between their actions, our character traits and HoWLs, with these being explained and discussed in a way that helped children understand what they look like in practice.
We particularly loved seeing children writing Golden Tickets for one another, celebrating the amazing character traits and HoWLs they have already seen their friends demonstrating this year. ✨
What a wonderful way to notice the positive things happening around us and remind each other that our character is something we build together.
🎨 Crew Parks & Crew Simmonds
In Crew Parks and Crew Simmonds, we saw children being encouraged to work hard and take pride in creating beautiful work.
It was lovely to see children being supported to think about the quality of what they produce and to recognise that beautiful work doesn’t happen by accident — it takes care, effort, perseverance and pride.
🌟 We are only just getting started!
Our first walkthroughs have given us lots to celebrate. Most importantly, they showed that our children are already beginning to understand that Crew is about more than sitting together.
It is about listening to one another, caring for one another, celebrating each other’s strengths, working hard, showing our character and making sure that everyone belongs.
A huge well done to all of our Crew Leaders and, most importantly, to our wonderful children for the fantastic start they have made to Crew this year.
This week, Class 1 have been hooked into our exciting new expedition: ‘Be Kind – How do we show we care?’
We had a very special visit from our Kindness Elves, who arrived with a wonderful surprise – a book called The Hugasaurus! The Hugasaurus is a beautiful story all about the magical power of kindness and how a little kindness can make a big difference. After enjoying the story together, the children were inspired to draw their very own Hugasaurus! We were so impressed with the children’s pencil control, careful drawing and fantastic mark-making skills. There were some very creative Hugasaurus designs!
But the Kindness Elves weren’t finished there…
The very next day, they returned with a special Kindness Mission! Their challenge was to write or draw a message to show someone that they care. During Crew, each child decorated their very own love heart, filling it with drawings and patterns. Once their hearts were ready, the children shared them with one another.
It was wonderful to see the children’s faces light up as they gave their kindness hearts to someone special – and even more wonderful to see just how many smiles they created along the way!
Here is our latest mission…
Our first week of Be Kind has shown us that kindness doesn’t have to be big or complicated. A smile, a kind word, a hug or a thoughtful little message can make somebody’s day.
Class 1 and Class 2 enjoyed a very special Teddy Bears’ Picnic to celebrate our first two weeks together as a crew! The children were excited to bring their favourite soft toys into school and share them with their friends. Over the last two weeks, the children have been working hard to build positive relationships, learn our routines and show kindness to one another. The picnic was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate all the new friendships that have blossomed and the fantastic teamwork we have already seen.
