Easter Traditions

23rd March 2026Sarah Winkley

Last week Nursery were exploring and for most being introduced to the real meaning of Easter for the first time. We told a child friendly traditional tale of Easter and the children explored themes of whether the treatment of Jesus was fair and kind? Were the people who hurt him “Loving Lions”? They were hooked into the story, using a Good Friday version of pass the parcel. The children pulled out items that were significant to the story and suggested what they maybe… They had some great ideas, grappling that a bamboo cross was “a sign” or “an arrow”. They suggested that the piece of red material was “a towel” or “scarf” and that a crown made from pipe cleaners was “a hat” or a “hula hoop”. They correctly identified bread and fish and stones.

The children carried large construction tubes, testing their gross motor skills, around the outdoor area including up and over the hill. They worked in pairs mostly, being teamwork tigers. The tubes symbolised Jesus cross. The children offered some wonderful ideas around this activities, understanding that Jesus must have been “tired”, “aching”, “sore” and they found it “tricky”.

Throughout the week the children had the opportunity to create an Easter crown using craft materials.

To activate and construct the idea of Easter being a time of new life, the children took part in some planting. They each took turns to plant their own cress seeds, learning what things plants need to survive and grow. The children really enjoyed this activity and were able to explain that plants need “sun”, “water”, “air”, “soil” or “muck” to grow.

Our maths work also centred around traditional Easter and new life last week too as the children recapped on repeating patterns using traditional pictures and baby animals.

Where will our vehicles take us?

18th March 2026Sarah Winkley

Last week Nursery brought case study three of our expedition to a close by thinking about “Where will your vehicle and imagination take you?”

We all bordered the “Imagination Station Train” and pretended as we chugged along the tracks and pulled into lots of imaginary worlds. The journey began by being modelled to the children, encouraging them to think of far away or imaginary places, such as Lollipop land or Chocolate World. As the children became immersed in their play, they began to suggest stops of their own such as Dinosaur Land, The Jungle, Mermaid World, Unicorn Land and Sweetie Town.

The children were then asked if they could go in any vehicle, to any place – Where would it be? How would they get there? And most importantly what would their vehicle be powered by? The children made some wonderful suggestions using their imagination and knowledge, built up from throughout the expedition, really consolidating their learning. We really have been on the move!

In provision the children also explored, used their imaginations and translated their learning to create their own imagination station journeys.

Mindful Monday

9th March 2026Sarah Winkley

Today in Crew Nursery kicked back with a follow up activity to world book day. They each attempted a Fairytale character Hide and Seek. The children looked for traditional characters and counted how many times they could spot them. Most children attempted to write numbers or make marks to represent what they had found. Amazing work and lots of fun!

Measuring in Metres! 📏

24th February 2026Laura Parsons

Today we built on our learning about length and height by moving on from centimetres to metres!

We explored our classroom to measure different objects to the nearest metre. We had to think carefully about how long a metre really is and decide which tool would help us measure accurately.

Some of us even challenged ourselves further by measuring more precisely, working out the exact height or length in metres and centimetres. That took lots of careful reading of the scale and brilliant teamwork!

We’re becoming real measuring experts — one metre at a time!

Rulers at the ready …

23rd February 2026Laura Parsons

This week we started our brand new maths unit all about length and height — and we’ve had a great first lesson!

We practised using rulers carefully to measure and draw lines. We had to remember to start at zero, line the ruler up straight and read the numbers carefully. It was a bit tricky at first, but we didn’t give up!

There was lots of resilience in the room and some brilliant teamwork, with children helping each other to check their measurements and fix little mistakes. We love how everyone kept trying, even when it felt challenging.

A huge shout-out to Tiny the turtle, who showed fantastic determination and got his measuring question right — we were super proud! 🐢✨

We can’t wait to keep growing our measuring skills over the next few weeks!

Building Number Sense Through Counting Collections

6th February 2026Elouise Chadwick

In our recent Counting Collections sessions, we’ve been focusing on the composition of numbers — understanding how numbers can be broken into parts and put back together. It has been fantastic to see the children applying this in their counting, often splitting their collections into two groups and recording their thinking with simple number sentences.

I have been especially impressed with their mathematical mark making. The children are confidently using numbers, symbols, and drawings to represent their ideas, showing a deepening understanding of how numbers work. We are very proud of the progress they are making and their growing confidence as young mathematicians.

Wheels, Wheels, Wheels.

18th January 2026Sarah Winkley

This week Nursery children have began exploring their first case study into our new expedition “We are on the move – Would you travel by wheels, wings or other things?” In this case study we are focusing on what vehicles move by wheels, wings and other things? We started with wheeled vehicles with the help of our primary text “Car, Car, Truck, Jeep” by Katrina Charman. We learned the “Car, Car, Truck, Jeep” song which is sang to the tune of one of our familiar Nursery rhymes, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. At the end of the week the children were filmed singing part of the song (which included wheeled vehicles) and this was shared with parents via Class Dojo – check it out!

To activate the children’s learning we shared photos of their own experiences on wheeled vehicles, here are a few.

We also engaged in transport themed yoga where the children used their physical skills to hold poses pretending to be a car, a train and a boat.

We played Vehicle Pass the Parcel, where the children sang as they passed around the bag before taking out a vehicle, attempting to name it and making the sound that it makes. To deepen their understanding of some vehicles the children matched their pass the parcel toy to emergency service vehicles using photo cards.

To consolidate our learning we drew a car, following step by step instructions, using lines both straight and curved and circles. We were very careful in our observations to try and copy our teacher as accurately as we could. Our drawings were amazing!

We were challenged to build vehicles indoors and out using all kinds of construction materials.

Our maths learning focused on parking a number of vehicles in a car park and counting each mobile, to check how many there were in the spaces? We were challenged to think about how many more we could fit in the car park too.

And in our creative moments we collaged a car from our choice of coloured papers and glue, which we will display on a stand to make it look like it’s driving along on its wheels. We also learnt how to finger paint and created vehicles such as a car, a lorry and a train using different parts of our fingers.

To demonstrate all of our new knowledge we finished the week by creating a list of wheeled vehicles. We each took turns to think of and draw a different vehicle and were encouraged to think of and say the initial sound to label the vehicle on our list.

What a fun filled week it has been. We’re excited to explore vehicles that go in the air next.

Money in Maths

13th January 2026Laura Parsons

Today in Maths, we continued to practise making different amounts using coins and notes. The children worked together in pairs, exploring different ways to make the same total and explaining their thinking to each other.

There was lots of brilliant teamwork on show, with children showing respect by listening carefully and compassion by supporting their partners when they found something tricky. It was lovely to see everyone encouraging one another and celebrating success together. A great lesson full of collaboration and mathematical thinking!

Maths in Action in Class 5!

12th January 2026Laura Parsons

Class 5 have been working incredibly hard in Maths today as they consolidated their learning from last week. Using real coins, the children worked practically to make different amounts, discussing their ideas and supporting one another along the way. It was wonderful to see so much teamwork and resilience as they tried different combinations and checked their answers.

Later in the session, we used the iPads to continue our learning through a range of Maths games. The children showed great integrity by challenging themselves, choosing different games and levels of difficulty to really push their understanding.

A fantastic effort from everyone today – well done, Class 5! 🌟