|
Early Years & Infants
Welcome to the Early Years & Infants Deparment.
At the Early Years & Infants Department we believe that choosing your child's first experience of nursery and school is a very big decision in their young life. Our ethos is, in the first place, to provide a very caring and stimulating environment in which children feel happy and secure with lots of new, enriching experiences.
The nursery offers hands-on activities where children learn through taking part in purposeful, structured and spontaneous play. Young children develop at different rates and in different ways. We know that children learn best from first-hand experiences and aim to provide activities appropriate to each child's stage of development. We introduce children to an early years curriculum which encompasses the eight key areas of learning.
The nursery is situated within The Mews. It has two areas:
1) Creative Activities Area, used for art, waterplay, sandplay and a home-corner
2) The Quiet Room, used for storytelling, computer skills, circletime and group activities.
Children attend nursery from the age of 3 years and the day begins at 8.30am and finishes at 3.15pm. After a short play break we then offer an afterschool club until 5.30pm. Children who attend the nursery are automatically allocated a reception place for the September in which they are 4 years old, subject to parental support for the school's ethos.
Forest School
Forest School is set amongst the copse of trees in close proximity to the front lawn; children sit to discuss their activities, observations and findings around a log circle.
Further development of the areas amongst the trees around our beautiful site has just been completed, including new pathways, a log square and hand-crafted slate signs.
The children are extremely enthusiastic about their weekly trip to Forest School. This has enabled them to broaden their knowledge of natural habitats, trees, leaves, insects, bird life and woodland creatures, such as squirrels and hedgehogs.
R7 Welsh Week / Wythnos Gymraeg R7
We have had lots of fun at the R7 Welsh Week this week with pupils learning an enormous amount, especially songs!
The pupils worked really hard and were very enthusiastic. They can now hold a little conversation, read and write basic sentences in Welsh. Bendigedig!
Extra Welsh lessons have also been carried out with the other infant classes over the last month and all teachers, especially Miss Rowlands, are very proud of each and every pupil.
Da iawn chi!
The Beach
This term the nursery topic is The Beach. The children have really enjoyed learning about sea creatures and sea life. They have been making crabs in forest school, collage work, flip-flop pictures, tasting seaweed and looking at real mackerel fish.
Both Nursery and R6 went on an amazing trip to the beach of Port Eynon in the Gower on Monday 24 May. We went searching for shells on a treasure hunt, had a picnic on the beach and explored in the rock pools. Both staff and children had a wonderful time.
World Maths Day
In March, R6 took part in World Maths Day. This was very successful and greatly improved the children’s mental recall and number bonds to 10. Each child had several turns on the computer and they were playing against children all over the world. They were also encouraged to practise at home.
Toy Museum
R6 made a toy museum in the classroom. We had a visit from Mr Graham Goode who spoke to the children about old toys and life when he was a little boy. All of the children found this very interesting.
Big Pit
R7 have been studying the history of mining in Wales and a visit to Big Pit (Blaenafon) has enabled the children to get an idea of what it was like to work in a coal mine.
The activities included an underground tour where the children were able to turn off their helmet lights and experience true darkness. They liked this so much that they asked to do it in different parts of the mine. The children also enjoyed a virtual educational tour and a visit to the baths and museum. Our miner guide, Mike, was very impressed with the children's behaviour and listening skills. Well done R7!
Ancient Egypt History trip
As part of their History topic studying Ancient Egypt , R7 travelled to Swansea University to visit the Egypt Centre.
The children took part in a range of exciting and interesting activities which included dressing up in Egyptian costumes, playing musical instruments, studying and drawing a variety of artefacts and, most popular of all, re-enacting the ceremony of mummification!
Outside Learning
In recent months, the Nursery children have benefited from outside learning activities, using to the full the beautiful school grounds.
The nursery children had a wonderful time making a den in outside learning. The children were able to enjoy the fruits of their labours, and had their afternoon snack inside the den.
RHS Flower Competition
R9 and the Nursery recently collaborated on a project to enter the RHS Flower Competition and have designed An Octopus's Garden Under The Sea . The pupils of R9 excelled themselves in helping and working with our youngest pupils. There will also be a photographic display of the wheelbarrows in Queen's Arcade. Congratulations to all the pupils involved.
Sport Relief 2010
The children recently took part in Sport Relief and enjoyed bean bag events, javelin throwing and an aerobic session!
The nursery children have also had lots of fun in their recent PE sessions, using the theme 'Patterns'.
Chinese New Year 2010
The Early Years and Infant department have been celebrating Chinese New Year. Learning experiences included tiger paintings, wooden spoon tiger puppets, tiger masks and folded paper dragons.
On the final day Mrs. Lau provided us with a feast of Chinese food consisting of prawn crackers, noodles and egg fried rice. The children thoroughly enjoyed eating this whilst watching a display of lion and dragon dances on the interactive whiteboard.
Our thanks and good wishes to Mrs. Lau for her generosity and kindness.
R8 Recorder Group Concert
R7 were delighted to enjoy a performance from the R8 Recorder Group. They played a selection of tunes at a very high standard. Our favourite was 'Ragamuffin' and we tapped along to the beat. R7 are now very keen to learn the recorder when they move to the Junior Department.
Christmas Production - 'The Bossy King'
The children's hard work in learning the songs and speaking parts for the Nursery and Infant performance of The Bossy King led to an outstanding performance. Many thanks indeed to parents for all their help with costumes and learning of lines.
Remembrance Day
As part of their History topic studying Remembrance Day, R7 visited the local Old St Mellons' war memorial. The children behaved with great respect and were very interested in the inscriptions on the memorial. Back at school, some children were moved to make their own representation of 'Flanders Field' with their poppies in the school garden.
Brecon Railway Trip
All the children enjoyed a special trip on The Brecon Railway. They were excited to be travelling on a steam train and sung along with the Christmas songs. Father Christmas was there to greet us at the end of our journey and each child received a bag of gifts. We all had a tasty lunch with crackers and paper hats.
Young Gardeners
The children enjoyed planting the Spring bulbs kindly donated to the department during the first week in October. Our gardening venture proved to be a big success this year, and we intend to continue and develop a larger area in 2010.
Storytellers
During the second week in October, pupils from R11 came to our department to read their scary stories to our pupils. Much fun was had by all, and on 5 November, Enid Middleton (a regular storyteller at St John’s College) also visited the department to further enthuse our children about reading.
Visiting R11’s Enterprise Week
The Nursery and Infant children thoroughly enjoyed buying items at the R11 Trade Fair on Friday 16 October. Each class had visited beforehand to view the products and listen to each company promote their wares!
Book Day
This was a very successful event, rounding off the first half term. A parade was held in the school hall in front of some Junior classes, each child announcing the name of their character over the microphone. For anyone in doubt over the characters of the staff, we were all dalmations! Proceeds from Book Day were used to purchase new books for each class.
R7 winners of Blooms 'Vegetable Growers' Competition
R7 were winners of Blooms' Vegetable Growers Competition. They visited Blooms Garden Centre to collect their prize from Kevin, one of the gardeners. The prize consisted of seeds, trays, compost, garden gloves, garden tools and books. After planting the seeds, R7 will return to Blooms to re-plant the seedlings in a raised bed.
|
