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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, subject to parental support for the school’s ethos, behaviour standards and the ability to access the curriculum.
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.
 Ella E (R7) wins 2nd place in the Cardiff Central Gymnastics Competition - Sat 10 December 2011.
Congratulations to Ella who has won 2nd place in the Cardiff Central Youth Club Age 7 Championships including vault, floor, bars, beam & conditioning test. Well done, Ella!
The School Council Buys New Litter Bins for Infants - Fri 25 November 2011.
Our department representatives for the School Council are Matthew L and Katie W from R7. They contributed to the meeting by suggesting that some colourful litter bins would be an improvement in our yard and encourage all children to dispose of their litter responsibly. The children are now very proud of their news bins!
Puppet Plays - Fri 25 November 2011.
On Friday 25 November R7 invited the Nursery to come and watch some puppet plays. The plays were based on the story of ‘The Frog Prince’. During the week R7 had worked in pairs to make the puppets and write the dialogue, finally performing them with much enthusiasm and expression. It was a very enjoyable event.
Nursery News - Autumn 2011.
The children in the nursery department have all settled back in to Nursery life this term. They are having lots of fun learning about farm animals, vegetables and farm life in their new topic Down On The Farm.
The children have also had fun exploring in Forest School and even Norman the Nursery Bear had a Teddy Bears’ picnic in Forest School and the children brought their bears to meet Norman Bear.
We have had fun exploring different mediums in art, especially working with clay, making autumn leaves and an autumn tree. We are looking forward to our trip to the farm to buy our Christmas tree.
Book Fayre - October 2011.
Our annual Book Fayre gave the children the opportunity to look at a wide selection of age appropriate books that were displayed in the Junior department. We are very grateful for the purchases you made.
Harvest - Thurs 13 October 2011.
A Harvest Assembly was held in the school hall on Thursday I3 October. Nursery and Infant children developed an understanding of the work of the farmer, and the many crops grown. Many thanks for your donations.
Enterprise Week - Mon 10 - Fri 14 October 2011.
Enterprise week, held by R11, provided an ideal opportunity for Nursery and Key Stage 1 to liaise with Key Stage 2. It has now become a firm favourite in the school calendar. The children enjoyed attending the trade fair enormously.
R6 Visit to The Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans - October 2011.
In October, R6 visited the Museum of Welsh Life as part of our topic on Homes. We visited various homes including the Celtic Village and Llwyn-yr-eos farmstead. The children had the opportunity to listen to and question the guides and found out a lot of information. They enjoyed seeing the variety of farm animals on the farm including pigs and piglets, ducks, chickens and turkeys. A good day was had by all!
R5 Visit To Amelia Trust Farm - Mon 19 September 2011.
On Monday 19 September, R5 visited the woods at The Amelia Trust Farm. This was a topic-related trip that proved to be both enjoyable and successful. The children had first-hand experience of a wood, and were enthusiastic to discuss everything they observed. They produced some delightful paintings on our return.
The Beach - July 2011.
This term the nursery topic has been 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 in J. 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.
R8 Recorder and Violin Players Perform to R7 - Tues 28 June 2011.
The children played several pieces and encouraged the R7 pupils to clap along during ‘Ragamuffin’, which was their favourite. R7 are now really looking forward to learning the recorder with Mrs McMahon and violin with Miss Wall when they move to R8.
Sixth Form Close Harmony perform a short concert of songs by Michael Jackson and the Beach Boys for the Nursery and Infant School and parents - Mon 27 June 2011.
Big Pit visit - Thurs 10 May 2011.
R7 are studying Welsh History through looking at life and conditions for working people in Blaenafon in the past.
The pupils were amazed to find out how hard life was for children. We had a memorable visit to Big Pit where David, our miner guide, took us on an underground tour. Turning off our lamps gave us an opportunity to experience ‘pitch black’ total darkness. Back at school the children wrote thank you letters and drew charcoal pictures of the pithead.
Nursery topic: 'Fairytales'
The Nursery topic this term has been 'Fairytales'. The children have been learning about traditional fairytales, castles and dragons.
We had a trip to Castell Coch where we found a real princess and we celebrated The Royal Wedding with a Royal Banquet. We even had two very special guests!
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.
Infant Sports 2011
The Nursery and Infants had a very enjoyable Sports Day, competing in a wide variety of races including the relay, sack race, space-hopper race and balancing-the-football race.
The parents enjoyed themselves also in the annual tug-of-war.
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