Hi all,

We hope you’ve had a lovely week in the sunshine! Apologies for the missing update last week Here’s a catch-up on all the wonderful things the children have been up to over the past two weeks. The children have enjoyed exploring magnets, testing different materials to see what sticks . In our creative areas, both indoors and outdoors, there’s been plenty of sensory fun. Outside, the children got wonderfully messy with mud painting, while indoors they experimented with frozen paint, watching how the colours melted and mixed. Over in the construction zone, our brilliant builders have been hard at work designing and building tall towers and train stations, showing fantastic creativity and teamwork.

MATHS: Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been exploring measure in different ways, including comparing height, time, and quantity. The children have enjoyed activities like seeing who can do the most claps or star jumps in 20 seconds, comparing how many objects fit into containers, and drawing or measuring themselves using tape and chalk. Some of the key vocabulary we’ve been focusing on includes same, more than, less than, taller, and shorter.

PHONICS: In phonics, we’ve been doing more oral blending and segmenting of sounds in words. The children enjoyed using Robot Arms and Robot Mike (our very own robot) to sound out words. We also laid out familiar objects and sounded them out, asking the children to find the item we were saying.

To support your child’s phonics learning at home, you can practice sounding out words together by breaking them into individual sounds rather than saying the letter names. For example, instead of saying “C-A-T,” try sounding out the word as “c–a–t” (with the sounds: /k/ /a/ /t/). You can do this with everyday objects like “cat,” “dog,” or “sun.” Encouraging your child to listen for each sound and blend them together helps build their early reading skills in a fun and natural way! The Alphablocks series demonstrates this very well and can be a great resource to watch together.

CORE SONG: ‘Miss Polly Had a Dolly’ Miss Polly had a dolly

CORE POEM: Five Little Owls Five Little Owls

Five little owls in an old elm tree,
As fluffy and puffy as owls could be.
Blinking and winking their big round eyes,
At the big round moon that hung in the skies.
As I walked beneath, I could hear one say,
“They’ll be a mouse for supper, there will be today.”
Then all of them hooted, “Tu-witt, tu-whoo.
Yes, mouse for supper, Hoo-hoo, Hoo, hoo.”

FOREST SCHOOL : At Forest School, the children embraced nature and made their own clay nests, using leaves, twigs, and other natural materials they found around them – a great mix of creativity and outdoor exploration.

BRAVE, KIND MINDS : Some of the children also took part in Brave Kind Minds, a small group run by Sarah. This week’s theme was the garden – they explored different garden scents and used their imaginations to pretend to be garden creatures, from wriggly worms to buzzing bees and fluttering butterflies!

NSPCC PANTOSAURUS SONG : Now and again throughout the term we do talk ‘PANTS’ to help children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell a safe adult they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. By discussing such topics helps children to understand that they have a right to say no and if they need to speak out about something someone will listen. Here is the link to the NSPCC online page which gives you tips and advice to help keep your children safe. The children do enjoy joining in with the ‘Pantosaurus’ video / song which leads to discussions around ‘PANTS’ rules – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/ 

SCHOOL VISITS : Please remember to check your emails regularly for updates about upcoming school visits. The children have loved coming back and sharing their experiences with us—these visits are really important for helping them with smooth transitions. Some of the key vocabulary we’ve been focusing on includes school transitions and the feelings around them.

FOREST SCHOOL WORKING PARTY : If you’re able to come along and help, we’d love to see you there! It’s a great chance to get involved and support our outdoor learning space.

We’re holding parties on –
•Tuesday 8th July 2025, 4–6pm
•Wednesday 30th July 2025, 10am–3pm (drop in anytime)

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS : A gentle reminder that the £10 termly voluntary contributions are now due. If you’re able to contribute, you can either drop £10 in cash into the office or use the bank details provided below. Please remember to include your child’s name as a payment reference. These donations help us buy extra snacks when needed, as well as supplies for fun activities like playdough, rice, pasta, cornflour, shaving foam, and more. Thank you so much for your continued support!

• Account Name : ACE Centre Nursery School Special Purposes Account
  • Account Number : 30269247
  • Sort Code : 20-03-84

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,

Zoe

 

Hi all,

We’ve had a wonderful week at Nursery School. Bug hunting was a big hit, especially spotting snails. There has also been some fantastic teamwork and creativity on display in the construction area. Some of the children took part in ‘Brave, Kind Minds’, which was focused on exploring different weather conditions. Additionally they have been discovering symmetry while making butterflies paintings with Marlena. To top it off, we have also enjoyed some brilliant performances in the garden, with enthusiastic actors and a very supportive audience.

Maths – Continuing from last week, the children have been exploring shapes through fun group activities, using the blocks to create and copy a variety of different shapes. They’ve enjoyed recalling the names of shapes (circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, diamonds) and discussing their properties, for example the number of sides / edges, as well as the differences between 2D and 3D shapes.

Phonics – We have also been continuing with oral blending and segmenting, encouraging the children to listen carefully to the names of objects or toys with 2 or 3 phonemes (the smallest units of sound in a word) and identify the whole word. For example, words like zip, hat, cup, chain, boat, tap, and ball. You can try this at home by pretending your child’s favourite toy whispers a word to you. Then, say the sounds slowly and see if they can identify the word.

Forest School – The children embraced the rain during Forest School, enjoying every splash and muddy moment. This week, our focus was on worms and their important role in helping the soil stay healthy. We talked about the types of things worms like to eat and made our own worm food, using peelings and leftovers from snack-time. We discussed how they turn food into rich soil that helps new plants grow. It was wonderful to see the children’s curiosity and excitement as they explored the natural world.

Core Song – ‘Two Little Dickie Birds’

Core Poem – ‘The Fox’

The fox is smart,
And and as sly as can be,
And a great big bushy tail has he.
He can run very fast,
And his fur is red,
And he lives in the woods in his tree trunk bed.

Library books – Please remember to return any library books to us that your child borrowed when we visited the library back in the Spring term.

MISSING BOOKS:
1) ‘Picnic’ by Hazel Geatches
2) ‘Head Over Tail’ by Rachel Bright
3) ‘Escape from the Nether’ by Nick Eliopulos
4) ‘Squash and a Squeeze’ by Julia Donaldson
5) ‘Dot and Dan and Snack Attack’ by Katie Dale

Forest School Working Party – Unfortunately, with not quite enough volunteers this time, the working party scheduled for June 14th (tomorrow) has been called off. We’ll be in touch soon with details of the next date, and we hope more of you can join us then 👍

Photographs – Just a reminder, if you would like to purchase any of the professional photographs please do so, using the instructions on the card, by the 26th of June.

Independence – As some children are preparing for their transition to school, we are increasingly encouraging the children to become more independent in their daily routines. Simple tasks like putting on their own coat, tidying up their toys, or pouring their own drink is really helping to build their confidence. Supporting your child to to be as independent as possible at home will also make a big difference in their confidence.

Reception teacher visits to Nursery School –
Holy Trinity – Mon 16th June (am & pm)
Charlbury – Thurs 19th June (am)
Enstone – Fri 20th of June (am)
Great Rollright – Mon 23rd June (am)
Kingham – Thurs 26th June (am)

Wishing you all a lovely weekend filled with sunshine.

Kind regards,
Zoe

 

Hi Everyone

We have had such a lovely but busy term in Nursery School, highlights from this term have to be our recent visits from Wesley Smith our local police officer, and the Chipping Norton firefighters. The children got to listen about their jobs within the community, learn new vocabulary, ask any questions, see the emergency vehicles, listen to the sirens, sit inside the fire engine, and spray the fire hose 😊 This was such a great experience for our children.

This term our over arching theme has continued to be around – Community / Occupations along with following the children’s interests. The children have been discussing and thinking about Chipping Norton and discussing local shops, schools and attractions.

For maths we have been focusing on pattern and prepositions (words that show the relationship between a number or object and another number or object).

For phonics we have been looking at alliteration and for music we have been exploring rhythm. The children have also been interested in space, going on bug hunts, printing, castles, doing science experiments, making dens to name a few things.

Next term our overarching theme will be Summer / Transition & Sustainability (Environment), as soon as the medium term is done I will let you know and send the link to where you can find it on our website. Out maths focus will be on shape and measure, for phonics (for our older children) we will be looking at oral blending and segmenting and for music we will exploring and playing a range of musical instruments.

Our poem this week – Sliced Bread

Slice, slice, the bread looks nice.
Spread, spread, butter on the bread.
On the top put jam so sweet,
Now it’s good enough to eat.

Our song this week – Five Little Firefighters

Five little firefighters standing in a row,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, let’s go.
Jump on the engine with a shout,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Four little firefighters standing in a row,
1, 2, 3, 4, whoosh, let’s go.
Jump on the engine with a shout,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Three little firefighters standing in a row,
1, 2, 3, whoosh, whoosh, let’s go.
Jump on the engine with a shout,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Two little firefighters standing in a row,
1, 2, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, let’s go.
Jump on the engine with a shout,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

One little firefighter standing in a row,
1, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, let’s go.
Jump on the engine with a shout,
As quick as a wink the fire is out.

Information / Reminders

INSET Day – No children in Nursery School on Monday the 2nd of June, all children are due back on Tuesday the 3rd of June.

Grapes – If you put grapes in your child’s lunchbox can you please make sure they are cut (length ways) this is following our health and safety guidelines.

Just a reminder we are a nut-free school.

Please can we ask that you name your child’s clothing, water bottle and lunchbox to help us at particularly busy times of the day.

Forest School working party – Saturday the 31st of May 9.30am – 12.30pm – If you can please do come and give us a hand to develop our Forest School area. We ask that you do not bring children this time as there will be tools and gates will be open etc. Please do let us know if you can make it 👍

Transition Visits – For children going to school in September, some reception teachers will be visiting nursery school next term, we will let you know which day your child’s teacher is coming as soon as they have confirmed. This allows them to meet your child in an environment they are confident in and allows us to time to talk about your child etc.

For any children going to Holy Trinity in September, I have had an email to confirm they have two coffee mornings coming up next term. The dates are Tuesday 10th June at 9.45 and Wednesday 25th June at 9.15.

Spare socks plea – If you have any spare socks (3-4 years) any donations would be very welcome 🧦

Leavers celebration – We will confirm at the start of next term when our leavers celebration will be / timings but more than likely it will be on the last day of term (one in the am and one in the pm) which is Tuesday the 22nd of July.

We hope you all have a lovely half term and we look forward to seeing you next term for our last term before the Summer.

Thank you for all your support, help and donations it is as always very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Zoe 😊

 

Hi All

I hope you are all well and having a good weekend. Can I just start by saying how well all our new children have settled into nursery and how all of our returning children have helped to support them by looking out for them and showing them the ropes.

Our overarching topic has been around community and occupations. The children have been busy looking at photographs of Chipping Norton where they have identified numerous shops and places. It has been lovely hearing the children share their knowledge of the community and represent it within their play. We are awaiting a date for Chipping Norton Firefighters and the Police to come and visit us, hopefully we can expect one visit if not both this term. I will let you know the dates as soon as they have been confirmed.

Maths – We have been focusing on ‘Pattern’ for maths where the children have been making repeating AB patterns physically and by using loose parts. Next week we will be recalling pattern in provision and also focusing on prepositions.

Phonics – This term we are focusing on ‘Alliteration’, listening for initial sounds of words / names and thinking of more words beginning with these sounds. We have played ‘I spy’ linking sounds to names, made ‘Silly Soup’ which consisted of objects / pictures of things all beginning with the same sound and have been making up silly alliterative sentences such as ‘Faron finds fabulous foxes funny’.

Forest School – Groups A & B did forest school last week, where we focused on woodland animals ‘Habitats’, they enjoyed sharing information books and learning about where the different animals live, they looked for bugs / insects and gathered natural resources to add to our ‘Bug Hotel’. Regarding our new children we have decided to run a few open sessions to introduce them to Forest school, we will continue to do this over the Summer term and in the Autumn term they will be allocated a group where they will do Forest school every other week, this worked well last year.

STEM – We will start our science experiments probably next week, we have lots of exciting activities to try and will begin with making a ‘cloud in a bottle’.

The week before last we were lucky enough to have Holly from ‘Funky Pants’ come in to do a session with the children. It was a lively music and movement session which the children loved and for the ones that found it a little overwhelming they enjoyed some time outside. Thank you to Holly and for those that made this a possibility, we are extremely lucky to have the support to be able to offer our children at ACE experiences like this.

Our core songs from the last two weeks have been ‘London Bridge’ and ‘The Wheels on the Bus’.

Our core poems from the last two weeks have been:

I have a Little Frog

I have a little frog,
His name is Tiny Tim,
I put him in the bathtub,
To see if he could swim.
He drank up all the water,
And gobbled all the soap.
And when he tried to talk,
There were bubbles in his throat.

Dance

Do a dance says one foot.
Other foot says let’s jiggle.
Hands say clap, slappity slap.
And all of me says wriggle.

Information / Reminders

*Thank you for all your snack donations, we have a lot of fruit left for this week but are a little short on savoury snacks such as rice cakes, breadsticks, crackers etc.

*Please please please can you name your child’s water bottles and lunch boxes, this helps especially when separating the bottles before lunch and helping the children at lunchtime if they can’t remember what their lunchbox looks like and there may also be multiple children with matching lunchboxes.

*Please feel free to add any new interests your child may have on the board in the cloakroom, this helps us to plan for these.

*If collecting your child at 11.50, from next week we will get your child ready and bring them to you at the gate. We will endeavour to have coats, bags, water bottles etc and encourage the children to go to the toilet before leaving. This is to support members of staff who are on lunch duty and to ensure other members of staff can go on their lunch break on time and be back by 12.30 for the afternoon session. This change may take a little getting use to but we have done it in the past and it has worked well.

*Trip to the High Street – We are hoping to take the children in small groups to our local High Street as part of our over arching theme of ‘Community’ and ‘Occupations’ this term. Please let me know if you are able to help in the last week of term on:
Monday the 19th of May (am) 9.45 – 11
Monday the 19th of May (pm) 1.15 – 2.30
Wednesday the 21st of May (am) 9.45 – 11
Friday the 23rd of May (am) 9.45 – 11
Friday the 23rd of May (pm) 1.15 – 2.30

I will confirm once I know we have enough support, if you have not helped out on a trip before – We start by meeting and going over a risk assessment that you will be asked to sign and then you will be assigned your own child and one other child to hold hands with. We always stay together and there will be a member of staff at the front leading the group and another member of staff at the back (staff will be wearing hi-vis jackets). We also talk the children prior about keeping themselves and their adults safe and we do regular safety check ins and sing a song about what we do when crossing any roads.

*Working Forest School Party (Saturday the 31st of May) – We are developing our Forest School and top field with ‘Little Wild Things’ and ‘Nicholson’s’. This is very exciting and we will send out some more information soon about what our plan, vision is but it will bring great benefits to our children at ACE and the local community. If you or anyone you think of who might be interested can come and help us on the 31st of May at 9.30 -12.30 for the first working party this would be great. At this moment I am going to say not to bring your children along to help as there will be dismantling and tools on site etc. But for future working parties this may be a possibility as it would be lovely to get them involved in planting and transporting. Please let us know if you can help

Kind Regards
Zoe 😊

Hi All

I hope you are well and you are enjoying the beginning of the Easter Break. We have had a busy few weeks leading up the half term so apologies for only sending an update now.

Our songs from the last few weeks of term were:

– Mary Mary Quite Contrary
– I’m a Little Bean
– Spring is Here

Our poems from the last few weeks were:

– Hungry Birdies

I have built a little nest,
look inside, look inside.
Hungry birdies with their beaks,
open wide, open wide.
And the little birdies grow,
day by day by day.
‘Till they spread their wings and fly,
far away, far away.

– Mrs Blackbird

Here’s a nest for Mrs Bluebird.
Here’s a hive for Mr Bee.
Here’s a hole for Bunny Rabbit,
And here’s a little house for me.

– Furry Furry Squirrel

Furry, furry squirrel,
Hurry, hurry, hop.
Scurry up the tree trunk,
To the very top.
When you reach the branches,
Hurry, turn around.
Furry, furry squirrel,
Scurry to the ground.

These songs and poems are linked with our planning around growth and Spring, we encourage all the children to join in with words and actions. By introducing children to new vocabulary and supporting them to explore the meaning of new words is key to their development.

Learning

Maths – We have been exploring numerals and encouraging the children to represent different quantities along with supporting the children to subitise (recognising the pattern of number) without having to count. Repetition is key, the more they see and do this the more it will be stored in their long term memory.

Phonics – We have been supporting the children’s awareness of rhythm and rhyme. We have done this by sharing songs, stories, playing musical instruments and having bespoke activities at group time and revisiting within provision.

Enhancements – By providing enhancements inside and outside in a rich environment supports the children’s learning in all areas of their development, these are often linked to the children’s interests, celebrations and our planning intentions. This term the children have particularly enjoyed large scale mark making, cafe role play, growing cress, planting flowers, representing and matching numbers, being creative with clay and nature, celebrating Holi, experimenting with and creating different textures, developing their fine and gross motor skills, making car washes, experimenting, going on bug hunts, making collages using a range of media, playing games, building stages, performing, acting out songs / stories, creating and completing obstacles.

NSPCC Pants (The Underwear Rule) – Now and again throughout the term we do talk ‘PANTS’ to help children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell a safe adult they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried. By discussing such topics helps children to understand that they have a right to say no and if they need to speak out about something someone will listen. Here is the link to the NSPCC online page which gives you tips and advice to help keep your children safe. The children do enjoy joining in with the ‘Pantosaurus’ video / song which leads to discussions around ‘PANTS’ rules – https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/pants-underwear-rule/ 

Reminders / Information

* We are aware we still have a few outstanding parental consultations from the end of last term, we will contact you to arrange these at the beginning of next term.

* In the children’s cloakroom we have a whiteboard and we would like to ask you to add any recent interests your child has, this will help us to tap into these and use in our planning and provision.

*Staffing update – We are delighted Lauren Hester who has been working in Childcare / Pre-School will be joining us for the Summer term. Lauren is on a placement year from university, where she is studying psychology.

*Yellow Group – Due to new children starting and therefore numbers increasing, we will be opening the outdoor classroom for yellow group to start their day. So, when you come in please find your child’s new peg which will be as you come through the gate and head up to the outdoor classroom where Marlena and another member of staff will welcome you. Once they have had group time and snack all doors will be open and they can choose where they would like to play. At the end of the day yellow group will be collected from the main classroom as they are now.

* If your child is due to start Primary School in September, we will be asking you to let us know which school they have been allocated as we work with all schools to support a successful transition to school. I believe you will get an email this week to confirm places, so please look out for this.

* Inset day – Tuesday 22nd of April
* Home visit day on the 23rd of April
* First day of term – Thursday the 24th of April.

I hope you all have a great Easter break and we look forward to seeing you all for term 5 😊

Kind regards

Zoe