Miscellaneous - Summer Term 1 2025 27th May 2025
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Look at how much fun we have had during Summer Term 1! The children have learnt new skills and knowledge. We are so proud of all they have achieved and the progress they have made. They are all superstars!

Stones 27th May 2025
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As part of the 60th Anniversary of St Jude's Catholic Primary School, all the children in the school and pre-school decorated a stone with a nature theme. The children really enjoyed this activity. All the stones were placed in the sensory garden in the school grounds.

Growing 27th May 2025
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The children have enjoyed learning about the parts of a plant. They learned songs about plant growth and the needs of a plant. The children made beanstalks after listening to the 'Jack and the Beanstalk' story using pasta, leaves, beads and pipe cleaners. They decorated a plant pot each, chose a seed to plant and watered it. The children had lovely snacks to eat such as snack in the shape of flowers and food from 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' story. Some of the children helped to build our new greenhouse. The children will take their plants home as they grow!

Minibeasts 27th May 2025
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The children have been learning about minibeasts this term. They made butterflies, spiders, caterpillars, biscuits and bees using a range of media including paint, collage, 3D modelling and playdough.

Rabbits 27th May 2025
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Mr Heiford, from Year R, brought his rabbits into pre-school to show the children. The children really enjoyed this experience.

Outdoor Learning 27th May 2025
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The children have spent an increasing amount of time outdoors this term. They have enjoyed exploring in the sensory garden, playing on the climbing equipment, running on the school fields and playing in the pre-school playground.

Water Play 27th May 2025
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As the weather has improved, the children have taken part in more water play activities. They have played in the water tray, used squirters, painted the wall with paintbrushes and rollers and used reusable water bombs. Lots of fun was had!

Sand 27th May 2025
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The children had lots of fun playing and learning in the sand. They used mathematical language and explored a wide range of concepts.

Learning Together 27th May 2025
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The children have enjoyed playing and learning together this term.

Miscellaneous - Spring Term 2 2025 7th Apr 2025
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Look at all the fun we have had during Spring Term 2 2025! The children enjoyed a wide range of activities including sorting resources according to colour, eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and having a lovely snack made by Mrs Holland using our nursery rhyme focus of the week - Hickory DIckory Dock. The children had crackers and cheese which was turned into a mouse!

Easter 7th Apr 2025
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During our Easter celebrations, the children took part in an Easter Egg Hunt, took part in an Easter Egg competition and played games using the Easter resources. They developed their sorting, matching, subitising and counting skills. In the last week of the spring term, the children made and enjoyed some Easter biscuits.

Mother's Day 7th Apr 2025
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The children enjoyed making gifts and cards as part of our Mother's Day celebrations.

World Book Day Celebrations 7th Apr 2025
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The staff and children came to pre-school dressed in their pyjamas during our World Book Day celebrations. The children brought in their favourite books and we had hot chocolate and biscuits.

Exploring outside - Discovery Time 7th Apr 2025
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The children have explored the school grounds using the climbing frames, wild area and school fields. They had lots of lovely welly walks during the first half of the term and then enjoyed the sunshine towards the end of Spring Term 2. We have bought new outdoor resources with the fundraising money from Nursery Rhyme Week and other funding we received and had lots of fun playing in the pre-school playground. The resources include bikes, scooter boards, hula hoops, balance boards, seesaw and water tray. The children have been developing their throwing and catching skills and have been putting coats/shoes/wellies on and taking them off independently. We are looking forward to more sunshine and fun in the summer term!

Imagination! 7th Apr 2025
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The pre-school children have a wonderful imagination. This can be seen in their independent play. They played with small world resources such as dinosaurs and a farm whilst using wooden blocks, natural resources, boxes etc. to help them to create a narrative in their play. Some of the children pretended that they were in the emergency services and helped to save and look after others. They also played vets and hairdressers whilst using the home role play area as a base. One of our focus books was 'The Three Little Pigs.' The children made a house out of cardboard and real materials and acted out the story saying the repeated refrains. One of our focus rhymes was 'Incy Wincy Spider.' The children used their imagination to make their own spiders using playdough, pipe cleaners and collage materials whilst saying the rhyme. On Shrove Tuesday, the children used the playdough to make their own pancakes, tossing them in the pan and adding toppings from craft resources.

Artists! 7th Apr 2025
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We have some fantastic artists in pre-school! Through taking part in many mark making activities and general activities used to develop both gross and fine motor skills, the children are developing great pencil control. Many can draw recognisable pictures. The children enjoy 'Scribble Club' which is designed to promote communication skills and develop the children's imagination through mark making. One of our focus books was 'Freddie and the Fairy'. The children made wands and turned each other and their teachers into a range of animals including frogs! They did fantastic paintings, coloured pictures, traced patterns to make pictures and made 3D models with recycled materials. Another of our focus books was 'The Three Little Pigs'. The children made their own houses out of actual straw, sticks and bricks. They also used materials in the craft area to make houses to take home.

Spring Term 1 - Miscellaneous 21st Feb 2025
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Look at all the fun we have had during Spring Term 1!

The Gingerbread Man 21st Feb 2025
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One of our focus books during this term was 'The Gingerbread Man’ The children really got involved with this story and could retell it to their friends. They acted out the story, drew pictures of the gingerbread man, printed onto gingerbread men templates and made their own gingerbread men to eat at snack time!

The Colour Monster 21st Feb 2025
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One of our focus books during this term was 'The Colour Monster’. The children explored their emotions and talked about what made them feel each emotion. They used the resources on the emotions table, learned a song about the Colour Monster, made a display in the book corner and sat in our calm area with the Colour Monster cuddly toys.

Lunar New Year 21st Feb 2025
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During snack time, the children tried different foods including rice, noodles and prawn crackers. They also used paint to change the colour of rice, let it dry and then played with the rice using containers, chopsticks, bowls etc. The children danced around pre-school with the Chinese dragon whilst music was being played. They put their heads inside the dragon’s head, made lanterns, coloured pictures, made red envelopes, listened to stories and watched video clips about Lunar New Year.

Outdoor Learning through Play 21st Feb 2025
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The children had lots of fun playing outside in the pre-school playground and school grounds!

Mark Making 21st Feb 2025
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The children enjoyed doing lots of mark making this term. They took part in 'Scribble Club' creating lots of lovely marks on the paper with pens, pencils, crayons and chalks. The children talked about their marks and used their imaginations to share what was happening on the paper. They printed with a range of resources and made maps to go looking for treasure!

Construction and Small World 21st Feb 2025
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The children have been using their imaginations whilst using construction and small world resources. They have used the wooden blocks to create a range of structures such as a boat, pirate ship and shop. They have also enjoyed using the Lego to make their own buildings and have worked together to create a narrative alongside their creations!

Autumn Term 2 - Miscellaneous 24th Dec 2024
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Here are a selection of photographs showing the pre-school children learning through play. Mrs Breakwell, Miss Keir and I are so proud of all of our children and what they have achieved during the autumn term.

Christmas in Pre-School 20th Dec 2024
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The staff and children have had so much fun during the last few weeks of the autumn term. They decorated the pre-school and put the Christmas tree up. They made paper chains, reindeers, Christmas playdough and much more! The children learned new songs and rhymes and a poem about a snowman. We held a Christmas party and played party games such as musical statues and musical chairs. The children made a sleigh out of the wooden blocks and travelled around the world!

Fun in the school grounds! 2nd Dec 2024
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The pre-school children have continued to explore the school grounds this term. They particularly enjoyed playing on the monkey bars, in the Forest School area and exploring the wild area.

Maths 26th Nov 2024
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The children have been exploring numbers and shapes. They have been subitising, comparing quantities, sorting and exploring similarities and differences between shapes. The children have also been interested in measuring length, height and weight of objects.

Pre-School Playground 18th Nov 2024
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The children have been enjoying lots of outdoor play in the pre-school playground. They have used the bikes and scooters and practised their balancing skills. We bought some new spinning boards that the children had lots of fun with. They have also been skipping, playing in our giant sandpit and transporting lots of resources in different ways such as using the wheelbarrow. The children also used the tool box to 'fix' the bikes and played in the snow!

World Nursery Rhyme Week - Pre-School and School 15th Nov 2024
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Each day of 'World Nursery Rhyme Week', the pre-school and reception children met to sing songs and rhymes together. They learned some new British Sign Language signs to use whilst singing. On the Friday, we had a 'dress up' day when the children and teachers dressed up as their favourite characters. The children were sponsored by family and friends to see how many rhymes they could sing in ten minutes. They had snack together and then played outside. It was a wonderful week!

Physical Development - developing gross and fine motor skills 24th Oct 2024
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The children have been singing, doing actions and signing lots of songs and rhymes this term. They have developed hand-eye co-ordination skills and manipulation skills whilst using playdough, magnets, tweezers, scissors, mark making tools and hammers.

Being creative! 24th Oct 2024
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The pre-school children have explored lots of different media this term including paint, collage materials, recycled materials, playdough and shaving foam. They have created autumn work, transport pictures and firework pictures.

Role Play 24th Oct 2024
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The children have enjoyed lots of role play activities including playing in the home corner, making dens, imagining they are on different modes of transport, playing doctors, hairdressers, vets, dressing up and acting out stories.

Outdoor Play 24th Oct 2024
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The children have had lots of fun recently in the pre-school playground and school grounds. They have been balancing, climbing, playing in the mud kitchen, playing in the sandpit, water play and playing on the bikes and scooters.

Local Walk 21st Sep 2024
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We took the children on a walk in the local area. We talked about how we could use our senses to explore our world. We ended the walk with a trip to the park!