Head’s Blog

31 Jan Children’s Learning Week Beginning Monday 30th January 2023

Welcome to all our new families who have started this term!

Our children have been involved in a wide range of learning experiences since the beginning of the term!
A large group of children learnt to count with one to one correspondence by learning the song Ten in a Bed as well as other familiar nursery number songs. The singing led onto children’s interest in learning songs in other languages!

Many children have recently experienced a visit to their GP or hospital appointments, which led to creating a doctors’ role play area.  Many learnt what certain job roles entail and how to care for their patients.  They discussed ailments and appropriate treatments and even learnt how to make a cast for fractured bones!

we have been experiencing very cold weather recently!  We have been learning how to keep our bodies warm through knowing how to dress appropriately and exercising.  Many children learnt the effects of exercise by describing the difference before and after taking part in vigorous exercise.

You may have noticed recently we have been very busy learning and celebrating all things about Lunar New Year. We have been very fortunate to have parent volunteers teach our children how to write Chinese characters using calligraphy tools, make lanterns and cook traditional dishes. Our children have relished learning stories related to Lunar New Year, particularly The Story of Nian the Monster, a creature who nearly ruined Lunar New Year. The children learnt the significance of dragons during this period.  Many children had the experience of planning, designing and making a large scale dragon, they had the opportunity to use sophisticated tools such as hot glue gun and hand drills.  The children were rewarded with a dragon dance performed by our wonderful staff!

Thank you to all the parents who took the time to participate in our Interactive Parents Evening. We were able to demonstrate our teaching approach through concreate and meaningful experiences your children often participate in.

Please do let us know if you would like another session in the summer term.

On Friday 3rd February, we are hosting a Parent Workshop on Race and Identity.  We will be sharing our journey on the agenda and are very keen to find out your experience and how we can improve our practice.  Please do join us!

09 Dec Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 9th December 2022

The children have been involved in many Christmas festive learning experiences, including decorating a real Christmas Tree, making Christmas decorations and learning Christmas songs.

Please don’t forget our Christmas Carols around the Fire on Thursday 15th December at 2.30pm.  Due to the limited space, we will only be able to accommodate one adult per family to attend the session.  The doors will open at 2.20pm.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

04 Dec Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 2nd December 2022

Our children have been learning about healthy balanced diets by learning how to make fruit smoothies.
many children have been learning how to keep warm, including making a fire and eating healthy snacks such as popcorn.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

25 Nov Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 25th November 2022

Our children have been very active this week!

A large group of children have been learning to how to keep warm and the effects of exercise by playing large group games such as football, jumping over hurdles and various race games, including egg and spoon race.  Imaginary play continues to interest and motivate children, particularly in the garden, where the children have worked collaboratively in using large resources to create enclosures, dens and traps for the ‘evil mermaid’.

A small group of children have continued to develop their skills in handling one handed tools for cooking.

We took another group of children to the Hackney Museum, which is currently holding a temporary exhibition called, Movers, Shakers & Community Makers.  The exhibition is part of Hackney council’s Black History Season, currently displaying how African heritage individuals have shaped Hackney to be the borough it is today.

Have a look the photos!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

18 Nov Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 18th November 2022

Our children have been involved in an extensive range of learning, including exploring different versions of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and learning to follow porridge recipes from around the world.  A large groups of children have been learning to jump from a height and beginning to make links with measuring the distance they have travelled.  We have also been learning how to mix secondary and tertiary colours.  Some children visited Hackney Museum, which is currently holding a temporary exhibition called, Movers, Shakers & Community Makers.  The exhibition is part of Hackney council’s Black History Season, currently displaying how African heritage individuals have shaped Hackney to be the borough it is today.

Thank you to all our parent volunteers who gave up their time to teach our children karate and cook recipes!

And of course, our children have been learning about how and why we help others through the event, Children in Need.  They have very much enjoyed wearing their pyjamas to school!  Thank you to all who donated!

Have a look the photos!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

11 Nov Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 11th November 2022

Our children have been involved in a range of rich learning experiences this week.  John, one of our talented entrepreneurial parents kindly volunteered to teach our children (and staff!) how to cook jollof rice and fired plantain.  It was scrumptious and greatly appreciated by all!  The children have also been learning how to strengthen their fine motor skills by firstly making the dough following a recipe then taking part in Dough Disco.  This this involves moulding play dough in time to music and performing different actins such as rolling it into a ball, flattening it, putting each individual finger into the dough, rolling it into a sausage and squeezing it.  The children continue to express enjoyment in listening to and acting out well known stories such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.  A large group of children have participated in following a sequence of play by acting out different roles involving London buses.

Our wonderful two-year-olds have also been participating in a rich range of meaningful experiences.  This includes exploring a range of ingredients and learning how to cut with one handed tools to make delicious food, creating open ended transient art using natural materials and building and playing inside a den!

Some of our children have been learning about Remembrance Sunday, many of whom have been asking questions about why people are wearing poppies.  Our approach is to answer children’s questions in the following context: people wear poppies to think about people who have died in wars and to hope we do not have any more wars. What we all need to do is be kind to each other.

We wish you all a very happy and safe weekend.

07 Nov Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 2nd November 2022

A warm welcome to all our parents/carers and children after the half-term break. We have had our children involved in a range of learning including learning about others cultures, understanding the roles of a café, understanding the festival of Diwali and Halloween, exploring the properties of pumpkins by weighing, rolling and cooking and lastly the re-telling of familiar stories. Best wishes,

Wentworth Team

07 Nov Full Governing Body Meeting Tuesday 18th October 2022

Following our full governing body meeting on Tuesday 18th October, please note the following key points from the meeting:

• A warm welcome Bonnie Mendoza and Saga Arpino to Wentworth’s Governing Body.
• The amazing quilt workshop that took place at the Children’s Centre
• Holiday Playscheme will now be taking place at the Nursery School.
• Highlight of the positive parental engagement, particularly the involvement relating to Black History Season.
• Future workshops to take place relating to childhood illness and the threshold for staying at home.

07 Oct Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 10th October 2022

We continue to welcome new children and families who started this week.

Our children have been involved in a wide range of learning experiences.  This includes understanding seasonal changes by taking part in an Autumn Walk trip.  Our huge thanks to all our parent volunteers that made it possible for so many of our children patriciate.

Our children are beginning to explore different cultures relating to our focus on Black History Season.  They did  by learning how to cook fried plantain on the outdoor fire pit.  This rich learning experience also supported children in developing their in observational skills.   A small group of children also attended the Half Moon Theatre to watch Grandad Anansi, a story about a child and her Grandad who play games as they work together in the garden whilst they tell each other Anansi folktales. 

We would like to welcome and encourage families to come in and share as well as celebrate your cultural heritage. If you would like to contribute please see your child’s keyworker who will schedule you in a time slot to take part.  We have also had some children further developing their curiosity about volcanoes and others developing their sense of pattern and counting. We wish you all a very happy and safe weekend.

Please note that the school will be holding a parent workshop on Applying to Primary Schools on Thursday 13th October at 9.15 – 10am.   A zoom link will be sent out on Monday 10th October.

Wishing you all a very happy and safe weekend.

23 Sep Children’s Learning Week Ending Friday 23rd September 2022

A warm welcome to all our new children and families who started this week. The children have been continued to develop positive relationships with their peers and adults.  They have also been involved in a wide array of learning experiences including exploring the nursery, developing their climbing using a range of equipment, expressing enjoyment in rhythm and movement and being imaginative using the fire pit.  The children have also continued to express curiosity and enjoyment exploring each others hair whilst playing in the home corner.

Next week we will be focusing on Autumn and understanding seasonal changes.  Please do take this opportunity to visit your local park to go on a ‘conker hunt’.  The nursery would very much appreciate conkers and sticks to add to our collection of natural materials.

Wishing you all a very happy and safe weekend.