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We welcome Miss Armstrong who joins us as a nursery support worker. Miss Armstrong arrived on Monday with sunshine in her smile that never seems to fade and has had a lovely week getting to know all the children.
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Dates on the message board and calendar have been updated, please feel free to add them to your diary. Letters will follow in due time with more details.
Week ending 10.10.25
What a wonderful week of growth and discovery! The children have been busy developing key skills through a variety of engaging activities.
They've had amazing experiences building their communication skills by reading books to each other, describing what they see, and even creating their own imaginative stories. During many castle-building projects, the children used great verbal communication and teamwork to solve problems together.
We saw their numeracy skills shine as they decided exactly how tall and wide the structure needed to be, and their maths development continued outside as they practiced counting and estimation while figuring out the exact number of stones needed for a garden activity.
There was lots of active fun both inside and outdoors! Building and navigating obstacle courses was a fantastic way to develop their gross motor skills, challenge their the vestibular system, and, most importantly, have a great time!
We especially enjoyed inviting all our families into the nursery over the past two weeks for our Stay & Play events. It was lovely to see how proud the children were to show their loved ones around and share their learning journey with you.
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Friday 10th oct - nursery day for group B
Friday 3rd of Oct - nursery day for group A
We are learning that being active is a healthy way to be. We can move in an active way indoors and outdoors.
Friday 26th of September- nursery day for group B
Children appeared very curious about learnin about Harvest. They particularly seemed to enjoy the visit from farmer Steven with his big red tractor .
'I loved the tractor.' 'It had the big turning thing on for turning soil' 'It was massive.'
'There was doggy in the tractor.' ' Farmer Steven told us about hay and barley'
Gentle reminder nursery is closed fri 12th of Sept and Mon 15th Sept
Exciting week ahead . We have a tractor coming to nursery and Farmer Steven will tell us all about what tractors do at harvest and might bring some oats and barley for us to explore.
Group A- tuesday morning
Group B - wed morning
Friday 5th of september - nursery day for group A
We are making new friendships , learning to wait our turn and work together.
We have been learning about our feelings and what can we do to feel better. We understand sometimes we might feel sad because we are missing our grown up but we are learning grown up come back and who looks after us at nursery and who looks after us at home.
We enjoyed reading colour monster story . ' I love the pink one, he is loved. I love my mummy' MW
'He is cute, he is grey. He is feeling scared' CQ
' This one is angry, sometimes I feel angry' LS
Fri 29th Aug- nursery day for group A
A walk to school week ( Please help yourself to Elmer leaflets at the nursery door for further walk to school activities)
We had lovely week discussing different transport how to get to school rather than car.
' I go on my scooter'
'I go on my bike and my mum is running '
' I live over there so we walk to nursery every day'
We have then used our Elmer puppet , read Elmer stories and created colourful Elmer
🌼 A Warm Welcome to Our New Families! We’re delighted to welcome all our new families to Wallyford Nursery. It’s been wonderful to see the children settling in so well—exploring, playing, and beginning to build beautiful friendships. We’re excited for the journey ahead and look forward to sharing many joyful moments together.
Dear Families,
We would like to warmly invite you to a special celebration for your child’s nursery group.
Group A: Tuesday, 29th July, from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
Group B: Thursday, 31st July, from 1:30 PM to 2:30 PM
During the celebration, the children who will be continuing in nursery next year will sing some lovely songs for you, and we will be marking this special day for the boys and girls who will be moving on to Primary 1 in August.
We are very much looking forward to seeing you all there and celebrating this milestone together.
Dear Parent/Carer,
As you know, Wallyford Nursery is open during the April school break from Monday 7 to Thursday 17 April 2025, when the school is closed.
The nursery is closed for Easter on Friday 18 and Monday 21 April 2025. Please use the link to inform us if your child will NOT attend nursery during part of, or all, the April break or let nursery team know. You do not need to complete this if your child will attend nursery as usual. Please note the link will close on Friday 28 March 2025 so if you have not responded by that date, we will assume your child will attend nursery as usual. As school office is closed over school break absences are recorder differently. If you change plans on the day or your child will not attend nursery for various reasons please phone the nursery to let us know.
https://eastlothianconsultations.co.uk/education/april-2025/
Thank you
Nursery Team
Spring morning
We are delighted to invite you to a special Spring Morning at the nursery! This event will give you the opportunity to spend quality time with your child and participate in various spring-themed activities.
To ensure that everyone has the opportunity to enjoy our Spring Morning, please choose between the two days your child attends nursery and follow your designated drop-off slots. This will help us accommodate all families and make the event enjoyable for everyone. We look forward seeing you all.
Group A- Mon 31st of March or Tue 1st of April (8.15-8.30 or 8.45-9am)
Group B- Wed 2nd of April or Tue 3rd of April ( 8.15-8.30 or 8.45-9am)
Wk ending 21.3.25
We have had lots of fun this week exploring measuring using different tools. Inside the children have used blocks, tape measures, rulers and string to compare their heights and the length of their feet.
Outside we drew around our bodies and measured how long we were, we also cleared the sand pit, doing wonderful risk assessing, and practiced how far we could jump.
Polite request. Please could you ensure that all items of clothing, including jackets, hats, scarves and gloves are labelled with your child's name to help us match clothing to children at the end of the day
Wk ending 7.3.25
We have had a lovely couple of days celebrating World Book Day at nursery. The children dressed up as their favourite character, enjoyed activities in the nursery rooms to deepen their love for books. In the Hedgehog room the children where experimenting in designing and building different homes to see which ones were safe and strong just like in The Three Little Pigs. In the Foxes Room they were creating their own StickMan and in the Squirrels Room the children took turns in reading books to each other creating a story through reading the illustrations.
We have also been continuing our talks about how to keep ourselves safe by understanding that our bodies belong to ourselves and we all have a right to personal space when we need it.
One of the ways we use to teach the children this is through the underpants rule, you can find out more here Lets talk PANTS.
WORLD BOOK DAY
Thursday 6th of March we will be celebrating World Book Day in the nursery. Children are welcome to dress up as their favourite character if they wish and they are welcome to bring a book they would like to swap for a different book.
Group B- optional dress up and book swap- Thursday 6th of March
Group A- optional dress up and book swap- Friday 7th of March
We are looking forward reading your favourite stories the next couple of days .
Week ending 14.2.25
We have been very busy investigating patterns at nursery. We have noticed patterns in nature - 'that goes round and round, it looks like an e (observing a snail shell/spiral) and created our own repeating patterns - 'a pattern is when it goes like red blue, red blue.. I'm making red and blue triangles.' The children showed great listening and talking skills as they shared their findings and knowledge with others.
We are delighted to have welcomed four new members of staff recently, Miss James (Support Worker) Miss Hay (Early Years Practitioner) , Miss McClorey (Senior Early Years Practitioner) and Miss MacKenzie ( Early Years Practitioner). The children have been doing a wonderful job of making them feel welcomed and part of Wallyford Nursery
REMINDER - Monday 17th February is an inset day. We will open again as normal on Tuesday 18th.
Students in the nursery
Nursery will have two lovely students from Queen Margaret University Fletch and Samantha for the next 3 weeks on tuesdays. They are both studying to be Speech and Language Therapists and part of the training is a placement in nursery. Say hello when you see them. They will both wear QMU uniform.
RED WEATHER WARNING
Unfortunately school and nursery will be closed tomorrow due to a red weather warning . These are some ideas you are welcome to do at home to support your child's learning from nursery.
Rabbie Burns- Do you know any Scottish songs? This is the one we have been singing at nursery Haggis, Neeps and tatties We wonder if you can make any lovely tartan patterns. What colours will you use? Will you draw it, paint it or glue a picture? We can't wait to see them.
Some people also celebrate Chinese New Year. In nursery we are learning about sitting around the table with our peers or family together and enjoy our meal.
We have also been making pretend 'rhyme 'soup. We have put different rhyming words in our soup. What words will you put in your soup.
Be safe and have fun.
Happy New Year to all our Families for 2025
We have had a fab, busy first week back at nursery.
We have welcomed new families starting this week which has been very exciting along with mixed feelings being unsure. We have been talking about our feelings and how we can share these feelings with others to help us feel better, the children who already attend shared how they can help the new children settle in "we can share toys" "we can be kind" " read them stories".
The Hedgehog Room is now opened, the yellow group will use this room for registration and storing their jackets. The Hedgehog Room has been set up as a STEM room where the children can explore building, science, numeracy and technology.
Helpful Reminders
Nut Free Zone... We are a nut free zone, this is due to children in the nursery in the school and nursery that have a severe life threatening nut allergy. We ask that there are NO nut or may contain nut products in your child's bag or pack lunch pack. If there is a food item in their pack lunch bag that we cannot confirm if it does or doesn't contain nuts we will leave it in their bag to be enjoyed at home.
Extra Clothing... As expected in a nursery children can go through many changes of clothes in a day, we ask if you can provide at least two changes of clothes particularly pants and socks. If your child does go home in nursery clothing can you please return as we have completely ran out of trousers, pants and socks.
Thank you
Nursery Team
What a busy month December has been, we enjoyed welcoming families into the nursery for our annual Christmas breakfast, we would like to say thanks for your understanding in the adjustments made as we hosted St Gabriel's Nursery. Mrs Claus visited and read us all a lovely story, we've sang jingle bells with the woodwind group before dancing away at our party and would like to thank the dinner ladies for a lovely Christmas lunch.
We would like to thank all our families for their generous gifts and Christmas wishes we are overwhelmed with them.
We look forward to welcoming all back in the new year when the Hedgehog Room opens with lots of new areas to explore.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Wallyford Nursery and a Happy New Year for when it arrives.
Week Ending 29.11.24
This week we have been discussing the days of the week. The children have been learning a song to help them, I wonder if they can share it with you?! We have discovered what we do on certain week days 'I go to the park on Wednesday's' 'My mummy works on Tuesday but not on Thursday and Friday.' We found out that Saturday and Sunday are called the week end 'I play with my mummy and daddy at the weekend' 'I visit, nanny'
**** Reminders****
Just a small reminder that we are a strictly nut-free nursery and school. This includes all foods that may contain nuts or traces of nuts. Please ensure that all snacks and lunches brought to school are free from nuts and nut-based ingredients. Thank you all for your continued support :)
Christmas breakfast.
We are looking forward to welcoming families to our annual Christmas Breakfast (Maximum 2 adults per child), the week commencing Monday 9th December. Information letters are being sent out, please complete the slip indicating your preferred day and time.
Week Ending 22.11.24
We have continued to explore letters and their shapes, recognising the difference between letters and numbers. The children explored mark making and letter formation in the frost earlier in the week and then in chalk.
We have started to explore occupations of those we know and what we would like to be when we are grown up. We have seen lovely role playing in the block area where the children have pretended to be hairdressers.
Week ending 15.11.24
We have had a busy fortnight in nursery. The children celebrated Bonfire Night where we discussed how to keep ourselves safe whilst holding sparklers and watching fireworks, creating letter shapes in glitter and painting fireworks. Remembrance Day was marked by making our own poppy images with felt shapes and observed a minutes silence.
We have also been learning what letter shapes are and using this to recognise letters in our own name. We have continued to consolidate our knowledge of 2D shapes and exploring 3D through our play. The children have been talking about the important people in their lives using puppets to represent their loved ones.
We finished off the fortnight with a fun learning day through Children in Need, the children learnt and discovered why we have a Children in Need Day and the meaning of charity through donations at the bake sale.
P1 enrolment now open. Please check message board for more information
Week ending 1.11.24
The children have been excited to share their knowledge and understanding of Halloween traditions. Within the nursery they have been continuing to develop their fine motor skills with Halloween themed provocations, making play dough faces, hammering golf tees into pumpkins, printing with autumn leaves and using chopsticks to find and pick up spiders from the sensory tray.
With the clocks changing we have been talking how the clocks went back and how it is now getting darker earlier. We have also been talking about what routines we do throughout the day and the importance of rest and sleep.
Week ending 25.10.24
This week the children have been exploring 2d Shapes in Nursery. We concentrated on four shapes - circle, square, triangle and a rectangle. We looked at their basic properties of how many had sides if any they had and used this to identify them. The children had lots of fun finding shapes around the nursery rooms and the garden. They also used technology to match and sort on the smartboard along with using different mark making techniques to draw them. The children have been deepening their knowledge and spotting shapes in their environment as we walk along to the dining room.
What shapes can you find at home or when you are out and about?
On Monday 21stduring In service day, the nursery staff all attended a new training course to help develop their knowledge, our latest training was all about Language is fun together – LIFT for short. LIFT is an initiative to help support and develop children’s communication skills, we are very excited to be able to take part in this and hopefully gain an accreditation in doing so. Parental information is currently being developed and will follow as soon as we receive it.
** Reminder** The nursery and primary school are closed on Monday 21st October for in-service day
Week ending 18.10.24
This week we have been exploring the library and discovering key parts of a book. The children appeared to enjoy choosing a book independently. They shared with their group their favourite stories and experiences going to the library with their grown ups. 'I go to book bug' 'I go to the big library' 'That part is called the spine.
Week ending 11.10.24
This week we have been developing our fine motor skills to help build muscles in our fingers, hands and wrists which is crucial for our pencil grip and writing later on in our learning journey.
Some things we can do at home are buttoning/unbuttoning our clothes,squeezing water out of sponges, pegging up clothes and playing with play dough.
The children have been exploring seasonal fruit and vegetables. With the help of the story Oliver's garden we discovered where our food grows. The children then helped to make soup with some of the vegetables we read about in the story.
The children have been having lots of lovely chats about what makes us similar and different to each other.
"I have brown eyes like you, she has blue eyes"
They have been looking in a mirror to help them draw self portraits to discover more about themselves.
We have been embedding the nursery toothbrushing routine, talking about why and when we brush our teeth.
"I have twenty teeth in my mouth"
"I brush my teeth at home"
Week ending 27.9.24
We had amazing fun exploring numbers for numeracy week! We participate in lots of activities inside and out including a number hunt in the P1 area, counting and measuring loose parts, identifying numerals and counting.
MNU 0-02a
Week ending 27.9.24
The children have been continuing to learn about autumn and harvest. Some children have noticed tractors in the fields and were very excited to have farmer Steven visit us. They listened to find out new information and discovered the difference between straw and hay. The children noticed that the wheels of the tractor were taller then them. 'the tractor has 2 small and 2 big wheels!.. 'I've seen those round things [bales] in the fields up there - look!'
Lit 0-02a
Week ending 27.9.24
As the Seasons changed from Summer to Autumn we have been noticing changes in nature around us.
"The tractors are in the fields.. it's Harvest."
"The nights get darker and darker then it's Halloween".
We have been exploring Autumn and what is Harvest Time in the nursery through story time, art, small world, snack time and malleable play.
We have been reading The Little Red Hen and inspired by this the children used their fine motor skills to remove seeds from wheat stalks before trying their hand at grinding them into flour to make our playdough. They have baked bread for their snack and printed using tractors and apples to create their artwork.
The children have been creating amazing art work inspired by Henri Matisse as they have been practicing scissor safety. "we hold them like this " as the child demonstrates holding scissors safely.
"you don't cut your hair" "you don't touch the silver bit"
Week ending 6.9.24
The children have shown a great interest in colour mixing and rainbows. To develop this interest we have had fun making our own rainbows with coloured shells outside and inside we experimented with colour mixing. 'it will make green and yellow!' I'm putting my paper in yellow, what will happen?' 'I like green!'
On Tuesday we saw lots of muddy play due to weather and the children practiced gross motor skills jumping in puddles. Afterwards we needed to wash our hands and we have been discovering why we need to use soap as well as water. 'The soap will make the germs run away!'
With the rainy and cold weather on the way please could we ask that you provide spare clothes, especially socks and trousers for puddle jumping days!
This week we have been exploring what makes a good friend, some of the suggestions we have had have been " sharing" " being kind " " playing" " telling a teacher when someone is sad".
We have had lots of amazing interactions inside and out as the children have been developing their communication skills, working together and building friendships through play.
Photos above give a snap shot of this throughout the week.
A warm welcome back to all our returning children, and a big welcome to all our new families joining us this year. We're excited to start this new term with you.
Children are settling well into the setting, building new friendships and exploring nursery areas. We are learning how to make new friends and why are friends important.
What a little superstars ! We are so proud of all the children achieving their goals throughout the nursery. Good luck to all the children moving into Primary 1! We can't wait to see you looking amazing in your school uniform. Children returning to nursery we are looking forward having you back . Thank you all families for coming to make our Celebration day special ! ⭐
Thank you all families for coming and supporting children on their sports day. All children have done amazing ! Lots of new achievements achieved for all children such as taking part, waiting their turn, fantastic balancing skills, good throwing, jumping, skipping and cheering on each other. Well done to all !
Thank you all families for helping us on the trip. What a fun day we had with both A and B group. We can't wait to do it again next year.
We are learning why being active is good for health and how being active affects our bodies. ' I need a drink after running.' ' My heart goes really fast' ' I am tired after running and jumping, I need a rest'
Children have been exploring mark making through variety of materials ' I can write in the sand.' 'I love writing with chalks' Wonder what else can we mark make with or where can we make a mark...
Learning about Life cycle of frogs. 'I love frogs, they go hop like this' 'I know where frogs live , they live in pond and eat flies' ' tadpoles turn into frogs, but after tadpole they grow 2 legs and another 2 legs and they are called froglets'
As the weather is getting warmer and flowers are beginning to grow children have shown interest in planting. 'Can we plant some flowers? 'I like planting' 'I can help to pull the weeds out'
Children have worked really hard weeding our flower beds, putting new soil in and planting some bulbs. 'Now we have to wait for flowers to grow.' 'I hope it doesn't take ages as I don't like waiting'
We had lots of fun celebrating World Book Day. We loved seeing all the costumes, potatoes and favourite books.
Squirrels have been learning about differences between day and night. We can describe different activities we can do throughout the day and what happens at night. 'we play through daytime and sleep at night time' 'my mum sometimes work at day and sometimes at night' We have looked at colours we see throughout the day and colours at night and we have created beautiful pictures using these colours
We have been learning about Robert Burns. We know he has been born in Ayr and he has wrote lots of songs and poems. We have been learning Scottish songs 'Ya canny show yur granny off the bus' and 'Three craws'
We learnt the Gay Gordons dance and we have been busy making our own oatcakes, butter and shortbread for little Burns Day Celebration.
We are learning about winter season and hibernation. Children have been identifying the signs of winter and how to dress appropriately for the cold.
'we found some ice in the garden ,it makes my hands cold' We have looked at different ways how can we melt the ice. ' I know, we can put some salt on it'
Hope you all had a lovely break and we can't wait to see you all back. Welcome to our new starts we can't wait to meet.
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS 🎄
Families were invited to join us for Christmas breakfast in nursery. We hope you enjoyed your breakfast and making a Christmas wreath. Thank you all for coming and for lovely feedback. 'I love having my mummy at nursery'. 'my mummy and daddy and baby came'
PEOPLE WHO HELP US VISITS
Thank you to fire brigade and paramedics for visiting our nursery and telling us all about your job and showing us your vehicles and what you use at work. ' I loved spraying the water like a fire man.' 'I had special stickers on and I can see my heart going up and down'. ' I went inside the fire engine and inside the ambulance'. 'I liked the special bed in ambulance'
LIBRARIAN
Jacqueline from the library came to tell us all about librarian's job. We now know librarian is in the library to help us to find or choose the books we like or need. Jacqueline has then kindly gifted all the anti preschool children with the book bag and preschool children with lovely book and a certificate.
SHAPES ARE EVERYWHERE
We have been exploring shapes and finding them in our environment. ' I can see circles, clock is like a circle' ' The door is like a rectangle' Children have enjoyed the walk around the school spotting different shapes.
PEOPLE WHO HELP US
We are learning about People Who help us. 'There are different people who can help us. Like fireman help when there is a fire but when you sick you go to doctors' 'or you go to dentist , he looks at your teeth.' 'I seen fire engine when we went to see fireworks'
REMEMBRANCE DAY
We have been learning about Remembrance Day and why some people wear a poppy. 'It's to remember people' We had a special visitor to tell us about Remembrance Day parade, showed us the uniform. We all practiced the marching and when we older we can all join in the parade.
HALLOWEEN
Children are becoming aware of the importance of celebrations and festivals . They have explored variety of activities , their favourite was carving pumpkin ' eh it's slimy' 'it has big seeds in it'
FIREWORKS
Squirrels (A) have been sharing their knowledge on fireworks and how to keep safe whilst making some wonderful firework pictures. "fireworks can burn you if you touch then, you have to stand back", " Fireworks go bang in the air" " my dog gets scared and hides"
