Our unit of work this term is: Our Colourful World.

Nursery Class Teacher - Mrs Evans

Learning Support Officers -  Miss Chloe Lewis, Mrs Ting Murdoch, Mr Alec Levy, Mrs Rebecca Woszczycki, Mrs Jane Lewis, Mrs Maxine Pooley, 

Mrs Sarah Perry and Mrs Hannah Harbison-Evans.

The nursery children have made a fabulous start to the Spring Term, and we are very proud to watch as they develop and grow, 

making new friends and becoming more independent.

This term the children will continue to learn their sounds, we will begin to practice letter formation and writing our names, working hard to perfect our pencil grips and using scissors. More information about the phonics programme that we use in school can be found at www.ruthmiskin.com/parents. 

Throughout the day, the children are encouraged to use incidental Welsh such as 'diolch', 'bore da' and 'hwyl fawr'. During our Helpwr Heddiw sessions, we have been learning colours, songs and counting.  

We look forward to celebrating St David's Day on March 1st and completing lots of fun activities during Welsh Week.  The children will be able to wear House Colours or Welsh Costumes to join in the celebrations. 

Mathematics and Numeracy form part of our daily routine.  The children are exposed to numbers throughout the day through counting, rhymes and focused activities, and we enjoy practising counting forward and backward. Nursery children work hard to build firm foundations with numbers 1 to 5. The children are encouraged to deepen their understanding of numbers by extending their mathematical vocabulary. All children have the opportunity to talk about maths through numbers, and we would encourage parents to speak about numbers in children's everyday activities. 

This term, we will use 'numicon'  to help us with our counting and sequencing.  We will be using butterflies to introduce symmetry. We will investigate length, capacity, and mass during the second half term; we will investigate sinking and floating.  We also sequence longest to shortest, largest to smallest, more or less and heaviest to lightest.  

The children will be encouraged to make marks to form numbers.

This term, we will explore living and non-living things and understand that living things grow from babies, plants and seeds.  The children will gain an awareness of groups of living things, for example, plants, insects and trees.  The children will have the opportunity to explore habitats, think about our environment and think about how we can care for it.  

We will learn about a butterfly's life cycle and consider what living things need to grow and survive. We will put our ideas to the test by planting seeds, caring for them and watching them grow.  

We continue to develop our fine and gross motor skills through various activities. We particularly enjoy using the climbing apparatus in the hall and participating in movement, stretching, and ball skills. 

Oldcastle Primary School is fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’, a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development.

Children will take part in group activities to support them in building friendships, taking turns, sharing and being good friends in class. Children are praised for showing manners, caring for one another and listening to and following instructions. 

The school values over the term are Community and Service, Cooperation and being a good citizen, and Learning and Effort. 

Please ensure children bring water in a reusable bottle with their name clearly labelled. We encourage children to drink water and not squash.  

Please could all parents ensure that they regularly update their child's spare clothes bag to ensure there are clothes should an accident occur.

We have several children in school with a nut allergy.  We strive to be a nut-free school, so please do not send in products that contain or may contain nuts in packed lunches or as a snack. 

We have a fruit snack in the afternoon, so if you wish for your child to have a fruit snack, please send in a labelled small tub with fruit cut up and prepared. Please do not send in whole grapes.

While we are active and spend lots of time outdoors, children can wear PE kits on Thursday.

Don't forget to download our School App via the Play or App stores - The School App will provide you with up to date information about activities and events at Oldcastle Primary School.  Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon.  The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.