Grimes Dyke Primary School
Nursery Learning
“There are three teachers of children: adults, other children, and their physical environment.”
Loris Malaguzzi
In our Nursery class we have fully embraced this idea. Through close observation and assessment of children’s interests and abilities, we enhance our provision to ensure that every child is given the opportunity to ‘grow their brain’ whilst involved in purposeful play.
Parents and Carers
We acknowledge the vital role that our parents and carers play in the learning and development of their children. Our pupils love it when their grown-ups are able to settle them in and support them with the morning writing challenge.
Community
The Nursery Staff endeavours to help pupils feel that they belong to our Nursery community. Pupils are also encouraged to contribute to it by looking after each other as well as our learning environment.
Physical Development
We are very lucky to have an amazing outdoor area, including a giant school field, where pupils are inspired to use and develop their physical skills, building den and climbing trees.
Our Nursery pupils also take part in a daily bodybuilding session, helping them to strengthen their core muscles and as a result, making them more ready to learn.
Reading
Our Book Nook is a central part of our classroom. Nursery pupils have access to a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction texts, story props and rhyming books. Reading for pleasure is important at Grimes Dyke and fostering a love for books starts in Nursery. Our pupils look forward to their daily Reading Club time where they share books with friends and revisit favourite stories.
Shapes & Numbers
Our Nursery pupils are able to develop their mathematical thinking everywhere around the classroom. From sorting and counting toys to building with 3D shapes to exploring capacity, weight and height to referring to our visual timetable, there are countless opportunities.
Mark-making
From giant whiteboards to chalk boards to paper and booklets to painting easels to interactive whiteboards, our Nursery pupils have a wide range of drawing and writing opportunities at their finger tips. Their mark-making journey is recorded in their individual book which they access independently and love to look through.
Designing
Our construction area offers a range of building resources from wooden blocks, Duplo bricks, cardboard cylinders and even fabric. Our Nursery pupils have the opportunity to explore and combine resources. They work individually and collaboratively to create models. They also use our Small World resources to act out stories.
Playdough
This versatile medium helps our Nursery pupils work on their fine motor skills , pinching, rolling, poking, shaping the dough with their hands and some tools. Playdough Story Time encourages pupils to create characters and settings out of dough, developing their imagination and building their literacy skills.
Music
Exploring musical instruments and performing together give our Nursery pupils a lot of joy whilst developing their musical creativity.
Role-playing
Dressing up and acting out scenarios based on their experience is an important part of Nursery learning for our pupils.
Woodwork
Working with wood offers our Nursery pupils numerous benefits, 'from boosting their self-esteem and problem-solving skills, to enhancing their communication and social development'. (Learning Through Woodwork, Pete Moorhouse) The use of real tools also helps develop their gross and fine motor skills.
Arts & Understanding of the World
Coming soon