Head of School's message
This week, many of our children enjoyed exciting visits to the local library as part of our ‘Growing Readers for Life’ approach. The children loved exploring the wide range of books, listening to stories, and experiencing the joy of choosing books for themselves. Visiting the library helps children develop a lifelong love of reading while also building confidence, language, imagination, and curiosity. We hope families will continue to make regular use of their library cards over the half term, as the library is such a fantastic free resource for sharing stories and spending quality time together.
Other ways we hope to promote a lifelong love of reading includes through songs, rhymes and Structured Storytelling. Through Phase 1 phonics, children build strong communication, language, and early literacy skills. Our cosy reading areas, sensory storytelling, story sacks, gifted books and annual poetry recital help make reading enjoyable, inclusive, and accessible for all children while enriching vocabulary, confidence, and cultural experiences.
We wish all of our families a lovely half term break and hope the sun continues to shine for everyone!
Dates coming up:
Monday 25th May to Friday 29th May (Nursery Closed) - May Half Term.
Parent/carer consultations will take place the first week back after half term, week beginning 1st June, therefore there will not be any catch up calls that week.
Monday 8th June Nursery will have a visit from Ark Farm.
Friday 19th June & Monday 22nd June (Nursery Closed) - Inset & Occasional Days.
Monday 20th July - Leavers' picnic 11:30-1:00pm, all welcome (more information to follow)
Thursday 23rd July - 1pm finish for the Summer Holidays.
Friday 24th July to Tuesday 1st September (Nursery Closed) - Summer Holidays.
Reminders:
Now that the weather is getting warmer - it is imperative that every child has sun lotion applied before their session. They must also have a sun hat (labelled with their name) with them every day - even if the day starts a little cloudy.
Join our nursery's social media pages to stay connected.
Book & Rhyme of the week
The next Structured Stories Book is "Lost and Found" by Oliver Jeffers.
We will start with the immersion phase of Structured Storytelling, where the children will explore the story through various engaging activities. They will learn about prepositions through participating in physical activities outside. This phase is crucial when developing understanding and language.
Our key vocabulary of the text is "South Pole", "Harbour", "Horn", "Delighted", "Realised" and "Search".
Please see below link to story;
The Rhyme of the week for next week is "Ten Green Bottles."
This rhyme has a Maths focus on numbers.
Language of the week
We are lucky to have a rich and diverse community with lots of different languages. Do you speak Shona or Ukrainian? Are you available next week on a Wednesday or Thursday? If your answer is YES, then we'd be delighted to have you reading a story in your home language to the children! They love a Secret Storyteller! We are flexible with the timing so please speak to us if you can come in another day/time.
Please look out for our next week's languages in the newsletter, it might be your home language next!
Learning at home
Children can borrow books for up to three weeks, so please remember to return your child’s book before the due date.
Families can borrow up to 30 books at a time, so we encourage you to make the most of this fantastic local resource and enjoy sharing lots of stories together at home.
The library also holds many children’s events and activities throughout the year, so please keep an eye on their website and Facebook page for upcoming opportunities and events.
Healthy me, Healthy world
As part of our Healthy Me, Healthy World focus, we are continuing to think about how we can all help to care for our environment. Linked to the book 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World, we have been discussing the idea, “I always put my litter in the bin.”
The children have been learning that tidying away litter helps to keep our world clean, safe, and pleasant for everyone, as well as protecting animals and the environment. We would love the children to continue this learning at home over half term. Perhaps you could work together to collect some litter safely while out on a walk.
We have also been talking about recycling and how sorting materials correctly can help reduce waste. If you recycle at home, could your child help you to sort the recycling into the correct bins? Small actions like these help children understand that everyone can play a part in looking after our world.
Success story of the week
We are so excited that our children now have their very own library cards!
This week, our older children enjoyed a special trip to Hemel Hempstead Library. During the visit, the library staff spoke to the children about how to use the library, took them on a short tour, and shared two stories with them. The children then had time to browse the shelves before choosing and checking out their own books using their library cards and the self-service machine.
Experiences like this help the children to develop a sense of belonging within their local community and encourage confidence in exploring new environments. Listening to stories and independently choosing books nurtures a love of reading and fosters enthusiasm for books and storytelling. Using their own library cards also promotes independence, responsibility, and positive social interactions.
We look forward to taking our Owls and Hedgehogs to the library next year! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy using the library and borrowing books together as a family.
All absences must be reported to the school either by leaving an absence message or emailing admin@heathlane.herts.sch.uk.
We politely ask that if you plan to take your child out during school time, you notify the Nursery office. For appointments, we ask where possible that these are not during the school day. If this is not avoidable, please kindly share the relevant information for this appointment in order for us to be able to authorise this.
Regular attendance at Nursery is very important, as it helps children build the foundational knowledge and skills they will need as they move through school. Establishing good attendance habits now supports a smoother transition into primary school and helps ensure children develop positive routines that will benefit them throughout their educational journey. Thank you for your continued support in helping your child attend regularly and on time.
