Nursery - Squirrels 2025 - 2026

Welcome to our Nursery Class – The Squirrels!

Welcome to Hackwood Nursery. Our aim is to nurture every child’s curiosity and love of learning while helping them grow in confidence and independence. We are committed to giving children the best possible start to their school journey by supporting the skills they need now and for the future.

Our Motto and Expectations

In Nursery, our main priority is that children feel happy, safe, and valued. We encourage children to treat each other with kindness and respect. Our Nursery motto is “kind hands, kind feet and kind voices”, and we sing a daily song to help remind children of this.

Our Curriculum and Learning Approach

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which includes seven areas of learning and development. All areas are important and work together to support children’s growth.

The prime areas, which are especially important in Nursery, are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
• Communication and Language (C&L)
• Physical Development (PD)

The specific areas help children build on these skills:

• Literacy (L)
• Mathematics (M)
• Understanding the World (UW)
• Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

Our progression in learning framework shows how children develop skills step by step. This works alongside the Characteristics of Effective Learning:

• Playing and Exploring
• Active Learning
• Creating and Thinking Critically

Together, these help children gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to continue building their learning.

Each term we loosely centre our learning around a theme, here are the themes for the year;

• Autumn Term 1 – Nursery Rhymes
• Autumn Term 2 - Food and Celebrations
• Spring Term 1 – People who help us
• Sprint Term 2 – Traditional tales
• Summer Term 1 – Journeys and Transport
• Summer Term 2 – Minibeasts

Learning Environment

Our provision is carefully planned to meet individual needs and helps children learn through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences.

Adults support learning through positive interactions, modelling skills, developing language, and gently challenging children to think and try new things.

Our indoor learning areas include:

• Reading nooks and plenty of books
• Block Play and Small World equipment
• A role play home Corner and mini shop complete with dress up
• Malleable tables (e.g. playdough)
• Creative resources; painting and drawing, cutting and sticking.
• Maths and Science zones for investigation and learning
• Natural resources

Outdoor Learning

At Hackwood, we are proud of our rich outdoor provision. Children enjoy free flow play, meaning they can move between indoor and outdoor learning for most of the day.

Our outdoor area includes:

• Mud kitchen
• Role play sheds and areas
• Performance stage
• Water and sand play
• Balance and climbing equipment
• Den building resources
• Bug hotel
• Investigation areas

We regularly adapt and enhance these areas to reflect the children’s interests and needs.

What to wear - Uniform

• A plain purple jumper, either with a logo or no logo.
• A plain white top, this can have a collar or be a t-shirt. Short sleeved is best as children soon get warm inside.
• Black or grey joggers for ease of toileting and movement
• Black trainers for boys and girls to aid movement, foot support and these are more weatherproof than open shoes or sandals.
• No wellies are required we have a supply in all sizes.

Please note children in nursery will get messy, they are learning through play and exploration, we fully expect children to have uniform that has paint splatters and signs of fun… wear!

What to bring

A warm coat, appropriate hat scarf and gloves as weather requires.

A water bottle containing water only

A bag (please mark your child’s name somewhere on this) containing;

• A full change of clothing including socks (this doesn't need to be uniform).
• Slippers in wet winter months. Our children can often sit/ lie on the floor and carpeted areas and keeping outdoor shoes on can casuse these areas to become unhygienic as outdoor muddy shoes make these areas wet and dirty.
• If your child is still potty training, please ensure there are always 3 pull up nappies in the bag, wipes and a nappy bag. We will work with you to toilet train your child and encourage independence.

Please do not bring in toys from home as these can be easily lost, broken and can cause upset if others wish to play with them.

Please do not pack snacks in your child’s bag, please keep these in their lunch bag to eat at lunch time as there is a health and safety risk to children eating without us being aware they have access to food. The children are provided with a snack in the morning (fruit and milk) and a snack in the afternoon (Please see the snack letter for detail).

Please contact the school regarding any additional information you require.

We hope you join us here at Hackwood and hope to meet your little one soon.