“Magic is really very simple; all you’ve got to do is want something and then let yourself have it.” – Aggie Cromwell, Halloweentown
A reminder of some dates for your diaries:
Meet the Teams – We look forward to seeing you next Thursday 13th November 7-8pm.
Christmas Presentation for our Oaks 1 children – Saturday 6th December 10am-12pm
Christmas Parties – Acorns and Seedlings – date to be advised
Saplings, Oaks 2 and Oaks 1 – date to be advised
Christmas closure – We will be closing at 3pm on Christmas Eve and re-opening on Friday 2nd January 2026.
SEN News – I would like to introduce myself as Broughton’s SENCO. My name is Sophia for all who don’t know me, and I am Oaks 1 Room Lead. I have 10 years’ experience with SEN children and have worked with a plethora of complex cases.
I am delighted to share our recent Nursery SEN audit was graded Outstanding and I plan to ensure our SEN provision continues to go from strength to strength. I am hugely passionate about every child receiving the best support and being given the opportunity to fly high. Every class has developmental charts, I share ideas for strategies and we all work closely with parents to ensure consistency and support. If you have any concerns about your child’s development, please come and have a chat.
Oaks 2:
This week in Oaks 2 we kicked things off with Man On The Moon by Simon Bartram. The children took a real liking to the start of their new space topic.
We looked at photos of the moon landing, taking a closer look at the textures on the moon including the craters. We also considered astronauts’ shadows and created our own using light and torches.
The children worked hard to craft their own aliens from cardboard rolls, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. If parents would like to try this at home, we’d love for you to bring your creations into nursery. They can form part of our space display which you’ll be able to see at Meet The Teams.
Oaks 2 also created their interpretation of the universe using a cotton bud. Cotton bud painting is used predominantly in Aboriginal art. It was lovely to see the children taking turns and working as a team, filling the canvas with dots and squiggles.
We spent lots of time exploring our outdoor space too, with the children deciding to make a cafe in the forest. The youngsters loved mixing mud with water, creating an array of delicious dishes.
Star Of the Week:
James – For having such a great interest in our exploration of space.
Oaks 1:
Wild rocket (Diplotaxistenuifolia)
Is a leafy green herb with a more intense, peppery flavour than common rocket, featuring smaller leaves and crisp stalks.
This week we celebrated wild food day by foraging and looking closely at natures offerings. In our beautiful garden we found wild rocket and chives and all types of fungi. We found plums, sloes and crab apples.
The children have been so excited to explore our local nature reserve, this week we persevered with flying our kite. The autumn winds carried the kite and we walked next to a turnip field! Using potato and turnip we made a warming soup! We continue to use our forest area for wild cooking weekly. The children absolutely love the outdoor cookery and all know the rules and boundaries to remain safe around the open fire.
In Oaks 1 classroom we have been planning for our Christmas production! We have been learning about the story of Jesus and singing uplifting carols!
We are requesting any animal/ nativity dress up you can donate….. literally any animal! The production is 6th December 10-12.
Our phonics has been developing to blending and we have been looking at tricky e – next week T. Rhyme and rhythm have been used to reinforce phonic learning.
Give us a shout if you have any questions or queries about your child’s learning. Sophia and team
All our group are stars this week, contributing in all our activities.
Forest School
The children had a wonderful time creating a magical little fairy garden for the woodland creatures. Noting last week that the stream was currently rather lacking in water, they were concerned that the birds would go thirsty so they erected a birdbath and made a small sanctuary for them to visit; decorating the area with colourful baubles. Genevieve, Annabelle, Arthur, George and Willow did a fantastic job working together brilliantly. The discussions about placement was lovely to hear and they all then raced off to fill the bath up ready for their visitors.
Saplings:
This week in Saplings, we fully embraced the build up to Halloween.
Monday saw the Saplings paint their own recycled cardboard pumpkins, demonstrating good fine motor skills and hand/eye coordination.
On Tuesday, we explored paint sensory bags with either a ghost or a pumpkin drawn onto the punch pocket. This was then filled with white, red and yellow paint. The Saplings had fun moving the paint around. Leo told the practitioner that the paint felt “cold”.
Wednesday’s craft activity saw the youngsters experiment with bubble paint using washing up liquid and cardboard tubes, while the Saplings made spiders on Thursday. To do this, the children used paper bowls, pipe cleaners and googly eyes. The Saplings had the choice of colouring their spiders black with paint or tissue paper.
To close the week, our Saplings enjoyed dressing up and had fun doing monster moves before enjoying a picnic tea.
While outside in our garden, the Saplings enhanced fine motor skills while filling up cauldrons with monster eyeballs. The Saplings loved putting the fire out. We drew flames using chalk onto Tuff Trays and challenged the children to put the fire out using a spray water bottle. Axel and James showed excellent hand/eye coordination and good focus throughout.
Star Of the Week:
All our Saplings – For showing good enthusiasm when participating in our Halloween activities.
Seedlings and Acorns:
This week, we focused on all things spooky with Halloween drawing to a close.
To start off, we carved pumpkins which proved to be a great learning opportunity. The children scooped out the contents and poured them into various vessels. Our pumpkins were an array of different sizes and the children really liked working out where the different lids fitted, placing them this way and that until they ‘sat’ perfectly.
We then set up a bucket full of green gloop complete with skeletons, rats and bats. This was a fantastic sensory activity which Olivia particularly enjoyed. She giggled as she dug her hands into the mixture.
The Seedlings and Acorns had so much fun making Halloween cards for their parents and also enjoyed a spot of pumpkin printing using apples and orange paint.
To end the week we had a fantastic Halloween party, and all of our little ones looked amazing in their costumes. We played a game of scary skittles where cups with ghost faces were lined up and all of children took it in turns to throw a ball and see how many they could knock down.
Stars Of the Week:
Acorns: Oscar – For fantastic communication and showing great interest in cars.
Seedlings: Nellie – For her fantastic tidying up skills and becoming so confident when using sign language.
The Broughton Team