Welcome to Nursery

Mrs Ali

Hello everyone! My name is Mrs K Ali, and I am absolutely delighted to be welcoming you to our Nursery class this year as the Nursery Practitioner. With 8 years of dedicated experience in early years education, my greatest passion is creating a gentle, nurturing space where your little ones can truly blossom at the very start of their learning journey. I especially love reading stories and bringing them to life, allowing the children to fully experience the magic of books and imagination. Inside our classroom, open discussion is encouraged, curiosity is valued, achievements are celebrated, and mistakes are embraced as beautiful opportunities to learn and grow. Supporting your child’s learning this year will be Miss Ahern, a dedicated professional who enters our Nursery with incredible care, warmth, and a shared passion for creating the safest, most aspirational environment for your child. Together, we are looking forward to a wonderful year ahead filled with joy, discovery, and getting to know each of your families!

Welcome to Wonderful Nursery Class

Welcome to our Nursery

We are pleased to welcome you to the Nursery page of our school website. Our aim in the EYFS is to help you and your child to settle into school life so that your child’s first experience is a positive one. In Nursery we build skills where children learn and develop through play. Our aim is to prepare the children to be school ready by the time they reach the Reception Year. We will work with you as partners in the education of your children.

Nursery Autumn 2

Nursery Autumn 1

Medium term planning for Nursery:

MTP-Autumn-term-1

MTP Autumn term 2

Our topic for Half Term 2 is ………………….

To Infinity and Beyond!

Our topic for Half Term 1 term is……………

Fabulous Friends!

Our Curriculum

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School we provide a curriculum which is individualised for each year group and we incorporate children’s interests. To support your child’s learning and development we use a document called development matters. Activities are planned around seven areas of learning and we value both in and outdoor play. To find out more about development matters, please click on the link below.

Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) document is available here

Our Learning Journeys

Each child has a personalised ‘Tapestry’ online journal to show their progress, learning and fun in Nursery and parents can securely see their individual child’s journal on their phone, tablet or laptop but also add to it with photos and comments

2025 – 2026; You may need to turn your phone to landscape for the best view. Scroll down to see previous photographs.

Hello and welcome back to a new academic year, 2025 to 2026!

We are delighted that you are visiting our learning gallery to see photos of your children exploring the areas inside and outside the Nursery classroom. Your Nursery teacher this year is Miss Durkan. We are supported by Ms Qureshi and Ms Mikulska. Here below you will find photographs of those first few important weeks where the children learned through play and explored the resources. We hope you enjoy looking through them. We also publish further photos every week on the school’s Facebook page (at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558117755853 ) and Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/stfrancisofassisischoolbeeston/) and print many pictures off and display in the classroom windows.

Autumn Term 1

W/E 10.10.25: Lots of learning happening in our areas of provision for the Nursery and Reception children.

W/E 10.10.25: The Nursery children went for an autumn walk this week. They looked at what was happening to the trees around them. They looked at the leaves which had started to fall and looked at their colours. They even went across to the Key Stage 2 playground to explore. Back in class they could have a proper talk and discuss their findings.

W/E 3.10.25: Collective worship and celebration of the word happens in Nursery daily. The children are learning to set up the scene themselves.

W/E 3.10.25: Here we see the Nursery children sweeping paint patterns on the playground. Lots of physical development occurring here.

W/E 3.10.25: The #Nursery children learned about God creating the World and everything in it. They went outside to look at and point to things like the sky, sun and clouds to gain a sense of awe and wonder. We live in a beautiful world!

W/E 3.10.25: In PSHE lessons the Nursery children learned all about different feelings. They learned it is normal to have all kinds of feelings, including positive and negative ones. They read a book about creatures with different feelings; they showed how their faces look when they are feeling emotional; and they cut out pictures and stuck them in the matching feelings boxes.

W/E 25.9.25: The Nursery children have loved playing outside, even when the weather has not been great! Here they are building some houses using the outdoor construction materials. Fantastic physical development skills.

W/E 26.9.25: The Nursery children explored their bodies this week by singing songs and looking at themselves in a big mirror.

At St Francis of Assisi Catholic Primary School Nursery, we offer 15 and 30 hours free, flexible, teacher-led, early years education for children from their 3^rd birthday; subject to available places and children being physically and emotionally ready to start. This includes being fully potty-trained and out of nappies during the day.

There are 3 options to choose from:

Monday to Friday (30 hours, with a Government code)
Monday to Friday mornings (15 hours) 8.45 – 11.45am
Monday to Friday afternoons (15 hours) 12.30 – 3.30pm

If children are in Nursery over Lunchtime 11.30 -12.30pm, parents need to provide a packed lunch for their child.

We are more than happy to speak to you about the timings, details and any further questions you may have. Please visit the school office for an application form or call school on 0113 2700 978 and ask for a Nursery teacher to call you back.

How I can help at home

Jolly phonics songs

Number Rhymes

Home Learning

A warm welcome to all of our Nursery parents. In this section you will find all the information you need to know about how to help your child learn at home if school is closed. The links will appear below as and when needed and will take you to the planning. The planning has activities for both Nursery and Reception in places. We will also try to provide some other guidance such as daily routines and activities. Please note that the majority of your child’s planning and personalised videos will be uploaded daily on Tapestry. It is very important that you log onto this every day if school is shut. Some of the activities are planned for specific days, others can be done at your own leisure. Please remember that letting your child play is vital too. Our activities are to support their development in all areas. Have fun!

The Wednesday Word

http://www.wednesdayword.org/stopgap/Temporary-Special-Edition.pdf

Let’s get talking

Please click on the blue ‘Let’s get talking’ link below for games and ideas to support communication skills at home.

Let’s get talking!

Physical Activities For Children

Physical activities

Home Learning useful websites

Website	Age Range	Content
www.classroomsecrets.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	Home learning packs covering English, phonics, maths and practical activities.
www.twinkl.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	Covers the whole curriculum
www.phonicsplay.co.uk	Early Years -Yr2	Phonics games and activities
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11 https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize	Early Years – Yr6	Various activities and video links to many subjects
www.spellingframe.co.uk	Yr1-Yr6	Some free spelling games
www.primaryresources.co.uk	Yr1-Yr6	A range of activities and worksheets for all subjects
www.teachingideas.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	A range of activities and worksheets for all subjects
www.topmarks.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	Wide range of subjects with lots of interactive online activities and games
www.crickweb.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	Free online education resources and games
www.primaryhomeworkhelp.co.uk/	Yr1-Yr6	Excellent website with a really wide range of subject coverage
www.whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/	Yr1-Yr8	Free resources and learning videos that link directly with our in school maths curriculum
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxW1XT0iEJo0TYlRfn6rYQ	Early Years – Yr6	Body Coach – Online exercise videos to keep you active 9am live daily
https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/	Early Years – Yr6	Free e-readers
https://corbettmathsprimary.com/	Yr1 – Yr6	Free maths resources
https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/teacher-category/primary-resources/	Early Years – Yr6	Lots of geography resources
https://www.tts-group.co.uk/home+learning+activities.html	Early Years – Yr6	Free downloadable home learning activities
http://www.iseemaths.com/home-lessons/	Yr1-Yr6	Daily maths learning
https://www.mathswithmum.com	Yr1-Yr6	Maths videos to help with children’s learning
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj0shfH3pzhrf3dOrSj_pRw	Early years – Yr2	Phonics based video and dancing
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/	0-5years	A government recommended website for Early Years
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/75809/12-world-class-museums-you-can-visit-online	All the family	Virtual Tours of 12 museums around the world
https://www.stem.org.uk/primary-science	Yr1-Yr6	Science activity ideas

Website	Age Range	Content
www.twinkl.co.uk	Early Years – Yr6	Wide range of resources covering the whole curriculum
www.purplemash.co.uk	Yr1 – Yr6	Computing and digital skills – free 14 day trial
https://www.edshed.com/en-gb Spelling Shed & Maths Shed	Yr1-Yr6	Children already have log ins for this. Please use their current usernames and passwords.