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Cockfosters Nursery Early Years Education Early Years Foundation Stage Enfield Nursery Forest Schools High Scope early years approach Montessori Ofsted outstanding Reggio Emilia

End of Year Celebration!

Another amazing year has gone by here at Alphablocks Nursery School, a year in which we have built on our Outstanding Ofsted results by pushing the boundaries of our early learning provision with innovative projects, for example, through our:

  • Focused Learning Weeks, which included a High Scope Approach week
  • Our “inter-generational project” where we visit a local care home and run joint activities with its residents
  • Dedicated maths workshops, phonics classes, as well as our regular curriculum classes (drama, music & movement, Spanish with Bilingual Beats, etc.)

Our cohort this year, moving on to Primary school, is composed of 12 children who have made exceptional progress in all areas of learning.

To celebrate all their hard work and achievements, we put together a performance entitled “We’re Going on a School Hunt“, directed by Rebekah, our Drama Teacher.

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Books for children Early Years Education Enfield Nursery Ofsted outstanding Pre-School Learning Reading for early years Reggio Emilia

‘Pumpkin Soup’ & ‘Room on the Broom’

We continued this Term with our “Bringing Stories to Life” project, in which children come up with various props to support story-telling, assume responsibilities and become immersed in stories that energise and fascinate them. This is what “active learning” is all about, and it is learning at its best.

Previous instances have included, for example:

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Cockfosters Nursery Early Years Education Early Years STEM Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics Forest Schools Reggio Emilia

What is Autumn? (A child’s perspective)

Today we look back at Autumn and ask: What does Autumn mean for children?

Seasonal changes is a recurring theme which runs through many of our outdoor activities at Alphablocks Nursery School. The children began noticing changes in the weather from the middle of September and talked about it being rainy, or they noticed how the colours of the leaves transformed from deep greens to light yellows, gold, and brown. Warm colours of oranges and reds were to be found later on, during explorations in our sensory garden, our tall trees at the front, or indeed during our Forest School days out.

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Books for children Cockfosters Nursery Early Years Education Early Years Foundation Stage Enfield Nursery Hadley Wood Nursery Pre-School Learning Reading for early years

Ten books to read with your little ones this summer

A. L. Sestier chooses some of the best children’s books to consider for this Summer Term, as an invited guest author. A. L. Sestier is the author of the Peter Perseus series, and can be found on www.annasestier.com, Instagram (a.l.sestier), and Twitter (@ALSestier).

Finding new books to read with your little one can be a challenge. There are so many books out there and it’s difficult to choose a story that will really capture your child’s imagination. As an author and illustrator, I am always on the lookout for interesting reads partnered with colourful and timeless illustrations. I have put together a list of ten books, which are a mixture of new and upcoming releases, that pair sweet and clever stories with beautiful, elegant pictures.

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Cockfosters Nursery Early Years Education Early Years Foundation Stage Early Years STEM Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics Forest Schools Reggio Emilia

Outdoor play opportunities and early learning

Being outside is often the ideal environment for children to learn. An environment where they can explore different textures, natural sounds, their own physical movements, and experience fundamental things like going down a slope or balancing on a wall. The wide-ranging Every Child a Talker (ECaT) study had reported that children were also a lot more communicative and vocal in an outdoor environment. Outdoor play has a positive impact on children’s well-being, as it gives them the freedom to explore and express themselves through a wider range of movements and sounds. Here at Alphablocks Nursery School we are fully aware of the importance of outdoor play and, in this post, we explain how we make the most out of the opportunities it provides.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework underlines the importance of outdoor play in providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive, as well as to develop their movement, control and co-ordination. Outdoor learning helps children develop space awareness and it supports overall physical development, including posture, balance, and muscle development. Even though there is no doubt whatsoever as to these benefits (and many more!) that outdoor play provides, young children don’t spend enough time in outdoor environments, and this sets the scene for their future attitudes in the first classes of primary school.

But what is it that makes the outdoors such an ideal learning environment? For young children, this is because a natural environment is inherently interesting for them, and attractive in a fundamental way, due to its multisensory aspects, where children can use all of their senses and many different skills at once.  It allows them to take risks and observe new things every day like a new sound or the changes in the seasons. At the most basic level, it helps children learn without them even realizing it.