Chessington Lodge

The Junior School Curriculum


Nursery

Nursery and Reception make up the Foundation Stage of your child's education.


In the Nursery, we aim to provide a friendly, happy and secure environment in which the children may settle easily and where learning can take place. The curriculum covers six main areas under the headings of:

  • Communication, Language and Literacy
  • Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
  • Knowledge and Understanding of the World
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Creative Development

All of these areas of learning establish grounding in literacy and numeracy, sociability and self-confidence in a child.


GENERAL INFORMATION

Toys - sometimes we ask children to bring in a toy as part of a topic, or on a special occasion, but generally we do not encourage the children to bring toys into school.

We hope that, by now, each child has a book bag in which to carry school books and letters. It is important that you look in your child's book bag every day to check for new information or notices. It is important to have book bags in school every day.


NOTICEBOARD

There is a class notice board in the Nursery. Please look at this regularly to note any items that may be needed to help with your child's learning or for copies of letters or absence notes.

A summary of the week's activities will be sent home each week.


LITERACY / ENGLISH

Reading

We will ask children to bring in an object to put on the sound table e.g. If the letter of the week is "a" you may send in an apple.

To help your child at home you can:

  1. Use flashcards of letters / sounds
  2. Read comics and books - encouraging your child to tell a story
  3. Use flashcards of words
  4. Encourage your child to point at words in books

Writing

Encourage your child to write independently e.g. letters, cards, shopping, lists, menus, etc. When teaching your child to write their name, it is very important that it has a capital letter at the beginning only.

Library

Our Library day is Friday. Please return books on the Thursday before.


NUMERACY /MATHEMATICS

At this age, children learn more easily through practical experience using various suitable materials, within the home.

To help at home:

  • Encourage your child to be able to recognise colours.
  • Let your child count up to tenten and beyond and recognise numbers themselves.
  • Play number games e.g. Snakes and Ladders, Snap and Ludo. This helps with sequencing.
  • Encourage your child to recognise shapes around them e.g. square, rectangle, circle and triangle.


KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

You can help your child by encouraging them to be aware of the world around them. Help to develop their powers of observation by talking and discussing things of interest.

The Topics we will cover during the year are as follows:

Autumn Term

  • Myself
  • Autumn
  • Christmas

Spring Term

  • Jobs People Do
  • Buildings

Summer Term

  • Healthy Eating
  • Summer


VISITS / SPECIAL OCCASIONS

We will be celebrating Harvest Festival next Wednesday, 23rd September. All gifts of non-perishable food items will decorate the windowsills at the Church before going to worthy causes.

The Chessington Lodge Christmas Celebration will take place on Friday 11th December at 2.00 p.m. in St Mary's Church.

The Christmas Parties will take place on Wednesday 16th December.

Next term, we will be visiting the Polka Theatre on Friday 8th January to see 'Goldilocks' and on Friday 19th March we will see 'Charlie and Lola' at the Polka.

We will give you more details about these events nearer the time.

Please note that during the winter and spring seasons, Nursery children will play outside regardless of the weather. It is a great idea to have a proper raincoat, with a hood, and wellington boots left in school, so that the children may go out and enjoy the variety of weather. Please make sure that all clothes that are brought into school are clearly labelled.


Physical Education

Your children will experience many physical activities during the week. P.E. lesson is on Friday. Please provide your child with a pair of plimsolls/ trainers in a school P.E. bag. This bag should be kept in school as Nursery children have regular practice using the large climbing frame in order to develop their gross motor skills.


If you have any concerns or problems during the year, please do not hesitate to come and see Mrs Leeds or a member of the Nursery staff.