The children and staff at Smarties Nursery, Oban, recently enjoyed two outdoor learning days; one at Ganavan beach and the other at Dunstaffnage Castle. The children had a fantastic time working as a team and exploring the area. At Dunstaffnage Castle, the children found monsters and caves and tree swings. When they returned to nursery the children used their imagination along with photos that they had taken to come up with a fantastic story called “Bears, Monsters, Ponies, Trees and Leaves at Dunstaffnage Castle” Continue reading Smarties Nursery
Category Archives: Early Years
Argyll and Bute – Anti Bullying Policy
Please see below link to the Revised Anti Bullying Policy for your information
Kilmartin Early Level Class Blog
Kilmartin P.S. has been part of the Argyll & Bute Early Level Class pilot for just over a year now and the experience challenge has been one of the best that the school has ever undertaken. To help share the wonderful learning that takes place in the Early Level Class everyday, we have made a blog to help parents and any other interested people understand what the children experience and gain from this method of teaching. Our Early Level Class is made u of three year old children to P.1, with P.2 and P.3 also joining in at Level !. We would be delighted if you left some comments or asked questions!
https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/ab/KilmartinPrimary-EarlyLevelClass/
‘Borrow a Book, Borrow a Bag’
Children at Clyde Cottage Nursery, Dunoon have recently enjoyed their new ‘Borrow a Book’, ‘Borrow a bag’ initiative. The library started off with a small number of books but has grown since, with children bringing their own books in, which widens the choice and allows other children to borrow. The library, which has no stamping in and out process, allows children who don’t always have access to many books, to choose one, put it in one of the borrowed bags, take it home for a few days, enjoy reading it with their parents then bring it back and choose another one. However, if a book has been particularly enjoyed by any of the children, they are allowed to keep it!
Pre Five Mini Olympics
Active Schools Co-ordinator Jillian Gibson and Lorna Cameron, Early Years & Family Support Worker for MAKI, worked together to provide a recent Mini, Mini Olympics project for all pre five children in the Mid Argyll area. Thanks to funding from the local Public Health Network, each pre five unit was offered three free swimming lessons for their four year old children. The lessons were delivered by staff at Mid Argyll Community Pool and were kindly supported by many parents who came along to help. Continuing on from swimming, it was also possible to offer each unit two PE sessions delivered by the local primary PE teachers and Catriona Gunn from Mid Argyll Sports Centre. Continue reading Pre Five Mini Olympics
The Flower Garden at Rothesay Primary Pre-5
Rothesay Primary and Pre-5, along with parents, carers and friends, celebrated the ‘Grand Opening’ of our new outdoor area on Wednesday 3rd October. The area was planned, almost 2 years ago, by our present P2 when they were in the nursery and it has taken a lot of hard work and determination for it to develop into the challenging, exciting and beautiful space it is today. The children decided they wanted a workers area, a secret hide-out, a quiet place, a place to plant flowers and vegetables, a slide and a tunnel, a huge sandpit and lots of music… and a place to find creepy crawlies and to fly with butterflies. Continue reading The Flower Garden at Rothesay Primary Pre-5
Taynuilt Nursery MacMillan Fundraising Coffee Day
Our Myself & My Family end of topic celebration coincided with this years MacMillan Coffee Morning. There was a great variety of cakes, scones and biscuits baked by the children and their parents. Tea, coffee and juice were on offer and everyone enjoyed a fun morning and afternoon. It was well attended and we raised the fantastic sum of £107.
A big thank you to everyone who supported this great cause.
The Cottage Kindergarten wins UK Nursery of the Year award
The Cottage Kindergarten in Helensburgh has been named “Nursery of the Year” in a competition against other nursery schools from across the UK. The prestigious award is sponsored by Nursery World, a respected publication in the nursery and early years sector which is read by over 100,000 education and childcare professionals. The results were announced at a glittering black tie dinner in London on Friday night.
The Kindergarten, based in East Montrose Street, had previously been told it had been shortlisted for the award during the summer and that it was the only Scottish nursery school to make the final shortlist. Continue reading The Cottage Kindergarten wins UK Nursery of the Year award
Fairy Bridge
Strath of Appin Pre 5s and two of our Gaidhlig pupils went on an outing to Fasnacloich in Glen Creran. They went to visit the ‘Fairy Bridge’ …. with a twist.
As the pre 5s interest was learning about dinosaurs, the children had to imagine the bridge looked like something else. Many guessed that it looked like a stegosaurus’ back, and our parent helpers were also impressed with the similarity. We also discovered what ‘fasnacloich’ meant – ‘the tree in the rock’ – as one helper had local historical knowledge, and a bit of Gaelic, and we went to visit the ‘tree in the rock’, (spot the photo!!). The weather wasn’t great, but it didn’t stop us, and we look forward to more outdoor sessions throughout the year. Continue reading Fairy Bridge
Nursery Animals at Lochnell
Lochnell Nursery children took part in an animal parade to visit their friends in Primary 1.
Primary 1’s animal topic concludes in the next 2 weeks and Nursery are about to start their animal investigations so ideas, information and animal songs were shared by all of the children…. Old MacDonald even had a zebra on his farm!
Teaching ‘Capacity’ in Southend Pre-5
Our early years maths has recently been all about ‘capacity’ with the children being encouraged to speak about ‘full’, ’empty’ and everything in between.
Practical activities were reinforced with flashcards and photographs which staff used to assess the children’s understanding.
Early Years Forest School
The children of Kilmodan Pre 5 Unit are making good use of the new outdoor clothing provided by the Early Years Team. On Wednesdays they have been joining P1-P7 on our weekly Forest Schools sessions.
They are learning how to keep safe in the forest, they have been exploring the Dragon Tree and enjoying sipping hot chocolate in our shelter. The children will continue joining our sessions which will help to improve their communication skills, increase their vocabulary and support the development of their social skills
Building bridges between Luing and Easdale Primary Schools
Easdale and Luing school communities are part of the shared head teacher pilot.
The children in the schools both requested an opportunity to work closer with their peer groups. The nursery children took the lead by taking a day out for a Teddy Bears Picnic in the ancient Hazel woods of Kilbrandon that stretch between the two schools. This was followed up with P4-7 joining forces for 3 days away with Stramash taking part in challenging team building activities, forging friendships for future learning opportunities.
These are the first of many steps to work together, learn together and share the two identities of these island schools. Continue reading Building bridges between Luing and Easdale Primary Schools
Bookbug ‘Get Fit’ Olympics Celebration
On Tuesday 12th June, the Oban Bookbug team took over Atlantis Leisure and invited all the local participants to a Bookbug ‘Get Fit’ Olympics Celebration. The session was crammed with active songs and dances featuring the specially penned Olympic Torch song. Everyone took part and there were 65 adults and children in attendance.
Latest national creativity NewsCAST
Please have a look through these latest news items for interesting opportunities/announcements.
Authors Live: Oliver Jeffers
Join us in Celebrating Summer of Song and the Olympic Torch Relay in Scotland with award winning author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers. Oliver’s interactive illustration workshop will guide your pupils through drawing characters from his new series The Hueys as well as an exclusive reading of The Hueys!
14th June 2012 @11am Nursery – P3 Ages 3-7
Register here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/authors-live/oliver-jeffers Continue reading Latest national creativity NewsCAST
NEW! National Creativity NewsCAST.
Please have a look through these latest news items for interesting opportunities/announcements.
National Poetry Day 2012 theme is… STARS
Visit the Scottish Poetry Library website for information about National Poetry Day on Thursday 4 October 2012.
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/learn/librarians/professional-news-resources Continue reading NEW! National Creativity NewsCAST.
Woodland Walks for Southend Pre-5 Unit
The first of our planned Woodland Walks took place this morning in a lovely wood near the school covered in bluebells. The 6 children from Southend Pre-5 Unit with their teachers enjoyed collecting things, playing games, singing songs and using their imaginations in the lovely surroundings. More visits are planned throughout the term. See below for photos……….. Continue reading Woodland Walks for Southend Pre-5 Unit
Oban High Bookbug Sessions 2012
Oban High, Early Years Team, Oban Library and CAST offered Lorn cluster schools and playgroups the chance to take part in the ‘Oban High Book Week’ held in February 2012. CAST offered spaces to pre-school and P1 & P2 children in Bookbug song and storytelling sessions lasting approx 50 mins. During each session we covered 8 songs and two stories delivered by the fabulous visiting storyteller Andy Cannon. CD’s and word sheets of the songs were sent out early January to allow schools to practice before the big day! Continue reading Oban High Bookbug Sessions 2012
