We are delighted to announce that after our recent inspection by the Care Inspectorate we have been graded as:

 EXCELLENT for Quality of Care and Support.

This is the highest grade possible!

VERY GOOD for the Quality of our Environment.

The team (past and present) have worked hard on the development of the nursery and are very proud of this result. We look forward to sharing our good practice with other colleagues and nurseries in Fife. We would like to thank all our parents and families who contributed positive comments to the Care Inspectorate questionnaire and to all our families who support the daily life of the nursery.

The report can be viewed at

www.careinspectorate.com

Care Service Name

Balmullo Primary School Nursery

The children have regular opportunities to help bake for snack time. Baking is a great example of how we can deliver the Curriculum for Excellence experiences in a fun, practical way.  The children develop literacy and numeracy skills by following the recipe, weighing and measuring the ingredients. They can take part in discussions of where our food comes from and develop social skills such as turn taking.  They learn about hygiene, managing risk and kitchen safety. The children develop their gross and fine motor skills as they stir the mixture and roll and cut the dough.

Kyle described how he made scones.

“I mixed it. I poured it. We got our hands all messy and cut it.”

Today the children enjoyed a small scone.

Brodie said.”It was delicious.”

The nursery children enjoyed their visit from the Community Police Officers who visited the morning session and returned later for a joint visit with Primary 1 and the nursery afternoon session. The children asked their own questions about what the police do. They tried on the hats and protective jackets and listened to how the equipment is used.

Logan liked Bob.

“Bob is a paper policeman – to lookout for anybody who is going too fast – like a mummy or daddy or granny. You might crash.”

Melissa described the police car.

“Car goes nee-nah, nee-nah. He has flashing lights!”

Lennon said.”They have handcuffs only for bad guys.”

The children all confidently participated in a our family Burns Celebration. They have enjoyed learning Scottish songs and poetry and made up their own dance. The children shared their knowledge of Scots words and enjoyed trying to work out the meaning of new words. Thank you to all the families who were able to attend – the children loved when their families joined in the dancing.

Maiya said. “I liked it when mummy danced with me!”

Connor shared. “I liked the skipping and spinning!”

Emily said her favourite song was “Ally Bally Bee.”

The children enjoyed the opportunity to explore the nursery garden in the snow.

They demonstrated how they are developing co-operation skills, negotiating and sharing independently.

Brodie shared. “I was pulling everyone around on my sledge!”

Toby added. “I was pulling people with Brodie on the sledge – he is a good sharer.”

Maiya and Logan created a snow dog.

Jaisleen used the ice creatively, “I was making a cake. Making sprinkles with the ice.”

Max said. ” I found a worm. They live in the ground.”

Logan asked. “What will happens if its chopped in half?”

May wondered. “Will it turn into a butterfly?”

This initial interest is being developed using the Learning Wall. We discussed with the children what they already know and what they would like to find out about.

The children have made their own Wormery following instructions from the The Wild Life Trust.

The morning and afternoon nursery sessions came together for a traditional Christmas Party  enjoying games, songs and party treats. The children were delighted by a visit from Santa who heard they had been very good and dropped by the nursery with a sack full of presents. Santa enjoyed listening to ‘Jingle Bells’ and their poem ‘Gingerbread man.’ Santa is looking forward to visiting everyone again on Christmas Eve!

The nursery chidren participated in the whole school McTivity Nativity afternoon performance. This was a wonderful opportunity for the nursery children to come together with the rest of the school community. The nursery children performed their song with increasing confidence and were thrilled to be part of the audience and watch the older children perform also.

The nursery children enjoyed sharing their Christmas songs and a poem with their families in the nursery this week. The children have been developing an awareness of different festivals and celebrations throughout the year as part of the Religious and Moral Education curriculum.

The children were able to share their songs in a relaxed environment participating at their own level and stage of development. For some children this is one of their first experiences in front of an audience and it was lovely to see the children the pleasure they had in being part of an event, joining in the actions and songs, developing their confidence, self esteem and resilience.

The children shared their thoughts about the experience afterwards.

Maiya shared. “I liked ‘Away in a Manger’ all about Baby Jesus.”

Many of the children shared comments based on their experience as a family.

May enjoyed performing and shared.

“Mummy took photographs of me singing…Mum and dad liked when I was singing.”

Esmé enjoyed the performance and shared.

” I liked when my mummy was laughing!”

Malcom proudly shared.

“My mum and grandad took a picture… me being a king.”

Some highlights for Freya and Saul were the adults joining in some of the songs.

“I like when all the mum and dads do it too.” Said Freya.

“We singed to mums and dads, and granny and grandads. They sang some of them too!” Said Saul.

The nursery children had the opportunity to make some simple items to sell at the German Christmas Market. The bookmarks, reindeer candy canes, chocolate marshmallows and playdough sold well and we raised a gross total of £33.30. The children were able to develop their knowledge about selling, shops, counting and money handling.