As part of Balmullo Primary and Nursery transition arrangements each pre-school child is matched to a Primary 6 pupil who will be their buddy. The older children take great pride in this responsibility helping to guide the younger children in the transition process developing their own leadership skills. They explored the nursery and this week they met their nursery buddies. Information with dates of events is included in the Transition to Nursery booklet which all families have been given. The pre-school nursery children will also visit the playground later in the term accompanied by their Primary 6 buddy and nursery staff. Dates will follow. Nursery children can bring their own small snack to enjoy in the playground.

The children have been helping to develop the garden. They thought that the play shed  needed a spring clean and got stuck in with enthusiastically. Starting with a blank canvas they made thoughtful suggestions for how they would like to develop it.

Brodie suggested.

“I think I’d like books in the playhouse. It’s all dirty and there’s nothing in it!”

Max had an idea about things he could use for learning.

“We could put some measuring tapes  in so we can measure.”

May would like it to be more attractive.

“Glitter and paint to make it sparkly.”

Any help from families to paint the shed to brighten up the inside would be really appreciated by the children.

Responding to the children we have added new resources. Logan suggested we keep the books in a set of shelves to stop them from getting dirty. The shed already looks more inviting with the addition of bunting and pictures. We created a garden library books and renewed the stationery.

The afternoon nursery children were excited to join a whole school event launching The Big Pedal. The nationwide campaign encourages children to travel to nursery and school on bike or scooter for 2 weeks from Monday 20th March to Friday 31st March. The rider demonstrated how he always wore a helmet to keep safe and shared his growth mindset of how he improved his skills through practise and worked towards achieving his goal of enjoying a career in an activity he loved- very inspirational!

Lennon shared his favourite part.

“I liked the big jump – he jumped on the van.”

Logan had an interesting question.

“I wanted to ask why did you need two wheels and gears”.

Maiya noticed. ” He had a helmet so he didn’t hurt himself.”

Malcom developed his experience in the nursery balancing on a scooter.

“Look at my skills!”

We visited the local shop with Guide Dog trainee, Flynn helping him with his training out in the community. While we were on the walk we recognised environmental print and practised our road safety. In the shop we bought a newspaper to learn about events in our community.

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.