March 6, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Week Beginning: 9th March 2026
Our story of the week is Noah’s Ark by Lucy Cousins.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is The Animals Went in Two by Two. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
February 28, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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The children had the opportunity to develop their numeracy and maths skills using the UHI Early Years Maths Tales Pack, based on the story Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek, which we recently enjoyed reading together at story time.
The STEM resources enabled the children to explore measuring and sorting activities while working collaboratively as a group. Toy animals representing the characters from the book were used for estimating, comparing and ordering by length, height and weight.
‘I think the whale is longer.’
‘Let’s check to see.’
‘I guessed right.’
‘The parrot is the tallest one.’
The children particularly enjoyed using a two-pan balance alongside non-standard units (multilink cubes) to investigate and compare the weight of each toy animal.
‘It’s like a seesaw.’
‘The whale is heavy.’
‘Can you help me count?’
They also used magnifying glasses to closely observe each animal’s features and were excited to be blindfolded while guessing the animal using only their sense of touch.
‘I can see bumps on the whale.’
‘Is it the parrot?’
‘It feels like the puffin.’
The final activity involved using sorting rings to group the animals according to specific characteristics such as wings, webbed feet, beaks and tails.
‘The whale can’t fly.’
‘The puffin has a beak so it goes inside the circle.’
‘Let’s do tails now.’
The Maths Tales Pack is a fantastic resource that supports children in developing and applying a wide range of maths skills through engaging, hands-on learning experiences.
February 28, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Week Beginning: 2nd March 2026
Our story of the week is We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story being read by the author.
Our song of the week is The Bear Went Over the Mountain. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
February 27, 2026
by Mrs Sawkins
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Coin Recognition
The children have been learning all about the different values, colours, shapes and sizes of coins. They have been doing various activities to help develop their knowledge of coins.
Staff introduced children to a coin recognition/sorting game on the interactive whiteboard. The children showed great interest in the game. There were discussions about the colours and shapes of each coin and what we need and use money for.
“Tiny ones is a circle”. “That one is number 1 not 2”. “10 is bigger than 1”! “To buy some stuff”. “My Mammy and Daddy have money”.
The children have been using the coins and crayons to make rubbings of the coins. The children have been developing their fine motor skills. They then moved over to the craft table and discovered they could make rubbing patterns of other items.
Some children were cutting and sticking paper coins and putting them into purses, identifying which value each coin had.
“This one’s 20, no 50”.
Play Dough
The children were keen to help make playdough. They got their aprons on, requesting help when needed using their kind manners. We read out the recipe, the children recognised the numbers and quantities of each ingredient. They took turns to put each ingredient in the bowl whilst staff encouraged independence.
Winter Mind Map
The children drew some pictures on a season mind map. They shared their knowledge of winter and what they liked about winter. A lot of their knowledge was about the weather. We also spoke about other seasons and what they knew and liked about those seasons.
“Rain, winter”. “My hat” (When going outside). “My window, looking outside at the snow. It warm in the window”.
February 20, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Week Beginning: 23rd February 2026
Our story of the week is The Wobblysaurus by Rachel Bright.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is Once There Was a Dinosaur (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star).
Once there was a dinosaur,
And all he did was roar and roar.
He roared high and he roared low,
He roared fast and he roared slow.
Once there was a dinosaur,
And all he did was roar and roar.
February 13, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Week Beginning: 16th February 2026
Our story of the week is Puffin Peter by Petr Horacek.
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Click on the link below to view and listen to the story being read by the author.
Our song of the week is Ten Puffins.
One puffin, two puffins, three puffins swimming
Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins swimming
Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins swimming
Ten puffins swimming in the sea
One puffin, two puffins, three puffins flying
Four puffins, five puffins, six puffins flying
Seven puffins, eight puffins, nine puffins flying
Ten puffins flying in the sky
February 6, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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We were delighted to welcome Eleanor Hutcheon, UHI STEM Outreach Co-ordinator, to the nursery recently. She delivered a series of engaging workshops for the pre-school children in the GP Room. The children developed important skills such as walking in a line with a partner and taking turns to hold doors open while walking through the school on the way to the GP Room.
‘I like going to the school.’
‘My turn to hold the door.’
‘I saw my sister.’
During the workshops, Eleanor introduced the children to Botley, a programmable toy robot. She explained that the children’s challenge was to help Botley move along a route by entering instructions using the arrow keys on a remote control. The children enjoyed working together while taking turns as they explored early computer coding skills.
‘Press the green arrow.’
‘Forwards two, then turn.’
‘Can I press the buttons now?’
‘Playing with Botley is fun.’
The children were eager to create their own routes for Botley to follow, which became more complex as their confidence grew. They also had fun programming Botley to perform different dance moves and sounds while representing certain objects.
‘I want Botley to be a police car.’
‘Let’s make him move like a dinosaur.’
‘A scary ghost.’
It was great to see the children so engaged while developing a range of skills such as positional language, spatial awareness and problem-solving while having fun.
February 5, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Week Beginning: 9th February 2026
Our story of the week is Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae.
Click on the link below to view and listen to the story.
Our song of the week is I’m a Giraffe. Click on the link below to sing along to the song.
February 5, 2026
by Mrs Sawkins
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Galley Shed Visit
We were very lucky to get an invite from the UHA Committee to visit the Galley Shed prior to UHA Day. Children wore their hi-vis vests and used their road safety knowledge to make our way to the Galley Shed. We split into groups and took it in turns to be shown various areas of the Galley Shed. We got to see the galley boat which was almost finished, the children enjoyed discussing the colours and design of the galley and taking turns to be the driver! Children were able to hold the torches which were then used in the UHA procession and watched a video all about previous years which told the story of UHA. Everyone had the opportunity to go into the Committee meeting room and sit in the Jarl’s chair!
“Viking Hammer”. “That me going on da galley ship”. “They holding the torches”. “How are they big and strong”. “In the galley shed”. “That’s the hammer”. “Bang”. “The steering wheel, up the galley boat”.
Up Helly Aa Day
The children have been really engaged whilst learning about Up Helly Aa at Nursery. We got the opportunity to join the rest of our school community to see the visiting Junior and Senior Jarl Squads. The children got involved in singing the Up Helly Aa song, clapping and cheering as they entered the hall. Some of the vikings came to nursery and the children got the chance to explore their suits and get pictures. The children wanted to have their own procession in Nursery, marching and roaring, we got our galley out which the children had decorated and the children threw their torches in to ‘burn’ our galley just like the real one.
“Burning the galley”. “Let’s throw our torches in guys”. “The helmets were really silver”. “In the gym hall”. “See the Vikings”. “Galley last year looked happy not fierce”. “Viking boat in a big fire”. “That Vikings”.
February 1, 2026
by gw09goodladesther@glow
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Nursery Registration
This will take place from Friday 13th to Friday 20th February 2026. Use the link below to register your child.
If your child attends Bell’s Brae Nursery, you do not need to register again. However, if you wish to change your child’s hours for next session, use the link below.
Change of Pattern Form 2026-2027
Primary 1 Enrolment
This will take place from Monday 16th to Friday 20th February 2026. Use the link below to complete the online enrolment form.
Deferred Entry to Primary 1
You may defer your child’s entry to Primary 1 if they have not turned five by 19th August 2026. This is an automatic right to defer. To do this, complete the form using the link below by 15th March 2026.
Placing Request
This must be completed using the link below, no later than 15th March 2026. All requests will be determined by 30th April 2026.
For more information, refer to the Registration Guide for Parents and Carers using the link below.
