Early Years (Nursery and Reception)

Welcome to our Early Years page! We will provide weekly updates here as well as learning overviews.

For specific curriculum links, support and advice, please use the curriculum tab and choose the Early Years link.  https://www.langho-st-leonards.lancs.sch.uk/learning/curriculum/early-years  

We are a school-led Nursery (Little Lennie's) and a Reception class (Blackbirds) situated next to each other and sharing an outdoor space. 

Our Reception teachers are: Mrs Harris and Miss Thomas.

Our Early Years support staff are: Miss Town, Mrs Shields, Mrs Fenton, Mrs Williams and Miss Whittaker.

 If you are interested in our Little Lennie's Nursery provision for 3 and 4 year-olds, or a Reception class place please contact the school office to arrange a tour. You can contact school on  01254 247156 or either by email at info@langho-st-leonards.lancs.sch.uk 

We would be delighted to show you what our setting can provide your child and family. 

We hope you found our 'Meet the Teacher' information meeting useful. Please see below the information discussed.

30th June 2023

This week Little Lennies have loved the story ‘Farmyard Hullabaloo.’ They have enjoyed learning and talking about farm animals and why we need them. They have used some new vocabulary when describing the farm animals. In phonics they have enjoyed using the story to hear and generate rhyming words. The children have explored clay this week, it is a lot harder than playdough to manipulate but it is so good for finger strength! Plenty of cutting and sticking has also been happening. There was also time to revisit their learning about Eid and they designed some fantastic mehndi patterns on their hands. In Blackbirds the children have enjoyed the story ‘Giraffes can’t dance.’ This led to many discussions about feelings and emotions. Sorting and classification of animals has heavily featured this week and the children learnt many interesting facts about mammals, reptiles, fish, and amphibians. The farm trip also filled the children up with new knowledge. They learnt that deer have antlers that fall off and grow back whereas goats have horns and they do not fall off. Antlers are a bone, and they are covered in velvet. Another interesting fact about goats is that they only have a few teeth at the bottom and no teeth on the top! The children also enjoyed petting the animals and feeding them. We are so proud when taking our children out on trips because their attitude and behaviour is fantastic. Back in the classroom the children were very keen to write and draw pictures about the farm.

23rd June 2023

The highlight of our week in Little Lennies has been their trip to ‘Little Lancashire Village.’ They enjoyed taking on the roles in the different areas. The children did themselves, parents, and school proud as their behaviour was impeccable!  Back in the classroom Little Lennies have enjoyed sharing the story 'Paddington.' They have talked about being lost and about journeys. The children found looking at a globe interesting. They looked at where we live, The United Kingdom and then they looked at where Paddington Bear lived, Peru in South America. Throughout the week the children have been busy making models of Paddington Bear by using cylinders, felts, scissors, and glue. They have enjoyed watching Paddington have marmalade sandwiches with the Queen and then they have then tasted these sandwiches themselves. In Blackbirds class our reception children have enjoyed the story of 'The world came to my place today.’ The children can now talk and write about where some foods and other things that they use come from. They have learnt that a country has a capital letter at the beginning of its name just like we do. They investigated Google Earth by locating The United Kingdom and then they found Australia on the other side of the world. They learnt new vocabulary such as continent, equator, North, South and originate. In the woods the children enjoyed listening to the sounds in our wonderful world and reading some books whilst being surrounded in nature. You can tell the children are getting ready for Year 1 because their ideas and thought processes during their play are blowing us away! A super sports day for all at the end of this brilliant week! 

16th June 2023

Little Lennies have enjoyed sharing the story 'How To Catch A Star.' Throughout the week we have made beach scenes and a collage to represent the story, this involved a variety of finger strengthening activities. During group time we have talked about what makes a good friend and we have thought very carefully about this during our play and learning. In Maths we have been investigating shapes, we have been putting shapes together such as triangles and trying to see if we can make different shapes such as a square or rectangle. In Blackbirds class our Reception children have enjoyed the story of 'Here We Are - Notes For Living On Planet Earth.’ We have made posters to advertise all the wonderful things that Planet Earth has to offer. In the woods we did some tree bark rubbings, and we were amazed with all the different patterns. Number bonds to 10 and double numbers have been a focus in maths this week and we are getting very quick in our recall. We have listened to another piece of classical music, this time it was William Tell Overture. We enjoyed finding the pulse, discussing the pitch and tempo . We used our imagination to try and think what story the music might be trying to tell us. We also learnt that classical music spans the course of hundreds of years and that it is still being composed to this present day. Another great week of learning, even in this hot weather!

9th June 2023

A short but busy week in Blackbirds and Little Lennie's. Our younger children have enjoyed reading the story of 'A Seed in Need.' This has further developed our learning about life cycles and this week we have focussed on plants. We have made a poster to show our understanding of the life cycle of a sunflower. We have planted our own sunflower seeds and learnt that they need air, water and warmth to make them grow. They cannot wait to nurture them and watch them grow. Sunflower painting has been popular in our creative area. In Maths we have been linking numerals to amounts and comparing quantities by using the language more than, fewer than and the same as. In Blackbirds class our Reception children have enjoyed the story of 'The Secret Sky Garden.’ They have designed and written about our own secret garden inside the classroom and in the woodland area. It is wonderful to see their writing getting longer in length and to see the inclusion of more tricky words. In reading squad we have enjoyed the challenge of reading phase 4 books! Subtraction has been a focus in maths this week and we have used number lines to count on from a number to see how many have been taken away. We have enjoyed subtraction games which have included tens frames, dice and cubes. A super first week back after the holidays! 

26th May 2023

Our Little Lennie's children have had a wonderful week, reading the story of 'Oi Frog.' This has supported new learning all about the life cycles of frogs. The children have created their own clay frogs, developing fine motor skills. With the idea of changes in mind, the children have also looked at photos of themselves as babies and compared these with how they now look and have grown. There have been many rhyming words in our story this week which the children have remembered well. Our maths focus has developed the animal theme, enhancing our awareness of how many legs they have and practising our counting skills.

In Blackbirds class our Reception children have used the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' to develop their understanding of life cycles of butterflies. We have learnt new words such as chrysalis and metamorphosis and written sentences to show our knowledge. We have enjoyed getting ready for Year 1, using our new table places whilst still enjoying all our usual play and learning spaces. Our new Maths books have also proved very exciting as we have been learning all about the long and short date as well as practising our number formations. Well done everyone on another fantastic week!

19th May 2023

This week our Little Lennie's children have enjoyed the story of 'Jasper's Beanstalk.' This has led to lots of learning all about growing. The children have created their own model beanstalks using both model making pieces and salt dough. The children have been learning the days of the week as well as taking time to order the story, thinking about simple sequencing. Measures have been explored this week too, thinking about maths words linked to size and ordering from the smallest to the largest beanstalks! In Blackbirds class the Reception children have shared the story of 'Oliver's Vegetables.' This has led to lots of discussion about different foods and healthy eating. The children have reflected on the best ways to keep themselves healthy, including exercising, sleep and bedtimes and brushing their teeth. Our new role-play shop has been an area of enhancement and the children have used their independent counting skills to serve one another. At the end of the week, we all enjoyed welcoming our grown-ups into class to celebrate the learning we have done this year and to have time to stay and play together. Well done everyone on another super week!

12th May 2023

We have had another very busy week in Early Years. In Little Lennie's we have enjoyed the story 'Peace at Last!' and spent time retelling the story using brilliant expression. We have thought about the things we do during each day and at what times of the day we do these things. We have also learnt about houses this week, looking at different kinds of homes and where we live. We have had great fun using technology to create our own homes, supporting our mouse control and awareness of shapes. In Blackbirds class we have read the story of 'Whatever Next!' and built on our prior learning about space, in particular the moon. We have used all the knowledge we gained last week about the King's Coronation to create some amazing pieces of writing this week. We have thought about ways to keep ourselves healthy, including what we eat, exercise, brushing our teeth and getting plenty of sleep. Well done everyone!

5th May 2023

This week in Early Years we have been thinking about the Jolly Postman stories. It has been fun to see what happens in these books and the different kinds of writing they show. We have thought about how letters get from place to place and how nowadays, we have lots of ways to communicate with one another. 

This week Early Years were asked to do a very important job for our school family - lead our school Coronation celebrations. We taught the rest of school all about this special occasion, sang beautifully, made flags, crowns and acted out our own ceremony, finishing with a tea party afterwards with delicious cake! We have achieved a lot in just four days - well done everyone!

28th April 2023

This week our early years children have been enjoying learning through the stories of 'Zog' and 'Zog and the Flying Doctors.'

In Little Lennie's we have made our own Zog dragons using bubble wrap to print and support our developing creative talents. We have also designed our own 3D castles with a variety of model making boxes. Our learning has also remembered St George and we have had fun making our own flags.

In Blackbird's the children were keen to extend their prior knowledge about those people who help us, looking in more depth at medicines, how to keep ourselves well and what vaccinations are. Other learning this week has built on our artistic talents, working in the style of the painter Kandinsky and producing some carefully planned and independent creations - we can't wait to see these displayed in school! Our classroom also had some baby dinosaur visitors this week as we continued to develop our stamina for writing - sharing the story 'Giganotosaurus' and creating our own dinosaurs to write about. 

A very wonderful and busy week for all!

21st April 2023

 This week in Early Years we have been very busy!

In Little Lennie's we have shared the story of 'Kipper's Toybox.' Kipper has six toys and so we have enjoyed counting lots of things and thinking about the number six. We have done some wonderful mathematical mark making as well as creating our own self-portraits. We have loved developing our language skills through talking about this week's story.

In Blackbirds we have read the story 'One is a Snail, Ten in a Crab.' This has supported our growing understanding of numbers and we have linked this to our knowledge of creatures - sorting and classifying. We have been keen to learn more about Ramadan and enjoyed finding out about this time of the year from a special visitor. We have been developing our artistic talents, experimenting with colours as we paint, as well as enhancing our fine motor skills through our own Mehndi designs and spiral snail shell patterns.

We all enjoyed the 'Hop, Skip and Jump' event to raise money for East Lancashire Hospice. Well done everyone!

31st March 2023

This week our early years children have been very busy learning all about the Easter. Both classes have listened to the Easter story. Little Lennies visited our Church and they enjoyed acting out the story. They made palm leaves and waved them high as Jesus rode through the town. They had a yummy treat of tasting Hot Cross Buns as they acted out the last supper. Both classes worked extremely hard to make Easter gardens; they explored our outdoor area and found natural objects to make crosses, tombs and plantation; some great imagination skills shown! Other Easter crafts have also featured heavily. Blackbirds have had a lovely time when sharing our phonics learning with our families. Both classes are definitely ready for a well-earned School Easter holiday! 

24th March 2023

This week our early years children have been very busy learning all about the ocean. In Little Lennie's we have read ‘Rainbow Fish’ and in Blackbirds, we have read ‘Tiddler.' Our younger children have used non-fiction books and the internet to find out about what lives in the sea whilst our older children have been learning some facts about the different life forms under the sea. Both classes have been thinking hard about our pupil promises. Little Lennies have explored our yellow pupil promise; being kind and looking after others, this involved talking about what makes a good friend. Blackbirds have explored our green pupil promise; being honest and respectful. Little Lennies have used their fine motor skills to make under the sea creations, these involved weaving, cutting and mixing different colours of paint. Maths learning in Blackbirds has been 3D shapes and clocks, we have looked at the hour hand. The children in Blackbirds have loved their bike ability sessions; it has been wonderful to see the progress in their skills across the three days. Many discussions about Spring in both classes. Another marvellous week of learning!

17th March 2023

This week our stories have focussed on friendship.  In Little Lennie's our story has been ‘The Smeds and the Smoos’ and we have talked about friendly and unfriendly behaviour. In Blackbirds our story has been ‘Coming to England’ and we have talked about the importance in keeping our pupil promises of being kind and looking after others and about being honest and respectful. We have explored what makes a good friend and we have thought about how others might feel and how we might help in different situations. In Little Lennies we have continued our learning about space. We have used our fine motor skills to make junk model rockets and sock puppet aliens. We have also enjoyed some Alien toast! We have been fascinated in the growth of our bulbs and this has led onto some spring learning. Some wonderful blossom tree pictures have been created. In Blackbirds, we have been learning about some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries. We have researched some British landmarks, The Royal Family and some flags. We have tried to make some flags and landmarks in provision. This involved lots of mathematical shape learning; we have talked about the properties of and used 2D and 3D shapes. Both classes have enjoyed science week. Little Lennies have investigated the mixing of colours, our sense of smell and the classification of animals whilst Blackbirds have investigated connections of people in our world. Another busy and fabulous week!  

10th March 2023

This week our early years children have been very busy learning all about space and the solar system! In Little Lennie's we have read ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and in Blackbirds, we have read ‘Q Pootle 5.' Our younger children have used non-fiction books to find out about astronauts and our older children have used non-fiction books to find out about the solar system. Little Lennies have enjoyed making aliens out of natural resources in the woods, playdough and shapes. Blackbirds have used their creative skills to make rockets. Both classes have talked about emotions and we have enjoyed some well-deserved meditation. Song and dance has also featured heavily. Little Lennies have enjoyed moving their bodies to different pieces of music and Blackbirds have listened and responded to the classical music ‘Mars’ by Holst. Another week of fabulous learning!

3rd March 2023

This week our early years children have been very busy learning all about Africa! In Little Lennie's we have read ‘Handa’s Hen’ and in Blackbirds, we have read ‘Anna Hibiscus’s song.' These stories have supported Geography learning across the phase. Our younger children have located Africa on a map/globe and our older children have focused on the following climate zones: Rainforest, Savannah and the desert. We have enjoyed listening to and moving our bodies to traditional African music. It was lovely to see so many children dressed up for World Book Day, these costumes really did ignite some great imagination into their play and learning. What a great week! 

25th February 2023

It has been lovely to see so many happy and eager children returning to class after the half term holiday. This week our early years children have been very busy! In Little Lennie's we have read ‘The Gingerbread Man’ and in Reception, we have read the bible story ‘The Feeding of the 5000.' These stories have supported scientific learning across the phases in looking at the changes that occur during the baking process. Our younger children have enjoyed baking Gingerbread Men and pancakes and our older children have enjoyed baking bread. We have developed our fine motor skills by painting gingerbread men and by designing, cutting, wrapping and sticking in order to make some boats. Some of us have spotted the bulbs that have started to grow in the pots outside and we are looking forward to developing our garden area as we approach Spring!

10th February 2023

This week our early years children have been very busy! In Little Lennie's we have read and re-read the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' and in Reception, we have explored a twist on this traditional tale through 'Jack and the Baked Beanstalk.' These stories have supported learning across the phases involving emotions - noticing how we feel, understanding our emotions and recognising these in others. We have enjoyed planting seeds and beans - looking at what is needed to grow and also thinking carefully about the time it takes for things to grow. We have developed out fine motor skills by cutting, sticking and forming beanstalks in a variety of ways. This has in turn, helped us to develop a sustained understanding of size language and then how we can explore size further by ordering and making comparisons. As always, we have thought each day about our Pupil Promises and how we can show these to always be the best we can be! We are ready for a lovely rest during half-term and look forward to being together again soon. Well done everyone!

3rd February 2023

This week in Early Years our Little Lennie's children have been learning through the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt.' The children have been very creative and have made binoculars and a story map, showing the journey the characters took in the book. The children have made sea and beach scenes and used our real woods to go on their very own bear hunt - focusing upon counting and how many bears they could find! In Blackbirds class, our Reception children have read the story of 'Where's my Teddy?' They have used the outdoor classroom to hunt for rhyming words and think about rhyming strings. They have used natural pieces to create artwork inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. The mapwork the children completed, developed their writing skills as they labelled parts of their maps and understood their meaning. During circle time, we have thought about different emotions as well as develop our vocabulary linked to sizes and ordering. Another very busy and happy week - well done everyone!

27th January 2023

This week the youngest of our school family have been learning all about China and Chinese New Year. Our Nursery children have read the story about the Chinese Zodiac - ‘The Great Race’. They have had great fun retelling the story using small world creatures and materials. They have also been developing their turn taking skills, playing games and creating some wonderful red themed collages, thinking about how red is a lucky colour in China. In Reception, we read the story of ‘The Magic Paintbrush’ to help us learn about different cultures and to develop our artistic talents. We have decorated our home corner spaces to celebrate the new year, made Chinese lanterns and even tried to do some Chinese writing. We have learnt about how different animals represent different years and even scored full marks on a Chinese New Year quiz! Lots of wonderful learning as always - well done everyone!

20th January 2023

This week our early years children have been thinking about lost things! In Little Lennie's our Nursery children have learnt from the story of the lost coin. They went to church to hunt for lost coins and re-enact parts of the story and they have been using their observational skills to notice the differences between different coins.

The children have also created some coin repeating patterns. They have talked about how each one of us are different and how special this is. In Reception, our Blackbirds children have read the story of the lost sheep. They have discussed ways in which we can keep ourselves safe from getting lost - linking our thoughts to our Pupil Promise number one. We learnt about the words people use when herding sheep using sheepdogs. This week has also been a very musical week - we began the week moving to beats and rhythms, moved onto played the Glockenspeils and ended our week with our first Ocarina lesson! Such fun as always with lots of new knowledge. Well done everyone!

13th January 2023

This week our Early Years children have been reading two books, both with the same title but by different authors!  'One Snowy Night' in Little Lennie's has led to lots of learning involving thinking about where animals live. The  animals in the story were very cold and as part of our seasonal learning, the children have considered the kinds of  clothes they wear in winter and how these compare to clothes for the summer. In Reception, 'One Snowy Night'  supported the children's learning relating to hedgehogs and hibernating animals. They were interested to further  their learning by asking questions and finding out the answers. The children carefully looked to see where they  thought animal may be hibernating in our woodland classroom. We are also developing our knowledge of other  cultures, listening to African music and making our own instruments in our outdoor classroom! What a busy and  exciting week - well done everyone!

16th December 2022

Our final week for EYFS in school before the Christmas holidays has been another busy one! We have listened to Christmas music and accompanied it by playing along with musical instruments and by moving rhythmically. During our music sessions we have been learning about the Pulse – steady beat, rhythm – long and short sounds that happen over the pulse and pitch – high and low sounds. 

We have enjoyed making Christmas cards in the craft and writing areas and we have learnt about the joy in giving. We have talked about our emotions and talked about times when we have been excited, happy, scared or worried. In Blackbirds we have thought about different words to broaden our understanding of how we feel. Disappointed, anxious, and concerned were new words that we discussed. The countdown is definitely on for Christmas day, how many more sleeps is it? 

9th December 2022

The children really did put on a great performance in our Nativity at the start of the week! Fantastic singing and actions from all and such clear voices from the children with speaking parts. We could not have been any prouder! The Christmas Story and The Christmas Promise have been the books that we have shared this week. Little Lennies have been listening to and joining in with the actions in the story and they have helped to make a story map to retell the story. They have enjoyed making Nativity scenes and other Christmas crafts by using scissors to snip or cut. In the hall they have used mats, benches and boxes to act out Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, they had to climb over, through and around things. In Maths they have compared lengths of tinsel, some were longer than others and some were shorter than others. Pattern hunting on Christmas crackers has also featured in this week's learning.

In Blackbirds, we have some interior designers for the future! The children have helped to change and restyle some of our play spaces. They have enjoyed retelling the Christmas story in our role play stable and in our small world area. We have looked at the characters in the story and talked about how they might feel. The children then thought about how they feel in different situations. The new book corner has been very popular with the children, they have enjoyed sharing some of the books that Father Christmas gave us last week. In Phonics we have been reading longer sentences that have had several tricky words in them. 1 more and 1 less has been our Maths learning this week.

2nd December 2022

It's been another busy, productive and enjoyable week in Early Years. ‘Traditional Stories’ has been our focus. The Three Little Pigs for Little Lennies and The Three Billy Goats Gruff for Blackbirds. We have enjoyed listening to the stories, retelling them and acting them out. Vocabulary has featured again in our learning, we have discussed alternative words throughout our reads. The final touches to our Nativity show have been made and we are sure you will be amazed when you see and hear our beautiful singing and actions. 

25th November 2022

What an amazing time we have had in our Early Years phase this week! Our learning has centred on how people in our communities help us to keep safe. We have been so lucky to learn about the skills of these services through a range of visitors this week. We have enjoyed learning new words that are relevant to each profession as well as developing our questioning skills to find out more. What an excellent way to enhance our learning in school. We will be using our new knowledge in our play provision over the coming weeks. Well done everyone - such successful learners!

18th November 2022

There has been an Autumn theme to our stories this week in EYFS. Little Lennies have enjoyed the story of Leaf Man and Blackbirds have enjoyed the story of Fletcher and the Falling Leaves.  

In Little Lennies we have enjoyed our welly walk to the woods. We looked for different shaped leaves to explore printing and we created our own leaf person and animals! We collected different sized sticks and used other suitable materials to make our own windchimes. We can’t wait to listen to them when we have a windy day. Our number of the week in maths has been number 6 and we have looked at repeating patterns.  

In Blackbirds, we have revisited our learning about Autumn and other seasons. We have enjoyed working in pairs whilst in the woods to complete a nature hunt. Creation station has been a busy part of the classroom with children making Fletcher the Fox. During phonics and reading squad we have been introduced to capital letters, we are learning that they have the same sound as the lower-case grapheme. In maths we have investigated circles and triangles and positional language. During continuous provision the children cannot get enough of reading and writing, so many are acting out teachers and encouraging each other to read and write! 

Both Little Lennies and Blackbirds have enjoyed spending more time together this week as we have been learning new songs for our Nativity. Watch this Space!

11th November 2022

This week Little Lennies have been enjoying the story of Daniel and the Lions and Blackbirds have been enjoying the story of David and Goliath. In Little Lennies, we enjoyed listening to our story from the Bible, we talked about who God was and we drew a picture to show others what we thought God looked like. In Maths we have been talking about animal patterns and looking for other patterns around school. We have been comparing different members of the cat family, domestic cats, leopards, tigers and lions. We have noticed that the wild cats have big teeth; this led us on to discussions about our own teeth. We have learnt how to keep our teeth healthy and how to brush them correctly. We have enjoyed using our imagination in playing with small world animals and we have made our own lion masks!

In Blackbirds, we have used the story of David and Goliath to continue our learning of 1 more and 1 less/fewer. We have used rocks, cubes, numicon, 5 frames and other resources to help us in this learning. We have enjoyed our woodland learning this week; we found sticks, stones and leaves and created our own repeating patterns. In phonics, we have learnt v,w,x,y. We are reading longer sentences during these lessons; many of them had six words in them! We have also talked about times when we have had to be brave like David and how we could make Goliath be a better person.

Both Little Lennies and Blackbirds have learnt about Remembrance Day, we have talked about the importance of why it is important to remember on this day. We have made poppies using a range of skills and techniques. 

4th November 2022

This week Little Lennies have been enjoying the story of Mouse Paint and Blackbirds have been enjoying the story of Mouse Count.

In Nursery, we have enjoyed learning and performing a poem about mice, we used our words and actions. Our learning has focused on colours, in particularly looking at and talking about the changes that occur when colours are mixed together. We have made some wonderful firework paintings, breadstick sparklers, rockets and 2d and 3d shape pictures.

In Blackbirds, we have been using non-fiction books to find out more information about mice and snakes. We have looked at the patterns on snakes and used cubes and markers to create our own repeating patterns of snakes. We have acted out the story using the mathematical language of 1 more and 1 less. Length has also been a focus this week; we have compared long and short ribbon snakes. We have also enjoyed using our imagination to make up group stories based on a jungle theme. In phonics, we have learnt some more digraphs, two letters one sound.

Both Little Lennies and Blackbirds have learnt about firework safety in preparation for Bonfire night.