The home of the Fox Cubs!
Hello Everyone!!
Hello and welcome to our special page for Nursery, known as the 'Fox Cubs' class! The place where children have lots of fun learning through play!
In Nursery, Miss Harrison is the class teacher, Mrs Rowley, Mrs Tomlinson, Mrs Newton, Miss Teather and Miss Hall are the Early Years Staff who will be working with the children throughout the week.
We want your child to be happy and to enjoy learning so if you have any questions or concerns please come and see us!
Please don't hesitate to get in touch with any question no matter how big or small. Email me at foxcubs@coppice.derbyshire.sch.uk I know this year will be another amazing year in our Fox Cubs class with lots of learning and laughter happening!!
Meet the Fox Cubs Team
Miss K Harrison - Nursery Teacher/ EYFS co-ordinator
Mrs L Rowley - EYFS Practitioner
Mrs D Tomlinson - EYFS Practitioner
Mrs S Newton - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss K Teather - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss A Hall - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Miss S Kean - EYFS Teaching Assistant
Our topic this term is
Splish, splash, splosh!
Here are some ideas to start with and we will continue to add to them as we go through the half term! We base our learning on a book/theme each week linked to our topic. Within this we also follow the principles of 'planning in the moment' which means that the children guide our learning following their interests and so every day is full of surprises!!
Summer Two - Week 1
Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs!
Who are pirates? What do they do? What do they wear? Who are the dinosaur pirates? Why are they are Captain Stubble's ship? How many different dinosaurs can we see? How will the dinosaur pirates move? What does Captain Flinn do to help? How should we behave and help each other?
It is a new term and so a new topic for us to explore and this is our final one of the year! How has that year gone so fast!! We are starting our topic called "Splish, splash, splosh" by learning about pirates! One of our biggest interests this year has been dinosaurs so why not have a book with dinosaurs and pirates in! We are sure everyone will love it! We will look at how we should behave and what we can do to help each other!
In the imagination area we are going to have a pirate ship! Miss Harrison has started to put a few things in this area but she cannot wait until the children are back and we can all work together to build a pirate ship out of lots of boxes! Then we can sail the ship away! Ahoy my maties! We cannot wait to hear what stories the children the children create during our learning about pirates!
This week we are going to make our own pirate hats in the creative station by following visual instructions and using our funky fingers to help us fold the paper! Then we will make some telescopes so we can see lots of things from the ship. As part of this activity we will be using different coloured cellophane so we can explore colour lenses! We wonder which colour will be our favourite one!
Summer Two - Week 2
The Night Pirates
What happens at night when the pirates come out? Where do the pirates travel? How can we programme the Bee Bots to travel across the ocean like the pirates? What could we find on the desert island? What message could we write to put into the bottles to throw into the ocean? Which materials would be the best ones to use to make a new pirate boat? How can we see materials in the dark? How should we look after ourselves? What emotions do we feel?
This week we will be exploring the pirates who travel around at night time! We will be finding out what day time means and how things change at night time. In our circle time the children will share their ideas about what happens at night time and reassure any one who doesn't like the dark. We will begin to look at reflective materials and how these are useful to have in the dark.
During the week we will explore what a desert island is and look at different geographical features that we might find on one. We will then make our own map of a desert island in the funky fingers area to help us practise our scissor skills - what would you include on yours? We will also work together to make a large map on the rug area so that the children can practise using the Bee Bots by programming them to make them travel around the map which we have created!
In the message centre we will be writing messages and put them in the bottles ready to throw into the ocean. What will we write and will they be found?
Summer Two - Week 3
Pirates love underpants!
What treasure did the pirates have in their treasure chest? What treasure is magnetic? How do we know if the treasure is magnetic? Why did the pirates like pants? What different patterns can make on the pants? What did the pirates use their treasure maps for? How could we make treasure maps look old?
This week we are going to be learning through one of our favourite authors, Claire Freedman! We have read other stories by this author in Nursery and cannot wait to read this one - so not only will we have a pirate theme this week we will also have an underpants theme and there will be pants in different areas of the classroom and the outside area as part of our learning. So inside we will be washing the pants in the water world and be designing our own pants using 2D shapes as we print with them. Who could make a repeating pattern using 2D shapes? In the outside area we will be describing where we can find the pants using our positional language vocabulary!
Whilst the pirates in the story like pants as their treasure we will be exploring what other treasure pirates might like such as golden coins and shiny jewellery! In the creative station we will be making a class treasure chest and then make a range of treasure using various collage materials to put in the treasure chest. In the beach area we will be exploring what treasure could be magnetic as we find out what magnets are and how to use them.
We will also be making treasure maps this week using a map of our own EYFS outside area. we will mark where we have hidden treasure and then explore how to make the treasure maps look old by staining the paper with tea bags!
Summer Two - Week 4
Commotion in the ocean
What can we find in the ocean? How are the sea creatures similar/ different? How can we describe the sea creatures? Where are the sea creatures? How can we sort the sea creatures into groups? How do we stay safe near water? What floats or sinks in the water? Where is Gulliver’s Valley? How are we travelling to Gulliver’s Valley? What did we do at Gulliver’s Valley?
This week we will be exploring more closely the ocean with a focus on what sea creatures you could find in the ocean! Through the story of "Commotion in the Ocean" we will look at the different sea creatures and find out how they are described. We will then make our own descriptions of some of the sea creatures firstly orally in our circle time and then using our mark making skills in the message centre. The mark making created will be fastened together to make a big book about sea creatures for our cosy corner reading area! As we look at the sea creatures we will explore how they are similar or different. We will also explore ways that we could sort the sea creatures such as by colour, size or type!
As we explore the sea creatures and look at the ocean we will remember about how to keep safe near water - we learnt about this in our last topic, People who help us! We will explore what floating and sinking means in the water world and seeing if there is a reason why some things float and some things sink!
On Wednesday we have our family trip to Gulliver's Valley and we cannot wait to go on the coach and a brilliant day out exploring Gulliver's Valley and going on lots of different rides!
Summer Two - Week 6
Finding Dory
Who is Dory? Who are her friends? Which sea creatures can we see? What does Dory do? How can we stay safe so we don't get lost? What can we do to help Dory? Who are our family? Why is our family important to us? What races are we doing at our sports day? Which team came first?
This week we will be continuing to explore different sea creatures through the story of 'Finding Dory'! We will see which sea creatures we can identify and describe them using the vocabulary we learnt last week through our story of 'Commotion in the Ocean'! I wonder which sea creatures we will see in the film? We will explore the narrative in 'Finding Dory' and find out more about the character of Dory. We will make a story map to show what happens to her in the film, find out who her friends are and explore what we could do to help Dory! Dory gets lost in the story and in our circle time we will discuss what we can do to keep safe and make sure that we don’t get lost when we are out with our families! We will be learning who is in our own families and why our families are important to us.
We have a busy week this week as on Wednesday it is our transition day in school so all the children who are moving to our Reception class will be going to visit Squirrels class for the morning and to have lunch! For all the children staying with us for another year they will be meeting their new classmates!
Summer Two - Weeks 6 and 7
Lucy and Tom at the Seaside
What is the seaside? What will we find at the seaside? How do we get to the seaside? What did Lucy and Tom do at the seaside? What do we take to the seaside with us? What can we make with the sand? How can we be 'sun safe' at the beach? What foods could we have in our picnic basket?What is our favourite ice cream?
The final weeks of the term will be about exploring the seaside! We will be using the story of "Lucy and Tom at the Seaside" as the stimulus of learning about what happens when we go to the seaside as well as using photographs of our own experiences of going to the seaside (please can parents send photographs to Miss Harrison!).
We will be finding out what features we could see at the seaside and explore what you can do at the seaside such as building sandcastles and splashing in the sea! We will we exploring how we need to be 'sun safe' when we are out in the summer sun, especially at the seaside. Make sure you put on your sun cream, put on a sun hat and cover up when it is sunny!
We will be thinking what we need to pack in our suitcase when we are going on holiday and how this changes depending on where you are travelling to! We will also be learning about what we could take as a picnic to eat on the beach once we have arrived on holiday! What would you put in your picnic basket?
We will be exploring where we can go on holiday to the seaside firstly in this country and then in the wider world. We will be looking at a map of the United Kingdom and looking where we are in Heanor and then where seaside places are in relation to our Nursery. Then we will look further afield and see where else in the world we could go on holiday to the seaside! We will look at how we could travel when going on holidays to the seaside. To help with this we will read a range of stories such as "The Train Ride" and "Mr Grumpy's Motor Car!".
Topic Web
To see the full topic web for this half term please click on the link below
Nursery Summer Two topic plan overview - Splish, Splash, Splosh!
Knowledge Organiser
To see the Knowledge Organiser for this half term please click on the link below
Nursery Summer Two knowledge organiser - Splish, Splash, Splosh!
Nursery Dates
Here are the dates we have so far for this half term. We will continue to add to them as the half term progresses. Also remember to check your weekly newsletter!
Friday 22nd May – Last day of term
Monday 1st June – Nursery/school reopens!
Wednesday 10th June – Fun Run in the afternoon
Thursday 11th June – Stay and play for new Reception intake and their families at 2.00pm
Monday 15th June – INSET day – Nursery and school closed
Wednesday 17th June - New Reception intake to visit in the afternoon
Wednesday 17th June – Induction evening for new Reception intake at 5.00pm
Wednesday 24th June – EYFS at Gulliver’s Valley all day
Thursday 25th June – SEND Coffee Morning in the hall
Thursday 25th June — New Reception cohort to visit 1pm — 3pm
Tuesday 30th June - Fox Cubs Sports Morning at 9.30am
Thursday 2nd July — Whole school transition day
Friday 10th July — Fox Cubs doing the Barnardo’s Toddle to Shipley Park
Monday 13th July — Summer Fair
Friday 17th July — Wednesday 22nd July —Wellbeing week
Wednesday 22nd July — Last day of term
The Early Years Foundation Stage
In Nursery we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which is organised into seven areas of learning. These seven areas are as follows:
PSED - Personal, social, emotional development (developing self confidence and self awareness, making relationships as well as managing behaviour and feelings).
CL - Communication and Language (speaking, listening and understanding)
PD - Physical development (moving and handling as well as health and self care)
LIT - Literacy (reading and writing)
MATHS - Mathematics (numbers, shape, space and measures)
UW - Understanding the World (people and communities, the world and technology)
EAD - Expressive Arts and Design (exploring and using media and materials as well as being imaginative!)
Our School Values
The whole school will focus on the twelve values during the year whereas in Nursery we will focus on four of these values on a regular basis through the year - co-operation, achieving, respectful and enthusiastic. Our first value this term will be Co-operation. We will cover this in all aspects of Nursery and we will be expecting this to be demonstrated to all members of our Coppice community, it is important that even when we move onto a new value, the old one isn’t lost.
Each week on our Nursery newsletter, Miss Harrison will share which value we are working on in Nursery and what you can work on at home. We cannot wait for you to share how your child has demonstrated the values through proud clouds and on Tapestry! We look forward to seeing our children bright and early ready to embrace the new weekly challenges!
Nursery newsletters
We have a weekly newsletter which will keep everyone informed about what we are doing and what we will be learning about in the future. The newsletter will come home every Friday but we will also put a copy here on our web page.
Parent Partnership
We believe in having a good partnership with parents and carers. Together we can help your child to become a happy and successful learner!
Topic Challenges
Challenges for your child to work on with you during the topic. The children will receive a certificate for completing the challenges if they earn 6 or more points:
1 point— Find a book about pirates or the seaside and share it with your friends at Nursery.
2 points — Making a picture or model related to pirates/seaside.
3 points—Creating a postcard with a picture and mark make a message!
4 points—Make a piece of treasure!
Learning journeys
During the last few years we have developed the way that we collect observations about what your child can do during their time in Nursery. Your child will have a gorgeous book called 'My Little Book of Adventures' where we put in evidence of what your child has been learning! As part of this we will be using an app called 'Tapestry' on our iPads to take photographs of your child completing different activities and make notes about what they are doing. One of the best features of this is that we can email you all the evidence we collect! You can also let us know of any 'wow' moments you witness at home. We will be sending home an information letter and permission form for this during the beginning of September!
We also love to hear what your child has achieved at home and so we ask you fill in proud clouds and share them with us!
Proud cloud letter - September 2025
Have a question or concern?
We understand that there are times when you might have a question or concern! We have an open door policy in our school and you are always welcome to come and speak to any member of staff. Alternatively you can ring school on 01773 712840 or email me at kharrison4@ coppice.derbyshire.sch.uk and we will do all we can to help.
Our Nursery
Here is our latest Nursery booklet which contains all the information about our Nursery
Updated version coming soon!
School readiness
Over the year we will be preparing your child for their start in Reception. Is your child ready to start Reception? The following are some of the skills that your child is expected to be able to do as they begin their journey into Reception but remember we have a whole year to prepare them.
Is your child ready for Reception?
Stay and Play sessions
Each term we have a stay and play session so parents, carers and other family member can join us in Nursery to see what we do. The children love showing everyone their classroom and the type of activities we do every day in Nursery. We always end with an activity for both children and adults. This could be a story, a squiggle, a dough disco or a dance! Who knows!! We like to keep it a surprise!!
Our next Stay and play session is Friday 10th July - we are going on a Toddle to Shipley Park!!
Helping at home!
There are lots of things you can do to help your child. Below are some ideas of what you can do which are quick and easy and will help your child consolidate skills we have taught in school. If you would like any help or support please ask any member of EYFS staff. We would be more than happy to help with ideas!
Letters and Sounds
Level 1 Aspect 1 (Environmental Sounds) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Level 1 Aspect 2 (Instrumental Sounds) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Level 1 Aspect 3 (Body percussion) booklet - Ideas for parents to use at home.
Reading
Spend time sharing lots of books together. Practise holding the books the correct way round and turning the pages in order. Encourage your child to talk about the pictures and to support them in making their own stories using the pictures.
Writing
At this stage the children will be making lots of marks using a range of writing tools such as felt tips, pens and paint. Encourage your child to talk about what their marks mean. As your child becomes more confident in holding writing tools support them in writing their names on invitations and cards.
Nursery Always Skills for Writing
Nursery Literacy non-negotiables
Mathematics
Play board games such as 'snakes and ladders' to encourage your child to count spaces to move their counters forwards or backward. When you are walking as the children to count how many foot steps from one place to another and ask the children to identify different numbers they see on doors or buses.
By the end of nursery your child is expected to be able to recite numbers to 5, recognise numerals 1 to 3, count 3 to 4 objects and make marks to represent their counting.
Nursery Always Skills for Mathematics
Nursery Numeracy non-negotiables
Life skills
Encourage your child to put on and fasten their own coat, to put on their own shoes and to get dressed and undress by themselves. Remind them to wash their hands after going to the toilet and before eating a meal. When eating encourage your child to use a knife and fork correctly.
What does the topic “People who help us” mean?