Our News Blog
Chalkwell Beach 2024
For our end of term trip we had a family visit to Chalkwell Beach. We travelled with our families and friends by bus, tube and train to the beach. We were lucky as the tide was in during our visit and we had lots of space to paddle, play in the waves and investigate the shoreline. We found shells, crabs, pebbles and seaweed. Although it rained we braved the British weather and ate our packed lunches on the beach and in the shelter. We were worn out by the end of the day but we had made lots of lovely memories.
Chick Hatching
We had a very special delivery of 10 eggs at Nursery. We had to keep them warm in an incubator. The next morning 10 fluffy chicks had hatched. When they had dried out, we put them in the brooder to keep them safe. The following week, the chicks were strong enough for us to touch and hold them with our gentle hands. The children showed how caring they were, while they carefully held the chicks in their hands.
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Healthy Bodies, Healthy minds- an Edith Kerrison Curriculum Day
At Edith Kerrison Nursery School and Children’s Centre we value learning and recognise that children learn best when they are healthy and happy.
Healthy bodies and healthy minds are achieved by teaching children how to eat healthily, exercise regularly and develop a sense of well-being, confidence and self-esteem.
This will give them the best possible chance to succeed in school, academically and socially.
Our families were invited to join our Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Event. They took part in a range of fun activities; in the Nature Garden we planted using recyclable materials, on the tarmac we had a super active football coaching session with Frank. We received a free tooth brushing kit when we practiced brushing our teeth. To develop muscles and early writing skills we worked with playdough and used our creative skills in a 'Dance-Write' session. We practiced sorting healthy and unhealthy foods and made a delicious fruit salad.
Our event ended with a wonderful circle time in the garden. The smiles on everyone's faces showed how happy and healthy our families are.
Thanks to all our amazing families who came along to support their children, we hope you had a great day.
Healthy bodies and healthy minds are achieved by teaching children how to eat healthily, exercise regularly and develop a sense of well-being, confidence and self-esteem.
This will give them the best possible chance to succeed in school, academically and socially.
Our families were invited to join our Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Event. They took part in a range of fun activities; in the Nature Garden we planted using recyclable materials, on the tarmac we had a super active football coaching session with Frank. We received a free tooth brushing kit when we practiced brushing our teeth. To develop muscles and early writing skills we worked with playdough and used our creative skills in a 'Dance-Write' session. We practiced sorting healthy and unhealthy foods and made a delicious fruit salad.
Our event ended with a wonderful circle time in the garden. The smiles on everyone's faces showed how happy and healthy our families are.
Thanks to all our amazing families who came along to support their children, we hope you had a great day.
Family Fun With Books
Our families have been working on a story telling project with The Book Trust. Each week we explore a book together, sing some songs and work on activity with our adults. To support our interest in the weekly story there have been special videos and learning activities to do at home. We are collecting all our activities together in a special book which we get to keep at the end of our project. We also get to let the Book Trust know which was our favourite story.
We think our adults are amazing, it was so lovely playing the balloon game and making our monster masks. When we work together we really are a creative bunch. We are looking forward to a special celebration at Custom House library at the end of our project. Watch out for emails and texts from the nursery to see when the next project begins!
Joanna and Rez would like to thank our awesome families for all their hard work at home and in the nursery to make sure the project is such a great success for our children.
We think our adults are amazing, it was so lovely playing the balloon game and making our monster masks. When we work together we really are a creative bunch. We are looking forward to a special celebration at Custom House library at the end of our project. Watch out for emails and texts from the nursery to see when the next project begins!
Joanna and Rez would like to thank our awesome families for all their hard work at home and in the nursery to make sure the project is such a great success for our children.
Library Visit
In the beginning of December we visited Custom House Library. We had a great time sharing a funny story and singing songs with the team from the library. Best of all we got our library cards, now we can borrow books to share at home. The library has such a wonderful selection to choose from and it's all free!
If you would like a library card, speak to Joanna or a class teacher and we will organise a card for you. Alternatively you can visit the library where their lovely staff will be able to help you.
The library offers lots of services for families, including holiday films and craft sessions, it is also a 'Heat Haven' during the cold weather. You can go inside and read a book or newspaper in the warm reading rooms. All are welcome.
Use the link below to see all the services our Newham provide
https://libraries.newham.gov.uk/events/category
If you would like a library card, speak to Joanna or a class teacher and we will organise a card for you. Alternatively you can visit the library where their lovely staff will be able to help you.
The library offers lots of services for families, including holiday films and craft sessions, it is also a 'Heat Haven' during the cold weather. You can go inside and read a book or newspaper in the warm reading rooms. All are welcome.
Use the link below to see all the services our Newham provide
https://libraries.newham.gov.uk/events/category
Nursery Rhyme Week
On 13th-17th November we held our annual Nursery Rhyme week. During the week our activities and learning was based around our special songs, this included; Incy Wincy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I can sing a rainbow, Five Currant Buns in a Bakers Shop and The Wheels on the Bus. Nursery staff shared videos of the songs on our 'Learning Journals' so that you can sing along at home.
Our activities in school included making twinkling stars, constructing our own buses and taking journeys, as well as selling buns in our role play bakers shops.
At home we made posters of our favourite songs with our families. Look at our wonderful gallery of art work below.
Our activities in school included making twinkling stars, constructing our own buses and taking journeys, as well as selling buns in our role play bakers shops.
At home we made posters of our favourite songs with our families. Look at our wonderful gallery of art work below.
World Book Day 2023
On Friday March 3rd we celebrated World Book Day by dressing as our favourite book characters! Can you guess who we are?
Bananas about Books- our Bookstart project
6-10 February 2023- This week we have been working with the wonderful team at Custom House Library to launch the BookTrust's Bookstart book pack. All 3 and 4 year olds have been gifted a gift pack which includes the fabulous book "One Banana, Two Bananas." Our Two year olds will be receiving their 'Where are the yellow chicks Spot' book after half term.
During the week we had lots of banana based fun, including baking banana muffins, making banana milkshake and dressing up in bright colours so that we looked like a fruit salad. We took our own copy of the recipe so that we can bake banana muffins at home.
All families were invited to join us for library visits where Maria and Sabiya read and sang with us. We received our very own library cards and now we can borrow up to 20 books at a time!
On Friday we all took our book packs home and we are looking forward to sharing them with our families!
If you would like to join the library please see Joanna and she will arrange for a library card for you.
If you would like to hear 'One Banana, Two Banana' or print a copy of the banana muffin recipe please log on to your child's Tapestry account.
During the week we had lots of banana based fun, including baking banana muffins, making banana milkshake and dressing up in bright colours so that we looked like a fruit salad. We took our own copy of the recipe so that we can bake banana muffins at home.
All families were invited to join us for library visits where Maria and Sabiya read and sang with us. We received our very own library cards and now we can borrow up to 20 books at a time!
On Friday we all took our book packs home and we are looking forward to sharing them with our families!
If you would like to join the library please see Joanna and she will arrange for a library card for you.
If you would like to hear 'One Banana, Two Banana' or print a copy of the banana muffin recipe please log on to your child's Tapestry account.
Peel, chop, mash, blend bananas- Go Bananas!
Making banana muffins
Christmas visit to Custom House Library
On December 12th & 13th we visited Custom House Library for a Christmas story time session. It was very cold and snowy so we had to wrap up warm for our walk through the park. We were met with a wonderful warm welcome at the library by Deborah, Sabiya and Maria. The children's room looked wonderful with it's Christmas decorations, displays of all the lovely events that happen there and best of all lots and lots of books!
We had a Christmas sing-a-long and two stories about Christmas Elves, in the first book the Elves were hiding but we were excellent at finding them, in our second story we had to make sure we got on the good list and didn't let the cheeky Elf trick us into being rude- luckily we know lots about making good choices and we all got on the good list!
It was so lovely to attend with our families and little brothers and sisters and finding out that we can join the library and borrow lots books for free- please contact the library or speak to a member of nursery staff if you are interested in becoming a member. Here is a handy link with information about the library and the services it provides;
https://uat-www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/Canning-Town-Library.aspx
We had a Christmas sing-a-long and two stories about Christmas Elves, in the first book the Elves were hiding but we were excellent at finding them, in our second story we had to make sure we got on the good list and didn't let the cheeky Elf trick us into being rude- luckily we know lots about making good choices and we all got on the good list!
It was so lovely to attend with our families and little brothers and sisters and finding out that we can join the library and borrow lots books for free- please contact the library or speak to a member of nursery staff if you are interested in becoming a member. Here is a handy link with information about the library and the services it provides;
https://uat-www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/ServiceChild/Canning-Town-Library.aspx
Nursery Rhyme Week
14th -18th of November was our Nursery Rhyme week. Through the week we did lots of activities linked to our special songs. We colour mixed to I can Sing a rainbow, made spider webs and lowered Incy Wincy down the spout, role played driving our 'Wheels on the bus' travelling to lots of different places, there was lots of jumping and counting with our speckled frogs. We had a great time.
On Friday we linked our celebrations to Children in need and dressed up as our favourite song, there were sleeping bunnies, twinkly stars, bus drivers, fish, spiders and lots more.
At home we designed posters with our families, linked to our favourite song. Please see our amazing designs, can you guess our favourite songs? .
On Friday we linked our celebrations to Children in need and dressed up as our favourite song, there were sleeping bunnies, twinkly stars, bus drivers, fish, spiders and lots more.
At home we designed posters with our families, linked to our favourite song. Please see our amazing designs, can you guess our favourite songs? .
Musical Extravaganza!
September 2022
We are delighted to have Debbie a teacher from Newham Music School visiting us every Thursday to enhance our exceptional curriculum for music. This week the children enjoyed exploring and creating sound effects to our story of the week 'Peace at last'
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Chalkwell Beach Visit
July 2022
We visited Chalkwell Beach over three days for our end of term Educational visit. We travelled with our families and friends by bus, tube and train to the beach. We were lucky to have lovely weather to explore the beach, paddle in the pool and eat our lunch. There were sand castles to make, jelly fish to hold, crabs to find and lots of splashing. We were worn out by the end of the day but we had made lots of lovely memories.
Zoolab visit
May 2022
We have had some very interesting and unusual animals come to visit us at Edith Kerrison! Phillip from Zoolab came to see us and brought some friends for us to look at and touch. First we saw a giant land snail called Turbo. Phillip told us that snails eyes are at the end of their antennae! We touched Turbo's shell and we pretended to be a snail with a muscly foot, slithering around and then hiding in our shell when birds were near. Then we saw a tarantula spider called Rosy - we couldn't touch Rosy as their hairs can make us itchy, but we looked closely and saw how she moved with her 8 legs. Next was a gecko called Echo - we had to be very quiet so we didn't scare them, and we touched their soft tail. Then Phillip showed us one of his favourite animals, a big cockroach called Mike. Do you know, cockroaches have 2 brains; one in their head and one in their body! We could stroke Mike the cockroach and he felt very hard. This is because their bones are on the outside of their body, which is called an exoskeleton - the same as the woodlice in our garden! Then we met a scorpion called Danger - we couldn't touch them because they can pinch you with their claws and have a sting in their tail, but we saw how they glowed in the ultraviolet light! And last, but not least, was a beautiful snake called Slinky - she had wonderful markings that looked like a checked chess board and we could all feel them - she wasn't slimy at all! We have been talking about the animals ever since and representing our experiences in our play, our mark making and linking the experiences to our story of the week - The Very Busy Spider.
The Chicks
April 2022
April 2022
We had wonderful surprise when some eggs arrived in an incubator.
We had to think hard to predict what might hatch from the eggs- we had some different ideas; Rosen thought it might be a dinosaur and Alexander hoped it would be snakes, he used the encyclopedia to research snake eggs, he found that other reptiles such as crocodiles also hatch from eggs.
Many of us predicted the eggs would hatch into chicks, we didn't have to wait long before eight fluffy chicks emerged.
We had to think hard to predict what might hatch from the eggs- we had some different ideas; Rosen thought it might be a dinosaur and Alexander hoped it would be snakes, he used the encyclopedia to research snake eggs, he found that other reptiles such as crocodiles also hatch from eggs.
Many of us predicted the eggs would hatch into chicks, we didn't have to wait long before eight fluffy chicks emerged.
We had to care for the chicks, it was important to keep them warm, feed them and give them water every day. We had to handle them very carefully.
This was a wonderful real-life experience for us all, the awe and wonder in our faces and reactions was amazing, the communication, concentration and care we demonstrated was exceptional. The chicks have gone back to the farm now but we still talk about them everyday.
This was a wonderful real-life experience for us all, the awe and wonder in our faces and reactions was amazing, the communication, concentration and care we demonstrated was exceptional. The chicks have gone back to the farm now but we still talk about them everyday.
Educational Visits
April 2022
We are really enjoying our 5-week educational visits programme that takes place every Wednesday. During our programme children visit Emirates cable cars, Mudchute Farm, Thames barrier Park, Wanstead Park and The Natural History Museum. Our visits have been a great opportunity for children to increase their familiarity, knowledge and sense of the world around them enriching and widening their vocabulary. We travel by bus, DLR and train. We look forward to more visits this term!
Celebrating Maths
We have been celebrating maths at Edith Kerrison! We gave a parent workshop on everyday maths; this workshop showed our families the maths strategies we use at our school and gave ideas of activities and ways to incorporate maths into their child’s everyday routines. We also have been taking part in staff maths training, exploring the new EYFS development matters curriculum and revisiting the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of our maths approach at Edith Kerrison.
At Edith Kerrison, we believe maths is EVERYWHERE! Children explore mathematical concepts through our curriculum activities and within their self-directed play all the time. Recently we have been exploring shape, pattern and quantity using natural resources in our garden, been busy measuring the plants we are growing, and playing number games such as ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’ where we used our fingers to show the time and counted our steps.
At Edith Kerrison, we believe maths is EVERYWHERE! Children explore mathematical concepts through our curriculum activities and within their self-directed play all the time. Recently we have been exploring shape, pattern and quantity using natural resources in our garden, been busy measuring the plants we are growing, and playing number games such as ‘What’s the time Mr. Wolf?’ where we used our fingers to show the time and counted our steps.
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March 22 Core book Coffee Morning
We held our first post pandemic coffee morning, our families were invited along for a coffee and chat. Joanna introduced our wonderful selection of new core books which the children will be reading and exploring. Thank you to all the families who were able to attend, it was great to talk and get your feedback- your thoughts and ideas are always invaluable in helping us work together.
Children at our nursery enjoyed a music enrichment day this term. Frank who is a professional musician showed children how to play a keyboard, bass guitar, bongo drums and the children were able to add lyrics to the music. Children gained new skills by trying out different musical instruments and danced to the tunes they created. This was such an exciting day for the children further developing their understanding of music so we have decided to continue with music enrichment days once every half term.
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Our Sensory RoomOur sensory room is a therapeutic space with a variety of equipment that provides children with personalised sensory input. The Sensory room helps to calm children who find the busy nursery environment at times overwhelming. The Sensory room facilitates interaction, play and physical development.
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Dance and Movement
We are very excited to be working with Louise Klarnett our resident Dance Artist & Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist one day a week. Louise uses dance and movement to develop children’s interactions, communication and curiosity. Louise works with all children with particular focus on children with special educational needs.
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Connecting to Nature Project led by Leonie
We have got off to a good start harvesting the mint that has grown so well in the garden over the summer holiday to make mint tea!
Our garden is a place of activity, curiosity, investigation and play. It is also a place of wonder and harmony where children can be at 'one' with nature
We have got off to a good start harvesting the mint that has grown so well in the garden over the summer holiday to make mint tea!
Our garden is a place of activity, curiosity, investigation and play. It is also a place of wonder and harmony where children can be at 'one' with nature
