Nursery And Pre-School - Geography - Creating Witches Brooms And Potions
Inspired by this week's story, 'Room on the Broom', our children headed outside on an autumn outdoor hunt to gather natural materials and build their very own broomsticks! While searching for the perfect sticks, the children put their observational skills to work by exploring the seasonal changes happening in their local environment. They noticed that the trees were shedding their leaves onto the ground and spotted a rich new palette of autumn colors, eagerly discovering leaves in shades of brown, orange, and yellow. It was a wonderful, hands-on way to connect storytime magic with early geographical understanding and the natural rhythms of nature!
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Nursery - Maths - Subitising 1 and 2
Our Nursery children have been sharpening their early subitising skills this week—learning to instantly recognise quantities of 1 and 2 without needing to count them one by one. To bring this mathematical concept to life, we brought out a magic cauldron! The children brewed up their own special spells using pumpkins, spiders, and pinecones. Once all the ingredients were mixed, everyone peered into the cauldron to spot, name, and talk about the small groups of 1 and 2 items floating inside. It was a brilliant, hands-on way to make early number confidence fun, engaging, and just a little bit magical!
Governor Vacancies
Could you help shape the future of Darwen St James? Darwen St James Church of England Primary Academy is looking for enthusiastic, dedicated individuals to join the team as Parent Governors and Foundation Governors. You do not need to be an education expert or have special qualifications. Your everyday experience, community insight, and care for the children are what matter most. What does a Governor do? Set direction: Help shape priorities and support the academy vision. Support and challenge: Ask constructive questions and act as a critical friend. Keep children at the heart: Oversee safeguarding, education, wellbeing, and resources. Bring a wider perspective: Use your skills, experience, and community insight to help the school thrive. Which role suits you? Parent Governor: Open to current parents and carers, giving families a direct voice in the school. Foundation Governor: Focuses on supporting and championing the school's Christian vision and ethos. Is it for you? If you care about the success and wellbeing of children, can listen and work as part of a team, and can commit a little time to attend meetings, complete training, and visit the school, we would love to hear from you. How to get involved Interested? Start with an informal conversation to learn more without any obligation. Telephone: 01254 703260 Email: [email protected] Address: St James Crescent, Darwen, Lancashire, BB3 0EY You can also scan the QR code on the poster for further governance information. Get in touch today to help make a positive difference.
Nursery/Pre-school- UTW-Computing
Our nursery room has been full of magic as the children continue to explore the wonderful story of Room on the Broom! Building on their love for the tale, our little ones stepped into the world of digital art using the Purple Mash program to design their very own dragons. It was brilliant to see their technology skills in action as they navigated the tools—carefully selecting different brush styles, swapping between bright colours, and making deliberate marks on the screen to bring their creatures to life. The highlight was listening to the children talk about their creations. As they drew, they eagerly explained their dragon’s special features, from " green scales" to "fire-coming out" and "big wings". It’s been a fantastic activity for boosting early ICT confidence, fine motor control, and creative storytelling!
Nursery and Pre-school - UTW- Visit to the Library
What a brilliant morning our Nursery children had today! We set off on foot through Darwen, heading to Darwen Library for a special storytime session. The children were absolute stars on the walk, chatting excitedly and pointing out everything they could see along the way. Once we arrived, everyone settled down nicely on the cosy carpet. The librarian gave us a lovely welcome and explained all about the magic of the library and how it works. Then came the main event—storytime! We read the classic 'Dear Zoo', and some of the children were even picked to act out different parts of the book. There was so much laughter as our little actors brought the story to life! A huge well done to all the children for their fantastic behaviour, and a big thank you to the team at Darwen Library for hosting such a memorable visit. We can't wait for our next trip!
Nursery - R.E - The Good Samaritan
Our Nursery children have been exploring our core values of kindness and helping others as we introduced the story of the Good Samaritan. To kick off this new topic, the children watched a lovely animation of 'The Good Samaritan' Bible story. Afterwards, we had a brilliant group discussion—spotting all the caring, helpful actions on screen and talking about what it means to be a kind friend!
Nursery And Pre-School - Art - Scissor Skills
Our children have been developing their creative and fine motor skills this week through a hands-on autumn art focus! The children practiced their scissor skills by carefully cutting out a variety of seasonal, autumn-themed pictures. They concentrated on holding and controlling their scissors correctly as they worked around different shapes and edges. Once their pictures were cut, the children put their visual discrimination skills to work by matching each autumnal object directly to its corresponding shadow outline on the page. This activity provided a fantastic opportunity for the children to combine physical precision with problem-solving, strengthening the hand muscle control and hand-eye coordination needed for creative expression and everyday independence.
Nursery And Pre-School - P.E - Ball Skills
This week, the children in Nursery and Preschool thoroughly enjoyed their energetic PE session with Liam from Sports Cool. The focus of the lesson was all about developing confidence with ball handling, hand-eye coordination, and spatial awareness through fun, active challenges. The children worked hard on practicing their fundamental ball skills, including throwing and catching. They focused on tracking the ball with their eyes and using two hands to secure it, building both their gross motor control and reaction times. Liam encouraged the children to adjust their stance and use soft, ready hands when receiving the ball from a partner or coach. To finish the session, the children put their accuracy to the test by practicing rolling a ball towards a specific target. This required a great deal of control, concentration, and patience, as they judged how much force to apply and aimed carefully to hit their mark. The children celebrated each other's successes with lots of cheering and enthusiasm, showing fantastic teamwork and sportsmanship throughout the entire lesson.
Nursery/Pre-School-Physical Development-Tuesday Trails
Nursery and Preschool really enjoyed their first Tuesday Trails with Mrs Corbally. The children practised putting on their wellies and coats independently and then went in our outdoor environment to explore the world outside. The children made leaf water and mixed it with the different size sticks that we found together. The children developed their gross and fine motor skills jumping in the muddy puddles and picking up the different size leaves from the fallen trees.
Nursery And Pre-School - Maths - Categorising Objects
Our nursery and preschool children have been diving into early mathematical concepts this week with a vibrant, hands-on activity at the light table! The illuminated setting provided a captivating backdrop for multi-layered learning as the children explored colour, size, and counting. The children began by categorising glowing coloured blocks and translucent splats by colour, matching and grouping similar shades. From there, they put their counting skills to work by building colorful rainbow towers, carefully counting each block as they built higher. As the towers grew, the children explored height and spatial vocabulary, working together to identify which structures were the shortest and which were the tallest. To solidify their understanding, we supported the children in using this new mathematical language in short, complete sentences—such as "This red tower is the tallest!"—helping them connect physical play directly to clear mathematical thinking.
Nursery And Pre-School - Literacy - Wiggle Me Into Squiggle
Our Nursery and Pre-school children have made a fantastic start to our new 'Wiggle Me into Squiggle' intervention this week! This programme focuses on developing large, gross motor movements, which form the essential physical foundation needed for fine motor control and early writing. This week, our focus was all about mastering 'UP' movements. The children began in a group setting using ribbons in each hand, lifting their arms high and watching the fabric flow through the air as they tracked their physical movements. To refine these big movements into early mark-making, the children then moved over to the easels holding two paintbrushes at once. Working with both hands simultaneously helped strengthen their bilateral coordination while turning those large arm sweeps into controlled, painted strokes on paper. It has been brilliant to see their confidence grow as they connect active movement directly to writing skills!
Nursery And Pre-School - PSHE - Outdoor Exploration
What a fantastic first week back! We have loved welcoming our nursery and preschool children back into the setting as they jump into exploring our new environment. The outdoor area has been a huge hit, with the children eager to try out the new resources and enjoy learning in the fresh air. It has been wonderful to watch them dive into independent play with so much curiosity, making new friends and settling into their routines with big smiles.
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