Holtsmere End Infant and Nursery School

Chestnut Class - Miss Razzaque and Mrs Ripley
Maple Class - Miss Humphries

Forest School

We have been having a great time taking part in Forest school this term. Forest school is an inspirational learning process, it supports play, exploration and supported risk taking. It also develops children's confidence and self-esteem through learner inspired, hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

World Religion Day

Love Share Respect

We had a great day learning about how different faiths have celebrations. We visited the hall to find out which celebrations and festivals the other classes had learnt about. In Reception, we focused on learning about Eid and how it is celebrated. We learnt how homes are decorated, gifts are shared, money is given to charities, time is spent with family and friends and lots of delicious food is shared. We got to eat a cupcake and tasted some yummy sweet rice. We had a great time learning about how wonderful it is to have similarities and differences in how we celebrate special times.

Platinum Jubilee Celebration

Music through the decades

Platinum Jubilee Celebration 2022

Around the World Day

We had a wonderful around the world day on Friday. We arrived with our holiday bags and went through airport security and collected our boarding passes. We took our seats on our aeroplane and enjoyed our flight to Ghana. We learnt all about Ghana, we tasted mangoes, avocados and tried some Ghanian Waakye. We listened to some traditional West African tales and created some special weaving after learning about Ghanian Kente cloth. In the afternoon we took our passports and visited Italy, Ireland, India, Japan, Romania and Brazil.

Pirate treasure hunt!

We have been exploring sea life and looking at pirates this week. We have been making treasure maps and learning all about pirates. We have discovered lots of letters from 'Pirate Pam'. Pirate Pam even left us a treasure map to follow and we were so excited to discover the treasure... which turned out to be underpants!!!

Fun in the Sun!

Easter egg number hunt!

We had great fun recognising our numbers and finding all the eggs. When we found all the eggs we got to eat a yummy easter egg!

Poet Visit - Joshua Seigal

We had a fun, interactive session, sharing some great poems.

Life Long Ago and Dinosaur workshop

We had a great time meeting baby dinosaurs and uncovering fossils and learning what they were and who they belonged to!

Stay and Play

Spring Walk

We went on a very chilly walk to discover the changes that occur during spring time!

Science Week

World Book Day 2022

Author Visit- Chloe Inkpen

Chinese New Year 2022

Space- Visit from 'Astronaut Amy'

We have really enjoyed learning about space and the solar system. We met a real astronaut who has been looking for her spaceship after it crash landed in our playground. We even got to ask her some questions about her job.

Art focus -Several Circles by Wassily Kandinsky

We have been looking at 'Several Circles' by Kandinsky. We decided the circles reminded us of planets in the solar system and we created our own wonderful versions.

Helicopter Stories

This term we have started Helicopter story sessions. It is an approach to communication and literacy skills based on storytelling and story acting. Helicopter Stories lets children dictate their stories which are written down, exactly as they are told, by an adult. The children then gather around a taped out stage and the stories are acted out. We really enjoy our sessions and love sharing our stories!

Africa and African patterns

We have been learning about Africa and looking closely at wonderful African patterns. We retold the story 'Too Much Talk' and discovered facts about the continent, Africa. We also learnt a traditional African song.

Christmas!

Art focus- Lowry

We have been learning about the artist L.S. Lowry. We have looked closely at some of his paintings and noticed his use of 'matchstick men' in his work. We created our own versions of 'Children's Playground'.

Deco Day

Hanukkah - Festival of Lights

We have been learning about the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. We listened to the story of the Maccabees and the miracle of the oil lamp lasting eight days in the rededicated temple. We learnt how to play a traditional game played during Hanukkah, the dreidel. We tasted doughnuts, as lots of yummy fried food is eaten and we lit some candles on a menorah to imagine what a Jewish home is like during the festival.

Celebrating birthdays

We have been learning about birthday celebrations. We had the very exciting birthdays of Cheeky Chimp and Jigsaw Jenie! We made and wrote birthday cards and created decorations for the classroom. We then had a party to celebrate their 5th birthday with a cake, party snacks, games and lots of dancing!

Recycling!

This week we have read the story 'Stella and the seagull' and have been learning about the importance of reducing plastic and the impact it has on our planet, in particular, to the wildlife in the sea. We all decorated a bag for life that we are keeping and had fun learning a recycling song.

Sparkly Friday

We had a fantastic morning learning all about Bonfire Night and the Gunpowder Plot. We created some brilliant firwork pictures and had fun oudoors creating large firework paintings and dancing with pom poms. We were so excited to each have a real sparkler and enjoyed watching the sparks. We ended the morning with some deliocious hot chocolate!

Stay and Play

It was fantastic to have so many parents join us for our stay and play sessions. The children were very excited to share the delicious biscuits they had baked for their parents.

Pumpkin Painting and Vegetable Soup Cooking

We have been looking closely at beautiful pumpkins and painting from observation. We have also been learning about all the fruit and vegetables that have been harvested and discussed healthy eating. We really enjoyed making yummy vegetable soup!

Outdoor Learning!

Harvest

We tasted tropical fruits and have been looking closely at vegetables and drawing them from observation. We then explored watercolours and painted with them.

First Week Fun in Reception!

Archive 2020-21

Sports Day 2021

Aldenham Country Park Trip

Gruffalo Day

Learning about life cycles

We have been fascinated watching our caterpillars metamorphosis into butterflies.

It was amazing watching our first butterfly fly away!

Daily Mile Day 2021

We love learning!

Science Week

We had a fabulous time searching for bugs and looking closely at them. We also enjoyed learning about what a pharmacist does and all the interesting jobs you can do if you enjoy science!

Woodland Scavenger Hunt

Reception Christmas Performance 2020

'The Nativity'

'The Nativity'

Deco Day 2020.

'Bollywood Vibes'

To support our learning about Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, we invited a dance group to teach us some Bollywood dance moves. All the children participated and did really well!