Welcome
Explorers are inquisitive and imaginative, creative and curious, brave and endlessly busy!
We are exploring our world, making relationships and always hungry to find out more! We have amazing ideas, hatch awesome plans and have action-packed adventures- and all before lunch!
Upcoming dates
Summer Term
Monday 15th April - stretch funded children only
Tuesday 16th April - First day of summer 1
Monday 6th May - Bank Holiday - Nursery closed
Friday 24th May - Last day of summer 1
Monday 3rd June - First day of summer 2
Wednesday 3rd July - Nursery Sports day
Wednesday 24th July - Last day of summer 2
Meet the team
Mrs Virgo is the nursery teacher and she is supported by Miss Barnes, Mrs Sims, Miss Rowe, Miss Western, Miss Talbot, Miss Caunter, Miss Ward, and Miss Baker.
Image coming soon
Contact us
If you have any issues or concerns, please feel free to get in touch and speak to a member of the Nursery team, alternatively you can contact the Nursery teacher,
Mrs Kassia Virgo - kvirgo@whiterockprimaryschool.co.uk
Academic year 2023 - 2024
Curriculum map Summer term 2024
29th April 2024
Our story of the week has been 'You can't take an elephant on the bus' while we have looked at rhyming words and bus journeys. The children went on the school minibus to have an imaginary trip of their own. We have explored colour mixing by painting in the woodlands. Our physical play has focused on jumping using ladders and hurdles.
22nd April 2024
We have begun daily toothbrushing in the nursery with our Big Brush Club. The children have their own toothbrush that they use in the nursery and all enjoy the toothbrushing song. We have continued to go on journeys on the train and talk about other ways to travel. In the water trays we have been looking at how things work, spinning the whisks and tipping the large bowls.
16th April 2024
We have been reading the story 'The Train Ride' and going on our own Explorers train. The children have been talking about what they see when they go on journeys. In the woodlands we have been foraging for flowers and using them in the kitchen to cook for our friends. We have been busy playing games together in small groups, taking turns and sharing.
Curriculum map Spring term 2024
18th March 2024
The children have been on mini beast hunts around the nursery. We have been learning the mini beasts names and about where they live, some live in the soil and some under stones. The children used the junk modelling to make their own mini beast to take home. We extended our learning about life cycles and have looked at some tadpoles.
11th March 2024
Our caterpillars have continued to grow and the children have been learning about the lifecycle, that the caterpillar will get bigger and then become a chrysalis and then a butterfly. We have explored paints and used large brush strokes to do a group painting, creating a caterpillar. The older children have been taking the lead in outdoor games and balancing on beams in the hall.
7th March 2024
We celebrated World Book Day by sharing our love for stories. The teachers read their favourite stories and the children brought some from home. Lots of people dressed up. In the afternoon the Year 4 children read to the nursery children.
4th march 2024
We have begun reading The Hungry Caterpillar as we had a special delivery of our own caterpillars to look after. The children have handled the pot carefully and we have talked about how they will eat and grow. Our maths focus has been counting to five and showing this on our fingers. We have enjoyed tasting lots of fruits from the story.
26th February 2024
The children continued to plant their own seeds and think about what the seed will need to grow, they have been learning that the seed will need water and sunshine. We have been using different ways to measure ourselves, looking at who is the tallest and who is the shortest. To help our fine motor skills we have been tearing paper.
19th February 2024
The children have read the story Jaspers Beanstalk and been learning how a plant grows and the different parts of a plant. They all planted their own seeds and took them home to care for them, we look forward to seeing how well they are getting on. By looking carefully at flowers and plants the children practised their observational drawing skills. They have been looking at comparing height and length by measuring themselves, finding worms and rolling playdough.
5th February 2024
The children have celebrated the Chinese and Lunar New Year. They joined in with fan and dragon dancing and took part in different crafts. Afterwards they tasted foods including prawn crackers and spring rolls.
29th January 2024
The Explorers took part in the RSPB Big School Birdwatch this week and along with counting the birds that we saw in the woodlands and around the school the children created bird feeders, drew birds and learned bird names. It was an exciting week with lots of time in the woodlands.
15th January 2024
The children became busy bakers as they rolled dough and made their own Gingerbread men. They showed their independence by choosing and cutting their own fruits at snack time and in maths we looked at full and empty using water, pasta and rice.
8th January 2024
We have settled back into nursery and many new friends have joined us. The children have been learning all about the three little pigs and the big bad wolf in role play and story telling. In the colder weather we were lucky enough to explore some snow!
Curriculum map Autumn term 2023
11th December 2023
A busy last week at Explorers with a Christmas celebration in the main hall and Christmas dinner day. It was wonderful to see so many of you on the day and we hope you enjoyed it too.
4th December 2023
With Christmas in full swing the children have been making decorations to take home and decorate the nursery. Using scissors they created snowflakes and paper chains to hang. All of the children made their own Christmas biscuit to eat, mixing the ingredients and smelling the different spices.
27th November 2023
Christmas came to Explorers nursery and the children have been busy practising songs to perform to their grown ups in a few weeks time. They have decorated our Christmas tree and talked about how they celebrate at home. The children have explored shapes, looking at how many sides and corners they have and creating pictures with them.
20th November 2023
We made rainbow toast and the children then practised using a knife to cut it into pieces. We began reading 'The Gruffalo' and the children went to his cave to help retell the story. They also made Gruffalo crumble, squashed scrambled snake and spread owl ice-cream! In the home corner children wanted to be bakers and used play dough to make cookies and pies.
13th November 2023
We continued to read 'The Colour Monster' and used the book to look at some of our different emotions. The children thought of things that make them happy and how to help those who are sad. We had a vets in nursery and we had to take care of the animals who came to visit for the week. On Friday the children all took part in activities that Year 6 had organised to raise money for Children in Need.
6th November 2023
The children have been learning about different light festivals such as Bonfire night and Diwali. They mixed colours and created colourful paintings using different tools. Our Caterpillars have been melting chocolate to make a delicious sprinkle sparklers for snack.
31 November 2023
We have started back at nursery by reading the story 'The Leaf Thief' and looking at how the woodlands has changed in the Autumn. The children used leaves that have been found to create leaf rubbings and leaf paintings. We used tools to scoop pumpkins and also paint them.
16th October 2023
The children have continued to look at the story of the owl babies and created their own using natural resources. The younger children made Autumn fruit parcels by cutting up fruits and adding them to pastry, they then ate them at snack time. They also enjoyed watching the leaves in the wind while in the woodlands. With recycling week the older children learned about how to recycle and reuse items. We then made new items to take home from others recycling.
9th October 2023
We have been learning about the book 'Owl Babies' and after collecting lots of pinecones have been making our own baby owls using fluffy material. We had a visit from Sarah, Percy, Bill and mother Owl so the children had to make a nest thinking about the materials that would be needed. We have moved to looking at repeated patterns, remembering that it has to happen again and again to be repeated. In the woodlands the children have been making bird feeders by cutting apples and poking pumpkin seeds into it.
2nd October 2023
We have continued to read 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and the children looked at how the bear felt at the end of the story - was he just looking for a friend to play with? We have been making patterns in the sand, making zigzags, bumps and swirls. At snack time we have been building independence and the children have been choosing their snack and clearing up their plates.
25th September 2023
We have been looking at patterns around us and animal patterns this week. The children also made their own patterns using paints with conkers and cars. We have been reading the book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and retelling the story using the words from the book. Many children managed to find a bear or two in the woodlands!
18th September 2023
The children have been looking at their own families and the houses they live in, reading 'The Family Book'. On a windy day the children noticed the leaves blowing from the trees so they made kites to watch the wind blowing the tails. The younger children enjoyed animal bingo, listening carefully to the noises. They also snipped herbs and added it to playdough.
11th September 2023
The children have settled well into the nursery routines and keyworker groups, they have quickly learned the hello song and many friends names. We have begun to explore the wider school by using the school field and visits to the library as well as build the children's independence.
6th September 2023 - first week back.
We have had a busy week settling back into nursery and welcoming new friends. The children have been learning the routines of nursery and the Explorers hello song.
