Livingstone Primary & Nursery School WK1 JAN 2026

Happy New Year and welcome back to Nursery!

We have been delighted to welcome the children back after the break. They have returned with big smiles and have been very happy to settle back into their routines.

We are also excited to welcome some new children who have joined our Nursery this term. The children who were already with us have shown wonderful kindness and maturity, buddying up with our new starters to help them feel settled. They have been doing a fantastic job showing them the ropes and helping them understand our Nursery rules that keep everyone safe, happy, and ready to learn.

This week, we have been working on the traditional tale Little Red Riding Hood. The children have enjoyed using props to re-enact the story and retell the events in their own words. Through the story, we have been discussing stranger danger and talking about what to do if a stranger approaches us.

The children have also been busy developing their fine motor skills by practising cutting as they made baskets of food for Granny. They finished the week by creating a lovely collage using a variety of mixed media.

We are very proud of how engaged and enthusiastic the children have been and look forward to another exciting week of learning.

Talking Homework:

Please talk with your child about the story Little Red Riding Hood. You might ask:

• Who are the characters in the story?
• What happened to Little Red Riding Hood on her way to Granny’s house?
• Was it a good idea to talk to the wolf? Why or why not?
• What should we do if a stranger tries to talk to us?

Encourage your child to explain their ideas in their own words.

Reception have had a fantastic first week back! We have got straight back into the routines and have been doing fantastically with our phonics sessions. We have been talking a lot about the start of Winter, the weather that comes with it and the changes in the world around us. We have been thinking about the clothes we wear in Winter and have enjoyed lots of icy and cold activities. This week we have been using primary colours to look at the work of the artist Mondrian and have made our own beautiful art work.

In maths we have been looking at the number 5 and how many ways we can make it and have enjoyed another week of a mystery reader! If you are interested in being a mystery reader on a Wednesday at 2:45pm, we have slots for Spring 2 - please see Mrs Mills next week to sign up :)

Welcome back to the start of Spring term, we hope that you had an enjoyable break!

This week we have started all our new topics for the term. In Maths we have been learning about money and exploring the different values of coins and notes. We have also been using our previous knowledge of counting in 2's, 5's and 10's to count groups of money values. In English we went for a sound walk and explored what silence felt like to us as an introduction to our new story 'The Sound of Silence'. In the afternoons we are focusing on science and our unit 'Living Things and Their Habitats'. We have been grouping whether things are alive or have never been alive as well as sorting different animals and plants into various habitats and micro- habitats.

Reminders:

Read With Me is on every Tuesday morning until 9am - parents are all welcome to join their child and share a book in the library.

Homework is due in on Wednesdays - please speak to either teacher if there are any questions regarding the work.

Library books and Reading books will be changed on a Wednesday.

Homework:

Maths pages 45 and 46 (optional extra page 47)

Comprehension pages 31 - 33 (Come to the Castle)

The first achievement award is to Roman for sharing detailed information about the different habitats that animals live in.

The second achievement award is to Ben for his excellent work on money in Maths and determination to reach the Spicy challenges.

Happy New Year! This week we explored magnets in science. The children worked collaboratively and scientifically as they carried out several experiments investigating this invisible force. Ask them to explain to you what attract and repel mean. Perhaps they can even tell you what materials are magnetic and non-magnetic. In Maths we are building our knowledge of multiplication and division. We are reading Tell Me a Dragon in English, and the children are really enjoying exploring the features of a non-chronological report.

Homework:

Maths – p.45 – 46 (p.47 is optional)

English – Comprehension p. 20 - 21

Achievement awards this week go to George and Asiya. Not only did they show excellent scientific knowledge and skills, they were also brilliant reading corner monitors! Well done you two!

This week in Maths, the children focused on multiplication by learning the area model as a method of multiplying larger numbers. They enjoyed doing this with Dienes.

In English, we studied multiple versions of our next text for writing, Beowulf. The children enjoyed the action-packed epic. They analysed short extracts and did drama to show their understanding of the story.

In Computing, they used software in creative ways. They created Vikings-based video games and contributed to a blog with their advice about staying safe online.

Homework due by Weds 14th Jan

Maths: pages 45 and 46 (multiplication)

Grammar: page 12 (pronouns) and page 33 (standard English)

This week's awards go to Zachias for always have high standards of work and behaviour, and to Savannah for her interesting comparisons between our 3 versions of Beowulf. Well done!

Happy New Year! Kingfisher 2 have had a great start to the new term. In English, we have been looking at the story 'Steam train, dream train' to support our topic of 'Transport.' We enjoyed acting out the story and creating story maps to help us remember the different parts.

In Maths we have been practising our skills in place value. We have been using dienes to help us with flexible partitioning and ordering. We also looked at number lines and how they are constructed.