Horspath Pre-School Nursery

27/09/2026

Dear All, this is from a nursery parent:

I'm raising £750 to support Horspath Nursery. Please donate to my JustGiving Crowdfunding Page!

Iʼm raising money to support Horspath Nursery. Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

25/09/2026

Dear All,
I hope you have had a good week.
This week our topic has been 'Space and Moon' and our book of the week was 'Whatever Next.'
We have been making planets out of rice cakes, yogurts and fruit, putting our astronaut suits on and going to the moon. We went on an under pant hunt wearing pants on our heads after reading 'Aliens Love Underpants'. We talked about planet Earth and recycling, planting trees etc. We made crowns, built towers and used shapes to decorate, enjoyed exploring shaving foam and cotton pads to look like a planet, made rockets and practiced counting backwards until the rocket blasts off, floating and sinking objects in the water, nature area exploration, village walks to see the horses, setting off a fire extinguisher and much more.
Enjoy the photos and have a good weekend.

21/09/2026

Dear All,
Happy Monday!
We hope you had a good weekend.

Our topic this week is ‘Space and Moon’
We will be having discussions about moon phases such as full moon, half moon etc, making fairy dough, playing with moon sand, building rockets from junk modelling, planet naming, talking about aliens, exploring the nature area, village walks and much more…..
Our book of the week is ‘Whatever Next’

Have a good week.

18/09/2026

Happy Friday,
This week our topic has been ‘Wild Animals’
On the creative table we have been making animal foot prints, making collages with shapes and feathers, making tigers with glue spreaders and pieces to make animal parts, lion paper plate making and drawing their favourite wild animals.
In the mud kitchen we have been practicing wild animal noises, moving like animals, exploring wild animal habitats and what they eat, exploring how far our play frogs can hop and using chalk to draw wild animals,
In the sensory area we explored textures such as pasta strips, porridge oats, pasta pieces etc listening to the crunch as the animals jumped on them and playing with wild animals in play dough.
We have explored sand, using buckets to make pancakes and put sand around the flower pots.
In the role play area we have been weighing fruit, playing office and hairdressers.
In the maths area we have built towers, compared sizes, built our families and built enclosures for wild animals.
In the water we have been using pots to collect water, playing with cd’s and funnels, washing babies and watching the ducks bob in the water.
Our book of the week has been ‘Dear Zoo.’

Enjoy the photos and have a lovely weekend.

18/09/2026

Do you love working with children? Are you able to provide an excellent standard of childcare? If so, we have an exciting opportunity for a full time practitioner to join our thriving Nursery.
The successful applicant will be required to:
* learn about Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as well as the OFSTED standards
* work within a team and be a key person carrying out observations, planning and assessments, tracking the children's progress and contributing to their individual learning journals
* Have good understanding of the English language, both spoken and written
* Have a flexible approach to the role by attending staff meetings, open days, parents evenings, training courses and working additional hours when needed
* have knowledge of safeguarding and child protection
* hold a current and up to date DBS. (to be applied for on success of appointment)
The appointed candidate will be imaginative and enthusiastic, have excellent organisational, communication and people skills and most importantly have a passion for working with children.
- You must be able to laugh at jokes that you don’t understand, or you don’t find funny!�- You will preferably have a little bit of quirkiness. If a child requests that you be a big bad wolf and huff and puff the pigs house down, or to be prepared to play running and chasing games.�- You must feel comfortable telling everybody in the same room as you that you are going to the toilet!�- The confidence to sing in or out of tune in front of a crowd is essential.�- You must be able to distribute warm hugs as required.�- You will possess the skills required to rapidly count the heads of numerous moving small people. This is of the upmost importance.�- You must be comfortable finding unknown substances on your clothing.�- You must have a high level of comfort around talking about bodily functions. You must have a strong sense of smell to enable you to respond to said bodily functions.�- You can pretend to eat playdough creations such as cakes and mud pies realistically and drink numerous cups of pretend tea.�- You must have the ability to read the same story over and over again, upside down, with at least four interruptions per page.�- You must be prepared to have lots of fun in the workplace. Laughter is something that you can expect to engage in for a large part of your working day.�- Finally, you must be prepared to feel loved, special and important to many young children and their families.��There is simply no other job quite like this one!!
The hours would be discussed with the applicant but must involve 7:15am starts or 5:45pm finishes. The position is available from November but can be later for the ideal candidate. Pay will be discussed with the successful candidate depending on experience and qualifications.
For more information or an application form please email Jo on
[email protected]
The closing date for this post will be immediately after the position is filled. Interview dates to be confirmed.
Horspath Nursery are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
Please see the attached job advertisement for more information.

14/09/2026

Dear All,
I hope you had a lovely weekend.
This week our topic is ‘Wild Animals’
We will be talking about wild animals, the noises they make and their habitat, building enclosures, dressing up as wild animals, completing wild animal puzzles, playing with green jungle play dough/leaves and sticks, animal sorting, size ordering and much more.
The book of the week is ‘Dear Zoo’
Have a good week.

11/09/2026

Dear All,
I hope you have had a good week.
This week our topic has been 'All about me and my family' and our book of the week has been 'My Mum and Dad make me laugh'
We have been having a 'BBQ' in our role play kitchen, painting faces on paper plates, 'fixing broken toys' with our tools, making up songs in the music area, naming and pretending to be animals whilst playing with wild animals, connecting duplo bricks to make trains to transport the animals, counting the items on cards, learning how to play safely in the sand, transferring water between containers, talking about fast/slow/quick whilst watching cars go down the ramp and into the mud, mark making with pencils and play dough, practicing scissor skills, playing with dinosaurs in the gloop, learning nursery routines and independence by washing hands and putting coats on etc.
Enjoy the photos and have a lovely weekend.

09/09/2026

Horspath Nursery Fundraising events for term 1 and the beginning of term 2:
For more information please send a dojo, email [email protected], telephone 01865 876750 or catch me at the gate.

07/09/2026

Dear All,
We hope you had a good weekend.
This week our topic is ‘All about me’ as well as continuing to settle into new surroundings and get to know each other.
We will be learning each other’s names, learning nursery routines, exploring the nature area, how to wash hands, nature kitchen exploration, construction play, music area, wild animals, jugs and funnel play in the water, sand play, play dough making and playing with loose parts, singing familiar songs, ramps and cars, mark making, dinosaurs in gloop, reading familiar stories, sharing photos of summer holidays. (Please send in photos or put them on the class dojo so that your children can show to their new friends.)
Our book of the week is ‘My Mum and Dad make me laugh’
Have a good week.

04/09/2026

Dear All, Happy Friday!
I hope your first week back has gone well and you are getting used to the routines!
Our first week back has been very good and calm so thank you so much for all your support to make this happen.
Our topic this week has been settling with a few discussions about what we did over the summer holidays.
We have explored dinosaurs, dressing up, cars, mud play, sand play with buckets and spades and lots of talk about the beach.
We had fish, ducks and fishing rods in the water, trains, mobilo, colouring, drawing, stencils, duplo, role play cooking, making tea, doctors, babies and pushchairs, play dough with shape cutters and rolling pins, unicorn decorating, CD decorating with stickers, paint sticks on paper, singing, dancing, discovering how to direct the beebots, dancing with the interactive whiteboard and reading lots of favourite stories.
Have a lovely weekend.