Whilst we endeavour to seize every opportunity to celebrate the rich diversity of our school, Black History Month is a wonderful opportunity to encourage all our families to come in and contribute to the day to day experiences in nursery that our children are engaged in. During October, families supported and developed children's understanding of a variety of experiences: hair braiding, rag weaving, cooking Somali and Caribbean dishes, Chinese stories and songs, Somali singing and dancing and stories from around the world. 
Each family here is special and all have skills, experiences and gifts to share - this work continues throughout the year, day in, day out and that helps to ensure everyone in our community at Rachel Keeling feels truly valued.

To develop community links and support the children's understanding of our local community we invited the wonderful team from Bow Police Stables to bring in two of their hugest police horses for families and staff to meet. This inspired awe and wonder as well as fostering curiosity and children were asking lots of questions "What do they eat?" and "Where do the horses live?" Some children were very confident to approach and feed the horses carrots and apples and others needed some support to touch and be close to the magnificent horses. The police officers chatted and gave lots of information about their jobs and the horses as well as answering questions from children. It was a meaningful and hands on experience for children, families and staff which was rich in learning. How they fitted out our small garden gate was incredible to witness!

Beautiful weather this week ensured our garden was especially busy all week: children harvested apples, recognising their ripeness, problem solving and collaborating to successfully remove them from the apple tree. A group of children, staff and a parent then made a fire, step by step and were supported in enjoying the power of the flames as well as learning about safety. The apples were chopped, sultanas added and a (tiny) bit of brown sugar. The children wrapped them in foil, baked them and enjoyed sharing them. It was a wonderful, rich, first-hand experience to develop confidence, relationships and language as well as further developing children's understanding of where fruit comes from.
Across the Nursery, children have also been exploring and sculpting with clay and beginning to understand the process of colour mixing using powder paints. The programmable cars have developed understanding of coding and turn taking as well as developing directional language. Small group games have developed relationships as well as encouraged children to persevere and wait for their turn. Fennel seeds and mint were harvested and children have enjoyed using these ingredients to make tea in a tea pot and enjoy afternoon tea together.