Tenterfields Primary Academy, Tenterfields, Halesowen, B63 3LH
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Tenterfields Primary Academy

Nursery Blog Post- 23.01.2026

23rd January 2026

All Aboard! A Week of Tracks, Trains, and Transitions 🚂

It has been a full steam ahead week in our Nursery setting! We’ve officially launched our new transport theme, and the children have been fully immersed in the sights, sounds, and movements of the world on the move. From physical play to early mathematical concepts, here is a look at what we’ve been up to.

Full Steam Ahead: Physical & Creative Development

We took to the tracks this week by exploring how trains move through music and movement.

  • Parachute Play: We used our large parachute to mimic the rhythm of a locomotive. The children practiced "fast" and "slow" movements, working together to keep the "engine" running smoothly.

  • Dancing Scarves: To help visualize the steam and speed of a train, we used colorful scarves. We matched our movements to different musical tempos—flowing slowly for a chugging uphill climb and swirling rapidly for a high-speed journey.

Literacy: Who’s Pulling into the Station? 📖

Our focus text this week has been Down at the Station. We used this as a fantastic opportunity to develop prediction skills. By looking at small visual clues and listening to descriptive prompts, the children had to guess which vehicle would appear on the next page. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they "read" the clues!

Maths: The Magic of Number 3

This week, we introduced the number 3 through the skill of subitising (the ability to look at a small group of objects and realize how many there are without counting them individually). Whether it was three train carriages or three passengers on a platform, the children are becoming experts at spotting "three-ness" in the world around them.

Understanding the World: Push, Pull, and Gravity

Our young scientists have been busy at the "Investigation Station" and in our outdoor area exploring forces.

  • The Key Vocab: We’ve been focusing on Push and Pull.

  • The Ramp Lab: We set up car ramps with different textures (smooth, bumpy, and rough) to see how friction affects speed. The children loved predicting which car would win the race and discussing why some surfaces slowed the wheels down.

Communication & Language: Sounds and Focus

We are tailoring our small-group work to support every stage of development:

  • Nursery 2: We’ve started "What’s in the Box?", focusing on initial sounds to build the foundations for phonics. We have looked at the ‘a’, ‘m’, ‘s’, ‘t’ sounds over the past two weeks. 

  • Nursery 1: Our younger learners have been captivated by the Bucket of Attention, a series of visually stimulating toys designed to build focus and shared attention.

🎶 Rhyme of the Week

We’ve been singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat with great enthusiasm! This has been such a hit that we are extending it into next week. We’ll be bringing out the inflatable boats and wooden oars to turn our song into a full-body sensory experience.