We are accepting places for the NEW 30 hour working family funding for 2 year olds.

As well as 15 hours funding for 2 year old children whose families receive additional forms of support. 15 universal hours and up to 30 hours working family funding for 3 - 4 year olds and unfunded places. 

Please get in touch for more information or to book a place with us: e.roberts@bishopmonkton.n-yorks.sch.uk

Welcome to Bishop Monkton C of E Nursery

Our class name is Wrens!

We are a small, friendly nursery and our aim is to offer a safe and caring, exciting and stimulating learning environment, with many challenges and new experiences which will enable your child to leave us confident, independent and ready for full time education.

Your child’s individual needs and well being are paramount to us!

We will nurture your child’s interests and endeavour to incorporate them into every area of learning. We will support self identity and self worth. As well as self chosen activities, we plan activities that are led by your child’s individual next steps and the EYFS development matters age appropriate statements, in the areas:

Personal, Social and Emotional development

Communication and Language

Physical Development

Numeracy

Literacy

The World

Expressive Arts and Design

As a Church of England school we promote Christian values alongside the British values of:

Individual Liberty

Democracy
Mutual Respect
Rule of Law

Tolerance of different faiths and beliefs

This is done discretely, on a daily basis through our play.

Your child’s future starts here….............Come and visit us!

Nursery year 2024 - 2025

Spring term.....

Autumn term.....

Our gorgeous new exploration kitchen 

We would like to say a huge thank you to Mr Newell and all at Jenny Ruth who helped to build this lovely kitchen for us at Wrens nursery. Thank you so much we absolutely love it! 

Nursery year 2023 - 2024

Spring term.....

What have our 2 year olds been doing this half term?....

Celebrating World book day....

YAY! SNOW....

We are all superheroes....

Working together and our emotions....

Exploring about people who help us....

We have moved into the new nursery building..... :)

Autumn term.....

Nursery year 2022-2023

Summer term.....

The sun is shining and we are loving the warm weather....... 

Spring term.....

We have been learning about space, world book day, a snow day, nocturnal animals, the weather, Easter and much more.......

So far this term we have learnt about:

The Arctic/Antarctica, Africa, under the sea, the jungle and British wildlife. We have also been for walks, celebrated birthdays, explored cleaning our teeth, or emotions, exploring ice, sharing books, trying new fruits, making bird feeders and so much more.....

Autumn term.....

Bonfire night....

Firework biscuits and bonfire activities!

Remembrance day....

We joined the rest of the school at our remembrance day service, and laid our wreath in front of Jack's stone.

Halloween....

Printed spiders, witches potions, halloween gloop and dressing up!

Road safety....

We used our traffic lights to learn about road safety.

Number day....

We dressed up as number block characters and enjoyed lots of mathematical activities.

Map reading....

We used our maps to find out how to get from the school gate to our woodland area - Great map reading Wrens!

Harvest festival service....

We joined the rest of the school celebrating Harvest festival at St John's church, Bishop Monkton. We sang 'Here's what we do at harvest time'.

Singing time in the woodland classroom....

All about me....

We explored our faces in a mirror!

Nursery year 2021-2022

Summer Term...

Graduation 2022......

Today our Rising 5's graduated! We had a lovely time celebrating their time with us as the move on to reception class!

Ode to the Rising 5’s 2022

I cannot believe we are at the end of the year,

And its time for us to shed a tear.

As our oldest children make their way,

On their learning path in school they will stay.

Experiencing lots of lovely new things,

Enjoy all that reception class brings.

We will miss you all as you leave our care,

But a new uniform you must all wear.

You are all ready to make this big leap,

But very fond memories we will keep.

So a final farewell we must say,

as the rising 5’s spend their last day.

In Bishop Monkton Nursery school!

Water play morning.....

On the hottest day of the year we had the best fun at our water play morning. We had pools, slides and a slip and slide!

Sports day......

We took part in potted sports in the morning and the races at the village hall in the afternoon.

The Queens Platinum Jubilee.....

We enjoyed celebrating the Queen's 70th year as our monarch.

The Studfold Trail......

Wrens had an amazing day exploring The Studfold Trail at Lofthouse. The bus drive was very exciting, and the children couldn't wait to start the fairy trail. We counted lots of stone bunnies, and looked at lots of fairy houses. The weather was beautiful, and our picnic lunch in the paly area was very much needed. We had a few sleepy heads on the way home....

Vehicles.....

We loved our car wash, mark making with cars and small world construction site.

Dinosaurs.....

We have been exploring dinosaurs, with a cornflour swamp, shape dinosaurs, volcanos, throw a dinosaur and skeletons in clay.

Spring on Ings lane.....

There have been lots of changes on Ings lane. The trees have leaves, the crops are growing and the blew the dandilion seeds!

Balance bikes.....

We spent some time riding the balance bikes that Friends of Bishop Monkton school bought for us.... Thank you!

Woodland area.....

We explored the woodland area!

Seasons.....

Our theme is seasons, day/night and weather.

Ings lane.....

Another adventure down Ings lane!

Space.....

Our theme is space!

Spring term.....

Easter.....

Easter fun activities!

Snow.....

We love the snow!

Celebrating World book day.....

We came to nursery dressed as our favourite book characters!

Chinese lanterns.....

As we celebrated Chinese new year, we practised our scissor skills making Chinese lanterns.

Happy valentines day.....

We made hearts for the people we love and love potions!

British wildlife.....

Our theme this week is British wildlife.

Down on the farm.....

Our theme this week is Down on the farm.

Under the sea.....

Our theme this week is Under the sea.

Africa.....

Our theme this week is Africa.

Arctic.....

Our theme this week is the Arctic.

Winter walk.....

We had a lovely walk today. The puddles were deep and there was lots and lots of mud....

Autumn term .......

Christmas party.....

We had lots of fun, dancing and games at our Christmas party!

Yummy!.....

We all enjoyed Christmas dinner together.

Wrens Nativity 2021.....

Our little stars....

Occupations.....

What do I want to be when I grow up?

Jack took our fire engine.....

What a shock! When we came into nursery today we found a note from jack and our fire engine missing... as we walked along Ings lane, we looked for clues and finally found our missing fire engine, plus a little treat from jack for the children.

Remembrance day.....

Today we explored the remembrance day tuff tray and made a huge field of poppies.

Chalking.....

Today we explored mark making on the floor with chalk.

Bonfire night.....

Today we explored bonfire night activities. We made rocket pictures, firework biscuits and a whole table sensory bonfire and exploding firework paintings.

Diwali.....

As part of 'sharing other's celebrations' we made diva lamps, and explored Hindu hand art.

A squelchy, squerchy walk.....

Today we found some lovely muddy puddles!

More Autumn finds.....

Today we used our Autumn finds from our walk to make clay pictures.

Number 1 flapjacks.....

Today we made flapjacks. We used a special recipe where we measured just 1 cup of each of the ingredients. They tasted yummy!

We're going on a bear hunt.....

Today we went on a bear hunt in the school hall.......

Number 1 scavenger hunt.....

Today we went into the woodland area to find objects. We had to find 1 feather, 1 brown leaf, 1 green leaf, 1 stick, 1 stone and 1 helicopter. We had lots of fun!

Autumn.....

Today we saw the first real signs of Autumn as we walked on Ings Lane. We found objects that had fallen from the trees, and explored them when we returned to nursery.

Trying new fruits.....

Today we tried some fruit we had eaten before and some new fruit!

Walking on Ings Lane.....

Today we found brambleberries, a corn field, met a dales pony, found crab apples and walked along a new path!

Sukkot.....

As part of 'sharing other's celebrations' we made a Sukkot.

Sukkot is a Jewish commemoration of all the years that the Jewish people spent in the desert travelling to the promised land and how God looked after them through these difficult conditions. Sukkot means 'hut', they have branches and leaves on the roof with gaps to see the sky. The celebration goes on for 7 days.

We built our own Sukkot,  decorated it, and enjoyed our snack under it.

Baby Me!.....

As part of our 'Marvellous Me!' theme, this week we looked at Baby Me! We shared photos of when we were babies and talked about the differences between then and now, and enjoyed exploring lots of baby themed activities.

Sunny Walks....

We are so lucky to be in such a pretty, quiet village with lovely walks. We made the most of a sunny day and walked along Ings lane, we stopped to look at the maize field, butterflies, the farmer ploughing his field and wondered what he might plant next, found a cool bouncy gate and saw our shadows.

Welcome to a new nursey year.....

We are having a great time back at nursery!

We have said welcome back to some children and a first welcome to our new children.

The children are very busy, filling their days exploring all that nursery offers them, everyone has settled into a new nursery year, we look forward to lots of fun and learning!

Nursery year 2021-2022

Summer term.......

2021 Graduation day!........

Drum roll please for our graduating class of 2021...............................

Waterplay morning..... (the best day EVER!)

And then the party.....

Sports day.......... We love sports day!

Fundraising for Breast Cancer Now!

Wrens had a fantastic afternoon on the assault course. The children were determined to complete it as many times as they could (with a brief break for an ice lolly!) It was a lovely day, one of the hottest so far this year! We are very proud to say that with gift aid we have raised over £600 for Breast Cancer Now, which is amazing! 

Thank you to everyone that supported us!

When I grow up I want to be........

As part of our 'All about me' theme, we looked at different occupations. Police, paramedics, nurses and doctors, fire fighters, farmers, refuse collection/recycling, painters/decorators, cafe owners, fruit and vegetable shop, zoo keepers, builders and dentists.

What's in the woodland area?

We were so excited to see the newts in the woodland area, they were in the pond and under the tree stumps. We also found woodlice, beetles and lots of worms!

Sunny days.......

Finally the sunshine is here! We planted sunflower seeds and are watching them grow, used mirrors blue paint and shaving foam to recreated the sky and clouds, painted daffodils, drew round each other, played hopscotch, and spent a lot of time on the field.

Open day event...............

Come and visit us, see what exciting opportunities your child will have whilst they are with us. Talk to the staff about our days in nursery, and get a feel for our lovely nursery environment!

Spring term........

We have had a really busy term! We celebrated World Book day, sledged down the hill and made snowmen, explored the frosty back field, created Kadinsky circles art, followed our theme 'All about me' where we made books about ourselves, our families, and where we live. We made special Easter cards with a cross and blossom to symbolise new life, had lots of discussion about what/who was hiding in our curiosity box, played football, made clay models, blew bubbles and explored China!

Lights, camera, action.......it's our Nativity!

This year was very different Wrens produced their own Nativity which we videoed for our parents to see, here are some photos of our budding stars!

More fun..........

We have had a very busy second half of the term. We have celebrated #Helloyellow for World Mental Health Day, Remembrance day, Divali and Thanksgiving. Spent lots of time looking at the season changing, the lovely colours and exploring Autumnal finds. Explored Wrens post office and Santa's elves wrapping station, made Christmas cards and decorations, and for the first time we performed our own nativity!

We are having a great time back at nursery!

The children are very busy, filling their days exploring all that nursery offers them. We have a new exploration kitchen, fiddle board, and music board. We also have an area on the back field, with a pirate galleon, house, swing, climbing frame, tent, digging and growing areas. Blaze and Sparkle are back and have enjoyed the last few sunny weeks eating grass in their new run. The new children have had their first time in the woodland area, looking for bugs. I wonder what fun we will have as the season turns to Autumn......

Summer term

Graduation day......

A Ode to the ‘Rising 5’s’ 2020

Its that time of year again,

in the nursery the ‘rising 5’s’ can’t remain.

It’s come time to stretch their wings,

and join reception class to learn new things.

All of the children we have become fond,

and treasure all of the lovely bonds.

As we watch them take this next big leap

and the memories of them all we will keep.

So a final farewell we must say,

as the rising 5’s spend their last day.

In Bishop Monkton Nursery school!

And the party...……...

We will miss you all at Wrens......Have an amazing time in reception class!

What do our rising 5's want to be when they grow up...…………….....?

We are loving being back at nursery! its a little bit different we are still enjoying our days exploring. We have a lovely new area behind the nursery with a climbing frame, swing and a house, and we had a mini sports afternoon...…..

As we are having such an unusual start to our summer term, we would like to share some ideas on keeping your little ones busy, and photos of all the fun, and exciting activities the children have been doing at home with their families...…..

A great site for activities, ideas and apps for your little ones.......

https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/

The book trust are having a pyjamarama on Friday 1st May. Why not join the fun.......

https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/pyjamarama

Some fun exercise, you don't need much room (and the furniture won't get broken!). We enjoy cosmic yoga regularly at nursery.......click on the link

https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga

Easy baking with your little ones.......

Scavenger hunts are great they can be done indoors or outdoors........

Some great, easy activity ideas from TishyLishy.......

More learning...…...

Technology, close examination, sharing, taking turns, exercising, climbing, squirting, balancing, being independent, entertaining, following instructions, cutting, building, learning about germs and of course 'chilling' with our friends!

Frogspawn......

We have loved watching our frogspawn turn into tiny tadpoles and then grow bigger. The tadpoles are now back where they came from in their pond!

Pirate theme......

We have had lots of pirate role play in the Jolly wren, made jelly fish, found pirate treasure, made wanted posters and walked the number plank!

Snow...……..

We love snow!

We have had a very busy half term, with themes following the children's interests, along with all of our other fun and learning.........

Fire rescue theme.....

Fire rescue role play, fire rescue small world, blowing paint to make fire pictures, egg box fire engines, cutting out ladders and finding the tallest and shortest.

Fixing things, drawing round ourselves, making friends, computing and catching ducks.

Space theme.....

This all started with a picture..... Wrens space station, planet pizzas, astronaut role play, making planets, balloon rockets and shape rocket pictures.

Looking differently at the world, water, water and more water, sorting, printing, mark making, digging, using tweezers, cutting and building!

Construction theme.....

Construction site small world, foam and brick building, building site role play, shape construction vehicles and construction vehicle numeracy.

Finding numbers, sensory messy play, sharing, music, riding, making shapes, laughing with our friends, climbing, lining up, building and baking.

Dinosaur theme.....

Dinosaur rescue, fizzy mud, small world dinosaur land, dinosaur shadows, dinosaur foot prints, dinosaur biscuits and finding out about dinosaurs!

Jumping in puddles, foam painting, cooking up a storm, balloon play, mark making on the mirror, chatting at lunch time, building towers, dressing up and watching Jackson (our fish).

Christmas party....

We had a great time at our Christmas party. We played pass the parcel, musical bumps, had so many balloons and danced. We ate party food and had a visit from a very special person.....

Christmas Nativity....

We took part in the Christmas Nativity at St Johns church. We sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas star".

Then we made Christmas pictures (with lots of glitter.....), explored messy play, decorated the Christmas tree, made Christmas ornaments, made sticker pictures, rode our bikes in the rain, explored the Antarctic, chilled with our friends, made the tallest tower, shared books, made a box Christmas tree, became post office assistants, wrote letters to Santa, made Christmas cookies, and enjoyed Christmas dinner...…...

We have climbed bars, found sounds in words, been shop keepers, made mud pies, cut vegetabes for the guinea pigs, been hairdressers, counted conkers, made firework pictures, made rock buns, explored found Autumnal objects, made fireworks, made jigsaw puzzles, held Sparkle and poured sand......

Well if it's going to rain, we might as well have fun and get wet...…. Thank you to all the parents who have donated outgrown all-in-ones to us, we are putting them to good use!

Wrens joined the Harvest service with our poem, 5 little peas in a pea pod pressed.........Well done Wrens!

Back to more Autumnal exploring.........

With all the excitement of the UCI road world championships, we decided as a school to hold a cycle event. Wrens managed to take part before the rain descended.........

Its been another very busy half term for the Wrens.........

Welcome back to a new year at nursery!

We have two huge thank you's to make. One is to Mr Tim Jones (Mrs di Silvestro's dad) for giving us a lovely shed for storage, and to Taylors/Bettys for giving us the oppotunity to buy an outside climbing frame, new hutch for the guinea pigs and foam bricks with storage, the children love them..... THANK YOU!

Graduation day.......

We had such a great day today! Water play in the morning, everyone got wet, then party with balloons and bubbles, and finally our graduation where Mrs Cowling came and presented the 'Rising 5' children with their graduation scroll. We are both happy and sad to say farewell and good luck to our children as they move on with this next exciting phase of their learning journeys.......

Ode to the 'Rising5's'

This year in Wrens has been lots of fun,

so much earning the children have done.

The 'Rising 5's' are now so much older,

a new learning path, they will be bolder.

As they move on into reception class,

and put nursery in their fond memory, past.

So a fond farewell we must say,

as the children spend their last day,

in Bishop Monkton Nursery school!

Sports day.......

In the morning we joined in with the potted sports, on the back field. Then enjoyed a picnic lunch on the hill behind nursery. We walked up to the village hall in the afternoon, to join the rest of the school with the running races. What a great day!

Flapjack bees and fruit marshmallow sticks.....

'Rising 5' Transition visit.....

The 'Rising 5's' had a great transition visit to Robins class. They met their new teacher Mrs West and had an afternoon exploring the Robins classroom. It was very exciting!

Sunny days.......

Baking......

We love baking and making things to eat! Tomato and bacon muffins and we were creative, and decorated our own biscuits.

Busy, Busy......

Easter.....

We have enjoyed lots of Easter themed activities, had an Easter egg hunt in the woodland area and sang 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' at our Easter service at St Johns church.

Visiting Robins class.....

Today we went to visit Robins class! We explored all the areas with our old friends from nursery, who are now the reception children.

What a busy half term.....

Term - Spring 1 - 2019

We're going on a bear hunt.......

We have been exploring the story 'We're going on a bear hunt' the children have followed the story trail, with them being the story tellers. And because they enjoyed it so much we explored the story in a gross motor way in the hall with big props for the different parts of the story.....

Valentines...

We made each other strawberry heart puffs to celebrate valentines day.

Yoga........

We love relaxing our bodies and minds through yoga. We start in the same way each time sitting crossed legged, putting our hands together in front of our hearts and saying "Namaste" we like the translation that it means my divine bows down to your divine. Then we begin, today our yoga followed the story of 'We're going on a bear hunt' at the end we lie down and relax before sitting crossed legged again, with our hands together at our heart and say "Namaste".

Chinese New Year.........

This week we have learnt about Chinese New Year. This year it is the year of the pig, and we loved watching a video of the dancing lions and dragons. We made lanterns, fans that we decorated with Chinese words, dragons and made Chinese vanilla biscuits for snack.

Snow.......

We made the most of the snow we had. We sledged down the hill behind nursery and made two snowmen.

Problem solving........

How is Little Red Riding Hood going to get from her house to grandmas? The children loved solving this problem. Following the map, how could she cross the river, a boat, a bridge or a float. The sticks blocked the way through the wood, and the landslide of stones blocked the mountain path. The children took it in turns to follow the map and solve the problems. Luckily we didn't meet the wolf......

Guinea pigs........

Sparkle and Blaze have come inside for the winter, and are loving the attention from the children.

Ice exploration..........

We explored ice in lots of different ways, painting it, breaking it, experimenting with salt to see how it melts, and creating coloured ice bowls.

Happy New Year to one and all!

I wonder what exciting things we will be doing in Wrens this year?

Term - Autumn 2 2018

Christmas service and Wrens party.........

The Wrens children sang "We mustn't make a noise" at the school Christmas service at St Johns church, and then enjoyed our party on our return to nursery. We played lots of games ate party food, had balloon play, bashed our pinata and had a visit from a very special guest....

Noisy Nativity...........

The children were amazing in our nativity, being angels, sheep and children. Well done everyone!

A look at this half term....

As always its been a very busy half term. Highlights of the many things the children have done are: Role play ambulance and post office. Visit from Ripon's fire service. Christmas jumper day, super hero day. Children in need we dressed in our pyjamas or onsies. We have celebrated Christmas, Diwali and Remembrance day. We baked and cooked Christmas tree biscuits, Pudsey people, cheese puffs, super hero energy flapjack and play dough. We spent time in the woodland area hunting numbers and searching for spiders. We have used our soft play and climbing frame, as well as all of the other physical activities we enjoy in the school hall. We explored lots of children's interests and as part of our Personal, Social and emotional development started to practice yoga, which we all, children and grown ups alike have enjoyed experiencing.

Term - Autumn 1 2018

Harvest Service.......

We joined the rest of the school celebrating Harvest, at St Johns church. We sang the song 'The farmer gathers his hay today' and watched all of the other children as they performed their pieces.

Wrens have talent.......

Today we had a mini talent show, where the children very bravely got up and sang or played and instrument. Then sand baby shark all together, what a talented group of children we have!

Woodland Explorers

We are having a great time exploring our woodland area. We have looked at the changing colours of the

leaves, coloured autumn leaves and decorated leaves with things we have found. We love walking through the willow tunnel and exploring the whole area. We have looked under stones and wooden stumps to find insects and watched the tadpoles in the container. We are excited to watch the seasons change!

Our Guinea pigs have names.........

The children have named our little piggies, Sparkle and Blaze

Friends of Bishop Monkton School....... Thank you!

Thank you so much for buying our nursery soft play equipment. This is an essential piece of hall equipment, that we can use for our youngest children to explore their physical development. The children used it for the first time this week, and loved it!

Guinea pigs..........

I would like to introduce you to our new arrivals.......... our little piggies! They are very cute and are settling well into the nursery. I wonder what the children will name them?

Welcome back!

To all of the children returning and new, welcome back! I hope this year is a great one and you all enjoy your time at our nursery.

Graduation Day.......

An Ode to the Rising 5's

As the time comes rapidly nearer,

and their learning path oh so clearer.

The Rising 5's are on their way,

somewhere else they will learn and play.

As they move on into robins class,

I'm sure there, they will have a blast.

So a fond farewell we must say,

as the children spend their last day,

in Bishop Monkton Nursery school!

Today was filled with many tears, mostly happy. We had a great morning with lots of water play, and a celebration in the afternoon as we said a fond farwell to our Raising 5's......We will miss you.

Have a great time in Reception class!

Sports Day.......

We had a lovely sports day! We joined the rest of the school in the morning, to have our turn on the potted sports. We navigated the mini assault course, hurdles and bike/scooter race. Enjoyed a picnic on the hill at lunch time. Then walked up to the village hall to take part in the running races......we were very tired when we got back!

Bubbles..........

You can't have sunshine without bubbles........GIANT BUBBLES!

Just an average week at nursery.....

Tadpoles and seedlings.....

After careful monitoring by the children we have noticed that one of our tadpoles has started to grow back legs, hopefully we will soon have froglets.

Look at our seedlings! our home made greenhouses worked a treat, we will have to separate them into bigger pots now.

Wrens new display!

We have a new display outside Mrs Cowlings office. We have been printing with squares and circles and writing our names.

Sunny days......

Snack in the sun and cloud watching.......

Planting

As part of our Big Project 'get up and grow' we have now planted seeds, we recycled food containers to make mini greenhouses. When the plants are big enough we will put them in the planters behind nursery and watch the fruit, vegetables and salad grow, then hopefully we will sample some of our hard work....

Budding Photographers....

We used the ipads to take photos of each other and things we like in the nursery......

Frog Spawn

We have tadpoles in nursery at the moment. We watched them change from frog spawn into tadpoles......

Easter Service

We sang 'Tiny Tim' at the Easter Church service at St Johns Church, Bishop Monkton. Then had a fun Easter egg hunt when we got back....

NEW sharing library........

The first set of story sacks have been completed and are now ready to go home, every week for the children to enjoy..........Happy reading!!

Term - Spring 1 2018

To the rescue........

Superhero week! We had a fun dress up day on Tuesday and lots of challenging activities that only a superhero could complete...Ice rescue, superhero number splat, dial a hero and design a cape to name just a few.

Nee Naw, Nee Naw!

The children have loved role play in the ambulance this week. We have learnt such a lot about ambulance technicians and how they help us.

Ready, Steady Cook!

We had a lovely time baking fairy cakes this week! We did lots of measuring and counting, talking about recipes and ingredients and keeping our hands clean.......