Fully Authorised by British and Spanish authorities.  Centre for Cambridge International Examinations and Edexcel London Examinations
Education in English for children of all nationalities

Wingate Nursery and Infants

Head of Department: Miss Lynne Pearson

Christmas with the Aliens

Wingate Infants' Christmas Play 2009

Featuring everyone in the Infants

Tuesday 15th December  2.30

Wednesday 16th December 9.30

An alien spaceship breaks down on earth.  First contact is made by a group of children on their way to school to practise their Christmas play.    The aliens have never heard of Christmas but think that it sounds exciting.  So, it is off to the school play for all of them. 

The Aliens are in for a treat.  They get to see the Christmas story and listen to some lovely singing.

It is not surprising that they promise to come back every year.

Infant and Nursery Photo Galleries

Music Morning 2007 Video

Born In A Barn

Infant Christmas 2008

Year 2  designed posters for the Infant Christmas play.  Click on the images to see larger versions of each.  The full display of posters may be viewed in the Infant Arch.

The show was a great success.  Congratulations are due to all  who took part including the teachers.

Wingate or Witchgate?

There was something very strange about the Infants of Wingate School on Friday 31st October. Our usually smart and tidy children were replaced by witches, ghouls and all manner of scary things!  This was quite a novelty for the children - since we normally have our half -term holiday around this date - and they readily paraded round the school yard to the delight of the parents. And what fabulous costumes !   A lot of hard work had gone into making this a special event ! The children were asked to make a contribution for charity and Mrs Green was thrilled when she was handed 70 euros to go towards the Cancer Association.  A big "Thank You" to all !!
The day's activities included making skeletons, colouring competitions of witches and wizards, and spooky stories. 
But the funniest challenge had to be 'bobbing' apples - a tradition which many of the children had never experienced.  What fun and determination the Reception class had as they chased apples in a bowl.

Lynne Pearson
Head of Infants

We all went on a Summer Holiday!!

The end of summer term in schools is traditionally hectic.  Last year, in the Infant department, was no exception.

First there was our trip – this year to an educational retreat called Quimpi, in La Esperanza.  What a fabulous day we had! It´s a long way from Cabo Blanco, but we know plenty of songs so the journey wasn´t too bad! Once there, the children were involved in a variety of outdoor activities ranging from face painting and feeding the animals to making clay ladybirds and baking a cake! It was action-packed from start to finish so no wonder there was more sleeping than singing on the bus journey home!

Next came Sports Day – all the infants, from Nursery to Year 2 are involved – as well as many parents! I have to admit, my favourite was watching the mums and dads do the waffle block challenge, which the Year 1s had made look so easy just minutes before! Everyone gave 100%, great team spirit and sportsmanship – and received plenty of winning stickers!

For the last few years, the infants have put on a “music morning” for parents - involving the children singing some of their favourite songs.

This year was quite different. We decided to do a trip round the world, consisting of our little family of four visiting different countries and being involved in singing or dancing. Well, where do I begin? I have ´put together´ many shows in my teaching career but this has got to be the best. No words can truly describe how fantastic the children were.  With groups of can can, Scottish and Indian dancers, and a selection of more than thirty songs the children entertained family and friends for over an hour. Our actors were as young as 3 years old (amazing!) and the soloists included a 7 year old singing “Nessun Dorma” (absolutely brilliant).  X factor contestants of the future, I reckon!

 

 

 

 

 

The penultimate day was a surprise, organised by Mrs Hill, Head of Juniors. She had been in touch with a former pupil who offered to come in and do two shows for the children – birds and snakes!!!

Alban de Vestel (who started Wingate in the Infant Department at 4 years of age) now works in various venues with these shows – allowing the children to try and overcome some fears and misconceptions and getting closer to nature. He was so enthusiastic! The children loved it and I would really recommend you seeing one of his shows if he is appearing anywhere near you!

So with the traditional end of term party (including bouncy castle) the school year drew to a close. The children (and staff!) must be commended for their hard work throughout the year. Staff would like to wish all children and parents a happy, and relaxing holiday and we’ll see you in September!

 

And It Was “Feliz Navidad”
from Wingate Infants!

The staff couldn’t believe it had been a year since the last Christmas play, but sure enough, here we were trying to sort out this year’s plot, our cast, songs to sing, how to fit 80 children on the stage and did we have enough tea towels for the shepherds costumes?

This year, our play was “Whoops-A-Daisy Angel”, based around a poor angel who kept getting things wrong so wasn’t given any important jobs to do – that is, of course, until she has to take a message to the shepherds and shows them where a very special baby had been born.
The show was packed with fun songs helping to portray the Christmas story. A special mention must go to Mohit Jessani, a Year 2 pupil who sang a solo rendition of “When a child is born”. What a voice!
It’s sad that so many schools in England no longer do Nativity plays for fear of upsetting other cultures. As I watched our play this year, I looked at the different cultures, nationalities and personalities on that stage and felt a great sense of pride that we continue this tradition. Looking at the reaction of our audiences, I’m sure they felt the same.

Well done Wingate Infants! Lynne Pearson, Head of Infants

The Infants

For more details on our nursery please click here.

Reception, Year 1, Year 2

Our Infant Department begins with Nursery, then leads on to Reception, Year 1 and finally Year 2.

We follow the British National Curriculum as far as possible, with extra attention being given to speaking and listening, since not all the children are being taught in their native language. In addition, Spanish is taught to our Year 2 children.

We have a policy whereby 24 is the maximum class size (13 in Nursery) and we are fortunate in having the support of classroom assistants throughout the week.

 

 

Language and Literacy>

The children are introduced to books from Nursery age and begin to take home reading books, predominantly from the Ginn 360 scheme. We have also started to introduce some Oxford Reading Tree material which seems to be a firm favourite with the children and is extremely popular in Britain.

In Reception class, we introduce the alphabet sounds through a well established scheme called ‘Jolly Phonics’. This has proven to be a highly successful way of getting the children to learn the 42 sounds of the alphabet (including double sounds such as ‘ee’, ‘th’, etc) as well as helping the children spell words and develop their independent writing. This scheme is followed throughout the Infant department.

 

 

 

Numeracy

Throughout the Infant Department (including Nursery) we follow the Abacus Maths scheme which includes all aspects of mathematical learning to develop the children’s thinking strategies.

Our children are encouraged to work and play together, help and respect each other, share and care for each other.

 

 

 

September Messages

Infant swimming and PE

Nursery  PE on Monday and Wednesday

Reception  PE on Tuesday and Friday  Swimming on Wednesday

Year 1  PE on Thursday and Friday  Swimming on Wednesday

Year 2  PE on Monday and Thursday  Swimming on Friday

If your child needs armbands please send them into school already inflated. 

Water for Drinking

All children should bring a small plastic bottle of water to drink.  These can be filled with purified water provided by the school  if you wish.  Please write your child´s name clearly on the bottle.  Infants are not permitted to leave the Infant area to buy drinks from the machines and should not bring money for this.

The tuck shop is for children in the Junior and Senior Departments only.  Please note that older brothers and sisters may not purchase food for their younger siblings.

Video / DVD Club

Infant video club will begin on Friday, 14th September. 

New members pay a joining fee of 3 €, which includes your child´s first DVD.  Members pay 50 cents per video / DVD.  Change-over day is Friday! Please make sure the DVDs are handled with care.

Library

Monday is library day - for Year 1 and Year 2.  Please do not return library books on any other day, to avoid confusion.

 

Uniform

The school uniform shop is open on Thursday mornings, from 9 to 9.45am.

Please make sure your child´s uniform is correct and is named.

Reading

On Wednesday, 26th September there will be an informal reading meeting at 6pm in the Reception

classroom.
 Details to follow next week!!

Reading bags and PE bags can be purchased from Miss Pearson at €5.00 each.

Requests

Please come to school on time!!  Last year there were many children who were repeatedly late.  We have a new timetable this year, which means that lessons must start promptly, as staff from other departments are involved and cannot wait for latecomers.  Being late for school is disruptive  - not only for your child, but for the rest of the class.

Finally, if anyone is able to sew and has the time to help us with the preparation of costumes or scenery for our Christmas play, please let Miss Pearson know!!

 

Copyright © 2005 [Wingate School]. All rights reserved. Revised: December 21, 2009