Category : Hub 1

During our body awareness lesson, the children observed their teacher as she carefully drew around Mrs Branston with chalk to create a life-sized outline of a person. The children helped to identify different body parts and matched the correct symbols to the outline, developing their understanding of body awareness and key vocabulary. They then progressed to recognising and using written words independently to label parts of the body such as the head, arms, hands, legs and feet. This engaging, visual activity supported communication, symbol recognition and early literacy skills while encouraging participation and discussion. The children were enthusiastic throughout the lesson and enjoyed seeing how the body outline came to life as it was labelled together. 

The children enjoyed exploring colourful spaghetti in the tough tray during a fun sensory play activity. The spaghetti was originally provided for the children to use as hair on face pictures, encouraging creativity and imagination. As they explored, many children also enjoyed picking up, lifting and dropping the spaghetti, investigating how it moved and felt in their hands. This sensory experience supported the development of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and concentration while allowing the children to explore different textures and colours.  

This week, the children explored a sensory tray filled with soft shaving foam. They enjoyed touching, squeezing, spreading and making marks in the foam using their hands and fingers. The activity encouraged the children to explore different textures and develop their sensory awareness in a fun and engaging way. As they played, they practised their fine motor skills, hand strength and coordination by drawing patterns, making shapes and moving the foam around the tray. 

The HUB children were thrilled when the farm animals visited our school, bringing a calm, sensory‑rich experience right to the playground. The children had the chance to meet a gentle calf, some sheep, some pigs, ducklings, rabbits and tiny fluffy chicks. Each animal offered a unique opportunity for touch, observation and confidence‑building, allowing every child to explore at their own pace. It was a joyful, hands‑on learning experience that filled the day with excitement, curiosity and plenty of heart‑warming smiles.

This week, the children learned how food grows. We talked about farms and discovered that farmers plant seeds to grow the food we eat. The children then followed simple visual steps to plant their own seeds. They added soil to a pot, sprinkled seeds on top, watered them using spray bottles, and placed their pots on the windowsill to get plenty of light. Everyone enjoyed taking part and proudly talked about how “water helps plants grow” and “light helps plants grow.”

In English we have began reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The children engaged their sensory skills to investigate each of the fruits from the story. They touched, smelled, and examined the colours and textures, making real‑world connections to the book whilst developing their language and curiosity.

The children took part in a “farm‑to‑food” activity where they helped make a delicious tomato and red pepper soup. They carefully cut the fresh vegetables themselves, learning how to handle tools safely and work together. Once the soup was cooked, the children explored it using their senses—some chose to smell the rich aromas, others tasted the warm, vibrant flavours, and some simply enjoyed looking closely at the finished dish. It was a hands‑on experience that helped them understand where food comes from and how it’s prepared.

What’s at the bottom of the garden?

Today we explored different herbs that we could grow in the garden. We talked about which foods might include these herbs and then enjoyed smelling them. The children were able to say which herbs they liked the smell of and which ones they didn’t.