BRADLEY HOUSE NEWSLETTER SPRING TERM 2023

Happy New Year to you all from all the staff at Bradley House. We hope you had a relaxing and enjoyable break. The staff and children at Bradley House had so much fun last term. From a visit by Zoolab, where the children met a range of exotic animals to our science week experiments where we looked at change, exploring volcanoes, completing fun experiments and even standing in a giant bubble - there was never a dull moment!

We enjoyed re-establishing our links with the wonderful staff and residents of Sycamore Care Home. Their generosity and kindness on our visits there was so appreciated, then watching our caring toddlers interact with them on their visit to us was so touching to witness. Judy made a scrumptious afternoon tea to share with them which was enjoyed by all!

We have lots of fabulous plans for 2023 and are looking forward to another year with lots of fun (and messy) activities!

Parentzone update…

Following the launch of Parentzone to our Bradley House parents last year, we hope you are enjoying receiving pictures of your little ones and seeing some of the activities they chose to do at nursery. For parents who recently joined us, Parentzone is an app that gives access to information regarding your child. If you would like to look at what parentzone offers, follow this link - ParentZone Resources - Connect Childcare to the Connect website where you will find lots of information. Alternatively, go to connectchildcare.com and click on the links to the parents guide which you will find in the ‘support’ section.

**Please remember that questions and queries regarding sessions, finance, etc cannot be answered through this app. Please contact nursery directly with these queries or questions.**

Our aim is to publish two ‘snapshots’ of your child each month and a ‘learning story’ three times a year. We had a parents information evening last term to introduce Parentzone and will hold a further information evening for parents who could not attend this meeting on 8^th February at 6.15pm. If you would like to attend, please email bradley@portlandnurseries.co.uk as this will give us a rough idea of many biscuits to bake! Please be aware this evening is for general information and if you have anything you would like to discuss specific to your circumstances, please call or email nursery and we will arrange a convenient time for you to pop in and chat to Amanda.

National storytelling week

National Storytelling Week takes places every year and this year is from 30^th January to 6^th February.

National Storytelling week is “a celebration of the power of sharing stories. Stories teach us about the world, they allow us to step into someone else’s shoes and feel empathy, they help us to relax and escape and they can help develop essential literacy skills”.

We will be starting these activities with the first of our years charity events a Bobble Hat Singalong! We are already planning for this day and hope you will be able to join us for our Stay and Play session.

The importance of reading in supporting a child’s literacy development is well documented with a recent article confirming:

“There's no doubt that language in all its richness – written, spoken, sung or read aloud – plays a crucial role in our early development. Babies already respond better to the language they were exposed to in the womb. Parents are encouraged to read to their children before they are even born, and when they are babies. Evidence shows that how much or how little we are talked to as children can have lasting effects on future educational achievement. Books are a particularly important aspect of that rich linguistic exposure, since written language often includes a wider and more nuanced and detailed vocabulary than everyday spoken language. This can in turn help children increase their range and depth of expression.”

Whilst the importance of an actual book and the enjoyment of sharing these with your little ones remains undisputed, there are a variety of ways you can enjoy a wide range of books with your children, and these do not have to be expensive! Kirklees libraries have an app that allows you to borrow ebooks from the comfort of your own home and enjoy a wide range of books. This will allow the whole family to enjoy a variety of stories, for more information visit Kirklees libraries website or click this link - E-Library | Kirklees Council

Staff training day, October 2022

We had a very enjoyable training day in October and the feedback that we received from everyone was very positive. Thank you for your support in allowing us to run these days. These full staff training days are crucial to ensure our staff team are aware of any changes to policy internally, locally and nationally and ensures our practice and professional development continue to remain up to date.

In our morning sessions we looked at safeguarding information and updated our safeguarding knowledge before moving on to considering interactions. In the afternoon we had lots of fun looking at child initiated play and the importance of the environment for child development.

**Our next closure day for staff training day is Thursday 6^th April 2023**

Staff award ceremony

We celebrate staff achievements across all Portland Nurseries at our annual Portland Nurseries Annual Awards Party, which is held every December. It is so hard to choose one person as the Bradley team are all amazing and all deserve a special mention. However, this years award for Bradley House was given to Sofina who always has a happy, positive attitude and has given amazing support to staff, parents and children over the last 6 months. Sofina has been a part of the BH team for 9 years, first as an employee of Bradley Bar and now as deputy manager of Bradley House. Sofina embraces change and has supported the whole team in their transition to Portland nurseries. Congratulations Sofina!

Meetings and Events

2^nd February 6.15pm Preschool meeting - Supporting your child’s transition to school.

8^th February 6.15pm Parentzone information meeting – all welcome.

World book day is on Thursday 2nd March. We would like to make this a fun day and ensure you do not have to purchase expensive costumes for your little ones. We will therefore be celebrating with a pyjama day and reading bedtime stories (and lots of other stories). More information to follow but we would love you to share your child’s favourite bedtime story with us.

Friday 17^th March – Red Nose Day Charity event

Stay and Play sessions:

31^st January 4.15 to 5.15pm: Bobble hat sing -a-long, all rooms.

8^th February to celebrate children’s wellbeing week we will be having a range of activities all week and would like to invite parents to stay and play sessions.

• Babies and upper toddlers 9.30 to 10.30am.

• We would like to trial doing our lower toddlers and preschool rooms at the later time of 5pm to 6pm due to parent feedback informing us previous stay and play sessions are difficult to attend due to work commitments. We would love your feedback around this as we strive to make these sessions accessible to as many parents as possible.

From 13^th March to 17^th March we will be enjoying Science Week and would like to invite parents to stay and play sessions on 16^th March from 9am until 10am.

Thursday 6^th April: NURSERY CLOSURE DAY FOR STAFF TRAINING

If you have any questions, queries or comments, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

AS WELL AS HARD COPIES IN ENTRANCE AREAS, THIS NEWSLETTER HAS BEEN EMAILED. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL, PLEASE CONTACT BRADLEY@PORTLANDNURSERIES.CO.UK WITH YOUR NAME, YOUR CHILDS NAME AND THE EMAIL ADDRESS YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE FOR PARENTZONE/CORRESPONDANCE.

Finance

Please note that our childcare software ‘Connect’ have terminated their contract with Worldpay, so we can no longer accept payment by this method. Our preferred payment method is by bank transfer (please use your child’s name as reference), TFC and Voucher. Please be reminded that fees are due on or before the 1^st of the month and payment can take 3-4 days to clear, particularly TFC and Voucher payments.

Nursery Education Funding

All 3 and 4 year olds are already entitled to 15 hours of funded early education for 38 weeks of the year. There is an additional 15 hours of funded childcare available for families that meet the Government's eligibility criteria, this will also be for 38 weeks of the year.

More detail information can be found on the GOV.UK website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482517/Childcare_Bill_Policy_Statement_12.03.2015.pdf

Application and funding process - You will need to apply online via HMRC they have a dedicated helpdesk to support parents apply if you are unable to apply online. The link to the website is below.

https://childcare-support.tax.service.gov.uk/par/app/applynow

Eligible parents will be given a code which will be valid for 3 months, you will be asked to re-confirm your eligibility towards the end of the 3 month period. HMRC will send reminders to parents.

Please be aware that if you would like to increase your child’s attendance with your eligibility for 30 hours we have limited places until September 2023