FAIRFIELD PARENT CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2024

Welcome to our Christmas Newsletter, we are currently still wrapped up warm and cosy enjoying the wintery weather. Over the last couple of weeks we have been taking full advantage of the varying weather participating in exciting activities in the nursery garden, we have been having fun playing in the fallen leaves and creating shapes and shadows as night creeps in to our teepee in the garden supporting our love for "STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). Can I please remind parents to bring a fleece for your child to keep at nursery to wear under their nursery outdoor clothing and ensure all items of clothing are labelled clearly with their name.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Happy New Year for 2025 from myself and the Fairfield team thank you for all our thoughtful gifts and cards, and for your continued support throughout the year, we have had lots to celebrate especially achieving our Outstanding Ofsted report.

Going in to the new year we will be having lots of different Stay and Play sessions across all the rooms in nursery so please come and join us in nursery for an opportunity to be involved in fun activities and talk to the team and other parents in your child’s room. Thank you to every one that has manged to make the events we have put on this year it means a lot to the children and the team.

A big warm welcome to all our new families joining us in the new year, we look forward to getting to know you and your child more over the coming months and excited to start your child’s learning journey with us.

Learning focus at the moment

As we go in to winter we will be using communication and language as a focus across all our 4 age groups, we will do a variety of activities which will be enhanced to support individuality, resilience and curiosity providing creating moments of awe and wonder for the children. We will look at a variety of books, learn new songs, play in groups to help each other’s vocabulary and provide a language rich environment for all children to thrive.

Preschool

Home learning is an important part of your child’s learning, our preschool children have been participating a weekly letters and sounds session with their key person and have been focusing on a letter of the month, to create sticky knowledge and link to home they have been encouraged to bring something in starting with the chosen letter, we have lots of interesting items brought in on display and the children will proudly talk to their friends about what they have brought in to nursery initiating lots of lovely conversations about all kinds of topics. We will be continuing this throughout the year so please help us to support your child further and their understanding of letters and sounds.

Alongside this we will be learning about lots of different events festivals and celebrations around the worlds, encouraging understanding of differences, culture, beliefs and the natural world. We will be celebrating world brail day raising awareness of communication for people with sight impairment and continuing out STEAM learning exploring gravity activities on Isaac Newton’s birthday.

Babies

As we welcome lots of new families to our baby unit we will be spending our time forming strong relationships with your children, we will use this time to sing songs, read stories and create a safe environment which makes them comfortable to explore the variety of activities. We will use the garden to connect with nature, making snow with natural items to experiment make marks and encourage the babies to use their whole bodies strengthening their core body preparing them for making their first steps.

Babies are becoming increasingly independent and are eager to communicate their wishes and needs to their key person, we will use this to focus on communication and language incorporating winter vocabulary when enjoying sensory play in the tuff trays. We will be encouraging babies to say single words when looking through picture books and singing a repertoire of songs using singing spoons and creating singing baskets to start encouraging turn taking and being aware of our peers.

Toddlers

Toddlers curiosity about the world is blossoming creating lots of awe and wonder about the world around us, as they begin to ask questions and make connections with nature, to support their development we will be doing lots of activities focusing on growth and new life, extending on children’s thoughts with new words, ideas and explanations. We will be looking in the garden for signs of spring and planting plants deepening their understanding of different parts of a plant and using our motor skills to open seed packets, use trowels and pots to practise are hand eye coordination skills. We hope to plant some vegetables that we will be able to harvest in the spring and summer for Emma to use to create us some delicious snacks and meals. While spending more time in our outdoor environment we will be learning about how to keep our wildlife safe and making them some little homes to live in around our woodlands. We will create small world scenarios for children to recreate their experiences such as farms and woodlands and use these opportunities to talk about new life.

Project Updates

We are currently working towards out Eco school award and hope to achieve the green flag award as we did last year, we will be using this opportunity for our preschool council to discuss important topics of the world such as recycling, sustainable harvesting and what we can do in nursery to reduce our carbon footprint. We will be encouraging children to go out in small groups litter picking around the nursery grounds and we will be collecting recycling from home to take to the recycling centre so children get an understanding of materials properties and what effect not putting rubbish in the bin creates for our wildlife when setting out different activities like saving the ocean animals from pollution in the water tray.

Staff Training Day

In October the whole company staff team came together for our Annual Autumn Training Day, to enhance and develop their childcare practice for the future and reflect on the year past.

This year we focused on 2 key areas:

1. Boosting Staff Morale and Wellbeing to promote vibrant play, learning and positive behaviour. led by Jenny Mosley – Director and Founder of QCT, The Quality Circle Time (QCT) Model
2. STEAM Approaches with Everyday Materials led by Debi Keyte-Hartland, Early Childhood Pedagogical Consultant, Artist-Educator & Trainer

Our staff team thoroughly enjoyed the day and learnt lots of new activities i.e. modelling activities, circle time, light activities to name a few along with golden moments for wellbeing. An excellent and informative day with lots to take back to our nurseries!

Portland Nurseries Annual Staff Training Day | Portland Nurseries

Internal Audits

You may have noticed senior managers visiting our nursery recently. They have been conducting internal audits to ensure we maintain the highest standards of care and education. Our commitment to being an Outstanding nursery involves continuous reflection and improvement. Action points from these audits then form part of our Quality Improvement Plans, which help us identify areas for enhancement and celebrate our successes. By constantly evaluating and refining our practices, we aim to provide the best possible environment for your children to learn and grow.

Annual Award

We are thrilled to share that we recently held our annual awards party, a cherished tradition where we come together to celebrate the incredible dedication and hard work of our staff. Recognising and appreciating our team's efforts is essential, as their passion and commitment directly impact the nurturing and enriching environment we provide for your children. By celebrating our staff, we not only acknowledge their outstanding contributions but also inspire continuous growth and excellence within our nursery community. Their unwavering care helps to ensure that your little ones receive the best possible start in their educational journey. This year our Educator of the Year was awarded to Rachel.

Megan received our Rising Star Award.

Staff News

Welcome Laiba Ahmed our new apprentice

Happy 21^st Birthday Megan (December 28^th)

Congratulations to Becki on her engagement

Dairy Dates

Stay and Play events (Monthly)

Each month we host Stay and Play sessions in each room, this allows our parents to spend some quality time with their children in nursery and participate in some fun activities too. They are a great opportunity for you to meet other parents and get to know the staff team better. More information will follow via email.

Term Dates

Monday 2^nd September – Autumn term starts

Monday 28^th October – Term time only children break up for half term week

Monday 5^th November – Term time children return

Monday 22^nd December – Term time only children break up for Christmas

Tuesday 24^th December – Last day before nursery closes for Christmas

Events

Monday 13^th January - Lohri - Punjabi festival to celebrate the passing of winter solstice

Monday 20^th January – Penguin awareness day

24^th – 26 January Big Garden Bird watch

Further Information

Nursery doors

Although the nursery is a safe and secure environment for the children, it is down to the dedication of both families and staff to ensure the procedures in place are followed at all times and that the nursery is as secure as possible. Whilst the nursery has a secure structure ensuring only authorised adults are allowed into the building, we would like to remind parents of a few things that will help ensure our policies are adhered to and the security of the building is maintained at all times. Please ensure when you are entering and exiting the building all doors are closed behind you and you are not allowing any parents into the building, understandably you will see parents regularly and recognize each other however the staff in the rooms need to be aware of which adults are in the building at all time and therefore we are asking parents to refrain from letting other parents into the room. We appreciate your understanding on the matter.

Mobile phones

Please can I remind parents that the use of mobile phones on nursery premises is strictly prohibited, you must not take any photographs or videos at nursery or at any nursery events. Using your mobile phone breaks the statutory welfare requirements and is also a breach of safeguarding policies to which we must adhere.

Clothing

Parents, please bring in to nursery during the winter months ahead;

• Wellingtons- correct size
• Fleece to go under nursery outdoor coats
• Hats, scarves and gloves
• Bag with several changes of seasonal clothes

Please ensure you have labelled clearly with your child’s name.