HARLEQUIN PARENT CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2024

Dear families

I hope you are all well and looking forward to the festive celebrations upon us.

As we come to the end of another fantastic year, we have also had to say goodbye to some of our children who left to start school, I imagine they have all had a prosperous start to the first year in reception.

We hope you have all stopped by our Nursery News section on our website to take a look at some of the things we have been Learning this term and celebrate the success in our fundraising efforts.

I would like to say a special thank you to all those parents who responded to the can you help us email, the song spoons, yoga sessions and hat donations were really appreciated by staff and children. If any other parents would also like to share a talent or come in to teach a new skill please speak to a member of our team.

The Community Library has been well used with many of you donating unused books, If you would like to donate some books please pop them in so we can stamp them.

Some of you have enjoyed taking home some of our newly put together home learning bags. We would welcome some feedback on these if you have taken one and could fill in an evaluation sheet from inside the bag and return it to me, this would be appreciated.

We welcomed back the annual Christmas party for the children as we believe this is a fantastic opportunity to get together.

We have once again achieved our Green Flag Award for Eco Schools and maintained the 5 star hygiene rating in our kitchen inspection

Learning focus at the moment

Pre-school

In preschool this term we have re-started STEM activities for the children. Stem stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, many of these activities are small easy experiments in which help create awe and wonder in the world in which we live in.

We also managed to get out and back into the community with preschool restarting visits to the local care home. This helps us to build on cultural capital and helps to instil some of the great British values in our day to day learning experiences. The smiles it brings to both our children and the elderly has been so lovely to be a part of. This is something else we will continue in the new year and are looking forward to continuing to meet more residents and join in with lots more exciting things.

Cooking club has been a great success with some of the younger children beginning to join in with cooking/baking some of our homemade recipes.

We have been continuing to take part in forest school sessions with Jemimah and we often enjoy story time in the forest and cooking up some tasty mud stew in the mud kitchen.

Our Tuesday morning Spanish sessions have been going well and the children show great engagement. We learn how to tolerate delay in small group sessions, share resources with our peers and grow in confidence as time moves on. We are all very excited when Jade comes in and we love joining in both in English and Spanish words. You can look out for the termly songs words parent zone.

Managing feelings and emotions - We have also been doing some work around managing our feelings and emotions and considering others feelings. We have been talking about how our actions can make others feel.

Toddlers

The toddler focus has been relaxation and mindfulness, to help with this we had a parent come in and do a short yoga and mindfulness session in which we listened to the sounds the water bowls made. This also focused on some simple yoga poses some of which were tricky. By copying the adult making tree shapes with their bodies they have all tried really hard and managed to copy some poses successfully.

The children have enjoyed the new light and dark resources, torches and dark tent and the new light we have to create patterns on the roof when the lights are turned off.

The children have spent a lot of time this term making marks, mixing and experimenting with colour. Much of the artwork created has been displayed on our nursery display boards.

Babies

Our babies have been experimenting with risky play setting up obstacle courses and working on balance. We also made an igloo and created a new cosy corner in which the children have enjoyed sitting and looking at books inside and playing peek a boo.

Babies have also been exploring light and dark with our new ceiling sensory light and torches, making the room dark and watching the stars on the ceiling creates short moments of mindfulness.

They have had lots of fun exploring outside and have even gone into the forest school a couple of times to explore the seasonal changes. This has been really good for our babies well-being creating lots of happy smiley faces.

*Polite reminder as we move into the colder temperatures we recommend socks with grips underneath for our younger children. We spend most of the day indoors without shoes on to support foot growth and balance. Our flooring in the baby room is mainly wood flooring with some soft rugs and mats. The floor can be slippy for young children who are still developing walking skills in socks. We would like to therefore reduce the risk of injury due to slips and falls. During the summer months we are happy for children to be barefoot but would like to avoid tiny toes becoming cold during the colder weather. Thank you for your support.

Outdoor Play Focus

We have had a brilliant time playing outdoors in the colder weather and we even had a little snow at the start of November which was brilliant as we were able to go outside and explore the snow we captures some lovely moments in which were shared on our social media platforms be sure to follow us. We even brought some inside and watched what happened when the snow started to get warm.

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 Jemimah.

Diary Dates

Diary Dates

Christmas jumper week 16-24^th December, Donations welcome

Children's Christmas lunch Friday 20^th December

Pre-school Parents Christmas sing along Monday 23^rd December 4.30pm-5.15pm

Nursery re-opens Thursday 2^nd January

Friday 3^rd January World braille Day

Friday 24^th January Stay and Play Full Nursery 9.30-10.30am

24-26^th January Big garden bird watch

Charity Events

We raised £53.00 for Children in Need

We raised £22.00 for Candlelighters for our granny square day raffle.

We collected a total of 35 selection boxes for the local food bank.

Further information

Mobile Phones

Please can I remind parents that any 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.

Bringing food into Nursery

Polite reminder that food items from home should not be brought into or consumed on nursery premises we have a number of children with food allergies and must do all we can to minimise the risk to others.

Toys/items from home

Please could we ask toys from home are not brought into nursery, we have an increasing number of children bringing in things in and we do not want items to get lost. This is also causing upset between some children. If your child brings a comforter i.e. special teddy/ blanket for sleep time they are welcome to continue to do so.

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.

Drop off and collections

We would like to thank you for your patience as we move into the colder weather as we have limited space inside to ensure hand overs are conducted with everyone’s privacy in mind. We are trying to reduce the number of parents we have in at any one time.

Afterschool and Holiday club

Just a reminder of our Fun Club at Portland House should you require any After School Care from Lindley and Reinwood Schools as well as our holiday club which offer ad hoc sessions throughout the school holidays – all children welcome. Please email the office if you would like to be added to the mailing list or require further details.

Christmas card recycling

Please could you save and bring in any old Christmas cards for crafting 😊

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We all hope you enjoy a break and can spend lots of time with family and friends.