HARLEQUIN PARENT NEWSLETTER SPRING TERM 2025

Spring is the perfect time to discuss life cycles and new life, as the children can observe the natural changes in our local environment and experience first-hand how these changes happen. We will be hopefully obtaining some frogspawn for our mini wildlife pond we will be creating outside and watching the changes over the coming months.

We will be spending a lot time more time out in the garden planting seeds and bulbs, learning how to care for them, watering them and watching them grow. 

We will be learning about where the food comes from and explore a number of new ingredients that appear on our new seasonal menu. Snack on the go has proved hugely popular this term with many parents and children accessing Debbie’s home cooked delights.

With the skies now brighter and the days becoming longer we will be cloud gazing, listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees and the vast amount of nature’s friends that come to visit here at Harlequin, the fox, squirrels and birds. 

Over the next term outdoors Harlequin will be exploring spring and the vast changes in the spring season. We will look closely at new growth and life as we start to welcome some of the many insects that return with the warmer temperatures. 

We will explore the movement of water and how we can create water channels and change the direction of water. 

We will collect rainwater to re-use in our watering cans to give back to the garden, helping our seeds and plants grow.

Diary Dates

Stay and Play events

We look forward to you seeing you at  our monthly Stay and Play's which give you an opportunity to join in with your child's activities, talk to staff and meet other parents.

Wednesday 16th April, 4.30-5.30pm, All rooms

Wednesday 21st April 1.00-2.00pm Pre-school only (outdoor forest session)

Wednesday 21st April Babies &Toddlers 4.30-5.30pm 

Tuesday 10th June, 4.30-5.30pm, All rooms 

Thursday 31st July, 4.30-5.30pm 

Nursery Closure Dates

Staff Training Day – please note that All nurseries will be closed for staff training day on Friday 4th April.

Friday 18th April and Monday 21st April – Easter Bank Holiday

(Nurseries reopen on Tuesday 22nd April 2025)

Monday 5th May –Early May Bank Holiday

Monday 26th May –Spring Bank Holiday

Monday 25th August –Summer Bank Holiday

Upcoming Events

Monday 24th – Friday 28th March – Mother’s day activities. Join us for a Mother’s day breakfast Thursday 27th March 9.30am-10.30am, tickets £2 (all donations to charity)

• Discussions around families and people that are special to us
• Children will be creating a variety of spring themed artwork
• Please send in your pictures for our family board

Monday 31st  March – Eid celebrations 

The children will be learning about Eid and participating in a variety of activities. If any parents would be interested in coming to talk to the children about their special celebrations please speak to your key person to arrange.

Tuesday 1st April-April Fool’s Day

• Let’s get “silly”
• Clowns, jokes,  - Key groups to play harmless little tricks on staff members of other key groups in preschool and toddlers

Circle times on what is funny and what is hurtful 

Wednesday 2nd April  – International Children's Book Day

Bring your child’s favourite book in to nursery to share a story time .

If any parents would be interested in coming to read to the children please  speak to your key person to arrange.

Friday 4th April – National Walk to work day

We will be promoting a walking to nursery, park and stride day and enjoying stories around travel and transport.

Friday 11th April – Big Wind day

We will be making windy day resources, carrying out experiments and measuring wind using a wind speed chart. (copies of the Windspeed charts will be available in the nursery entrances)

Monday 14th – Thursday 17th April- Easter Activities

Tuesday 22nd April – Earth Day

We will be planning activities that link with project themed activities

With a Focus on developing climate change gardens, and link to our Eco Schools projects. 

If any Green fingered parents would like to be involved in the projects please speak to your child’s key person

Wednesday 23rd April – St Georges Day

We will be learning about English history, St George & the Dragon and various dragon crafts.

Friday 25th April – World Penguin Day

Penguin cooking club, penguin ice skating small world, black and white day

Conservation- climate change -ice caps – freezing toys in ice

Tuesday 29th April – International Dance Day

We will be enjoying dancing to a wide range of music and will be moving and grooving everywhere including Dancing outside!

If any parents would like to come along and enjoy a dance session please speak to your child’s key person to arrange.

Learning Focus for this term

Babies 

As we approach Easter the babies will explore a variety of themed tuff trays, exploring all 5 of their senses as they explore the environment and play both alongside each other and in small groups. 

Toddlers

Transport continues to be a huge interest for our toddlers and we would like to thank the parents and members of the community who responded and helped make this topic extra special by visiting us in their personal/work vehicles. The children have also enjoyed standing at the fence, watching the weird and wonderful drive past us on the main road. We hope for a few more surprise visits this coming term. 

Our visitors so far: 

Paramedic/Ambulance

Old vintage Tractor 

Dog handler/Police car

Bin truck

Preschool 

This spring preschool will be focusing on People in our community. When learning about people in our community we will be looking at different occupations and job roles and with a focus on people who help us, religious festivals and our role within the nursery community. 

WOW News

We are celebrating as all 6 nurseries have successfully achieved the Dingley’s promise mark of achievement award and were amongst one of the 1st of 27 settings in Kirklees to achieve this.

Community library 

Please continue to access out community library we would love for you to share your bedtime story pictures with us via Parent zone. 

Nursery News 

Please keep a look out at our regular posts and pictures on Harlequins nursery news on our website. 

Staff News

Maria  will be celebrating her birthday this month. 

Alice will be re-starting to grow and planting at her allotment 😊

We welcome Tilly to our baby room team, Tilly is a level 3 practitioner with a wealth of knowledge working within our under 2s room at Oakwood house.

Project Update

Eco Schools – All our nurseries are working hard towards our annual Eco Schools award. The accreditation has recently changed and this year is more specifically aimed at those in Early Years which means that this year the resources and activity ideas are better suited to most of the children within our settings whereas in previous years, it has been aimed solely at all children in education. 

We have begun some really exciting lessons with the children and have been teaching them about lots of different areas such as Energy, Water, Global Citizenship and lots more. Our submission for the award will be at the end of this academic year in July and we will receive our certificate and feedback shortly after which we will share with you.

We will be looking closely at our waste at Harlequin over the coming months with a focus on recycling. We have recycle bins in all our rooms for paper. We have a number of posters in and around the room to help the children understand the small changes that can be made to reduce our carbon footprint. We have also been working hard to reduce single use plastics and have been encouraging the use of re-useable wet bags that can be purchased from us for as cost of £4.00. 

We have had new thermostats installed within the rooms to ensure the rooms are efficiently heated and will start spring with a focus on re-planting and growing our own herbs in the garden. 

Start Life Well – We are about to take on a new accreditation, the Start Life Well award which focuses on physical activity and nutrition in our settings. Each nursery will be assessing all areas of physical activity and nutrition before deciding on an area to improve upon. This may be improving gross motor activities indoors and outdoors or looking at staff physical activity. Each setting will choose something different following an assessment which will enable us to share best practice and ideas across the group.

SuperKind – This is another new project for us this year. The aim of this one is to bring social action and active citizenship into the classrooms through different topics and kind actions. Each child will be tasked with doing one kind action per year which can be done through a range of different activities whether that is by collecting litter, visiting a care home, donating to a food bank and many more. We will keep you updated with our progress as the project is rolled out. 

Further Information

Toilet Training Survey

Please see the Guardian Survey Bog standard? Study seeks most effective toilet training methods | Parents and parenting | The Guardian

and the Parent Survey Make Science Happen! - Big Toilet Project

This is on reducing plastic nappy waste, with a focus on the environment. 

Early years food choking hazards

Please find latest advice from the Food Standards Agency here: https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/Early%20Years%20Choking%20Hazards%20Table_English.pdf PowerPoint Presentation (food.gov.uk)

This includes the latest information that popcorn is not suitable for under 5-year-olds.

School Applications for Sept 2025 – Parents will find out which primary school has offered their child a place for September 2025 on Wednesday 16 April. Once you receive your child’s school place allocation confirmation offer please can you inform your child’s key person so we can send plan their school transition accordingly.

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.

Lost and Found Property

We kindly request your cooperation in labelling your child's belongings, including shoes, clothes, hats and other personal items. Clear labelling with your child's name will help ensure that everything is returned to its rightful owner. This simple step will save time and minimise any potential mix-ups. Please check the Lost and Found property boxes periodically to retrieve any misplaced items.

Spring Outdoor Clothing

During the chillier months, please ensure your child has suitable clothing to participate comfortably in all aspects of outdoor play that are all clearly labelled with their name and that can be kept at nursery.

We would kindly request that you bring a warm fleece to wear under the outdoor coats and a pair wellingtons for participating in outdoor play. 

Nursery Fee Payment Reminder

Quite a few payments are coming in after 1st of the month. Just a reminder that all payments must reach our bank account before the 1st of each month this includes all childcare vouchers, Tax Free Childcare Payments and Bank Transfers. Any parents paying by SLC with need to pay their monthly top up amount by 1st also. Please note that payments usually take 3-4 business days to reach our account.

Any payments received after 1st of the month will incur a £20 late payment charge and continued failure to pay will be charged at a daily rate of 8% of the outstanding  balance.