OAKWOOD HOUSE PARENT CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2025

As we come to the end of the year we would like to thank all our parents for their continued support throughout the year. We have has a busy year at Oakwood House, from babies exploring the strawberries grown in the garden to preschool cooking on the firepit. Across all the rooms the children have been busy exploring nature in the garden and experiencing play across the seasons. We are pleased to say that this year we once again achieved the eco-schools green flag award this year completing with a Distinction. Thank you to everyone who attended our Christmas party and the festive themed Stay and Plays across December, we hope you all enjoyed the events and it has helped kick start the festive feeling in you all. With lots of exciting things planned for our Forest School in January as well as different learning activities and plans for 2026 we cannot wait for the new year within our nursery community. With that being said we wish everyone a relaxing and enjoyable festive holiday as well as good health and happiness for the new year. 

DIARY DATES

Nursery will be closed on the evening of Wednesday 24th December for our Christmas break and will reopen on Friday 2nd January 2026.

January Stay and Play events;

Babies 1 – Thursday 22nd January (3:30-4:30)

Babies 2 – Thursday 29th January (10:00-11:00)

Toddlers – Wednesday 28th January (4:00-5:00)

Preschool – Tuesday 20th January (4:00-5:00)

Babies Parents evening; 

Tuesday 6th January (from 6:15pm)

January learning events;

Monday 5th January – Issac Newton’s Birthday, children at nursery will be exploring gravity.

Tuesday 13th January – Lohri, children will be leaning about the Punjabi festival hich celebrates the passing of the winter solstice.

Friday 23rd January – the big garden birdwatch, children will be looking out for birds and identifying different birds we see in the garden.

Monday 26th January – Burn’s night, children will be learning about the Scottish celebration.

Thursday 29th January – National puzzle day – children will be completing many different puzzles at nursery.

and so much more…

Spring Staff training day;

We will be closed on Friday 24th April 2026 for our Spring staff training day, as you are aware staff training and development is vital to ensure that Portland nurseries provide the highest standard of care for children and families. We appreciate your understanding in the importance of closing the nursery for a day to ensure that the staff have the most up to date training.

Learning focus at the moment

Babies

Over the past month the babies have been busy exploring different aspects of the festive season, from sensory tuff tray to arts and crafts the children in the baby room have been exposed to a range of sensory experiences focusing on winter and the festive season, throughout the activities staff members have focused on providing children with new vocabulary such as crunchy, shiny, soft, fluffy, hard. The babies have truly enjoyed getting messy and participating in a range of craft activities involving glue, paint, making fake snow and even made their own reindeer food at our stay and play.

Toddlers

Throughout the beginning of the festive season the children in the toddler room have been exploring the winter season by donning their outdoor suits and braving the cold. Exploring the winter aspects in the garden, specifically jumping in muddy puddles. We further extended the children’s experience in winter through a variety of artic themed activities such as a polar bear and penguin tuff tray with fake snow and igloo. The children were able to experiment with marks through sensory exploration and began to experience what activities we can get up to in the snow such as snowball fights with the fake snow. These activities have provided the children with new and exciting experiences in which they can make links between their learning and stories we have been reading and the songs we have been singing.

Preschool

Our preschool children have been very busy warming up their singing voices and practicing their Christmas carols ready for their Christmas carols around the fire, unfortunately the rain was not in our favour however this did not stop the children in the preschool room putting on a show to showcase their vocals and sing along to some of their favourite carols. The children have been participating in an array of activities creating Christmas crafts with an emphasis on teach maths through these activities, during this creative play children have been encouraged to count, recognise shapes, quantities, measure and so much more.

Book Recommendations

Pip and Posy ‘The Snowy Day’ by Alex Scheffler

Pip and Posy love the snow and so do Toddlers! This lovely book has lots of teaching opportunities for Toddler aged children, from discussing what children need to wear whilst going outside in the winter months, to behaviour, boundaries and independence. 

The Snow Thief by Alice Hemming and Nicola Slater

The snow thief is a sequel to the leaf thief , the lovable squirrel is back to discover the winter snow, having fun with snowball fights and ice skating before wondering who has stolen the snow and where it has gone. The book has a delicate way of teaching children about snow melting and seasonal changes.

Staff News

As we begin the new year we will be having a few changes to staffing across the nursery. As always we like to ensure parents are informed of any changes and have been waiting for confirmation of changes before we were able to share them with you.

Babies 1

We are please to announce that Lauren has been promoted and appointed as our new Baby Room Leader for Babies 1, Lauren is an experienced practitioner and is looking forward to joining Amy and Rachael In the baby room, alongside Hoorain who has successfully passed her probation and secured a position with us to complete her apprenticeship.

Babies 2

Unfortunately it is with a heavy heart that we are saying farewell to Megan who has decided to pursue her dream in becoming a midwife, we wish her the best of luck as she takes on the new ventures as she leaves us in early January. However we are pleased to say that Morgan will be moving to babies 2 to take on the room lead role alongside Joni and Hilda. We are also please to say after completing her training at Portland House, Kate has successfully secured a job at Oakwood House and will be joining the baby room 2 team.

Toddlers

We are deeply saddened to announce that Amanda is leaving the Toddler room team to explore new career opportunities, we know Amanda will be missed by all the staff, children and parents or Oakwood House but still wish her the best of luck as she takes on new challenges. We are please to announce that we have Katie returning from her adventures abroad to support the Toddler room team until March, as well as Ruby starting with us to complete her apprenticeship. Elisha will also be joining the toddler room to support Lindsay and the rest of the team during the transition period.

Preschool

A huge congratulations to Sarah who has recently announced she is expecting her second child in May 2026. 

We are pleased to announce that we have maintained our 5 stars hygiene award - Well Done to our cook David.

Portland Nurseries Annual Awards

We recently held our annual awards night where all nurseries across the Portland community come together to celebrate the achievements throughout the year. This is a lovely opportunity for us to celebrate staff members achievements over the year and thank them for the dedication, passion and talent as they strive to support the families at nursery. We are please to say that our Early years educator of the year this year was awarded to Amy, whilst Leah was awarded our rising star award.

Safeguarding

Safeguarding

A polite reminder to all parents that Oakwood House has a strict mobile phone policy. For the safety of all children we ask that parents do not enter the building or use a mobile phone whilst on the premises. This is part of our safeguarding policy to ensure that children are safe whilst in our care. If you are at a stay and play and need to take a call please leave the building before answering the phone. Members of staff are encouraged to challenge any parents or visitors who have their mobile phone out whilst on the premises.