OAKWOOD HOUSE PARENT NEWSLETTER AUTUMN TERM 2024

Welcome to the Autumn Term newsletter and welcome to all our new children and their families, we are all looking forward to getting to know you.

What a wonderful summer we have all had, babies have enjoyed exploring in their own outdoor garden on the new freshly laid turf, whilst toddlers and pre-school have enjoyed full days in the forest, eating all our meals outside and even sleeping outdoors.

Ongoing road works on Hungerford Road meant we were lucky enough to watch lots of diggers and cranes, the workmen were very friendly and waved to us each morning.

We have wished our oldest children a fond farewell with an amazing Graduation Celebration as they start their new adventures at primary school.

Learning focus at the moment

We are focusing on becoming independent learners for all of our children during this term, our team of early years educators will be encouraging the children to make independent choices in their play ready to become life long learners.

To achieve this children need to be secure and settled in their environment, to help children feel secure and settled family photographs are a great tool. Many of our children have photographs in their room of their families, pets and friends. If you have not already sent some photographs for your child please could you email oakwood@portlandnurseries.co.uk along with the names of who is in the photograph and we will do the rest.

Learning focus - babies

This term will see the baby room practitioners establishing new bonds with their new key children, scaffolding their learning to support new skills.

Our youngest children in the baby room will be continuing to develop their language and communication skills from a language rich environment with songs, stories and poems. In addition our older babies will be developing their personal social and emotional development ready for their transitions to the toddler room.

Learning focus - toddlers

The children in our toddler room will be exploring their feelings through a range of different activities, our aim is that the children become resilient and are able to manage their thoughts and feelings using the correct terminology and gesture.

We are very proud of how successful our toddler children have become in developing their toileting skills and independence, during this next term this is something that we are continuing to work on so that toileting becomes embedded for all our children. We will be looking to parents and carers to support us with this as consistency for the children is vital.

Learning focus - preschool

Our now oldest preschool children will be revisiting our rules of play which will provide them with a sense of achievement and pride in their environment. We will also be recruiting new members for our preschool council. The preschool council meets monthly to discuss various different topics and views. You can find out more of what the council have been up to on the preschool floor.

This term we will be launching our new STEM activities (Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics) programme. We have a variety of STEM activities which have been written by Portland’s qualified teachers. Our preschool children will regularly take part in these activities in our science kitchen.

Our popular cooking club will continue this term with lots of new autumnal recipes, each child will be given the opportunity to visit the science kitchen and take part in cooking club at least once each week. Watch out for your child bringing home their delicious homemade treats.

Outdoor Learning Focus

As always the children at Oakwood House participate in outdoor play whatever the weather and this term will be no different.

During this term will be learning about the rapidly changing seasons and how different our forest will look once the leaves have fallen from the trees. We will be collecting conkers, leaves and acorns from our forest and using them in all kinds of activities.

Please could we ask that your children are provided with a warm fleece jacket or jumper that they are able to wear under our outdoor suits. Gloves and hats are also a must for the cooler months.

A Big Thank You

Everyone at Oakwood House would like to say a great big thank you to everyone who kindly knitted and crocheted granny squares, we had over 100 donated!!

A special thank you to Dorothy from preschool and her Grandma Nita who have very kindly put together all the squares to create two large blankets.

One blanket will be donated to a homeless charity and as they have been so popular we have decided to hold a silent auction for the second. All proceeds will be donated to our nominated charity. Watch out for more details.

Staff News

We are delighted to welcome back from maternity leave Amy and Elisha to the Oakwood House team, both Early Years Educators with a wealth of experience. Amy and Elisha have worked for Portland nurseries for a number of years, Elisha at Oakwood and Amy Harlequin...we are very much looking forward to their return.

Amy will be joining the baby room team, whilst Elisha will be supporting the toddler and preschool team.

We are pleased welcome Susie who is a level 3 qualified early years educator, Susie will be working alongside Lindsay with the toddler team as an assistant room leader.

We also would like to welcome Codi, our new early years apprentice joining our baby room team.

Sadly this term we have said goodbye to Chloe Walters who has worked mainly in our toddler room Chloe will be leaving us as she relocates to Manchester.

Chloe Mattimore has been successful in her application to gain a full time permanent position following the completion of her Early Years Educator qualification so will be joining the team at Holly Bank nursery…a huge congratulations to Chloe.

As the majority of Tracey’s key children have left for primary school she will be joining the team at Portland House.

I am sure we will still see Tracey and Chloe often.

Mannat has also successfully completed her Early Years Educator qualification and has decided to pursue a career in teaching so is joining Huddersfield university. She will however, be back to help us out during the holidays.

The baby room becomes busier from September as lots of new families join us, Lauren is increasing her working hours to four full days which will enable her to continue to lead and support the team.

Project Update

We are pleased to announce once again all of our sites have achieved for 2024 the Eco schools green flag award. This award is a combination of learning about the environment and creating an action plan which will improve our nursery settings and surroundings.

The upcoming term sees two new projects: Food for life and Start life well.

These are both based around nutrition and physical activity.

“Food for life” heavily focuses on the nursery menu, cooking club and the learning that surrounds where food comes from.

“Start life well” looks at physical activity and embedding the importance this plays on our health starting at a young age.

Diary Dates

Tempest Photographers- Wednesday 27^thNovember 2024. 9am – 3.00pm. Children not usually in nursery on this day are welcome to attend and can book a time slot with the office. Further details to follow.

School Applications for Sept 2025 - You can apply online for a school place in September 2025, between 1 September 2024 and 15 January 2025. If you apply after this date it can severely reduce your chances of obtaining a place at your preferred school. To complete this form you will need; A valid email address.

Preschool Parents School Transition Information Evening (school starters 2025) – Thursday 17^th October 6.30-7.30pm

Lindley Scarecrow Festival – Friday October 4^th – Sunday 6^th October 2024. Children will be making a scarecrow to display at the festival. We are inviting you to create a scarecrow with your child at home and send us pictures of your creations on parent zone.

Spooktacular Orange and Black Event – Wednesday 30^th - Thursday -31^st October. Children and staff to dress up and donate £2.00 for charity. All monies raised will be donated to our nominated charity candle lighters.

Children in Need – Friday 15^th November – Details to follow

November Nursery Charity Event – A sponsor challenge to fill a bag with household items for children to use as loose part or art activities. Bag with most variety of items wins a prize. Further details to follow.

Christmas Jumper Week – Monday 16^th to 20^th December. £2.00 donations for dressing in your festive knitwear. All monies raised will be donated to Candlelighters.

Childrens Festive Lunch - Friday 20^th December. (Menu to follow)

Preschool festive Singalong – Monday 23^rd December 4.00-4.30pm.

(Details of event and tickets to follow).

Stay and Play events

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

• Babies Thursday 19^th September 9.30am-10.30am
• Toddlers Thursday 3^rd October 4pm-5pm
• Preschool Wednesday 13^th November 4pm-5pm

Parents Meetings

• Babies Thursday 26^th September 6.15pm-7.45pm
• Toddlers Wednesday 13^th November 6.15pm-7.45pm
• Preschool Thursday 24^th October 6.15pm-7.45pm

Nursery Closure Dates

Tuesday 29^th October – Staff training Day

At Portland nurseries we believe that for us to provide your children with the best possible experiences whilst in our care it is mandatory to keep staff training up to date and refreshed regularly. With this, we hold two training days a year where we close the nursery to allow us the time to ensure knowledge and skills are up to date with current practice guidelines.

We appreciate your co-operation and understanding when it comes to closing the nursery for our staff training days.

Thursday 25th December– 1st January 2025 - Christmas Holiday

(Nurseries reopen 2nd January 2025)

Further information

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.

Autumn Outdoor Clothing

As the weather gets colder 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. Scarves hats and gloves will be advisable once the weather becomes milder.

Community Library

It has been wonderful to see so many of you using our Community Library, we hope your children have enjoyed sharing a story with you at home, please don’t forget to send us some photographs.

Polite request to return any borrowed books once they have been enjoyed

Polite Reminders

Please could we request that all families stick to your agreed session times to ensure that our child to staff ratio are correctly maintained at all times. Should you be unsure of your child’s booked session or should you wish to change this please email oakwood@portlandnurseries.co.uk

Please could we ask that your child dose not come into the rooms with any food or drink brought in from home, we have lots of children with allergies to different food groups and we need to ensure everyone is kept safe.

Please could you encourage your child to leave any toys from home at home as we can not guarantee that they will not get lost or broken, they can also cause the children to become distressed when other children want to look at them or they can not be found.

Please can we remind you that mobile phones should not be used in the setting, please keep them in your pocket or bags on drop offs and collections.

Please could you let us know if you have a summer holiday planned that will mean your child will be absent from nursery, we have lots of the team wanting to book annual leave to spend with their own families. It would be very much appreciated if we know in advance so we can allow everyone the time they request.

Nursery Fee Payment Reminder

Quite a few payments are coming in after 1^st of the month. Just a reminder that all payments must reach our bank account before the 1^st 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 1^st also. Please note that payments usually take 3-4 business days to reach our account.

Any payments received after 1^st 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 debt.