PORTLAND HOUSE PARENT NEWSLETTER SUMMER TERM 2025

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer so far and are enjoying the recent warmer weather and sunny days. We would love you to share some of your photos enjoying your adventures outdoors, or of your family holiday snaps and upload them onto your child’s electronic learning journal through parent zone. If any parents could help with our natural resource collection we require items such as pebbles, pinecones, shells, conkers, sticks, leaves etc. we would really appreciate you collecting them whilst you are out and about in the outdoors.

I would like to say a big Thank you to the parents that have given their time over the last term to come in and share their skills, job roles with the children at focused learning group times, this experience has been invaluable to their learning, if any other parents would like to arrange to come in to share their interests, hobbies, talk about their job role or just to do an activity or read a story to the children, please speak to a staff member we would love to arrange a date with you. If there are any parents or family members that are green fingered and would be interested in helping us with a organising a gardening club for the children  please can you contact the office.

Sadly it is fast approaching  that time of year where we say goodbye to our preschool children  who are flying the nest and starting their new adventure at school in September; we hope that you all keep in touch and feel welcome to come and visit. 

I hope you all have a fantastic summer and that we will see most of you at our upcoming nursery events.

Diary Dates

Diary Dates

• Tuesday 19th August – World Photography Day 

We will be take photos with the children of nature and objects of interest, to make a book, collage for a display. Please could your child bring in their favourite photo?

• Children's Christmas Party – Sunday 7th December 1.30- 3.30pm at Playworld - (details to follow)

Nursery Closure dates:

Monday 25th August 2025 – Summer Bank Holiday

Wednesday 15th October 2025 – Staff Training Day

Thursday 25th December to Thursday 1st January 2035 inclusive – Christmas Holiday

(nursery will reopen Friday 2nd January 2026)

Charity Event

Friday 29th August – National Beach Day celebrations

We will be raising money for our nominated charity Candlelighters and have organised a beach party day at nursery. 

We are inviting children/staff to come dressed in their summer wearing shorts and t shirts  for a recommended £2.00 donation

Cooks will be making a special picnic tea, if you would like to come long to join in the fun and book in a picnic tea for £2.00 please let your key person know to book a ticket.

We will be Planning, designing and creating our own beach games for a day of lots of fun! 

Staff News

A huge congratulations to Julie on reaching an incredible milestone—30 years of dedicated service at Portland Nurseries! Your commitment, warmth, wisdom and laughter have shaped countless lives and the company as a whole. We’re so grateful for everything you’ve brought to our community! Here’s to many more!

Other longevity staff awards are:

10 Years for Lauren in July, 5 Years in August for Charlotte and September for Debbie. 

Project Update

A wonderful end to the academic year with some exciting news about the company projects with all 6 of our sites achieving some fantastic things this year. All of our settings have once again achieved the Green Flag award with Eco Schools which showcases the amazing work we have done with biodiversity, energy conservation and waste reduction to name but a few. As an ecologically responsible company, this award is important to us as it teaches our children about how to care for the world around them. We have also taken on a new project this year – Super Kind - which teaches children about making a positive impact on the world around them through kind actions towards each other and their wider community. All 6 of our settings have achieved this award this year with lots of different actions being displayed such as fundraising, raising awareness and kind actions towards others. We continue to work towards our Food For Life award which is an ongoing project dedicated to good nutrition and healthy eating. Further to this, we have begun work on the Start Life Well award with the NDNA which helps staff to improve the physical activity and nutrition in settings through a short project. Some settings have focused on staff training and education whereas others have looked at activities for children on a daily basis. This year has been a great success for Portland Nurseries with plenty of exciting and new projects coming for the upcoming academic year.

Learning focus at the moment

Pre-School

Our preschool children have had so much fun completing a wide variety of challenges and activities testing out their ideas and predictions throughout the summer and engaging in learning opportunities noticing nature and being involved in our ECO projects for the annual awards. They thoroughly enjoyed the STEAM activities (Science, technology, art, engineering and maths) in particular designing and engineering their own boats using materials such as corks, pipe cleaners and elastic bands. They wrapped the pipe cleaners around the corks and then they made a little flag sail. The children enjoyed personalising their boats and to their great delight we organised a competition for racing them in the river. We added a bucket of water which the children collected themselves and poured down the outdoor water channel using jugs to make a lovely stream of water, without wasting our precious water resources and learning about the importance of recycling for our Eco projects.

Toddlers

Over the summer in the toddler room we have been focusing on learning about our outdoor environment, wildlife including insects and growing and planting. The children have been growing their own fruit and vegetables in the nursery garden, we started with planting seeds and have been watering them and watching them grow. So far we have harvested raspberries, radishes and tomatoes and can't wait for our cucumbers, courgettes, carrots and blackberries to be ready for us to taste. The children each had the opportunity to grow their own sunflower at home. A big thank you to everyone who has been sending us updates to see how you have been getting on, some of the sunflowers have grown bigger than the children! In nursery we have been learning all about ladybirds focusing on the story 'What the ladybird heard', making our own ladybirds and even created a bug hotel for all the insects we found in the garden. Over the coming months as we welcome new children into the room we will be focusing on 'All about me' encouraging the children to learn about themselves as individuals, their friends and families. We will be having lots of opportunities for the children to get to know each other though group play and supporting them to understand their own emotions as they settle into the room.

Babies 2

The babies have been enjoying the sunny weather this term and have enjoyed having outdoor classroom days, where we even slept outside and enjoyed a picnic. We had a gardening stay and play and a Father’s Day stay and play and welcomed lots of parents to join in the fun. The babies have enjoyed doing lots of activities around the theme 'under the sea' and have liked water play, gloop, crafts and reading books. Over the next term we will be welcoming new starters and helping our older babies transition into the toddler room. We will be talking about our families and looking at pictures. We will also be looking at how the seasons will be changing into autumn and watch the leaves change colour.

Babies 1 

During the month of July we have been enjoying engaging our senses and getting physical in the garden. The babies have especially enjoyed building with a variety of tools including some real life D.I.Y. the Daisy children have also loved investigating technology setting up a sensory den and exploring the differ colours and flashing light toys. As we look forward to August we have lots of fun activities coming to make the most of the last bit of warm weather including 'National Play Day' and 'National Beach Day' both of which we plan to have exciting fun garden activities. 

Supporting Life-Saving Missions: Our Donation to Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Thanks to your generous sponsorships—and Portland Nurseries matching every penny—we were thrilled to present a £2,600 cheque to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance following our HeliHop event! 
The children all did a brilliant job joining in with the Heli hop challenge by doing laps around the garden. 

30 hours funding

From September 2025, eligible working parents in England will be able to access 30 hours of funded childcare per week for children aged nine months and above. This is an expansion from the current 15 hours for younger children. The funding is available for 38 weeks of the year, typically aligning with school terms, but we offer a stretched offer over the year with fewer hours per week. 

We have limited spaces available so please if you are intending to increase your hours please contact your nursery manager as soon as possible.

Safeguarding - Positive Parenting

Balancing the various demands parents have to cope with isn't easy and all parents can come under pressure or stress from time to time.

This NSPCC guide shares practical advice and tips for positive parenting techniques that work well for children - from babies to teenagers. These techniques encourage better behaviour and help parents find out what works for them and their child. 

https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-resources/leaflets/positive-parenting

Reading with your child

Reading to young children, particularly in their early years, has a significant positive impact on their future life outcomes. Shared reading experiences foster language development, improve literacy skills, and boost cognitive abilities, while also promoting mental wellbeing. These benefits extend into adulthood, with increased chances of academic success, better employment prospects, and improved mental health.

The Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust have joined forces to launch a National Year of Reading to start in January 2026.

The campaign aims to bring together parents, nurseries, schools, libraries, businesses and literacy experts to foster a love of reading for pleasure in children and young people.

Findings from the National Literacy Trust’s annual survey carried out last month found that just 1 in 3 children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2025.

Funding for the National Year of Reading has been donated by a number of organisations and publishers, including Premier League, Julia Rausing Trust, and the Arts Council England.

To kick start the campaign, the National Literacy Trust will distribute more than 72,000 new books to children in areas with the highest rates of child poverty to support positive reading habits at home.  

The charity’s Summer Reading Challenge also aims to ensure more children have the opportunity to take part and build a love of reading over the school summer holidays..

CEO of the National Literacy Trust, Jonathan Douglas, said, ‘At a time when we are witnessing the lowest levels of reading enjoyment and daily reading in a generation, we are delighted to be working with the government to deliver the National Year of Reading 2026 - a bold, society-wide campaign to reimagine how we understand, support and promote reading. Reading is the foundation of a successful life - the key to unlocking potential, strengthening social cohesion, enhancing wellbeing and boosting skills.’  

https://literacytrust.org.uk/news/parents-urged-to-read-more-to-boost-childrens-life-chances/

Parents, Carers and Grandparents First Aid Course

We are holding our ever popular Parents, Carers and Grandparents First Aid course ran by GEM Compliance Training in Autumn, on the evening of Monday 13th at Oakwood House Nursery and Tuesday 14th October at Portland House Nursery – early booking is recommended and the cost is £15 per person. 

Gain valuable First Aid knowledge and practical skills on a 3 hour short course (at Oakwood House Nursery) and 2 hour short course (at Portland House Nursery)  preparing you to deal with everyday childhood illnesses, accidents and First Aid situations delivered by a qualified Paediatric First Aid Instructor.

The following subject areas will be covered:

• Resuscitation
• Choking
• Bleeding
• Head & Spinal Injuries
• Fractures & Dislocations
• Sprains & Strains
• Seizures
• Burns
• Meningitis
• Poisons
• Bites & Stings
• Allergic Reactions

Further Information

Sun cream

Please could parents help prepare your child for outdoor play by applying sun cream before they come to nursery. We will of course be applying the sun cream routinely throughout the course of the day on the sunny days.

Afterschool and Holiday club 

Just a reminder of our Fun Club at Portland House should you require any After School Care from  Reinwood School 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.

Funding Loop/Extra sessions

A Polite reminder if not done so already to kindly complete your funding form and upload the corresponding documentation. If you have any questions,  require support in relation to this or would like to enquire into availability of increasing/booking extra sessions please email Molly at enquiries@portlandnurseies.co.uk.