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Welcome to our
October Newsletter
We would like to extend a warm welcome to all our new and returning families as we begin another exciting term.
Staff news and celebrations
We are delighted to welcome back Georgia as she returns from maternity leave.
We wish all the best to Abi A who has left us to go on maternity leave.
Congratulations to Julia and her partner on the birth of their baby boy.
Letter from Adele
After a great deal of thought, Adele has made the decision to take early retirement and will be leaving her role as Manager of the Pre-School Centre in March 2027. Please take a moment to read the letter from Adele that has been emailed to you.
Room Leaders
During the Summer Term, we introduced a new Room Leader structure to further strengthen the support, leadership, and consistency of practice within our rooms.
We are delighted that Shelley, Jenny D, Ben, and Katie H were successfully recruited into 4 of the 8 roles we are looking to recruit into.
- Shelley leads our provision for children aged 3 years and over
- Jenny D is Room Leader for our 2-year-olds
- Ben and Katie H jointly lead our under 2s provision
These roles have been created to help us continue delivering the highest standards of childcare, early education, and family support across the Centre, while ensuring consistency and quality throughout each child's journey with us.
We are also pleased to share that, from January 2027, Samuel will join the Room Leader team for children aged 3 years and over, working alongside Shelley.
Staff Training Day
Our annual Staff Training Day brought the team together for a busy and inspiring day of professional development.
The morning included a range of statutory EYFS updates delivered by Adele, ensuring our practice remains current and reflects the latest guidance.
We then spent a fantastic day with Alex Chiorando, founder of Marmalade Consultancy. Her passion, wit and enthusiasm for early years education kept the team engaged throughout. Together, we explored Fizzy to Calm, a programme that focuses on sensory regulation and strategies to support children who may be experiencing "fizzy" behaviour linked to digital screen overuse, high sugar and ultra processed diets, and sensory overload. The training highlighted the importance of reconnecting children with outdoor, natural and sensory experiences.
We all came away brimming with inspiration and exciting ideas that we are already beginning to incorporate into our practice.
Information for parents
School Applications
Information for parents of children due to start Primary School in September 2027.
Applications can now be made through Lancashire County Council using the link below:
Apply for your primary school place
A meeting for school leaver parents of 2027 to be delivered by Joanne and Emma will be arranged for 18 November, invitations to be sent out in due course.
New Family Hub App
The Lancashire Child and Family App provides tips on breastfeeding, infant feeding, and healthy eating, plus a collection of short, expert-led videos covering topics such as sleep and vaccinations. It also includes a section for dads, because they need support too, and a built-in tool that makes it easy to find the nearest essential services, such as pharmacies and dentists.
Download the app on the App Store or get it on Google Play
Safer Sleep
At our setting, we follow the latest safer sleep guidance to help keep babies as safe as possible while they are in our care. We also encourage families to follow the same safer sleep practices at home.
Babies should always be placed on their back to sleep, in their own clear, flat sleep space with a firm mattress and no pillows, duvets, toys, nests or sleep positioners. Current guidance also recommends that babies sleep in the same room as an adult for the first six months and that care is taken to avoid overheating.
By following safer sleep advice for every sleep, whether at home or in nursery, we can work together to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and support babies to sleep safely. Based on guidance from The Lullaby Trust.
Sustainability
As part of our commitment to teaching children about sustainability, we are placing greater emphasis on helping them understand what we do and why.
This term, our focus is on Zero Poverty, and we will be collecting donations for local food banks. We have been sharing the book It's a No Money Day by Kate Milner, which provides a sensitive way to explore experiences of living below the poverty line.
Our aim is to educate ourselves and the children about the challenges faced by others and inspire actions that contribute to a better and more sustainable future for everyone.
Baby Room
It's been a wonderful start to the term as we have welcomed our new families to the Baby Room. We are enjoying getting to know all of our babies and learning about their individual routines, interests and preferences as they settle into the room.
We have been enjoying the autumnal colours as we explore campus, we are very lucky to have such a beautiful environment and have been enjoying travelling in our new “wee bus”.
Crèche 1
Following our staff training day with Alex, we decided to introduce a parachute activity with the children in Crèche 1.
There was a wide range of reactions. Some children preferred to observe from the side while others eagerly joined in straight away. We noticed younger children watching and learning from their older peers, which helped build confidence and encouraged participation.
After a few minutes, we introduced music and explored new vocabulary linked to the activity. Helen and I followed the children's interests, allowing them to take ownership of the experience and explore further, including taking turns hiding underneath the parachute.
One parent told us that parachute games are currently one of their child's favourite activities at home. We look forward to continuing this experience, introducing new games and songs to keep the activity fresh and engaging.
Crèche 2
Crèche 2 have been enjoying a variety of messy play and sensory activities, finishing the week by exploring orange-scented jelly.
The children were able to touch, smell, taste, scoop, empty and move the jelly around, providing a safe opportunity to explore their senses while developing fine motor skills.
Activities such as these help strengthen children's hand and finger muscles, supporting tool control and laying the foundations for important self-help skills, such as using a spoon independently during mealtimes.
Nursery 1
We have been exploring autumn colours and objects with apple paint printing to make pumpkins. We looked at our real small pumpkins and decided to make our own with paint. The children used their fine motor skills to hold the fork with the apple on and then printed with it. Each child printed and had their own ideas about the pumpkins and noticed how the paint printed. We also displayed our pictures on the window to show our friends and families and used this as a talking opportunity to reflect on our activity.
Nursery 2
What better way to celebrate National Teddy Bear Day than with storytelling, sensory exploration and a Teddy Bears' Picnic?
The children have enjoyed exploring the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We brought the story to life through hands-on activities focused on size and comparison. Using different-sized bowls and porridge oats, the children explored concepts such as big, small, bigger and smaller while filling, emptying, scooping and comparing quantities.
These experiences provided valuable opportunities to develop early mathematical thinking, fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Following our story exploration, the children enjoyed a Teddy Bears' Picnic for snack time. Sitting together encouraged communication, turn-taking and social interaction while helping to strengthen relationships and build a strong sense of belonging within the group.
Pre-School 1
To celebrate Recycling Week, PS1 explored the importance of recycling and learned about materials that can be reused or recycled.
A selection of everyday recyclable items was presented for the children to investigate. We shared stories that helped the children understand the impact of rubbish entering our oceans and highlighted why it is important to care for our planet.
The stories also introduced different materials that can be recycled or reused at home. The children then examined the objects, discussed what they were made from and identified the recycling symbols before sorting the items into the correct recycling categories.
The children showed great enthusiasm and demonstrated a growing awareness of how small actions can help protect the environment.
Pre-School 2
Following our Staff Training Day, we have introduced some of the games and activity ideas shared by Alex that we felt would be particularly beneficial for our children's needs and developmental stages.
During our "Wake Up, Shake Up" session, we went outside and played the Traffic Light Game. This activity encouraged the children to develop their listening skills, concentration and physical coordination. The children quickly grasped the rules and became increasingly confident, even challenging themselves by increasing the speed of the game.
Afterwards, Beth explained that she was feeling very "fizzy" and decided to visit the Calm Cave to practise some "hot chocolate breathing". The children eagerly joined her and enjoyed participating alongside their friends.
These experiences are helping children develop greater self-awareness, emotional regulation and understanding of how they can use calming strategies independently.
Pre-School 3
We have been having Dough disco’s in PS3, which is a fantastic way to develop hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills. The children have been listening well to the instructions. Dough disco involves moulding play dough in time to music and performing different actions such as rolling it into a ball, flattening it, putting each individual finger into the dough, rolling it into a sausage and squeezing it.
We had Shonette “The Dough Disco lady” deliver training for us a couple of years ago... click here to see her in action.
Why not have your own Dough Disco, it really is great fun.
Reminders
Pre-School website and newsfeed
Access regularly updated information from our website and Instagram feed.
Funding
A reminder that parents in receipt of working families funding need to re-validate their eligibility every three months from the date of issue. Failure to re-validate your code will result in a loss of funding.
Parents who think they may be eligible for Early Education Funding from January 2027 need to ensure that they apply and are in receipt of their eligibility code no later than 31 December 2026.
Any codes applied for and received after this date will not be applied until April 2027.
Door Entry
If any parents have lost their door access fob, please inform the office so that a replacement can be purchased for £6.00 (which will be invoiced), and lost fobs can be deactivated.
Can we please ask parents/carers to please refrain holding the door open when dropping off/collecting children. Also, at the end of sessions please be vigilant when exiting the centre, ensuring that children do not run out of the door without their own parent/carer. This allows us to continue safeguarding all children.
Parents of children leaving the Pre-School Centre this term are reminded that they are required to return they door access fobs on their child’s last day of attendance.
Important term dates
2026/27 Full Year Bookings
1 September until 23 December 2026
4 January until 24 March 2027
31 March until 27 August 2027
2026/27 Undergraduate Term Bookings
5 October until 11 December 2026
11 January until 19 March 2027
19 April until 25 June 2027
Invoice dates
Autumn 2026
2 November – 27 November 2026
1 December – 23 December 2026
