Welcome to our
September/October Newsletter

Baby Room - Sensory Play

It’s been a gentle and quiet start to the term in Baby Room, and the children have been busy exploring new experiences through sensory play.

This week, we introduced the babies to different textures using cooked spaghetti. They loved investigating with both their hands and their mouths, showing curiosity and enjoyment as they explored.

Some of them used a whole-hand grip to scoop up the spaghetti, while others began trying out a pincer grip to pick up smaller strands. These simple actions are a wonderful way of supporting their fine motor development.

Looking ahead, we’re planning to enhance this activity by offering new items with different tastes and textures, giving the children even more opportunities to explore and discover through their senses.

Crèche 1 - Autumn Explorations

The children in Crèche 1 enjoyed a wonderful autumn sensory tray. With our older children, we talked about the wind blowing the leaves down from the trees, which sparked lots of lovely conversations about the changing season.

The children then explored painting in a new way – standing up at large sheets of paper on the wall. Together, we created beautiful autumn trees, using a variety of tools such as paintbrushes, flowers, leaves, wooden forks, and even earbuds. These different tools allowed the children to make unique marks while practising their fine motor skills and the gross motor skills of reaching up high.

I modelled an autumn tree first, and then the older children had a go at creating their own versions using the resources, while our younger children enjoyed making colourful marks and patterns with the paint. This gave us a wonderful chance to talk together about the signs of autumn.

We also went outside to continue our autumn exploration. The children were very excited to find a ladybird, which they held carefully before letting it go.

The children’s artwork will remain on display as they have been proudly returning to look at and talk about their creations. To build on their interest, we’ll be bringing in the easel from nursery, as the children really enjoyed painting while standing at the wall instead of sitting at the table.

Crèche 2 - Singing, Counting and Exploring

Catherine provided a wonderful learning experience for the children through the much-loved rhyme “Five Little Ducks.” Sitting together, the children joined in with the singing, used props, and took turns as they explored number language and counting in a fun and meaningful way.

The children were extremely engaged, and the activity created lots of opportunities for adult and peer interaction. Some children even extended the experience themselves by adding extra resources into the play.

For children who are at an earlier stage of development, the activity also offered a tactile experience, they thoroughly enjoyed splashing and exploring the sensory side of the props. To build on this, we introduced shaving foam with a variety of textures, which has been a big hit with the children.

Catherine has also made some lovely new props to enhance counting experiences, ensuring the children can continue developing their early maths skills in exciting, playful ways.

Nursery 1 - Exploring Autumn

Nursery 1 have been embracing the seasonal changes and discovering all the wonders of autumn! The children collected leaves, branches, and other treasures from outdoors and used them in creative activities indoors:

Leaf printing with paint made for some beautiful artwork

Using branches and leaves, the children created hedgehogs – a big favourite!

We’ll continue our autumn adventures with forest trips and outdoor outings in the coming weeks.

Nursery 2 - Looking After Our Teeth

In Nursery 2, we’ve been learning all about brushing our teeth and why it’s so important. The children each chose their own toothbrush and practised brushing a giant set of teeth!

We had lots of conversations about healthy teeth and keeping them clean. The children enjoyed it so much that we’ll be continuing the activity this week.

We know some families find brushing tricky at home, so we’ve created toothbrushing charts and information packs. We’ll also be sharing stories about the dentist and healthy habits, and we are always here to support parents with ideas and resources.

Pre-School 1 - An Exciting Discovery

What an exciting surprise we had in Pre-School 1! The children spotted something green hopping around Pre-School. It wasn’t a toy or a bouncy ball… it was a real frog!

But was it a frog or a toad? The children were eager to find out, so the investigation began. Using the iPad, we watched a video to learn the differences:

Frogs have smooth, slimy skin and long, strong legs for jumping.

Toads have rough, bumpy skin and usually crawl instead of hop.

After releasing our little visitor back outside, we observed how it moved. Some children hopped like frogs, while others pretended to crawl slowly like toads. It was a wonderful, active way to explore and learn through play.

Our Learning Highlights:

Understanding the World:
Exploring animals and using technology to find information.

Physical Development:
Hopping and crawling like frogs and toads, building coordination and movement.

Communication and Language:
Talking about our discovery, sharing ideas, and using new vocabulary.

Who knows what exciting discovery we’ll find next? Maybe a butterfly, a bird, or even another frog!

Pre-School 2 - Learning to Vote

The children have been carefully watching the apples grow on the apple tree outside Pre-School 2. Some of the children even remembered that we made apple crumble with them last year! This sparked a lovely discussion about picking the apples again and deciding together what we could make this year.

To help us decide, we introduced the idea of voting. We showed the children three pictures: apple crumble, apple pie, and apple cake. Each child then had the chance to draw a line under the picture of their choice. We explained that the picture with the most lines would be the recipe we would make together.

The children were very excited to take part, and the voting results were as follows:

Apple Crumble – 4 votes

Apple Pie – 5 votes

Apple Cake – 12 votes

So, the winner was… Apple Cake, the children were very busy baking and tasting their apple cake – a lovely way to celebrate the harvest from our own apple tree while learning about making choices, numbers, and turn-taking.

Pre-School 3 - Squiggle While You Wiggle

Children in Pre-School 3 have started the fun and energetic “Squiggle While You Wiggle” program by Shonette Bason. This exciting approach uses music, dancing, and large body movements to help children develop the motor skills needed for early writing.

With the help of our colourful “flipper flapper” fabrics, the children wiggle, stretch, and dance before moving on to making marks in sand, foam, and on paper. These activities are fantastic for building strength, coordination, and confidence in mark-making.

We’ve also begun to draw our self-portraits, and we can’t wait to see how the children’s fine and gross motor skills continue to grow in the weeks ahead.

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 2026 need to ensure that they apply and are in receipt of their eligibility code no later than 31 December 2025.

Any codes applied for and received after this date will not be applied until April 2026.

Check eligibility and apply for the code.

Parents who pay their Pre-School fees via monthly invoicing should note that there are periods when funding is not applied, this is due to us stretching your eligible hours. The periods are September, January, April and May. Invoices for these periods will be higher than other monthly invoices.

Door Entry

Can we please ask ALL parents to ensure that when accessing the Pre-School Centre they use their access fobs. We have noted that even since changing over to the new Door Entry System we are still experiencing a considerable number of interruptions due to the doorbell still being used so frequently.

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.

Mobile phones

Can all parents please refrain from using mobile phones beyond the main foyer, as per our Safeguarding Policy. It has been noted that there has been an increase in parents using their mobile phones within corridors and also in the children's rooms.

Important term dates

2025/26 Full Year Bookings

26 August until 24 December 2025
5 January until 1 April 2026
8 April until 28 August 2026

2025/26 Undergraduate Term Bookings

6 October until 12 December 2025
12 January until 20 March 2026
20 April until 26 June 2026

Invoice dates

Autumn 2025

3 November until 28 November 2025
1 December until 24 December 2025