Nursery News – 1st December 2025

NURSERY NEWS

1st December 2025 – Edition 392

Find out About:

A. School Photographer.

B. Information regarding the beginning of the Spring Term in January 2026.

C. Big Nursery Parents joining us for Music Time.

D. Christmas Cards

E. Labelling hats, scarves, gloves, coats.

F. Lost Property

G. What are the children learning about this week?

H. Christmas Parties

I. Snack time- Answers to questions.

 

A School Photographer.

The School Photographer delivered the school photographs last Wednesday. The office staff have been handing them to families, to ensure everyone has the correct pack.

Some parents ordered digital downloads. If you ordered digital images, they have already been emailed to you by the photographer. If you have not received your digital images, check your spam folder in the first instance, and then if you still do not have them, call or email the photographer directly:

Victoria Mitchell 07845 676258

victoria@victoriamitchellphotography.com

 

B. Information regarding the beginning of the Spring Term in January 2026.

School reopens on Tuesday 6th January 2026

In January we will be welcoming 13 new families to our school. There will be 9 new 3+ Green group children joining Miss Gaffney.

Little Nursery welcomes our 2+ January intake. We have 4 new families joining us. These children will be known as ‘Little Blue Group’ whilst in Little Nursery and their  Keyworker will be Miss Tyler.

Please be aware that each new term brings additional children. There will be more families waiting at dropping off and collecting times. If we all work together we can keep our routines running smoothly. These routines rely on families arriving on time, please try your best!

 

C. Big Nursery Parents joining us for Music Time.

We sent out invitations to all Big Nursery parents (by email on 18th  November) to join us for ‘Music’ time. The invitation detailed the date and time of the Music session that your child takes part in. If you would like to join your child to participate in our Music Activity ‘Pigs on Holiday’ then please just turn up at the date and time specified and you will be made very welcome. There is no need to book. Sessions last 25 minutes.

 

D. Christmas Cards

We as a staff, would like to ask parents to consider sending just one Christmas card in to school, written ‘To all my friends at Willow’. These cards will then be displayed for all to see in the library corridor.

 

 E. Labelling hats, scarves, gloves, coats.

The weather has now become very cold. Children are wearing more items of clothing to school. At the end of each day we end up with a huge pile of gloves, hats and scarves on the floor. We try very hard to match them to the correct child. Please ensure that all removable items are labelled. It does not have to be anything fancy, just your child’s initials written on the manufacturers label in biro would be very helpful. Unlabelled items will be placed in our Lost Property boxes, if staff do not know who the items belong to.

 

F. Lost Property

We have accumulated a number of items of clothing in our Lost Property box. These items are outside in the Library area. There are three drawers in the top of a cabinet labelled ‘Lost Property’. If your child has lost an item of clothing in the Autumn term: Please check to see if anything belongs to your child, and take it home. We will dispose of any unclaimed items at the end of term.

 

 G. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is Winnie the Witch

The children will be looking at, and listening to, the story of Winnie the Witch and learning all about Winnie and her cat, Wilbur. The story is all about Wilbur the black cat, living in Winnie’s completely black house. Winnie cannot see Wilbur and often trips over him and gets hurt. Winnie thinks the answer is to change the colour of Wilbur so he will become easily spotted in the home. Wilbur is not happy that his colour is changed again and again, until Winnie realises how sad it has made her friend. She changes him back to black and brightens up her home instead.

Staff will use this story as a teaching opportunity to introduce colour and colour mixing to the children. There will be lots of ways for the children to explore colour in the nursery, including drawing with chalks, mixing powder paints and creating spinner paintings.

As a school, we will be putting up our Christmas trees this week. This is always very exciting for the children and will link nicely with our weekly theme, as staff can talk to the children about all of the colourful lights that they can see. Our Christmas decorations are a conversation starter for the children as they often like to share their own experiences of putting decorations up at home.

 

 H. Christmas Parties

Friday 19th December. The school is open for Christmas parties only.

 

Children are invited to attend one party for their age group.

These parties are for all our children regardless of the days you attend.

Unfortunately parents will be unable to stay during the parties as we do not have enough room! Staffing ratio’s will be maintained.

 

Little Nursery Party.

Who is invited? Miss Gaffney’s Green Group, Mrs Chiriac’s/ Mrs Cashmores Red Group, Miss Allen’s Little Yellow Group

When: Friday 19th December 

At: 9:00am to 10:00am

The Plan:

9:00 Doors Open

Children work in small groups for Christmas crafts.

9:20 Party Snacks.

9:30 Surprise visit from Father Christmas

Songs for Father Christmas

Father Christmas leaves gifts for all children.

9:35 Back to groups for music time.

10:00 Parents arrive to collect all children.

 

Big Nursery Party

Who is invited? Mrs Pattersons Blue Group, Miss Skai’s Orange Group, Miss Howe’s/ Miss Cashmore’s Yellow Group.

When: Friday 19th December

At: 11:15am to 1:00pm

The Plan:

11:15 Doors Open

11:25am Party Food

11:45am Surprise visit from Father Christmas.

Songs for Father Christmas.

12:00 Christmas Magic Show

1:00pm Parents arrive to collect all children.

 

I. Snack time- Answers to questions.

As I expected, I have received some emails (5) regarding my decision to cease offering snack time in school for safety reasons. I have replied to parents to say that I will write a full response for my next newsletter, so parents can hear our full reasoning about this issue.

Parents had some questions, so I will try to answer as many as possible within this response. I am not suggesting all parents should read this, but it is included here for those that would like to.

There have been new changes (in September 2025)  to the safeguarding rules within the statutory guidance that we must follow

EYFS Statutory Framework for group and school based providers.2025

One of which is new requirements to ensure safer eating:

 

 As follows:

 

3.68 Babies and young children should be seated safely in a highchair or appropriately sized low chair while eating. Where possible there should be a designated eating space where distractions are minimised.

 

3.69 Children must always be within sight and hearing of a member of staff whilst eating. Choking can be completely silent, therefore, it is important for providers to be alert to when a child may be starting to choke. Where possible, providers should sit facing children whilst they eat, so they can make sure children are eating in a way to prevent choking and so they can prevent food sharing and be aware of any unexpected allergic reactions.

 

We have reviewed our lunchtime plans to ensure we comply with this safeguarding strategy.

At lunchtime we have 3 staff in the room in Big Nursery. The staff sit strategically around the classroom to ensure between us we can all see every child’s face.

 

At lunchtime we try very hard to meet the needs of pupils with allergies and intolerances.

  • Each staff member looks after the same two tables of children every day, so that she can learn the needs of individuals.
  • Children have their specific seat at their table that they sit in every day.
  • Children with severe allergies are very closely monitored. We choose children to sit each side of the child with allergies with care. Choosing children who are tidy with their own food, and children who will not touch the child with allergies food. (to avoid cross contamination of food products).
  • Staff monitor the contents of all lunchboxes to ensure there are no allergens present, for example we check chocolate pancakes/ croissants, to ensure the chocolate spread does not contain hazelnuts. Unsafe food is returned to children’s lunchboxes with a note explaining why.
  • Staff remind children not to eat each other’s food.

 

As for choking, we also ensure:

  • Food is cut to specific sizes for safety, ie grapes cut in half lengthways. Whole grapes are sent home, with a note explaining why.

 

We have also reviewed the way we manage lunch for behavioural reasons:

 

Previously the whole group would have to remain in lunch for 30 mins, as all staff were involved in lunch, or on a break, and there were areas of school closed.

Since Easter in Big Nursery we have reorganised our lunch routines. This has been possible because we now have children attending two and a half days or 30 hours only, so the only lunchtime which requires ‘Going home routines’  is on a Wednesday lunchtime.

 

Holding children for 30 minutes in lunch was not positive. Safeguarding officers at the Local Authority are clear that children cannot be asked to sit down on a chair against their will, or indeed be asked to sit and eat at lunchtime, if they choose not to.  Children have to have the right to leave immediately. We are not allowed to close a classroom door to contain the children.

Due to pupil ratios we have to have 5 staff on duty to support big nursery. The government very carefully only provide just enough money for the number of staff that are required to enable us to maintain prescribed adult to child ratios. We do not have spare money for extra staff.

 

We decided to improve the lunchtime and play offer. We wanted to make school free-flow throughout the day, including through lunchtime. Children then could choose to eat, and then leave the dining area to go to resume play around the school both inside and out. To make this work, I had to add on three staff to the Lunch routines, including myself and Mrs Evans and the office staff. This way we do not have to pay for extra staff at lunchtime, but management staff are now used at lunchtime from 11:30 until 1:10 to make lunchtime work.

 

We have enhanced our staffing levels during lunchtime to comply with the new safer eating rules.- Using every member of school staff.

 

As for snack:

 

This has to happen mid-morning. In the middle of free flow choosing time. We have been offering snack in room 5 at 10:30am. At this time Rooms 1,2 and 3 are all open with one staff member in each. The outside space has 2 staff on duty, as staff feel that 2 staff are needed outside as it is a big space. That equals 5 staff, the number of staff required to be on duty. During the morning session we employ one extra member of staff to provide cover, to allow specific group time teaching in room 5, and for snack-time.

 

One member of staff operates snack. Milk cartons and fruit portions are prepared in advance. We set up two hexagonal tables in room 5, each seating 6 children, so a total of 12 children can be seated. Children can free flow in and out. Children are offered milk and fruit.

We have photos up on the wall of each child that has a food allergy or intolerance that may be affected by the milk or fruits on offer.

We have a number of children with milk allergy.

We have children with allergies to basic fruits including apples and oranges.

 

Staff have 30 minutes to set up the room and support snack then reset for the next activity.

Staff have to offer snack to individual children.

Remove used cartons of milk, empty the unfinished cartons down the sink.

Wipe tables to remove spillages.

Look after the behaviour of the children in the room, including those arriving/leaving/ choosing not to leave.

 

In light of the new requirements for observing pupils whilst eating staff are uncomfortable because one person cannot see everyone’s face.

 

We have a number of children that are allergic to foodstuffs. If there are only one or two children to keep safe, it is manageable for staff to keep all the necessary information in their mind when serving individuals. There are too many variables. There is a high risk of human error.

 

There are too many tasks for a staff member to do alone and be able to watch the children’s faces whilst they are eating. Staff are concerned that they can no longer manage snack safely and comply with the new safeguarding safer eating requirements.

 

What choices did we have?

Parents have asked if we took time to discuss different options?

We discussed the matter at length at our weekly staff meeting.

We discussed how we could improve snack time.

To upgrade Room 5 snack-time to the minimum quality of support we feel that it needs we felt snack time would require 3 members of staff to support it safely.

 

One adult to serve the fruit and milk to each child.

One adult to sit at each table to monitor the children, looking at their faces to check for choking, and checking the foodstuffs provided are safe for that individual.

 

(I still do not think children would be safe, due to number of children with allergies/intolerances and the possibility of human error.)

 

We only have 6 staff on duty?

We would have to close a significant space for at least 30 minutes. Outside time? Or 2 inside classrooms?

We are trying to keep free flow open to support pupils needs and decrease ‘dysregulated’ children feeling angry or frustrated.

We need to spread the pupils out, supported by all the staff that are on duty.

 

We are working very hard to give all children free choice during the day to choose where to play.  Behavioural needs of children have shifted in recent years. Some children need to have the freedom to choose to go outside to regulate, at any time. If we chose to close outside, or two classrooms, the calmness we are trying to sustain would be lost. Some children would run up and down the interior corridor, pull on the exterior doors to go outside, and become angry. This does have impact on all the children around them.

Parents have asked if snack can operate similarly to lunchtime?

Yes, like lunchtime children could sit at a regular seat, at the same table every day, with a member of staff who really knows how to carefully protect each individual child they are responsible for.

This would involve completely stopping free flow, staff and pupils would have to go back to base rooms. Base rooms would have to be tidied away completely to facilitate this. By the time we get started for the morning session we’d be having to close down for mid-morning snack. The three base room’s would have keyworker groups in each supported by two staff in each room.

This would mean all staff are tied up observing children for choking.

 

If one child finishes their snack or chooses not to eat or drink and wants to move off….where do they go?…. who will supervise them? Children cannot be asked to remain in a room.

 

We decided this plan to facilitate snack time was not proportionate to the gains to be made. We were considering a huge disruption to provide a drink of milk and a small snack, we provide: 1/6 of an apple, half a small satsuma or a quarter of a small banana.

 

I think parents would be surprised at the small portion of fruit which we offer. Our fruit offer has only ever been a small portion to be offered alongside their milk. I calculate the energy nutritional value of our fruit offer is 10 to 15 kcal per portion.

As a staff, the behavioural gains we are working hard to maintain would be completely lost to support snack time.

We currently do not have the financial resources to support snack time in the way the government requires with the new safer eating requirements. I cannot offer additional resources to staff to ensure that they feel safe and adequately supported.

I and the rest of the staff are monitoring the impact of this change. A few children have asked ‘When is snack time?’ last week. The majority of the pupils in lunchtime do not eat the entire contents of their lunchbox. I have monitored food consumption at lunchtime to see if more food was consumed due to no snack time, but the three lunch time staff agreed, in their opinion, we have not see children eating more lunch at lunchtime compared to the previous week.  As a school, we constantly keep all aspects of school life under review.