Nursery News 9th February 2026

NURSERY NEWS

9th February 2026 – Edition 399

Find out About

A. Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet

B. Parent Consultations. **CANCELLED**

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

D. Birthday Sweets /Cakes

E. . Children’s Personal Bikes parked in pushchair/bike area.

F. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 5th March 2026 at 5pm

G. What are the children learning about this week?

 

A. Continuing Problems with our Phones and Internet

We continue to have problems with our telephones and Internet. We are convinced that our internet connection fluctuates. Every time our internet speed drops our telephone cuts off. Sometimes we can have a full 10 minute telephone conversation, but at other times the telephone call cuts off after just a few seconds.

Any parent who has been talking to us on the telephone recently will be aware how frustrating this is! Mrs Evans has been pushing everyone to get this resolved.

After a thorough investigation from Partnership (our ICT consultants), BT (Phone Supplier), Open Reach (internet cable provider) and Talk Straight (broadband provider) the conclusion is that we need move from a copper wire connection to full fibre broadband. We are instructing this upgrade to go ahead.

We have been told that it will take at least 30 days to upgrade to a fibre system……

So:

B: Parent Consultations. **CANCELLED**

After discussion with all the staff we have decided to cancel all parent consultations scheduled for the coming weeks.

The telephones are working very erratically. We fear the experience of these phone consultations would be very poor, and would feel very unprofessional for the staff involved.

Obviously, staff are happy to talk to parents before school, and if you have something important to discuss with your child’s keyworker that requires privacy, or more time, please speak to your child’s keyworker about this, and we will try to arrange something for you.

 

C. February Half Term Holiday dates

We are approaching our February Half Term Holiday. The school will be closed from Monday 16th February 2026 to Friday 20th February 2026

 

D. Birthday Sweets/Cakes.

We are working very hard within school to meet all the allergy requirements of our pupils, to keep everyone safe.

Last week, as part of birthday treats at our front gate, one of our pupils, with an egg allergy, took a cake and ate some of it before their childminder realised it may contain egg. On this occasion the child did not have a reaction, but it has highlighted to us that this event may have had a very different, more serious outcome.

For safety reasons, we are now asking that parents no longer bring sweets or cake to celebrate their child’s birthday, to share with other children at school.

We know some of our parents are creative, and will suggest handing out other non-food treats. We are going to say no to these suggestions too. We want to make going home time as swift and safe as possible for everyone.

What do we do in school for Birthdays?

We have a ‘Birthday Board’ in school where we display the names of staff and pupils who will be celebrating their birthday within the current month. We celebrate every individual child’s birthday during Keyworker time, with their colour group. We have a very real looking iced ‘fake’ cake with candles on. Staff make a fuss of the children on their special day (or near to it if their birthday falls at the weekend or in the school holidays). The birthday child is invited to sit at the front of the group, with their Keyworker. Everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday’ and the birthday child blows the candles out. The birthday child receives a special birthday sticker.

 

E. Children’s Personal Bikes parked in pushchair/bike area.

We have a place where children can leave their bikes from home at the front of the school, when they ride their bike to school in the morning. Please can we remind all parents that our pupils should not be allowed to ride other children’s bikes.

 

F. An Evening Event, For Big Nursery Children: Bedtime Stories Thursday 6th March 2025 at 5pm

All Big Nursery children are invited to bring a parent along for a bedtime story at Willow Nursery School. (Big Nursery children are Blue, Orange and Yellow group, those who will leave Willow in July 2026.)

Children and parents will join your child’s keyworker for a bedtime story. Children can come in their pyjamas and bring a teddy bear or favourite cuddly toy with them. Older and younger brothers and sisters are welcome, but please remember the stories will be aimed at 3 and 4 year olds. Parents will be asked to monitor the behaviour of brothers and sisters, and will be expected to take noisy or wriggly children out of the story circle so as not to upset the quiet atmosphere created. We expect stories to last approximately 30 minutes (perhaps less for the youngest children) and we will then have warm ‘Hot Chocolate’ and cookies together.

If we know your child has a food allergy, your child’s keyworker will talk to you prior to the event and make necessary adjustments to meet the needs of your child.

 

 G. What are the children learning about this week?

The theme this week is Chicken Licken

This week the children will learn the story of Chicken Licken and his friends, and how they go on an adventure to tell the King that the sky is falling. Staff will read the book throughout the week and the children will be supported in retelling and exploring the tale in a variety of ways. These include making hats based on their favourite character, playing duck themed maths games and using the magnetic story board to sequence the story. We will also look at how all of the characters in the book have rhyming names and the children will be encouraged to think of any other rhymes they know including nonsense words.

Each room will have lots of conversation starters to engage the children, staff will urge the children to think about the characters in the story and consider their personalities. Were they kind and trustworthy or were they sneaky and not to be trusted?

The learning intention this week is to explore a range of their own marks and signs to which they ascribe mathematical meanings. This includes using number words like one or two and sometimes responding accurately when asked to give one or two items. Children may also begin to notice numerals in the environment. There will be some Chicken Licken hunts available for the children to put these skills into practice as they mark down how many of each character they find.