The Oaks Day Nursery Autumn Newsletter
A warm welcome to all the children and families who have joined us in recent months. All new parents should receive a handy welcome pack and a call to arrange your child’s settling in sessions, as well as an office induction to run through all the details, from payment options to policies. If you haven’t, please contact a member of our office team who will be happy to arrange this for you. You’ll find their contact details at the end of this newsletter.
Autumn has swooped in, and with it brings lots of fun things to look forward to. From recent staff training achievements to a festive Swap Shop, getting ready to apply for 2026 school admissions, and even new potty training workshops for all ages and stages. Read all about what is coming at The Oaks.
Newsletter contents
Dates for your diary; Staff news; Staff returning from maternity leave; Awards; Be sure to apply for school admissions 2026; EYFS updates from September; Recent staff training updates we’re proud to shout about!; Let’s tackle potty training together; Visit Brumble and support Birmingham Hospice; Sustainability; Wild Explorers holiday club is back!; Festive Swap Shop; Accessing nursery; Cold weather policy; Autumn menu launch; Happy harvest; Working Parent Entitlement Funding; Get in touch
Dates for your diary
Autumn is filled with celebrations, fun events and special occasions. Add these dates to your diary and join the nursery in bringing in the new season with upcoming events and workshops for you and your little one to enjoy together.
Staff news
Please join us in congratulating Paula Hunt, the Head of Childcare Services, on her retirement this Christmas! Paula has led and transformed our nursery provision brilliantly for 16 years. Along with her management team, she has grown the service substantially into what is now a three-setting provision, ensuring the highest quality childcare for our staff, students and community. We will of course share news with you all when her successor has been appointed.
Welcome to Sarah who has recently joined the office team as a nursery administrator. She is settling in well and is beginning to get to know some of you and your little ones. For any billing or change of usage enquiries please contact Sarah. [email protected]
We’re also welcoming our senior back from maternity leave in September who will be in Bumblebee room, Caroline our fantastic senior from Bumblebee room will now be moved to Ladybird room as their senior, and not forgetting our experienced senior practitioner Charlotte from Ladybird room is going to support preschool.
Staff returning from maternity leave
We’re so happy to welcome back some of our brilliant staff who are returning from mat leave this season.
- Welcome back to Sophie who returned in July working in Caterpillars
- Natalie (practitioner) Bumblebee room
- Shaz returning to Butterfly room in September
- Kimberly (senior practitioner) Bumblebee room
- Kerry (Deputy Manager) returning in October. Thank you to Faye for all her support covering this role for the last year, congratulations are in order for her too, as she plans to leave us for her own maternity later in the year
- Sabhiya (practitioner) returning in November to Ladybird room
We also excited to share that we will be recruiting two apprentices, who will join us for the autumn term. We see this as an invaluable opportunity for young people to join the Early Years workforce and gain experience, whilst working in our nursery. The University Apprentice Scheme sees departments across the whole campus providing a wonderful opportunity to individuals to gain specialist skills and knowledge. Their start dates and onboarding are synchronised, so the annual apprentice cohort are invited to come together and create their own support and social network whilst they learn.
Awards
Green Impact
We are pleased to share with you that in June we received our fourth Green Impact Award, and this year we got gold!
Green Impact is a United Nations award-winning programme that provides simple and effective ways for staff and students to improve the sustainable practices of their building or department. During the year the team demonstrated our commitment by implementing varied sustainability initiatives and activities with both the children and staff.
We also wanted to shout about our friends at Winterbourne House and Garden, who recently received a TripAdvisor Traveller’s Choice Award again this year and was placed in the top 10% of things to do in the world. If you didn’t get chance to explore it in the summer, autumn is a wonderful time to take your little one around the beautiful Edwardian heritage attraction and visit the tearoom.
Eco-Schools
Alongside the Green Impact Award, we’ve also applied for Eco-Schools Green Flag accreditation to recognise and reward the staff and children’s ecological achievements. The accolade of the Green Flag highlights the forward-thinking, child-led environmental action and education we foster here at The Oaks.
Our Shining Stars
Our Shining Stars scheme will be moving over to the new Campus Services Reward and Recognition scheme, which will be launching in September. You will now be able to nominate your shining star through this scheme, by filling out the form.
Be sure to apply for school admissions 2026
It’s that time of the year where you must apply for a primary school place for you child if they are 3 or have just turned 4 years old. This should be done a year before your child can start school. Applications are open on October 1 2025 and close on 15 January 2026 via the Birmingham City Council website.
Should you have any questions about the process, then do come and speak to one of our team who will do their best to answer any questions and support you. We will create a display area in the entrance area outside of pre-school with helpful reminders as application deadlines approach and open.
EYFS updates from September
The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework has some changes which are effective from 1 September 2025. This framework is what governs our policies and procedures so we will be highlighting to current parents in Autumn Term details of changes that will affect you.
Under Safeguarding and Child Protection it is no longer just good practice to understand children’s absences, from 1 September it is a statutory requirement that we as a registered provider call parents after 24-hour absence. We therefore ask that you call, email or send a message on your ParentZone app to inform of any absence and the reason to keep our records up to date.
Recent staff training updates we’re proud to shout about!
All nurseries updated their asthma and allergy training on our full staff training day on 27 June 2025.
Birmingham Day Nurseries have developed our climate change action plans, which we will share and display in Autumn Term.
Nurture training is being rolled out across Birmingham throughout next term by the Local Authority Hubs.
Let’s tackle potty training together
A 2024 report by early years charity Kindred found that 1 in 4 children in England and Wales are now starting school not toilet trained. The average age that a child is now toilet trained has risen significantly in recent years.
Research shows, however, that the best age for a child to stop wearing nappies is between 18 and 30 months.
Potty or toilet training can be a challenging time for families, and sometimes they don’t know where to turn for professional, specialist advice.
The Let’s Go Potty approach, adopted by ERIC, is an evidence-based approach that helps a child to learn to use the potty independently and stop wearing nappies in 3 stages, making the process easier for everyone involved.
Throughout the summer the team have undertaken some of the specialist training to understand and adopt this approach.
During the month of September, the rooms will be planning age-appropriate workshops to support parents no matter what potty training stage they find themselves at. Please look out for some more information and dates coming soon.
Visit Brumble and support Birmingham Hospice
Thank you to all the parents and carers who supported the Bulls in the City fundraising event this year, we raised a grand total of £2055.95! You still have time to visit Brumble: he will be in Harborne at The Little High Street, a little role play village and café that looks like an amazing place for young families to visit until 14 September. Please note, you do not have to book a play session to visit Brumble, usually all sculptures are visible through a high street window. We have reached out to the hosting venue and will update you in due course of any Birmingham Day Nurseries’ special events or offers we successfully arrange.
Sustainability
To adhere to one of our six nursery values, environmental consciousness, we are looking at areas to focus on and improve the nursery’s sustainability. Our planned focus areas for the future are:
- Energy consumption
- Food waste – We’ll be introducing food waste bins and caddies in rooms
- Nappies – Managing nappy waste through the ERIC programme and starting the potty-training process with our younger age groups
- Travel – We will be sending out a travel survey to our staff and parents
Wild Explorers holiday club is back
Our Wild Explorers holiday club will be available for all children aged 4 – 8 years old. This is a great chance for your children to make new friends, get up close with nature and develop key skills, whilst having fun during the October half term. Children do not need to have previously attended one of the Birmingham Day Nurseries to join, so spread the word and tell your friends with their own little ones about it too.
Festive Swap Shop
We revamped our Swap Shop rail in the main nursery entrance hall each month and theme it, where possible, as the seasons change. From the middle of November, we encourage parents to bring in festive and/or celebration clothing and accessories so that other families can size up and take items for December. This small initiative extends to our Explorers clubs too. Our Mini Explorers playgroup has their own setup during their sessions on a Monday and Tuesday morning, so even if your donations are small, we can pass them onto our Forest School team to share with the community.
Accessing nursery
When entering the nursery keep everyone safe by ensuring nobody follows you into the nursery building, even if you know them. Everyone must either fob in or ring the bell to be welcomed in by a member of the team. This includes your child(ren)’s designated person for drop-off and collection. Please ensure that the next time they visit nursery, the team know they’ve arrived.
Cold weather policy
The nursery exercises an all-weather policy, and all children will be accessing the outdoor area, including the Forest School. It is an important part of our daily curriculum and key to children remaining healthy, so it is not possible for parents/carers to request their children remain indoors. During the winter, please ensure children have the right clothing for exploring outdoors: an extra jumper or hoody, a hat, scarf and gloves, wellington boots, and an all-in-one suit or waterproof trousers. Please ensure all items are clearly labelled with your child’s name or initials.
Autumn menu launch
We are eagerly awaiting our autumn food menus for the children from our catering provider, Robinsons. We will email the new versions to you as soon as we have them, ahead of their launch in October. We’ll also update our parent board at the front of the main nursery and pre-school where you can find our latest lunch and tea menus, along with information about our daily snacks.
Happy harvest
We will be collecting donations of tinned and long-life products for local food banks this autumn. If you’d like to contribute, please leave your donation in the designated baskets outside the nursery during drop-off and collection times, from 29 September. As we approach harvest time, we will share a list of the specific items the food bank requires in our entrance hall and via Parent Zone.
Working Parent Entitlement Funding
If your child has turned nine months between 1 April and 31 August 2025 and you think they’re entitled to access the 30 hours funding in September make sure you’ve applied for a 30-hour code online.
Once you have your code, please bring it into the office as soon as possible. If you already have a code, please remember to keep this updated by logging into your account when prompted by HMRC by either text or email.
All parents will have a brand-new form to fill in for 2025/2026 and the rooms will have these ready by mid-September.
Get in touch
Rebecca, Nursery Manager
Emily, Assistant Nursery Manager
Laura, Deputy Manager
Sarah Githugu, Nursery Administrator
If you have any general nursery enquiries, please email [email protected].