Oaks Day Nursery Spring Newsletter
Spring has well and truly sprung, and here at The Oaks we have lots to look forward to, including the unveiling of our new Birmingham Day Nurseries calf and graduations.
Until then, we wish you and your family a very happy Easter if you’re celebrating. We hope you enjoy some quality time together in the spring sunshine and enjoy watching everything burst into bloom. Please keep an eye on your inboxes for an update about 2025 fees, which will be coming soon.
Newsletter contents
Dates for your diary; Staff news; School Offer Day; We’re hopping mad for Birmingham Hospice; Bulls in the City; You said, we did; Sun safety; Reusable wet bags; Feed Your Smile this Smile Month; Spring in action; Wonders of Winterbourne; Join our Explorers family; Parent and carer consultations; Funding information; Using mobile phones; Keeping everyone safe; Parking responsibly; Safeguarding and child protection; Our Shining Stars; Get in touch
Dates for your diary
From Easter to Father’s Day, Eid al-Adha to Pride Month, there’s plenty to celebrate over the coming months. As well as hosting themed activities to celebrate these occasions at nursery, we have lots of events and workshops planned for you and your little one to look forward to.
Staff news
Congratulations to Caroline, who was successful during internal interviews for the role of Senior Practitioner of the Bumblebee Room. She is now in post.
We’re excited to see Aiste and Sophie return from maternity leave soon. Aiste will rejoin the Ladybird Room part-time at the end of May; Sophie will return in June. Speaking of maternity leave, we wish Jess all the best as she begins hers.
We’d also like to extend a warm welcome to Lina, Rebecca and Nevaeh, our new assistants, who will support our under twos.
We’d also like to thank Diane for all she’s done for The Oaks and wish her the very best for the future.
School Offer Day
On 16 April, many parents and carers found out which primary school their child will be going to. We’d love to know where your little one is heading next; if you’d like to, you can share which school they’ll be attending via the grid in the Preschool entrance hall.
To help children prepare for the exciting journey ahead, we will create a photo board of the schools our children are due to attend and add school uniforms to our dressing-up area (any old school uniform donations are most welcome). We will, of course, be talking to the children about their transition too.
Keep an eye out for comms regarding events for our school leavers, such as consultations, photographs, and our graduation event.
We’re hopping mad for Birmingham Hospice!
We can’t wait to celebrate Easter with our annual Bunny Hop! Taking place at our own Forest school on 17 April, this much-loved event will raise funds for children with terminal illnesses as part of Birmingham’s Hospice’s ‘Bulls in the City’ campaign (more on this below!).
All children will be given a pair of bunny ears to wear and take home, plus a packed lunch. If you’re taking part, we kindly ask that you collect your child from nursery before making your way to the party.
Ticket sales for the event are now closed, but you can donate to Birmingham Hospice through our JustGiving page. Any donation, no matter how small, will be gratefully received.
Bulls in the City
As you’ll know, we’re raising money for Birmingham Hospice by taking part in its ‘Bulls in the City’ initiative. Along with our friends at The Elms and The Maples, we have adopted a calf sculpture who will stay with each nursery while the rest of his herd takes to Birmingham’s streets this summer.
Parent volunteers and staff to decorate him before his big debut, using imagery and designs submitted by children from all three Birmingham Day Nurseries. A big thank you to everyone who shared artwork and donated to the cause; we’ve been inspired by your creativity and can’t wait to share his finished look with you after Easter!
A trail map showing all the Bulls in the City around Birmingham will be produced in July for any families who want to hunt the rest of his herd over the summer.
You said, we did
Thank you to everyone who completed last year’s annual parent and carer survey.
You scored us a very high 9.33 out of 10 – and now we’ve had an opportunity to use your feedback to improve what we do.
Following your comments, we have:
- Recruited a SEND Co-ordinator called Kelly, who will develop onsite expertise alongside our skilled practitioners and ensure parents are closely involved to inform any decisions we make. Kelly is a great person to talk to if you’re concerned about the development of your child.
- Made it easier to know who’s who by investing in coloured tabards to differentiate between support staff and practitioners: black for agency staff, orange for staff recruited through the University’s casual recruitment agency Worklink, and white for University of Birmingham students. You’ll find our practitioners’ photos on the staff photo board in each nursery’s entrance hall.
- Worked with our catering supplier, Robinson’s, to reduce the number of ultra-processed foods on the menu. Robinson’s works closely with nutritionists at Startwell Birmingham to ensure we follow the ‘Eat Better Start Better’ guidelines and that menus meet the highest standards to support children’s health and wellbeing. Our menus operate on three-weekly, seasonal schedules to help introduce children to different tastes, textures, and healthy eating habits. Robinson’s is currently working on our spring/summer menus. We will share these with you as soon as they’re ready to launch.
Sun safety
To ensure your child is protected as we welcome the warmer months, staff will apply a four-star rated, 30+ SPF sun cream to them during the nursery day. If you’d prefer us to use a specific sun cream* for your child, please supply your own (ideally four-star with an SPF of 30 or above), clearly labelled for staff to use.
We kindly ask that parents and carers thoroughly apply a layer of sun cream before your child arrives at nursery to ensure maximum coverage.
Birmingham Day Nurseries apply suncream by following the UV Index. For more information please see the Sun Safety letter we shared during the week of 24 March.
We also recommend that your child has an appropriate sunhat for nursery, which protects their head and shades their face, neck and ears (e.g., a broad-brimmed or Legionnaire-style hat).
*Sun creams containing nut-derived oils are banned to keep everyone with allergies at nursery safe. Please do not apply this to your child before they attend nursery.
Reusable wet bags
Please ensure your child has a reusable bag to send dirty clothing home in, not a plastic carrier bag. We have a small supply of wet bags for £7 – visit the nursery office to get yours.
Feed Your Smile this Smile Month
To celebrate National Smile Month – the UK’s largest and longest-running campaign to promote good oral health – we will be working with local dentists and University of Birmingham students to host workshops on the connection between diet and oral health. There will also be activities throughout the month to teach children how to brush their teeth and experience what it’s like to go to the dentist.
Spring in action
We are loving spring and all the learning opportunities it brings our children. Our older rooms have been learning about caterpillar lifecycles and their metamorphosis into butterflies, by observing actual chrysalises. We await their exciting transformations!
The children will also start planting seeds in the coming weeks. As part of the Green Impact programme, we’ve pledged that the veg we grow in our garden will be used in our cooking and to educate our children. Check out our veg patch over the coming months to see what we’re growing!
Wonders of Winterbourne Trail
To celebrate the University’s anniversary, our friends at Winterbourne have identified 125 treasures – or Wonders of Winterbourne – in the house and garden.
This summer they’re launching a Wonders of Winterbourne trail to encourage visitors to explore further. For those who haven’t yet discover the University’s Edwardian heritage attraction on Edgbaston Park Road, the trail will be a brilliant way to get little ones out into nature. There’s a nice tea room too!
Join our Explorers family
Subscribe to our Explorers newsletter today to receive the latest news, offers, and events straight to your inbox. New to Explorers? Explorers allows every child to experience the magical world of outdoor adventure at our award-winning Forest Schools. Sessions include:
- Muddy Explorers – stay-and-play group for confident walkers up to the age of five – based at our Forest School site
- Mini Explorers – wonder-filled adventures for babies and toddlers – at Winterbourne House and Garden
- Wild Explorers – a fun-packed holiday club for children aged four to eight
Parent and carer consultations
We will hold telephone parent and carer consultations for all our children in May. Consultations will take place via telephone between 10am and 3.30pm. Face-to-face meetings will be scheduled for our school leavers with their key person.
This is your chance to discuss your child’s learning story (assessment) and general wellbeing at nursery. Each session will last approximately ten minutes. Discussions around your child’s learning story will see their key person comparing ‘best-fit’ judgements of ranges in typical age-spans for each area of learning, before deciding which range they feel best suits your child’s current levels of development and learning.
The time between assessments will be considered when measuring your child’s progress. Your child may be assessed more than once at a certain level, if assessments are held close together or if children move through ranges at different speeds. This is nothing to be concerned about as children develop at different rates and in different areas.
If you have received previous assessments from your child’s key person, they may have used the terminology of ’emerging’, ‘developing’ and ‘secure’. This terminology will no longer be used in assessments/learning stories; a ‘best-fit’ judgement will be given instead. To find out more, please visit the Birth to 5 Matters website.
Funding information
If your child is eligible for funding for the summer term (1 April – 31 August 2025), you should have now sent us your code and National Insurance number. Please remember to reconfirm your code every three months to ensure you remain eligible.
For more information about the financial support available while your child’s at nursery, please visit our nursery fees webpage.
Using mobile phones
For our children’s safety and security, the use of mobile phones, tablets, watches, and laptops with camera technology is strictly prohibited within the nursery. Any parents or carers seen using mobile phones in the nursery’s communal areas or playrooms will be asked to put them away. If you need to take a call or check a message, please do so in the nursery office or wait until you’ve left the premises to ensure you’re complying with our safeguarding policy. All visitors to our playrooms will be asked to leave their devices at the nursery office.
Keeping everyone safe
When entering and exiting the nursery, please do not allow anyone to follow you into the building, even if you know them. If another parent/carer holds the door open for you, please politely decline; each person must either fob in or press the office buzzer to be welcomed in by a member of the team. This will ensure every person in the building is known to the nursery or dealt with by the office team.
Parking responsibly
Your child’s safety is very important to us, so please drive at a safe speed when entering, manoeuvring around, and exiting the nursery car park. You may need to wait for other vehicles to drive in and out of spaces; please be patient.
If you accidentally hit another vehicle, please report the incident to the nursery office. However, please note that we do not accept any liability if a car is damaged in the car park.
The nursery car park is for the drop off and collection of children only. We kindly request that you turn your engine off when waiting for your child to help reduce air pollution. We also ask that you only park in disabled bays if you have a valid Blue Badge, so there is enough space for families who need them.
If you’re a University permit-holder, please use a designated University car park as you cannot park in the nursery car park for the duration of the day. Thank you for your cooperation.
Safeguarding and child protection
In the interests of safeguarding, there may be times when we must consult with other agencies about a child without a parent/carer’s prior knowledge. The nursery’s first concern is the welfare of our children, and it’s our responsibility to act and protect in line with our Child Protection Policy.
A consultation like this may result in a formal referral, which can prompt visits from police or your local authority’s safeguarding team. We understand that this would be a distressing set of circumstances, but we have a legal duty to follow the procedures set out by the Birmingham Children’s Trust.
Our Shining Stars
‘Shining Stars’ is a Birmingham Day Nurseries’ recognition scheme designed to reward excellence. If you would like to recognise a staff member who has gone above and beyond, or who deserves an extra special thank you, please email us at [email protected].
Each month’s Shining Star will be displayed on the parent and carers’ information board in the entrance hall and receive a special mention in our communications.
Get in touch
Rebecca Slater, Nursery Manager
Emily Grainger, Assistant Nursery Manager
Faye Hickman, Deputy Manager
Laura Allchin, Deputy Manager
If you have any general nursery enquiries, please email [email protected].