04.09.26 | Heath Lane Nursery

Head of School's Message

Welcome Back!

A very warm welcome back to all our children, families and staff. We hope you have had a lovely summer and enjoyed plenty of sunshine, adventures and time together. It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back, and we are especially excited to meet the many new children and families joining us this term. We look forward to getting to know you and helping everyone feel happy, settled and part of our nursery community.

A reminder that we have spaces available at our Breakfast Club (8am to 9am) and After School Club (3pm to 4.30pm or 3pm to 5.30pm), both of which are run by members of our own nursery team. These sessions provide a familiar and supportive environment for children, while giving them opportunities to develop their independence and routines, build confidence in their speech and language, and enjoy a range of planned activities and play experiences. For more information please click on the following link;

Wrap around care | Heath Lane Nursery | Hemel Hempstead

Any further enquiries please email admin@heathlane.herts.sch.uk.

Dates coming up:

Friday 23rd October - Inset Day - Nursery is closed.

Week commencing Monday 26th October - October Half Term - Nursery is closed and will reopen on Monday 2nd November.

Reminders:

Fortnightly Catch Up Calls will start next week - if you do not get a call from your child's keyperson next week you will get your call the week after.

Please ensure that all items belonging to your child/ren are clearly labelled.

If your child has an allergy or medical need a Heath Care Plan must be completed and returned as soon as possible.

Join our nursery's social media pages to stay connected

Rhyme of the week

Next week's Rhyme of the week is 'Two Little Dickie Birds'.

This rhyme will help us focus on our numbers for Maths.

Please find video below;

Language of the week

We are lucky to have a rich and diverse community with lots of different languages. Do you speak Albanian? Are you available next week on a Wednesday or Thursday?

If your answer is YES, then we'd be delighted to have you reading a story in your home language to the children! They love a Secret Storyteller! We are flexible with the timing so please speak to us if you can come in another day/time.

Please look out for our next week's languages in the newsletter, it might be your home language next!

Learning At Home

Learning at home- Can your child practise taking off and putting on their jacket independently at home.

At Nursery, we use our special “coat trick” to help us get our jackets on:

Lay your jacket on the floor with the hood at your feet.
Stand behind the jacket, by the hood.
Bend down and place your arms into the sleeves.
Flick the jacket up and over your head!
Ta-da! 🎉 Your jacket is on!

Please practise this trick at home with your child to help them become a master at putting on their own jacket. Encourage them to have a go independently and celebrate their efforts!

Healthy Me, Healthy World

Healthy eating is an important part of helping children to grow, learn and have the energy they need for a busy day at nursery. Please support us by providing a healthy, balanced packed lunch and avoiding foods containing nuts, as we have children in nursery with severe nut allergies. Please also take care to avoid potential choking hazards, such as whole grapes, whole cherry tomatoes, nuts, popcorn and hard sweets, and ensure food is prepared safely for young children.

Fresh drinking water is available throughout the day, so there is no need to provide your child with a water bottle. We also provide a healthy snack in both the morning and afternoon, giving children regular opportunities to eat, drink and enjoy a range of foods together. For more information and ideas about healthy packed lunches and preparing food safely for young children, please visit the NHS and Start for Life websites.

Success Story of the Week

We have been so proud of how wonderfully the children have settled into Nursery this week. They have been getting to know our routines, becoming familiar with their new environment and exploring with such curiosity and confidence.

The children particularly enjoyed exploring our bottom garden, where they had access to our loose parts shed. They confidently selected the resources they wanted to use and showed fantastic creativity as they developed their own ideas through play.

We saw the children:

🎾 Build large ball runs using piping.
🌿 Create beautiful natural art inside wooden frames.
🪵 Build exciting tracks using wooden planks.

It has been wonderful to see the children becoming increasingly confident in making choices, sharing ideas and using the environment creatively.

All absences must be reported daily either by leaving an absence voice message or emailing admin@heathlane.herts.sch.uk.

We politely ask that if you plan to take your child out during school time, you notify the Nursery office. For appointments, we ask where possible that these are not during the school day. If this is not avoidable, please kindly share the relevant information for this appointment in order for us to be able to authorise this.

Regular attendance at Nursery is very important, as it helps children build the foundational knowledge and skills they will need as they move through school. Establishing good attendance habits now supports a smoother transition into primary school and helps ensure children develop positive routines that will benefit them throughout their educational journey. Thank you for your continued support in helping your child attend regularly and on time.