Head of School's Message
At Heath Lane Nursery, the wellbeing and safety of all children and families is always our priority. Indeed safe is one of our core values. We understand that from time to time families may need additional support, advice, or someone to talk to, and we would like to remind parents and carers of the support services available at Heath Lane and within Hertfordshire.
Early Help services are available for families who may benefit from extra support with challenges such as parenting, emotional wellbeing, behaviour, family relationships, attendance, housing, finances, or other difficulties that may be impacting family life. Accessing support early can often prevent worries from becoming bigger concerns and helps families receive the right support at the right time. Families First is the term used in Hertfordshire for services that work together to support families. Families First
As part of our commitment to safeguarding and supporting children, we have 4 Designated Safeguarding Leads (DSLs) at Heath Lane Nursery, who are available to offer support, guidance, and advice to families. If you have any worries about your child’s wellbeing, safety, or your family circumstances, please do not hesitate to speak to us confidentially. We are here to help and support wherever we can. Safeguarding information is available on our website. Keeping our Children Safe | Heath Lane Nursery
If you would like further information about any of these services or would like support accessing help, please do speak to a member of our team.
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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:
Whilst waiting outside the nursery please refrain from sitting on the green Grit bin or entering the NHS garden.
We are still looking for donations of different hats, scarves, costume jewellery for our Home Corner to help enhance role play. If you have any items you would kindly like to donate, please hand to a member of staff.
Join our nursery's social media pages to stay connected
Rhyme of the week
Next week's Rhyme of the week is "Old Macdonald had a Farm".
This rhyme has a focus on phonics and environmental sounds.
Please find a video below;
Language of the week
We are lucky to have a rich and diverse community with lots of different languages. Our language of the week is Twi, which is spoken by some of our children and their families.
Please find below links of how to say "Hello" and "Goodbye" in Twi. You can practise with your child/ren at home.
(91) How to say "Hello" ? Greetings in Twi - Learn Twi with Efia BAE #6 - YouTube
Learning At Home
The children are doing a fantastic job helping to set up the snack table throughout the day! You can support this learning at home by encouraging your child to help set the table for dinner.
Why not ask your child:
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Where should the cups go?
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What cutlery do we need to put out?
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How many plates will we need?
Encourage your child to clear their own plate after dinner, just as they do in nursery. This is a great way to support their independence, confidence and self-help skills, while helping them to develop a sense of responsibility in everyday routines.
Small tasks at home can make a big difference to your child's learning and development! 🌟
Healthy Me, Healthy World
As part of our Healthy Me, Healthy World approach, we are continuing to strengthen our allergy awareness and the steps we take to keep every child safe and included.
We follow the Roots Federation Allergy Safety Policy and take a whole-nursery approach to allergy safety. This includes working closely with families to understand children’s individual allergies and dietary requirements, ensuring relevant information is shared with staff, and maintaining clear procedures for food preparation, serving and snack times.
We do not encourage children to share or swap food, and staff carefully supervise eating and drinking. We also consider allergies when planning activities that involve food or other potential allergens, making appropriate adaptations where needed so that children can participate safely.
Our staff receive appropriate information and guidance so that allergy awareness remains part of our everyday practice. By taking these consistent steps, we aim to provide a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment where every child can enjoy nursery life.
You can read more about our approach in the Roots Federation Allergy Safety Policy.
Success Story of the Week
This week, whilst using gardening tools to dig and turn over the soil in our vegetable patches, the children uncovered something they thought was ‘suspicious’! After inspecting the object more closely, the children came to the exciting conclusion that they had discovered a potato!
This discovery created lots of excitement and encouraged the other children to join in, digging for more hidden treasures. Before long, we had uncovered lots and lots of potatoes! The children enjoyed washing their discoveries before we prepared them for cooking.
We talked about the different ways we could cook potatoes, and the children decided they would like to make mashed potato and roasted potatoes. This provided a wonderful opportunity for the children to develop their understanding of food preparation, make choices and explore how vegetables can be transformed through cooking.
We will continue preparing our vegetable patches over the coming months, getting them ready for new planting in the spring. We look forward to seeing what we can grow and discover next!
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.
