Newsletter

Welcome to our May newsletter

Easter has now passed by and a big thank you to all the parents and children who produced some magnificent Easter bonnets this year! We enjoyed an Easter Egg hunt in the nursery gardens too.
We have had a few warm and sunny days recently but we do hope the warmer weather will be with us soon! Now the summer is approaching, just a reminder that we do provide sun cream for all the children (it’s usually a Nivea protection factor 50 suncream). If your child has an allergy to this sun cream, or you prefer a different brand of suncream, please just bring your own along and it can stay in your child’s bag. Sun hats are needed now too and we do provide Millfield legionnaire style hats for everyone!

School Transitions

As the summer approaches, we will be saying goodbye to some of the Millfield children who will be moving on to primary school in September this year. We are now completing school transfer forms throughout May and these will then be passed to parents for the parent section to be completed. Once we have received these forms back from parents, the transfer form will be sent on to the primary school your child will be attending before the end of this academic year in July. Now that school places have been offered, could you please advise a member of staff which primary school your child will be attending (if you haven't already done so). During the summer term as school visits are planned by the primary schools, we always welcome the Reception teachers from all the different schools who like to make a visit and meet up with your child's key person.

Finally, once you know your plans for a final day at Millfield for your child, please let us know as the staff team do like to make sure that all the children’s Busy Bee books and development records are up to date and together for you to take home.

Topics for the summer term

Our current topics for the Summer Term are ‘Animals' up to the May half term (including jungle animals, dinosaurs, bugs and mini beasts, farm animals and pets) followed by 'People who help us through to August. Lot of activities are being planned linked to these popular topics and as special activities linked to animals our baby caterpillars and our bug land with live ladybird larvae have arrived. This will link in with bugs and mini beasts. Towards the end of May as part of our focus on pets, we are planning to have a display in the main nursery with photographs of our pets and a pet book in Millfield Babies which the staff can share with the children. We have had lots of lovely photographs of your pets sent to us already but if you haven't had the chance yet,  please do email a photograph of your pet/pets if you have a family pet to the Millfield email (millfieldnursery@hotmail.com)so we can print them off and make our displays - thank you.
Our ongoing ‘Growing’ topic is underway now and plans have been made to grow more herbs, vegetables and flowers. The children really learn so much from this wonderful activity and it is so beneficial for them to learn where some of our food comes from (not just the supermarket!!). We also find that they are more eager to try some of the vegetables for lunch when they have taken part in the whole growing process! As always, we will be offering the children our other weekly
favourite activities including Woodland Explorers, Baking, Singing and our weekly sports session with Kat Plimmer from Urban Movement Primary.
Along with our main topic focus, throughout the year we have a range of on-going and spontaneous topic threads to enhance the children's learning:

The seasons, The weather, All around the world, Shape, Colour, Numbers and Pattern, Healthy Eating (food and nutrition), Oral Health and also Emotions.

These are some lovely photographs from the spring term topics and activities:

Rookery Corner and other road works

The main works to Rookery Corner at the junction of Tythby Road with Cropwell Butler have now been completed.

Via still need to finish off the repairs where all the sandbags have been placed to retain the bank permanently. To do this, they need to partially close the road again for three days from 26th May. We understand it will be on a traffic light system again and there will be access to the nursery.   

We are hoping that it will all have been successful and once heavy rain returns, we do not have the flooding problems any longer!

We had further correspondence from Via on Saturday 9th May about some trial holes and testing that needs to be done at Tithby Road, Tithby. They are suggesting some possible road closures for short times and the planned dates are the same at the ones for Rookery Corner!

An A-Frame appeared on our front lawn near our exit driveway on 12th May and we are unsure where this will be sited on the lane.

We have been in touch with Via and are still waiting to hear back from them for confirmation of the exact plans.

We will of course keep you all fully informed and after this, we sincerely hope they will leave Tithby Road alone for a long time!!

Parent Meetings

Thank you to everyone who has recently attended a parent meeting or will be attending one shortly with your child's Key Person. The staff have enjoyed meeting with you all and sharing your child's development progress and Busy Bee Books.

The next meetings will be held during the autumn term.

Sports Days in the main nursery

We are starting to make plans now for our annual summer Sports Day for the children and as always, we will hold two separate dates and split the children into two groups on two consecutive Fridays. Kat Plimmer, our weekly sports coach comes in on Fridays and she will be here to help with the events.

Group 1 will consist of all the children who are moving on to primary school in September along with any siblings they may
have here at Millfield. This is on Friday 3rd July with a 9.30 start (Kat Plimmer comes from Melton, so this start time gives her plenty of chance to get to us!)

Group 2 will be for all our younger children who will still be with us in September. This is on Friday 10th July with a 9.30 start.

We will email the full arrangements to you all nearer the time.

Working Families Funded Hours

As always, a reminder for everyone about the Working Families Funded Hours which are available for all children from 9+
months for eligible parents. Full information about when you will be eligible and how you can access the funded hours here
at Millfield is provided in an information sheet. If you would like another copy of this, please just ask and it can be emailed to you.

For parents who are eligible, we will be able to claim up to 30 funded hours from this September. The date of birth range for funded hours in September is children born between 01.09.2024 - 30.11.2025. If you aren’t eligible for the Working Families funded hours, once your child reaches the term after their third birthday, you will automatically become eligible for the Universal 15 funded hours which has been in place for many years. Everyone is eligible for this funding. Just a reminder that once your child reaches the term after their third birthday, the funded hours hourly rate we receive is significantly less and we will add on a charge for meals and also our essentials and extras to ensure your child can continue to enjoy everything our daily rate includes. It also ensures our sustainability. This is all explained in our funding information sheet - again please just ask if you would like another copy.

Full information about all the different funded hours is also available on the following website:

https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/

Bits and Bobs

Bags: It would be so very helpful if you could bring just a small bag along to Millfield for your child. Some of the children’s bags are quite large and there isn’t enough room on the coat pegs or underneath to safely store them so they don’t cause a tripping hazard. Your child should only need a few bits and bobs each day – a change of clothes, a comfort object if they need one for sleep time etc. All nappies, wipes, nappy cream, sun cream and all food and drinks are supplied by Millfield. We would be very grateful for your cooperation with this.

Health and safety – food from home: Just another polite reminder and information to any new families - we ask that
children do not bring any food in from home. We have several children at Millfield (in the main nursery and Millfield Babies) who have allergies. It is preferable that we control all the food that is consumed by the children so if on the odd occasion you are running late and your child hasn’t had breakfast, please ask and the staff can provide a yoghurt or a piece of toast. Very many thanks for your cooperation with this – we need to ensure the safety of everyone at Millfield.

Medicines: We are always happy to administer any medicines that the children may need – ones that have been prescribed by a Doctor or over the counter medicines. Staff will ask parents to sign a medicine form with the name of the medicine to be given and clear instructions of the time any medicine is due to be given, the dose required and the time of last dose given at home. It is an Ofsted requirement that any medicines you bring in must be in the original container with the child’s name clearly marked on the box/bottle. We are also required to record the lot number and expiry date of any medicines on our medicine form. Please do not bring any doses of medicine into Millfield in juice or milk – we won’t be able to give these to the child as we haven’t seen the original packaging so that we can record the information we need to retain. We can administer Calpol however we will only do this if a child is teething or has a temperature over 38°C. If parents wish to bring a bottle of Calpol to Millfield this is fine and we can store it here. Again, it must be in the original box so it can be clearly marked. As always, we appreciate your co-operation with this Health and Safety requirement.

Summer Term Dates and Events

Summer Term Events

• World Environment Day: Friday 5th June 2026
• Father's Day: Sunday 21st June 2026
• Sports Day 1: School leavers and their siblings Friday 3rd July 2026
• Sports Day 2:  Younger children Friday 10th July 2026

Bank Holiday Closing Dates

• August Bank Holiday: Monday 31st August 2026