This term we have welcomed increasing numbers of new children to Seagulls, some of whom are completely new to the setting, others who moved up from the Blackbirds room. They joined the existing five key groups, with similar settling routines to those who started in September. This included an initial home visit and involved settling arrangements made between the key people and families that best suited each child. For some, particularly those already familiar with the environment, this may have seen a reasonably quick transition into their new group and routines, while for others, perhaps those who may be multilingual but do not yet speak English and for whom everything is unfamiliar, it may have called for smaller steps to build trust and confidence. During these past weeks, key people have been called upon to use their skills in balancing the needs of the older children with those who are new to their groups. As ever, relationships with parents and carers are key to making children feel safe, secure and self-assured.

Some new opportunities for the children to benefit from in Seagulls this term have included Colourful Semantics, an initiative that helps children to successfully communicate in sentences, led by Paula and Jeanette from the SEND support team. This has been extremely popular with the children. In another sphere, the nursery’s continuing collaboration with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre has seen some of our beginning of the week children participate in an exciting creative programme developed in conjunction with Redcliffe staff, led by Alex, one of our Blackbirds leaders. This has given the participants exposure to novel and innovative ideas from the world of theatre. As part of the continuous provision, the children have also been able to join dedicated food exploration sessions, led by Carys, in which they can get to grips with handling a range of fruit and vegetables, using just their hands or safe knives and other cooking tools. These experiences help the children to feel comfortable with food, learn about their properties through their senses and develop their fine motor skills.

The room environment has seen some changes on the back of continuing reflective conversations that occur within the Seagulls team at the beginning and end of the week. Specifically, a new block area has been created which can be used for small- and large-scale construction, as well as the applications the children themselves bring to the space and resources. This involved bringing together the range of larger hollow wooden building blocks and the smaller Community Play Things ‘unit’ blocks. Since the change, there has been a noticeable increase in their use, with children extending their imaginative problem-solving and awareness of shape and patterns. The ‘home area’ resources have also been re-directed as a result of staff noticing the ways in which they were being used. Recognizing the impact of having an adult staying in a given area to be on hand to offer opportunities to extend the play through quality interactions has also helped particular children access the range of provision, as they grow in confidence.

Winter is always most visible on our forest trips and these have been happening regularly, with each group going at least twice a term. These trips benefit all the children hugely and continue to be an integral part of the Seagulls provision. This term has been about embedding routines, including inducting the new intake, and noticing the changes and characteristics of the woodland environment at this time of year.

To conclude, Term 3 in Seagulls has been about taking stock and moving on with the returning children, while responding to the needs of the new intake of children, helping them and their families to build relationships and become part of the Redcliffe community.

Luna New Year – Tuesday 17^th February 2026 – Year of the Red Fire Horse:  

As the Luna New Year falls during half term, we are looking forward to celebrating Luna New Year at nursery on our return and would love for families to get involved. This is a wonderful opportunity for children and adults to learn about different cultures and traditions, and we would be especially grateful to learn from families who celebrate Luna New Year. If you are happy to share any ideas, traditions, stories, music, clothing, decorations and/ or special foods (where appropriate), we would love to include these into our nursery celebrations. Please feel free to speak with your child's key person if you would like to contribute or suggest ways we can make this celebration meaningful and enjoyable for our children. Thank you in advance.  

A gentle reminder to please label your child's clothing and belongings. We have experienced a lot of wet days here at nursery which can result in children needing to be changed to feel comfortable again. Occasionally, it can be hard for the team to distinguish which coats and bags belong to who, so we would be greatly appreciative if you could label your child's belongings. Although we have a peg system in place, coats and bags can become muddled up. Thank you for your co-operation with this.  

 The Seagulls Team wishes you a happy half term break.

Easter Holiday Club:  Thank you to everyone who completed our online form to express an interest in our Easter Holiday Club.  We hope to be able to provide you with further details after the half term break.

We are going cashless!  As of the 1^st April 2026, we will be a cashless nursery school.  Please can we ask that any payments are made online via bacs or by card at reception. 

Reminders:

I would like to give you some important information reminders

• Please ensure you bring a bag in with multiple spare changes of clothes and wellies, as well as shoes, hats, gloves and scarves especially if it is raining and now the weather is getting colder.
• Please provide water in your child’s water bottle – no squash
• Mobile phones are not to be used once you have gone through reception into the Seagulls or Blackbirds rooms.
• Please can you fold down your buggies or take them away if possible. We need to keep the main entrance walkway clear at all times as this is a fire exit.
• Parking - please note that the car park is for the residents and a tow scheme is in place. We recommend using the on road pay and display bays for free 30 minutes to drop off and collect your children.
• Please check Facebook, Instagram and the website regularly. We are aiming to post photos (non-identifiable) of what the children have been enjoying each week.

Dates for your Diary:

• We will finish for the Half Term break on Friday 13^th February and return on Monday 23^rd February. Nursery will be closed to all children during this time.
• Wednesday 18^th March – INSET Day Nursery will be closed to all children

Bristol will have a new Best Start in Life Plan from 1^st April 2026. This plan is about making sure every baby, child, and family gets the right support from pregnancy to age five. Family Hubs, midwives, health visitors, speech and language teams, nurseries, schools, libraries and community groups will all work more closely together so families can find information and help more easily.

We want to hear from you so we can shape this plan together. Our early idea for our shared vision is: "Partners taking steps together so families belong and thrive.”

We would love to know what this vision means to you, and what

We would love to know what this vision means to you, and what you think should be most important in the plan.

Please find the link here: Best Start in Life: Family Survey

This survey should take 2–3 minutes. It would be great if you could respond by 5pm on 17^th February 2026!

Warm wishes,

Head Teacher