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Birkbees Newsletter – February 2026
Welcome back! We are so happy to see all the children return, excited to learn and play with their friends. This half term we have lots of fun activities planned, including exploring nature, celebrating special events, and trying hands-on learning. We can’t wait for all the exciting experiences ahead!
Dates for the Diary
- World Book Day – Thursday 5th March – Themed Menu – Bring Favourite book and dress up
- Friday 6th March – National Dentist Day & Employee Appreciation Day
- Wednesday 11th March – Mother’s Day Afternoon Tea – 3:15 pm
- Sunday 15th March – Mother’s Day
- Tuesday 17th March – St. Patrick’s Day – Wear something green white or orange.
- Thursday 19th March – International Read to Me Day
- Friday 20th March (Estimated) – Eid
- Friday 20th March – Red Nose Day
- Down Syndrome Day & Red Nose Day (Friday 20th March 2026) Children are invited to wear red, odd socks, or both
- Saturday 21st March – Down Syndrome Day & World Poetry Day
- Tuesday 24th March – Eid Parties – Eid themed Menu – dress up in your party clothes
- Friday 27th March – Funding Session Finish
- Monday 30th March – Friday 10th April – Easter Holidays
- Friday 3rd April – Good Friday (Nursery Closed)
- Monday 6th April – Easter Monday (Nursery Closed)
- Monday 13th April – Funding Sessions Commence
🗣️ 5 Words a Week
Each week, we focus on five key words to support children’s language, communication, and understanding of our nursery themes.
- On display outside each room – so children can see and use them all day
- Shared on Famly each week – so you can explore the words at home too
- Fun at home – try using the words in conversation, play, or stories
Weekly Words
23rd Feb – Front | Another | Inside | Illustration| Author
2nd March – Red | New | Deep | Shallow| Light
9th March – Tallest | Heavy | Fatter | Green | Yellow
16th March – Space| Recycling | Noisy | Heavy | Light | Empty
23rd March – Green | Short | Long | Between | fat | Thin
🌱 Our Learning Themes This Term
This half term, children across the nursery will be exploring a range of exciting themes that support their confidence, curiosity and overall development.
Our focus areas throughout the term include emotional development, sustainability, literacy, nature, creativity and communication. All activities are carefully adapted to suit each age group, ensuring children are supported at their own stage of learning and development.
Across the nursery, our themes include:
- World Book Week
Celebrating stories and the joy of reading through dressing up, storytelling, role play and exploring our favourite books together. This supports early literacy skills and builds a love of reading. - Signs of Spring
Observing changes in the weather, plants and animals as we move into spring. Children will explore blossom, new growth and seasonal changes through outdoor learning, supporting their understanding of nature. - Introduction to Life Cycles & Growing
Learning about how plants, animals and mini-beasts grow and change over time through planting activities, stories and simple investigations, encouraging curiosity about the natural world. - Our Planet & Recycling
Helping children understand sustainability by learning how to care for our environment, recycle materials and reduce waste in simple, meaningful ways. - Eid
Exploring Eid in an age-appropriate way through stories, discussions and creative activities, supporting children’s cultural awareness and emotional development. - Spring Celebrations & Life Cycles
Exploring themes of new life and growth linked to springtime, including eggs, chicks and baby animals, while encouraging creativity through crafts and role play. - Easter
Taking part in Easter-themed activities and crafts, learning about traditions and seasonal changes in a child-friendly way. - World Food Day – 25th March (Eid Theme)
Exploring different foods, discussing celebration meals and learning about healthy choices through an Eid-inspired focus.
All learning is delivered through play, stories, songs and hands-on experiences, with activities carefully differentiated to meet the needs of both our Under 3’s and Over 3’s.
Honeybees Room (Baby Room)
This half term in Honeybees, our youngest children will be exploring our nursery themes through sensory play, hands-on discovery and exciting tuff tray activities. We will carefully set up inviting trays around each theme, collecting a range of engaging resources to support the children’s curiosity and development.
📚 World Book Day – Thursday 5th March
Children and staff are invited to come to nursery in their favourite outfits and bring their favourite book to share with friends during group story time.
We will enjoy looking at books together, sharing simple stories and exploring pictures to support early communication, listening skills and a love of reading.
🌱 Growing & Planting
Children will have opportunities to dig in soil, fill pots and plant seeds. These sensory experiences support fine motor development while introducing early understanding of how things grow and change.
🌸 Signs of Spring
We will explore seasonal changes through natural materials, flowers and outdoor sensory play, encouraging children to notice what is happening in the world around them.
🌙 Eid Celebrations
We will explore Eid in a simple and age-appropriate way through:
- Dancing to Asian music
- Enjoying small party-style foods
- Themed sensory activities
These experiences help build cultural awareness while keeping learning fun and meaningful.
🌍 World Food Day – 25th March (Eid Theme)
Children will take part in food tasting experiences from around the world, safely exploring new textures and flavours as part of their sensory development.
Honey Bees – Home Learning – The Five Senses
We invite families to explore the five senses at home with their child:
- What can they see?
- What can they hear?
- What can they smell?
- What can they touch?
- What can they taste?
Simple everyday experiences such as listening to birds, touching different fabrics or tasting fruit are wonderful ways to support this learning.
📸 Please take pictures of your child completing their home learning and upload them to Famly or email them to birkbeesdaycare@gmail.com.
📌 If you have a paper copy, please remember to bring it back to nursery so we can share and celebrate the children’s learning during group time.
Honeybees – Family Learning Events
Friday 13th March | 9:30–10:30 am | Mother’s Day
Join us for a special Mother’s Day session celebrating mums and special grown-ups.
Thursday 26th March | 10–11 am | Easter
Families are invited to take part in Easter-themed activities and celebrations.
🐝 Bumblebee Room (2-year-old room downstairs)
This half term in Bumblebees, we will be setting up exciting tuff trays and focused activities around our nursery themes. Staff will carefully collect a range of engaging resources to support hands-on learning, exploration and curiosity.
📚 World Book Day
Children are invited to dress up as their favourite book character and bring a favourite story to share with their friends during group time.
This supports confidence, communication and a love of reading.
🐸 Life Cycle of a Frog
We will be learning about the life cycle of a frog in a simple, child-friendly way — exploring how frogs grow from eggs to tadpoles and then into frogs. Activities will include small world play, creative crafts and sensory trays to help children understand change and growth.
🌱 Growing
Children will explore planting and caring for seeds, learning what plants need to grow. This will encourage responsibility and curiosity about the natural world.
♻️ Recycling
We will introduce simple discussions and activities about recycling and caring for our planet, helping children understand how to reduce waste in meaningful, age-appropriate ways.
🌙 Eid Celebrations
Children will explore Eid through themed crafts, music, simple discussions and celebration activities to build cultural awareness and understanding.
Bumblebees – Home Learning – Growing at Home
For home learning, we would love children to grow something at home and bring it into nursery to show their friends.
A simple idea:
- Place some cotton wool in a small bowl.
- Add a few dried beans.
- Lightly sprinkle with water.
- Leave it on a windowsill and watch it grow!
Alternatively, children can plant cress or sunflower seeds in a small pot with soil.
🌱 Please bring your child’s plant into nursery once it has started growing so they can share their achievement with everyone.
📌 Reminder: Please ensure all home learning is brought back to nursery so we can celebrate and discuss it during group time.
Bumblebees – Family Learning Events
Monday 16th March | Mother’s Day Event
Families are invited to join us for a special Mother’s Day session, enjoying simple craft activities and spending quality time together to celebrate mums and special grown-ups.
Wednesday 15th April |Easter Learning Event
We look forward to welcoming families to join us for a special Easter-themed learning session with fun activities and crafts.
👑 Queenbees Room (3-4-year-old room downstairs)
This half term, our Pre-School children will be exploring a range of exciting themes through hands-on activities, discussions and real-life experiences that build independence, curiosity and confidence.
📚 World Book Day
Children are invited to bring in their favourite book and dress up as their favourite story character.
We will be sharing stories in group time and encouraging children to talk about their favourite parts, helping to develop language and comprehension skills.
🌸 Signs of Spring – Planting & Growing Vegetables
Children will explore seasonal changes and take part in planting vegetables, learning what plants need to grow and how to care for them. This encourages responsibility and understanding of the natural world.
🦋 Butterfly Life Cycle
We will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly, exploring how caterpillars change and grow. Activities will include creative work, discussions and observations to support understanding of change and growth.
♻️ Our Planet & Recycling
To support our sustainability theme, we will introduce different recycling bins in the classroom. Children will be encouraged to sort items and decide which bin they belong in, helping them understand how to care for the environment.
🌙 Eid Celebrations
We will celebrate Eid with a special Eid party, including themed activities, discussions and celebration food.
We are also planning a visit to a mosque to support children’s understanding of Eid and its importance.
🐣 Easter Celebrations
Children will learn about Easter traditions and we are planning a visit to a church to help deepen their understanding of the celebration in an age-appropriate way.
🌍 World Food Day – Food Tasting
As part of World Food Day, children will take part in food tasting activities, exploring different flavours and discussing foods from around the world.
We would like to thank Emil’s mum for kindly offering to come in and read a story to the children in czech.
Queenbees – Home Learning – Easter Competition
For home learning, children are invited to decorate:
- An Easter egg
- An Easter bonnet
- Or an Easter basket
🏆 The best entry will be judged by Natalie, and the winner will receive a prize.
Deadline: Monday 23rd March
Please ensure all entries are brought into nursery by this date.
Queenbees – Family Learning Events
Friday 13th March | 2–3 pm | Mother’s Day Tea
Families are invited to enjoy a special Mother’s Day afternoon with tea and scones, card making, and bracelet making.
Tuesday 14th April | 10:00 – 11:00am | Easter Egg Hunt & Outdoor Planting
Join us for a fun-filled morning of an Easter egg hunt and outdoor planting activities. We look forward to welcoming families to take part.
🐝 2 Bees Room (2-year-old room upstairs)
This half term, our 2Bees children will be exploring a range of fun, hands-on activities linked to our nursery themes, supporting communication, independence and social development.
📚 World Book Week
We encourage children to bring their favourite book from home to share with their friends during group time. This helps build confidence, listening skills and a love of stories.
🦷 National Dentist Day
Children will take part in role play activities, pretending to be dentists. They will practise “checking” teeth and brushing them, helping to build awareness of oral hygiene in a fun and engaging way.
💐 Mother’s Day
Children will be making special cards, small gifts and decorating biscuits to celebrate Mother’s Day and show appreciation for the important people in their lives.
♻️ Recycling
Through simple sorting activities, children will explore recycling by deciding which items go into different bins. This encourages early understanding of caring for our environment.
🌱 Growing
We will be growing cress and sunflowers, giving children the opportunity to water plants and observe changes as they grow.
🍀 St Patrick’s Day
Children will take part in baking and decorating themed buns to celebrate in a fun, age-appropriate way.
📌 Messages for 2Bees Parents
- Please ensure your child’s snack is brought in on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
• Children should arrive with a clean nappy for their session to help them feel comfortable throughout the day.
Thank you for your continued support
2 Bees – Home Learning
March – Planting Sunflowers
Plant sunflower seeds with your child and talk about how plants grow. Encourage your child to help with watering and caring for the plant.
We would love you to take lots of photos and upload them to Famly.
2 Bees – Family Learning Events
🌱 Tuesday 10th March & Thursday 26th March | Growing Indoors
Families are invited to take part in indoor growing activities, including planting cress and sunflowers, helping children learn about caring for plants and watching them grow.
🐝 Busy Bees Room (upstairs 3-4-year-old room)
This half term, Busybees will be developing their communication, confidence and curiosity through exciting learning experiences linked to books, nature and celebrations.
📚 World Book Day – Thursday 5th March
Children are invited to dress in cosy clothes, bring their favourite book and a teddy to nursery.
We will explore a variety of books including poems, touchy-feely books and interactive stories. We are also planning a trip to the library to explore different reading materials and encourage a love of books.
🌸 Exploring Our Environment – Signs of Spring
Children will spend time outdoors observing changes in the environment. We will look for:
- Bulbs beginning to grow
- Flowers starting to bloom
- Changes in the weather
We will also explore animals associated with spring and learn the special names given to baby animals, such as lamb, chick and calf.
🌙 Eid & Ramadhan
We will talk about what Eid and Ramadhan mean to us, encouraging children to share their own experiences and understanding.
Children will take part in themed activities and enjoy an Eid party to celebrate together.
💐 Mother’s Day
Children will create special crafts and gifts to celebrate Mother’s Day.
🐣 Spring & Easter
We will explore the themes of springtime and Easter through discussions, crafts and creative activities.
📌 Messages for Parents
- Please ensure children wear weather-appropriate clothing suitable for both indoor and outdoor learning.
• Provide adequate changes of clothing, especially if your child is toilet training, as well as general daily spare clothes.
Thank you for your continued support
Busy Bees – Home Learning
March – Key Person Based
For this half term, Busybees home learning will be key person based.
This means activities will be tailored to your child’s individual needs, interests and next steps, as identified by their key person.
Your child’s key person will share a simple home learning idea linked to what they are currently learning in nursery. Activities may focus on:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Confidence and independence
- Social skills
📅 April – Spring Nature Walk
In April, we encourage families to go on a spring nature walk.
Look around your environment and talk about what you can spot, for example:
- Flowers or buds growing
- Birds building nests
- Insects
- Puddles or changes in the weather
Children can draw a picture or talk about what they found when they return to nursery. You can also take photos and upload to Famly or send to the nursery email birkbeesdaycare@gmail.com.
Busy Bees – Family Learning Events
Tuesday 10th March (AM) – Storytelling Session
Parents are invited to come and read a story to the children in another language. We look forward to celebrating different cultures and languages together.
Wednesday 25th March (AM) – Sensory Play Session
Join us in exploring our sensory room with your child. There will also be messy play activities for families to enjoy together.
🐝 Pre-school Stingers (PS@S) (3-4-year-old room, back building)
This half term, our children will be exploring books, celebrations and seasonal changes through exciting hands-on learning experiences.
📚 World Book Day
Children are invited to come to nursery dressed up and bring a favourite book to share.
We will be reading our favourite stories, exploring story sacks and encouraging children to talk about characters and events in books to build confidence and communication skills.
🌙 Ramadhan & Eid
Our home corner will be set up with a Ramadhan/Eid theme to encourage role play and discussions.
Children will learn about why Ramadhan is special and how Eid is celebrated.
🎉 Eid Party – 24th March
🌸 Spring
During group time, we will talk about the changes we notice in spring, including:
- Flowers and plants beginning to grow
- Changes in the weather
- Clothing we might wear in warmer weather
🐣 Life Cycles
We will explore the life cycles of chickens and farm animals, helping children understand how animals grow and change.
🦷 Dentist Day – 6th March
Children will take part in activities linked to dental health, learning how to look after their teeth.
🔴 Red Nose Day – 20th March
Children are invited to wear something red to support Red Nose Day.
Pre-school stingers – Home learning – Reading Log
We encourage families to read with their child at home or visit the library together.
Please record the books you read in your child’s reading log.
📅 Deadline: 20th March 2023
Reading regularly supports vocabulary, listening skills and a lifelong love of books.
Pre-School Stingers – Family Learning Events
Eid / Mother’s Day / International Read to Me Day
18th March 2023 – 10:30 – 11:30am
Join us for a special session where families can read and share books together while celebrating these important occasions.
Parent Notices & Reminder
✔ Running Late? Call ahead to avoid late collection fees (£10 for the first 15 minutes, then £1 per minute).
✔ No Toys from Home: To prevent loss or distraction, children should not bring personal toys.
✔ Sickness: Please ring the nursery on each day your child is unwell to inform us.
Funding & Childcare Updates
- 30 Hours Funding Deadline: Apply by 31st March 2026 if your child turns 3 before this date.
- 15 Hours Funding: If your child is aged 2 or 3, they may be eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare per week. Please check your eligibility and apply as soon as possible to secure a place.
- Funding for Babies: Some families may be eligible for funded childcare for babies under 2 years old, depending on their circumstances. Please speak to our team for more information on how to apply.
- More Info: Visit www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for eligibility details.
Contact Information
📍 Birkbees Day Care LTD
📞 01484 453354
📍 Address: 65a Halifax Old Rd, Hillhouse, Huddersfield HD1 6EE
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Thank you for being part of the Birkbees family! We appreciate your support and look forward to another fantastic half term of learning and fun! 🎉
