Pre-School News December 2025

The Autumn half term at Woodland Corner Preschool has been full of exciting developments, meaningful learning experiences, and many special moments shared together. We are incredibly proud of our children and truly grateful for the continued support of our families and the wider community.

Our New Garden Surface

We returned after half term to a wonderful improvement to our outdoor area — a beautiful new garden surface. This has transformed how the children use the garden, allowing tricycles, scooters, and ride-on toys to be used throughout the space rather than just on the path.

The children have made excellent use of this new surface, which has been particularly beneficial during the changing autumn weather. Outdoor play remains a vital part of our daily routine, supporting physical development, confidence, and wellbeing.

Autumn Treasure Bags

We were overwhelmed by the support from our families during our autumn treasure bag activity. Children were given treasure forms and bags to collect autumn-themed items at home, and many returned in the first week with beautifully filled bags.

Each child spent time with a member of staff talking about their treasures, supporting communication skills and confidence. The pride the children showed when sharing their finds was a joy to see.

Thanks to your generosity, we raised over £500, which enabled us to purchase high-quality, sustainable wooden resources from The Yellow Door. These include:

• Wooden trees representing the changing seasons
• Nursery rhyme Play-Doh rollers
• Stone number resources
• Wooden woodland animals
• Cold land resources, including an igloo and cold land animals

These resources have already enhanced learning through imaginative and exploratory play.

Fireworks Night

We were delighted to support the Nayland Community Council Fireworks event. Woodland Corner Preschool ran a stall selling hot chocolate, tea, coffee, toffee apples and sweet cones – we were thrilled to sell out!

Thank you to all our families for your support and for helping make the evening such a success.

Remembrance Day and Kindness

For Remembrance Day, the children created a poppy wreath which we laid at the Nayland War Memorial. Together, we observed two minutes of silence and talked about taking quiet time to think about the people who help keep us safe.

This led into a focus on teamwork, friendship, and kindness. The children helped create a Kindness Tree, with each leaf celebrating an act of kindness shown by our children. The tree is now overflowing with leaves, and we are extremely proud of the compassion and care shown throughout the setting.

Nursery Rhyme Week

Nursery Rhyme Week was filled with music, movement, creativity, and learning, with a different rhyme explored each day:

• Sing a Song of Sixpence – counting and number activities
• Humpty Dumpty – construction and wall-building using a variety of resources
• When I Was One (The Pirate Song) – paper plate pirates and walking the plank
• Hickory Dickory Dock – number sequencing, clocks, and learning about Big Ben
• Two Little Dickie Birds – sensory play with feathers and making chocolate nests

Throughout the week, the children enjoyed singing, dancing, rhythm activities, and group participation.

Forest School and Multi Sports

Forest School sessions continued throughout the term, and we enjoyed several beautiful autumn sessions leading up to Christmas. Children explored the natural environment through autumn walks, leaf hunts, and creative activities such as making caterpillars from fallen leaves.

The children also learned how to safely use tools, including a hand drill, to create log slice necklaces. These activities support independence, problem-solving, and an understanding of safe risk-taking.

Multi Sports sessions continue weekly, offering a variety of movement-based activities that support physical development, coordination, teamwork, and confidence.

December at Woodland Corner

December began with festive excitement as the children decorated our Christmas tree and our Home Corner transformed into a Christmas Corner. Our train set became The Polar Express, and we explored Christmas spoons while learning festive songs in preparation for our Christmas performances.

We were honoured to visit Nayland Primary School to watch our former Woodland Corner children perform in their Reception Nativity — a proud and special moment for everyone.

We also visited St James’s Church to sing at their coffee morning. The children sang beautifully, with some bravely using a microphone, and were kindly given heart-shaped biscuits to keep their energy up. We also enjoyed watching Nayland Primary School children perform Christmas songs on ukuleles.

End of Term Celebrations

We ended the term with a festive Christmas party full of games and laughter. The children also performed their Christmas songs once again for parents and carers at our final concert.

To the children’s delight, Father Christmas visited and brought a gift for every child — a magical way to finish the term.

We would also like to say a huge thank you to all our parents for their generous donations to our Christmas Tombola. It was a huge success and very much appreciated.

The staff would like to sincerely thank families for the kind cards, gifts, and well wishes received at the end of term. They were very much appreciated.

A Final Note to Families

All children received an end-of-term assessment via Famly. We hope you have had the opportunity to read these. We truly appreciate the positive feedback and thoughtful comments left, as well as your ongoing engagement through observations throughout the term.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to another exciting term ahead at Woodland Corner Preschool.