Kindness  Resilience  Respect  Thankfulness

Newsletter                

28 November 2025

Nursery and Reception Nativities

This week has seen the start of rehearsals for the Nursery and Reception Nativities. The children have been choosing their parts and learning all the words to the songs. We are looking forward to seeing how it all comes together in early December. The children have also been learning about the Nativity in their RE lessons, finding out why Christmas is important to Christians and the story of the birth of Jesus. If you are a Nursery or Reception parent, make sure you save the dates: (maximum of 3 adults per child).

Nursery Nativity-9 December at 9.30am

Reception Nativity- 11 December at 9.30am

Attendance Statistics-Education Policy Institute 

Recent statistics for attendance for 2024/2025, shows a concerning increase in absences from school for our youngest children in YR1 and below. All other ages have seen a decrease in absences. 

This rising absence among children at the start of their school journeys, raises questions over what this means for future absence as they progress through school. At Victoria, we are pleased to see that we have mostly above average attendance for each year group which is highlighted below:

Nursery- Victoria-92% National Average- 95%

Reception- Victoria- 97% National Average-95%

YR1- Victoria-97% National Average-95%

YR2- Victoria-95% National Average-95%

“Creating routines and structure can be incredibly important for children in the early years, helping with a sense of stability and supporting their emotional and cognitive development. However, early years are also a very distinct phase of a child’s development so this should not be reduced to just talking about attendance. It is vital that parents are supported to understand the benefits of formal and structured early education and care to build positive associations that will last into school age." National Day Nurseries

End of Term Christmas Service

The children of Victoria (Reception, YR1 and YR2) and Thomas Coram will be taking part in the end of term Christmas service at St Peter's on Friday 19 December at 10.30am. As this is a joint service space in the church will be limited. Parents are welcome to come and see the children perform Christmas songs and some of our YR2 children will be sharing readings and prayers.

Travelling Crib

The Travelling Crib will be arriving at Nursery on Monday and will spend the week with different children in each year group. The crib will stay in class during the day and be sent home with one child per year group, where they get to have it over night. It is then returned to school the next day to pass onto the next year group. Thank you for getting in contact to host the crib and see below the children who will be taking it home next week.

Nursery (Monday)- Sasha

Reception (Tuesday)- Isaac

YR1 (Wednesday)- Aira

YR2 (Thursday)- Freya 

Rotary Shoe Boxes

It's that time of year again when The Rotary Club launch their Shoebox Appeal which collects presents to bring a bit of happiness to seriously deprived children in orphanages in Romania and Moldova. All you need to do is fill a shoebox (available from the office) with goodies and gifts and return it to school by Monday 15 December. Click here for more information.

VSA Update

Last night, the VSA and Tiffany Randall hosted a wonderful wreath-making session in the school  hall. We kicked off with some fizz, festive music and plenty of foliage, and ended the evening with an array of incredible wreaths. Best of all, we raised £600 for the school! This will go straight into the VSA pot to support all the lovely Christmas activities planned for this year. Thank you to those that attended and to Charlotte Love for the amazing wreath foliage she donated! 🎄

 What's Coming Up?

• Santa Fun Run - Sun 30 November, 10am
• Christmas Fair - Sat 6 December, 1-4pm
• Family NYE Party – Wed 31 December, 5.30-7.30pm

We're excited to see lots of you run with Santa this Sunday in Butts Meadow! 

Toy Donation
Decluttering before Christmas? Got toys your kids have outgrown? Give them a new home by donating them for sale at our Christmas Fair. We'll be collecting them at morning drop-off in the playground all next week.

Raffle Tickets
Look out for raffle tickets coming home in your child's book bag next week. There are some fabulous prizes up for grabs, including an amazing bundle of Hasbro toys, a Gail's hamper, a Waitrose hamper, a DJs voucher and more. Winners will be drawn at the Christmas Fair.

Reindeer Visit
Yes, it’s true - real reindeer will be visiting the school next Friday during the day. The children will get the chance to meet them up close and say hello. Cue the festive excitement!

Christmas Fair
Join us next Saturday 6 December for a magical afternoon! There'll be BBQ food, crafty fun, letter writing to Santa, games, tombola, face painting and more. Don’t forget to book your child’s visit to Santa’s Grotto (1 ticket per child) with an optional professional photo available.

Are Nursery open mornings are now available to book. Come along and see our provision and meet the team.  If you have friends or other family members who are looking for a school nursery, let them know about the tours as we would love to have them visit.

Thursday 8 January 9.15am at (Reception and Nursery)

Wednesday 21 January at 9.15am

Wednesday 28 January at 9.15am

Friday 6 February at 2pm

Wednesday 11 February at 9.15am

Wednesday 4 March at 11.00am

Friday 13 March at 9.15am

Click here to complete our online booking form.

Acorn - Arabella for helping others in the Nursery
Ash - Elena for super listening and asking lots of questions.
Oak - Jake for showing resilience and trying really hard at his listening!
Beech - Massimo for your excellent traditional tale in English.
Cedar - Zoe for her patience and resilience across all subjects in school. Well done.
Hazel - Gray for his fantastic effort in writing this week. Good job!
Rowan - Vaughan for very thoughtful ideas.