Calendar & Dates for the diary

Somerset Terms Dates and Holidays 2026-2027

Somerset Term Dates and Holidays 2025-2026 

Early Closure – Staff Fire Safety Training

Please be aware that the nursery will close early on Friday 6th November at 1:00 pm to enable all members of our staff team to attend important Fire Extinguisher Training and Fire Marshal CPD.

This training is an important part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe environment for our children, families and staff. It ensures that our team remain confident, knowledgeable and up to date with their fire safety responsibilities, including how to respond appropriately in the event of an emergency.

We appreciate that an early closure may require families to make alternative arrangements, and we thank you for your understanding and continued support in allowing our whole team to undertake this important training together.

Christmas Light Switch-On

Date:20th November

Come and join us for our lovely annual Christmas Light Switch-On and help us celebrate the start of the festive season at Clare House.

We will gather outside to enjoy our beautiful Christmas lights, sing some Christmas carols together and share a warm cup of hot chocolate. ☕✨

This simple but special event also gives us the perfect opportunity to say a huge thank you to Garry, who works so hard to create our wonderful Christmas display each year.

Most importantly, it is a chance for us to say a heartfelt thank you to all of our families for your continued support throughout the year. We really do appreciate being able to share these special moments with you and your children.

🕕 Starts: 6:00pm
🕖 Finishes: 7:00pm

🧣 Please remember: This is an outdoor event, so wrap up warm!

☕ Hot chocolate will be available.

We hope you can join us for a cosy and festive evening together. 🎄✨

Staff Training, INSET Days & Team Wellbeing

We hold two INSET (staff training) days each year, when the nursery is closed to children. These days provide our team with dedicated time for essential training, professional development, reflection and opportunities to work together to continually improve the quality of care and education we provide.

INSET dates for 2026–2027:

Tuesday 24th November 2026

Please note that Clare House Nursery will be CLOSED on Tuesday 24th November for a whole-team INSET training day.

We appreciate that this is slightly shorter notice than we would normally give our families. We had initially been informed that there were not enough places available for our whole team to attend this Early Years conference; however, additional tickets have now become available, giving us the valuable opportunity to attend and learn together as a team.

The conference includes two fantastic keynote speakers:

Dr Janet Rose – Emotion Coaching UK
Dr Rose is a co-founder of Emotion Coaching UK and will be sharing her knowledge around children’s emotional development, relationships, self-regulation and wellbeing – areas that link closely with our practice and ethos at Clare House.

Liz Pemberton – The Black Nursery Manager
Liz’s work focuses on anti-racist and inclusive practice within Early Years, helping settings to consider how race, culture and ethnicity are represented and ensuring that every child and family feels valued, respected and that they belong.

Why is whole-team training important?

We strongly believe that investing in our staff means investing in our children. 🌱

Learning together gives our whole team the opportunity to reflect, share ideas and bring new knowledge back into the nursery. It helps us to continually develop our practice and provide the very best experiences, care and education for the children at Clare House.

📅 Tuesday 24th November
🏡 Clare House Nursery CLOSED – INSET Day

Thank you to all of our families for your understanding and continued support.

9th April  2027

One of our annual INSET days is specifically dedicated to team building and staff wellbeing. We believe that a strong, happy and supportive staff team is incredibly important. Giving our team dedicated time to come together helps to strengthen relationships, improve communication, build trust and ensure that everyone feels valued and supported.

Working effectively as a team has a direct impact on the children in our care. When staff communicate well, support one another and share a consistent approach, we are better able to provide children with a happy, secure and nurturing environment in which they can thrive.

On occasion, we may also need to close slightly earlier than our usual opening hours to enable all members of staff to attend important training together. This may include essential training such as Safeguarding, Paediatric First Aid, Fire Marshal training, or other training relating to the safety, care and wellbeing of the children.

We appreciate that changes to our usual opening hours can require additional planning for families, and wherever possible we will provide as much notice as we can.

Investing in our staff is an important part of investing in our children. Ongoing training, professional development, team building and staff wellbeing all help us to maintain a knowledgeable, confident and supportive team who work together to provide the very best experiences for our children and families.

We thank all of our families for their understanding and continued support