Upcoming Diary Dates

This week	Event	Details
Monday 19th February	Staff and Children back to school	We look forward to welcoming you back to Spring Term 2.
Tuesday 20th February	Pancake Day	It’s baking time in Morden Cottage! Such a treat as soon as we come back. TLAS will be providing pancakes for all children. If your child has food intolerances, please provide your child with their own pancakes. The school will be providing delicious maple syrup as a special topping. Please provide your child with the fruit topping of their choice to bring into school.
Next week	Event	Details
Thursday 29th February	Parent Workshop ‘Understanding Young Children’s Behaviour and Responding from the Heart’ 9am	Sarah Thorne and Jo Pearce will be leading the next workshop in our series of parent workshops. More information will be shared this week and a booking form.
Thursday 29th February 9am – 12pm	8BillionIdeas ‘Design the Next Toy Craze’ Workshop for Birch Class	After such enthusiastic response from Oak and Chestnut children last term, we are welcoming 8BillionIdeas back to facilitate an entrepreneurial workshop for Birch Class.
Friday 1st March 11:30am -1pm	Open Day	We look forward to welcoming prospective families to visit our school to find out for themselves what makes our school so special. To book onto our Open Day please follow this link: thelondonacornschool.co.uk/open-day

Welcome from our Headteacher

Welcome back everyone,

We are so excited about this half term at school where the big theme is books, reading and the joy of story telling. We would like to set all our families a challenge.

March is coming in next week, the month that is said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb. Temperatures right now can still dip, creating the right setting for comfy snuggle up times at home. It would be wonderful if you could mirror the focus we are creating at school and celebrate reading enjoyment at home, where you create regular slots in which you read aloud, and model the joy and interest of reading to your children. This is not reading practice, your child need not read to you at all, this is about adults reading aloud, at home, regularly, over the month of March.

Research shows that regular reading for pleasure and enjoyment is one of the biggest predictors for future academic success. Professor Barry Zuckerman, a founder of the Reach Out and Read programme in the US has led research programmes on this and he defines reading aloud as a period of shared attention and emotion between parent and child which reinforces reading as a pleasurable activity.

It reinforces the bond and communication between you and your child, presents a powerful template for literacy skills and reading for pleasure from you, the person they love and admire best. All the children at school communicate how strongly they feel about their families, it’s so beautiful. Hearing you read extends vocabulary and language skills, promotes emotional intelligence through encouraging children to imagine life through the eyes of others and supports creativity and imagination.

The traditional time is of course before bed, and this can form a great part of the bedtime routine, but you may wish to switch that around. Some parents or carers make it a cosy Saturday morning thing – whatever works for your family. The key is that reading aloud through March is a regular event.

Over the coming half term we will be sharing books and booklists that you may find useful.

With warmest wishes,

Sarah

Announcements, Reminders and Important Information

PARENT SURVEY -TELL US WHY YOU CHOSE TLAS:

Dear parents and carers, we would really appreciate if you could fill in this short and easy survey for us: Tell us why you chose TLAS (office.com)

Thank you very much!

NEW STARTERS:

A huge welcome to both Dawn and Paxton who have joined Bluebell Kindergarten today. We hope that you and your families feel at home here at The London Acorn School and enjoying getting to know our thriving school community.

UPDATED SPRING CALENDAR:

Please take a careful look at the latest edition of the spring calendar at the end of this newsletter with extra events added, such as a Junior Flute and Recorder Concert for parents to attend.

READY STEADY READ FOR WORLD BOOK DAY!

Letters have been sent to parents about our sponsored read.

World Book Day will be celebrated at our school on Monday 11^th March. So many children love dressing up for it, we also have activities for children who prefer to celebrate in other ways.

Kindergarten: Our kindergarten groups are working with Sibylle von Olfers‘s The Story of the Root Children. If your child wishes to, they may dress up as a flower or plant. Homemade costumes only please.

Junior School: Your child may dress as any character from a book. We will have the opportunity to make a small presentation in school so please can they bring the book with them that features their character. If their costume has a headpiece, please can they enter school with the headpiece off, to avoid reactions from younger children who might find some headpieces a bit of a shock to see! Homemade costumes only please, as simple or complex as you prefer.

READING TIPS

If your child is reading to you, place yourself on their right side, which supports their reading left to right in English. If you are reading to them, it is great if the child is beside you so they can look at pictures and see you in the act of reading. You don’t need to run your fingers under the words as you go, but for younger children that can be helpful if they want to follow and you want to model. If (and only if) they really want to follow, placing them to your right will be helpful for that. A varied interesting ‘characterful’ delivery can be really fun, but if you are dealing with material that you feel your child might find a challenge to think about, and you know your child so this can vary (fairytales are full of threat and challenge), a calm and flatter tonal delivery can help them sit with a story easier.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

With pancake day just gone, it’s got to be Pancakes for Findus by Sven Nordqvist (please note that Amazon is not the only seller). The stunning detailed illustrations and charm of the Findus stories makes this just right for children 5-9 years, with younger children adoring the pictures and children at the older end of this group able to read themselves.

GROW SPACES – COMMUNITY CLEAR UP:

We will be running a community clear up of our allotment grow spaces on the morning of Friday 1st March, for an hour and a half after drop off. If you fancy joining in, please bring along your boots and a spade or trowel. We are aiming to get the little paths woodbarked and the edges of the beds painted.

We would also welcome some help with flower arrangements for our Open Day event later that morning.

DISCOUNT CODE FOR CHATSWORTH SCHOOLS TO RUGBY GAME:

As the Chatsworth Rugby Festival takes place at Saracens ground in March (older students only) they have put together a discount code for all Chatsworth Schools families for The Showdown Game at Tottenham Stadium on the 23^rd March against Harlequins. This a great opportunity for everyone to experience a world class game of rugby, after our older students have played at the stadium during the week.

THE SHOWDOWN IS BACK! BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER BEFORE…

Saracens return to the epic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to take on Harlequins in a repeat of last season’s London derby in the Gallagher Premiership. Secure your seat without delay for what promises to be another history-making day at Tottenham.

OVER 5 HOURS OF ELECTRIC ENTERTAINMENT

The Showdown’s entertainment pre, during and post match is second-to-none.

Join us for a jam-packed afternoon of fireworks, music, elite sport & family fun!

The 60+ food & drink outlets serve a wide range of delicious food, taking inspiration from London’s vibrant street food market scene – a mixture of diversity & fan favourites!

World class rugby in one of the world’s best stadiums

EASTER HOLIDAY CAMP WITH COACH JODY: