Upcoming Diary Dates

This week	Event	Details
Tuesday 27th June (in-school event)	TfL Safe Travel Presentation to Oak Class	We are delighted that TfL (Transport for London) will be coming into school to tell our Year 6 pupils all about public transport before they head to secondary school.
Thursday 29th June (afternoon)	Sailing for Hazel, Chestnut and Oak Children	It’s our last sailing session, so children are welcome to celebrate by bringing some money to purchase an ice cream at the end of the afternoon.
Friday 30th June (12 o’clock)	Oak Class Leaver’s Lunch	It’s the time of year when we prepare to bid farewell to our Year 6 students. Oak Class parents, we look forward to this celebration with you.
Next week	Event	Details
Wednesday 5th July (9am and 2pm)	Junior School production of The Wind in the Willows musical	Kindergarten will be watching the musical at 9am in the Hall (parents can attend if unable to make the afternoon performance, please inform the office). Parents are welcome to a performance at 2pm in the Hall. The production will also be recorded.
Thursday 6th July (all-day event)	Hobbledown and Chessington End of Term Trips	Willow Class and Hazel Class will be spending the day at Hobbledown. Oak Class will be spending the day at Chessington. Thank you for completing the consent forms.
Thursday 6th July (in-school event)	Shadow Puppet Show for Kindergarten	Karin Jashapara will be treating Kindergarten students to a shadow puppet show at school.
Friday 7th July	End of Summer Term	Have a wonderful Summer Holiday and we will see you again on Wednesday 6th September!

Welcome from our Headteacher

With the sun shining, Morden Hall Park becomes a much-loved place of recreation for all, with many in our school community staying later into the afternoon. Last week, I witnessed a beautiful moment as two of our class one children moved quietly through the rose garden, marvelling at the different smells of the blooms and taking care not to disturb the plants in any way. I was standing at a little distance, privileged to glance into this timeless moment of wonder. They are a myriad in this landscape so please enjoy them safely, keeping eyes on children near our many watercourses and ensuring that the younger ones do not become overtired on school nights – we have witnessed a little more yawning than usual in the classrooms.

It is normal for the children to become more prone to overwhelm near the end of Summer Term as they put a huge amount of energy into physical play at this time of year and they are often unaware of quite how tired they are. They need a good nine to thirteen hours sleep more than ever. At school we protect students’ summer vulnerabilities by taking extra care in recognising and acknowledging emotions, for example in Hazel Class we are continuing to work with colour zones of regulation. We also maintain the classroom and breaktime rhythms and routines that were so strongly built since Autumn Term, and which guide us through these exciting weeks when performances, rehearsals and milestone events unfold.

Please also be aware that on longer fine evenings groups of young people are drawn to the park, and bring with them less innocent pursuits. A few of our families have experienced negative verbal incidents later in the afternoons with youths near the bridge by the waterwheel; National Trust have been made aware and have now posted some friendly security people to that area and repositioned cameras. In the meantime we suggest that we all keep late afternoon interactions with any young people on the bridge to an absolute minimum.

Well done to all students who took part in the sensational musical percussion performance on Friday – you were amazing and impressed us all with your teamwork.

Very warmest wishes for a safe and sunny last few weeks of term,

Sarah

Announcements, Reminders and Important Information

Announcement:

Last week, the teaching structure for September 2023 was circulated to parents. Please find the details below.

Thank you:

Thank you to Trevor at Merton Music Foundation for teaching the Juniors samba percussion this year. Their impressive performance was a testament to how well they’ve worked together in Music this year.

Thank you to Oak Class for serving the whole school watermelon at our Midsummer Festival last week, and to Martin for managing our fire pit where we burnt worries and ignited wishes. Please scroll down to see gallery.

Reminders:

Costumes for The Wind in the Willows should have come in with your child today. Please consult the costume list sent or email zoe@thelondonacornschool.co.uk if you have any questions. It is important that the children rehearse in their costumes and that their costumes stay at school until the performance.

With these hot, sunny days, please make sure your child is provided with sunhat, water bottle and suncream applied before coming to school.

Teaching Structure – 2023/2024 Academic Year

Teacher	Support	Class	Classroom
Jo Pearce		Little Acorns	Rose Garden/Hall
Ya-Hsin	Ola/Jessie	Bluebell Kindergarten	Unchanged
Helga	Blerta	Rose Kindergarten	Unchanged
Sama	Emma/Blerta	Willow Class (C1)	Classroom next to school Office
Stacey	Lily	Birch Class (C2)	Unchanged
Zoe/Martin/Sarah	Arianna	Chestnut/Oak Class (C4/5)	Unchanged
Jody		PE/Games across juniors	Various
Howard		French across juniors	Various
Karin		Woodland Craft across juniors	Morden Park/Science Room

Kindergarten News

We love sunny days! Children noticed that horse chestnut trees have started to make green conkers. Some of them searched under the trees or tried to bend down the lower branches to collect these little fruits. Some of them touched the shell to feel the soft spikes and opened the husks to see the tiny developing seeds inside. Hammocks were getting more and more popular. In these hot days, who could resist the chance of daydreaming on a hammock with the wind? On Midsummer’s Day, we jumped over symbolic fire along with drum beat and shared watermelon slices- another summer favourite!

We are longing for water in the heat. Seaside scenery and activities have appeared in children’s drawings and paintings very frequently. Tables and blocks were transformed into different types of cargo ships or rescue boats. One important mission in Kinde this week has been keeping ourselves properly hydrated!

Finally, the corn and pumpkin planted in the school allotment by the older Kinde children in the spring are growing really well!

Junior School News

Willow Class have not only been learning songs and rehearsing for The Wind in the Willows, they have also been making costumes and props. Their participation in the musical has been fantastic. Parents, you are in for a treat!

Hazel Class explored the difference between how particles move in solids, liquids and gases physically last week, which involved some very ordered rows vibrating, some swirling movements, and some wild gas action! Hazel Class have also been learning more about co-ordinates in Maths, so be prepared to take them on in a game of battleships.

Oak Class – Oak Class have been concluding their topic on Ancient Greece with creating maps of Greece. Hazel and Oak Class have been really enjoying the watersports at Wimbledon Park, learning sailing and having fun in kayaks. It was great to see so many children confidently jumping into the lake last week, too.

Woodland Craft

Willow Class

We studied a sample of freshwater invertebrates – mainly freshwater shrimps, which we practised identifying. Also a large and leggy mayfly larva which amazed us all; students named this ‘Dancer’ after it’s fluid, whippy swimming. Good comments ‘ we’ve found a biggie!’ and ‘We had the best time learning about water animals.’

Self-directed learning included lots of peaceful play: boat races at the edge of the stream, a fairy wand made of cottonwood poplar ‘fluff’, a spies game, a hospital game, and one or two soothing chats between children while perched quietly on a log or in the crook of a branch.

Hazel Class

This group also enjoyed the water invertebrates, competently identifying a hoglouse, pea mussels, a blue-winged mayfly larva, a leech, shrimps of course, and – twice lucky – another very mature and large ‘Dancer’ mayfly larva.

We tested three different stream locations, and found varying invertebrates at each. Students also re-invented the digging stick, and re-visited the cross-stream-shuffle, which they’re getting better at. It felt like arriving at a wild island on the other side, ‘The Isle at Yoshi’.

Oak and Chestnut Classes

The shade of the trees and the cool of the stream supported a relaxed session starting with clay – dragons, birds, bowls and other fine forms emerged. Two students built a litter-filter for the stream, and others played, immersed in the lush vegetation. Finally we stopped for some tree-climbing on our way back to school.