Dear TLAS Community,

As the days grow longer and the daffodils start to appear, we have a spring in our step at The London Acorn School. We can’t wait to greet Spring and all it brings.

We have lots of exciting and important things to share with you, so please continue reading the Nutshell carefully as well as keeping an eye out for emails from us.

Firstly, please join us in welcoming our new full-time teaching assistant, Arianna Allen-Boyd, starting today. She will be based in Hazel Class in the mornings and supporting across the Juniors in the afternoons. We also have students from Merton College joining us this week on placement.

Secondly, thank you to our Class Reps for their feedback in our meetings last week. We really value parental involvement and have already made some changes based on your comments. For example, please find the termly calendar at the end of each newsletter now.

We are keen to involve parents in upcoming festivals, particularly the May Day Festival on Monday 15th May. If you are interested in supporting the school in organising events, we would love you to join our new Parent Festival Committee. Please get in touch: tamara@thelondonacornschool.co.uk.

A few reminders:

• Parents’ Evenings are happening this week. Please book in with your Class Teacher. This is a great opportunity to discuss your child’s progress.
• Sarah Thorne, Founder of TLAS, has started Feedback Fridays, offering an opportunity to discuss the direction of the school (please see below).
• We will be celebrating World Book Day on Monday 6th March. Children are invited to dress up as a character from a book they have read/been read to at school. We really want the focus to be on our love of reading.
• For Juniors, please return your Swimming Lesson Consent Form as soon as possible.
• For all parents, please remember to send your child to school with clearly labelled clothing and belongings.

Best wishes,

The TLAS Team

Willow Class have been creating some fantastic work in Art recently.

Willow Class have been learning a new technique: how to paint with a sponge. The sponge offered a wonderfully tactile experience with paint covering not only page and blending easily, but covering hands and tables. The children were thrilled at seeing the textures in the paint made by the sponge, the ease of blending the bright colours together and at how covered in paint our hands and sponges got as the painting progressed (we didn’t wash our sponges throughout). It was a wonderful lesson that ended with new bold and bright paintings decorating our walls.

Hazel Class have now finished publishing their fantasy stories to a very high standard with great care taken over presentation as well as editing. Hazel Class had the opportunity to read their own stories to Willow Class in Reading Buddies last week. We look forward to welcoming parents to read them too at our Open Classroom afternoon on Thursday 16th March at 2:45pm.

Oak Class have been having great fun exploring Forced Perspectives. Some strange things appear to have been occurring at The London Acorn School!

Willow Class were excited to discover some woody hoops decorating the trees, and played a game of ‘quoits’ with them. One student made a bird’s nest using birch twigs and ivy leaves, another made a treasure map, and others climbed the fallen trees or waded in the stream with some surprisingly damp results – not that they minded at all, even if we adults did. Spare socks in school would be a good idea, and their boot-sticks for measuring stream-depth return next week. ‘Coo’whit’ brought the session to a close, and we said goodbye to our volunteer parent, Bianca, who has given us wonderful support. We hope to see her again soon.

Hazel Class got busy with either whittling practise or making quirky woodland characters, which we will continue with next week. Lots of climbing and imaginative play followed, ending again with a game of ‘Coo-whit’. We were grateful once again for the great help of Satomi, who has been cheerfully volunteering with us since Christmas.

Chestnut and Oak Classes identified useful plants on our way to the woodland, where they sorted themselves out  – one group learned how to whittle a feather-stick from a fellow-student, and the other made a Romanian cabbage salad. There was some wandering time and of course,  ‘Coo-whit’! Back at school, we discussed the practical knowledge we’d like in our books, and continued with drawings of flora in winter and early spring.

In anticipation of relaunching Little Acorns in the Summer Term, we are delighted to welcome back parents and toddlers (aged 1-4) to our weekly Little Acorns Taster Sessions on Tuesday mornings. These taster sessions will be free during the remainder of the Spring Term.

Come and join us for songs, crafts and playtime at The London Acorn School. Parents, come and socialise, enjoy a cup of herbal tea and relax in the cosy surroundings of Morden Cottage.

We will be operating a first come first serve basis during our free taster session period.

We would love to have your feedback on these sessions ahead of our official relaunch in the Summer Term.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with the office.