Little Acorns Preschool Class

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to the Autumn term 2026 in Little Acorns class!

We have been so excited to welcome the Little Acorns children into school this term and we look forward to having some new friends joining our class. We hope that they have had a lovely summer break and we are enjoying hearing about the things that they have done.

Grown-ups in Acorns Class:

The Acorns Foundation Stage Unit is led by Mrs Helen Hewson as Acorns Class Teacher. Mrs Laura Weeks, Mrs Cindy Dyer and Mrs Tina Hill are the Little Acorns Key People and are responsible for planning for the learning and development of their key children and for building relationships with the Little Acorns children and their families. Miss Briony Hill is an Early Years Apprentice and will work across Big and Little Acorn classes. The children will also work alongside the Big Acorns Teaching Assistant, Mrs Jasmine Muchmore.

PE Days:

Little Acorns have Football Factory on Mondays and children who attend on Mondays should come to school wearing comfortable clothes such as T-shirt, shorts/leggings/joggers and trainers along with a sweatshirt or jumper.

On Friday afternoons, Little Acorns will have forest school sessions. A letter will follow with information about this, but children will wear their forest school clothes into school on Fridays. Wellington boots can be brought into school in a bag and placed on your child’s peg. Children will also need all-in-one suits or waterproof trousers and a waterproof coat. We have a few of these which can be borrowed if necessary.

Snack and drink:

Little Acorns have a family-style snack time each morning, sitting around the table together. Children need to bring a named healthy snack to school each day. This can be placed into our snack basket and will be given to children at snack time in the morning. They will also pour themselves a drink of water or milk from child-sized jugs to drink along with their snack. Children should bring a refillable, named bottle with their drink to access throughout the day. This can be water or squash and can also be placed in our bottle box each morning. We also provide fruit each day for snack times.

School Lunches:

Children in Preschool (Little Acorns) can order a school meal. These can be ordered and paid for via Parent Pay. A menu will be provided which details the hot item choices for each day/week. There is also jacket potato or tomato pasta available each day. Children can bring a home packed lunch if preferred.

Weather:

A sun hat and suncream should be provided while the weather is still nice and then during the winter months a hat, scarf and gloved should be placed in your child’s bag or on their peg. Please name all items so that don’t get lost.

Communication with parents:

We use Tapestry as an electronic learning journey where we share photos and videos of your child at school. You can also add your own photos and videos to Tapestry which we love to share in school.

Class Dojo is a messaging app that I use to communicate with parents as a group or for individual messaging. Parents can message me privately and I encourage you to do this if you have any questions/queries. I will try to ensure that I pass on all messages via dojo so please sign up for this once you receive an invite. If you have any problems accessing Dojo or Tapestry please do not hesitate to ask.

Our school admin team send messages and the school newsletter using Parent Mail and any bills can be paid using Parent Pay. You will receive logins for this as soon as the admin team have set up your account. Pop into the school office and speak to Mrs Kendall Heard or Mrs Zoe Wheeler if you need help with these. You can also call 01884 2536430 or email stjohnstiverton@plymouthcast.com to contact the school office. You can also email me, Mrs Hewson: helen.hewson@plymouthcast.com

Topics this term:

This term, our main topic is, ‘All About Ourselves,’ including learning about our own families and local environment such as the park and the shops. We will also explore harvest and healthy foods and the festivals of Bonfire Night, Remembrance and Diwali. There will be so much more, and we will let you know about our learning via Tapestry and Dojo. Sometimes, we may ask you to send things into school to support your child’s learning so please don’t hesitate to send something in if you feel it is relevant to our topics!

Kind Regards,

Foundation Stage Team