Acorns 2024 - 2025

WELCOME TO ACORNS

Class teachers - Mrs R Corcoran (Monday - Wednesday) and Miss L Daniels (Thursday and Friday)

Mr Parrish teaches PE on Tuesday mornings

Mrs Turner teaches on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons

Learning Support Assistants - Mrs G Oakes and Mrs J Metcalf

Follow us on Twitter  @AcornsWhitegate

A big warm welcome to all our new Acorns! We are very excited about the year ahead.

As Acorns class begin their learning journey at Whitegate, the children learn daily class routines and as they grow they become more involved in daily school life such as whole school worship and joining Key Stage 1 on the playground. The children learn to be independent through making positive relationships whilst having the wisdom to make good choices, as well as learning in different ways. Through challenges, playful opportunities and embarking on wider experiences, every child has the opportunity to shine through their own God-given uniqueness.

We will explore the question ‘I wonder why I’m special?’ Which gives us the great opportunity to really get to know one another. This will give us a true understanding of how “fearfully and wonderfully made,” we are and how unique and special we are to God. 

We recognise the importance of following children’s interests in early years, therefore throughout the year, the children’s changing interests will be explored and developed further.

The curriculum in the Foundation Stage is taught through the Early Learning Goals. Our EYFS area is a carefully planned and well-resourced environment that caters for the various needs of a young child. We offer a broad range of experiences for the early years, both indoors and outdoors. Our Early Years team plan a range of purposeful activities which inspire and engage children as well as match the different levels of need.

There are seven areas of learning that shape our educational programmes.

 The 3 prime areas are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Children are also supported within the 4 specific areas of:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Phonics:   

Phonics is taught daily using our accredited Ready Steady Phonics scheme. We will learn to recognise the letters and know the sound they make, we will listen for these sounds in words and we will practise forming them correctly.

Literacy:

We will begin to develop a love of stories and listen attentively to story time. We will talk about the main events in the story and predict what might happen next. We will also have a go at retelling a story using role play or small world resources, using some story language.  

Maths:

We will begin by counting numbers in order beginning with 1-5 and then 1-10. We will work on our 1:1 correspondence to accurately count a set of objects up to 5 objects. We will then move on to subitising to 3, knowing how many are in a group of objects without counting them and recognising numerals up to 5.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

We will get to know our new classroom environments and learn about the different classrooms and areas throughout our school. We will become familiar with the new rules and routines in Acorns and will hopefully form some new relationships too.  

Understanding the World:

We will talk about ourselves and members of our immediate family and community. We will explore our bodies through naming body parts and we will begin to understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world. 

Physical development: 

We will develop body strength, coordination, balance and agility through a range of games and activities and we will also develop fine motor skills in preparation for writing using the tri-pod grip. 

Expressive arts and design:

We will create or own self portraits and portraits of our families. We will join in with singing and experiment with percussion instruments.

RE

We will learn about 'I am special' and 'Harvest'. 

Routines and Reminders

PE

PE is on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Please ensure that your child has their PE kit in school. A polite reminder that earrings will need to be removed or not worn on PE days to ensure the safety of the children. Please can PE kits also comply with uniform policy. Thank you.

Reading is at the heart of successful learning and a priority across the whole curriculum. Introducing Acorns to the joy of reading is essential in encouraging an early engagement with books, as well as confidence in both reading and writing. Throughout the year we will immerse ourselves in high quality texts which will help to drive our learning. Indeed, sharing books, stories and rhymes is a daily part of life in Acorns. We love getting lost in our story books and learning more about the world around us through non-fiction books. 

Each half term we have a spotlight author who has been chosen for their high-quality texts. We will have the opportunity to listen to, read and learn more about these fantastic authors.

Currently our spotlight author is Mick Inkpen. 

Please ensure your child reads at home at least 4 times per week.  In Acorns, we expect the children to be reading aloud to someone at home and for this to be recorded in their Home – School contact books.  

Coats

Reception are given the opportunity to learn outdoors every day, whatever the weather, so please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat, preferably with a hood in school every day. 

Fruit and Water/Milk

Please do not send water bottles into school. Reception children have fruit, milk and water provided. The children will have access to water throughout the day.

Social Media

We tweet throughout the week so do follow us, on Twitter, to get an insight into all the fantastic things we get up to and lots of up-to-date information. Follow @AcornsWhitegate.

Our door is always open, please come and see us with any concerns, no matter how small you feel they may be.

Mrs Corcoran and Miss Daniels