26/02/2026
📢Joint statement on behalf of Our Lady's & St Mochua's Ps and Little Acorns Playgroup📢
Our Lady’s and St Mochua’s Primary School, in partnership with Little Acorns Playgroup, is pleased to announce that the Department of Education has formally approved the establishment of a statutory nursery unit under the management of the primary school from September 2026. The new nursery unit will open in the existing premises of Little Acorns Playgroup, ensuring a smooth and familiar transition for families.
The approval reflects the strong and continued collaboration between Our Lady’s and St Mochua’s Primary School and Little Acorns Playgroup over recent years, during which we have worked together towards the shared goal of securing statutory preschool provision for children within our local community.
The creation of this nursery unit represents a significant and positive development for the area, safeguarding the continuity of early years education with access to specialist staff and statutory SEN services in a high quality learning environment right through to P7 at Our Lady’s and St Mochua’s Primary School.
We wish to recognise the excellent work and dedication of staff and committee members involved with Little Acorns both present and past, whose vision and leadership has ensured outstanding preschool provision for the children of this community for more than 23 years.
We look forward to this new provision with enthusiasm and energy and will ensure that we continue to build upon the excellent foundation established by Little Acorns Playgroup.
Parents are assured that all existing applications submitted for a funded preschool place at Little Acorns for September 2026 will automatically transfer to the new statutory nursery provision at Our Lady’s and St Mochua’s. The Education Authority will be in touch shortly with further information.
