In PSHE as part of our 'Dreams & Goals' topic we have been learning about how to work well with a partner and we had to work in pairs to design a welly boot. We have also been setting ourselves goals and thinking about how we can achieve them. 

On Internet Safety day we read a story called 'Digiduck's Big Decision' all about being kind and making good choices on the internet. 

We joined an online assembly that talked about places where we feel safe for Children's Mental Health week. 

In PE we have been practising throwing and catching and learning how to find a space and communicate with our team in a game. 

We made lovely Valentine's Day cards and some sweet cake treats on our last day before the half term holiday. We also had a lot of fun at the school disco!

Group Work in the Arc

This term we have had a real focus on working together. In the ARC we try to make our group activities so appealing that they capture our children's attention and they choose to join the group.

We have a number of group activities where out focus is shared attention. We run 2 Attention Autism Sessions which is a Gina Davies Intervention that follows 4 stages. All of our ARC children now choose to join this group and in fact they all look forward to checking out stage 1 where they get to see what is in out bucket!

We run Fun with Food everyday. We look at a different food each day, describing the food through all of our senses. We use communication boards to encourage the children to describe the food. 

We all like using the playground equipment on sunny days, especially the parachute! In the photo we are working together to try and keep the ball on the parachute. 

Sometimes our ARC children are able to join their mainstream peers. Eddie had a great day with the Roman Soldier who came to visit the class. He worked as a team with the other children to form a barrier with his shield in a mock battle. 

Sometimes group work just involves taking turns. The musical instruments are a really popular way of taking turns. Both Leo and Freddie love to ply the xylophone and it is an excellent opportunity to take model turn taking. 

Happy New Year!

What a brilliant start to 2026!
In PSHE we have been thinking about our goals and dreams and steps towards success. 
Our new 'Big Question' is 'What is the weather like in the UK?'. We have been re-capping our knowledge of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom and have been using an atlas to help us to label maps.
In art we have been looking at the painting of Alma Thomas. Alma is an abstract artist. She used lots of bright colours in her paintings. After practising the necessary techniques and skills, we created  paintings in her style.
In science we have been learning about animals. This half term we have focussed on the five groups of vertebrates. We have learnt about their characteristics and diets. 
We went on a fabulous trip to The National Marine Aquarium where the children had a taste of being Marine Biologists as well and learning lots of sea creatures from our very informative guide. 

December has been a magical month in Year One!
There have been many highlights including our Christmas Production. The children rehearsed and practised so well to put on a wonderful performance for families. We also had a magical time rounding off the term with a Christingle gathering.

The children were contacted by Santa's chief elf and tasked with making some robots as the elves were worried they hadn't made enough. The children designed and made some wonderful robot toys with moving limbs.

In computing, the children used Doodledraw on the ipads to design Christmas cards that they then printed and sent to loved ones. 

Year One had a fantastic time in the woods making clay reindeers.

This month we have learnt about Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot. We found out about what happened and we used our printing skills to create colourful and sparkly fireworks art.

We have been thinking about how to be a good friend. We have thought about which qualities and behaviours we like to see in our friends.

This month we marked the beginning of anti-bullying week with 'Odd Socks Day'. We all wore odd socks to help us to think about how we are all special and unique. We also marked Children In Need day this month. We dressed up and even dressed up our giant class bear.

We went on a walk around the school grounds to hunt for signs that it is autumn. it was great fun playing in the leaves.

We have had a fantastic February full of exciting learning across all our subjects!

In Maths, we have been learning about multiplication and division.
We explored equal and non-equal groups and practised recognising the difference between them. We made equal groups by sharing objects and adding them together to find totals. We also learned how to write multiplication sentences and created arrays to help us see the groups clearly. Arrays really helped us understand how multiplication works and we enjoyed matching them to number sentences!

In Literacy, we focused on descriptive writing inspired by the beautiful 2015 John Lewis advert Man on the Moon. We wrote thoughtful descriptions about the lonely man and imagined how he might have been feeling. We worked hard to use expanded noun phrases and exciting adjectives in our writing.
We also watched the short film Baboon on the Moon and created more descriptive pieces. We described the setting on the moon and the emotions of the character. Our writing showed wonderful imagination and empathy.

In Science, we continued our learning about life cycles. This month, we explored the life cycle of a chicken and learned about how a chick grows inside an egg. We had lots of fun investigating boiled and raw eggs. We carefully observed them and even used microscopes to look closely and spot differences. It was very exciting working like real scientists!

We also took part in the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Big Bird Watch. We spent time observing and counting the birds we saw, helping scientists learn more about wildlife in the UK.

For Safer Internet Day, we learned about the acronym SMART to help us stay safe online. We talked about how to keep our personal information private and what to do if something online makes us feel worried or uncomfortable.

In RE, we explored the question: What is the good news Christians believe Jesus brings? We listened to the story of the tax collector and discussed themes of saying sorry and forgiveness. We thought carefully about how forgiveness can help mend friendships and why it is important to show kindness and understanding.

We are so proud of all the hard work Year 2 has shown this month. We have demonstrated fantastic teamwork, creativity and curiosity in our learning. We can't wait to see what March brings!

This January, our big question was "How did we learn to fly?" 

We travelled back in time to learn about the amazing inventors, the Wright brothers, who designed and flew the first successful aeroplane.
We discovered how hard they worked and how they never gave up on their dream of flying!
We also learned about Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license. We were inspired by her bravery and determination. Then we explored the adventures of Amelia Earhart, who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

In Literacy, we wrote fantastic biographies about Amelia Earhart and the Wright brothers. We worked hard to include interesting information about their lives. Our learning even took us beyond the skies and into space as we found out about the Apollo 11 moon landing!
We loved discovering how astronauts travelled all the way to the Moon.

In DT, we became engineers! We designed and made our own aeroplanes with moving parts. We carefully thought about our designs and worked hard to make sure the moving mechanisms worked properly.

In Science, we learned about life cycles. We explored the life cycle of a human, a butterfly and a frog. We learned to match young animals to their adults, such as caterpillar to butterfly and tadpole to frog. We talked about how animals grow and change as they get older.

In Maths, we have been learning all about money. We practised counting in pence and pounds, making the same amount in different ways and calculating totals. Some of us even worked on finding change - just like in a real shop!

In PSHE, we talked about our dreams and goals for the future. We set New Year's resolutions and thought about what we would like to achieve this year. We also learned about good and bad teamwork and took part in group challenges to practise working together respectfully and kindly.

We have had a fantastic start to the year in Year 2 and are so proud of all our hard work. We can't wait to see what we will learn next!

Year 2 have had a very busy and exciting November and December as we explored our topic, 'Festivals Around the World'.

In geography, the children learned about the oceans and continents of the world. They enjoyed exploring atlases, locating different countries and finding out where festivals are celebrated around the globe. We also learned about weather around the world and compared it to our own. The children kept a daily weather record, observing changes and using weather vocabulary to describe what they noticed.

In science, we learned about animal habitats around the world. The children explored how animals are suited to their environments and linked this learning to different continents and climates.

As part of our learning about festivals, we discovered Diwali, the Festival of Light. The children learned about how Diwali is celebrated and why it is important. In Design and Technology, we made mango lassi, carefully following a recipe and talking about hygiene and safety in the kitchen. Everyone enjoyed tasting their delicious drink!

We also learned about Bonfire Night and the Gunpowder Plot. The children found out why fireworks are used to celebrate and created their own firework pictures using printing techniques, experimenting with colour and pattern.

In December, our focus turned to Christmas. We talked about how Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world and what makes it special. In DT, the children made Christmas cupcakes, practising measuring, mixing and decorating skills.

In art, the children learned about watercolour techniques, practising careful brush control. They used these new skills to create beautiful Christmas cards, showing fantastic creativity and attention to detail.

We also put on an amazing Christmas play, "Shine, Star, Shine". The children worked incredibly hard to learn their lines, songs and dances, and performed with confidence and enthusiasm. It was a wonderful celebration of teamwork and creativity, and we are so proud of everyone's efforts.

Finally we finished with our annual trip to the theatre to watch a very festive performance of Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas. It has been a fantastic two months of learning, creativity and celebration.

Well done Year 2 for your enthusiasm and hard work across all subjects!

Happy New Year! Please see the newsletter below to find out what we'll be learning about this term.