Welcome to Year 2

• In Year 2 the teachers are Miss Amy Franklin and Miss Yasmin Marsden
• They will be supported by LSAs – Mrs Carol Lawrence, Miss Justine Spencer, Mrs Lucy Nichols and Mrs Dedman.
• We work very closely with the Year 1 team in the Summer term prior to your child starting in Year 2 and into the Autumn term to ensure continuity and progression for your children.

Dear Parents and Children, welcome to the Autumn Term! We are looking forward to a busy and exciting first half term. Best wishes, the Year 2 team.

KS1 assessment meeting

Curriculum

Well being resources

PRIMARY-Inspirational-Quotes-Colouring.pdf

PRIMARY-Mindful-Me-Activity-Poster.pdf

Transition

• Your child will spend a whole day in their new classroom with their new teachers in July.
• We make regular contact with the children in the classrooms and playground over the second half of the Summer term.
• There will be meetings between the Year 2 and Year 1 teachers.
• Detailed records of attainment and next steps will be passed on. Also valuable information about the children’s individual needs and ways of learning.

Routines

• Many routines during the week will continue in the same way for your child.
• Assembly each day
• Library once a week or daily for children on Accelerated Reader
• ICT once a week in the computing room
• PE twice a week, indoor and outdoor
• Playtimes and lunchtimes
• Daily fruit / vegetable for break times.
• Milk

Independence

• We expect the children to become increasingly independent as they progress through Key Stage 1.
• We will support them to begin to change reading books unaided.
• Develop their responsibility for own belongings and equipment .
• Have what they need in school each day.
• We can all support them with this.

Year 2 curriculum

• Our curriculum is planned using both the Year 2 objectives and our knowledge of where the children are now.
• Children will have daily English, Maths and phonics lessons.
• As we progress through the year the amount of time we expect children to focus on work at tables will increase.
• We keep an element of practical work across the curriculum as this helps young children learn well.

Expectations

• As in previous years we set our expectations high – for your child’s progress and attainment and for behaviour.
• The Year 2 and Year 1 teachers are already working closely together to share information about your children.
• In September the children will continue to learn from their own starting points – there will not be a huge leap to a new curriculum.

Behaviour expectations

• In Year 2 we use house points and stickers as part of behaviour system to reinforce positive behaviours
• We will use positive reinforcement of our expectations as the first step in maintaining good behaviour.
• As there are three of us we will be constantly communicating to ensure a consistent approach across the Year group.
• Any unacceptable behaviour will be communicated to you verbally
• Each week a child will be selected to be Child of the Week. They will be presented with a certificate during our Collective Worship.

Reading

• In Year 2 children have 20 minute guided reading sessions, three times a week.
• Where possible children are also heard to read individually.
• We put in place phonics interventions when needed
• Children will bring home an independent reading book and this can be changed as soon as it is completed. Children are expected to be partly responsible for this although we do remind them each day. We would ask that you continue to hear your child read daily.
• Some children will progress onto the Accelerated Reading programme during Year 2.
• They will also have a library book and change this once a week.
• We still read stories daily to the children and use a range of stories in our English teaching

Writing

• In Key Stage 1 we teach our writing through our cross curricular topics.
• We will teach the children to write stories, instructions, poetry, information texts etc.
• In Year 2 we use the Sentence Stacking approach to teach writing.
• Handwriting, grammar, spelling and punctuation will also be taught and integrated in all we do.

Maths

• Children are taught Maths in their mixed ability classes.
• Planning and teaching will take into account your child’s confidence, level of understanding and pace of work.
• We teach to the same objectives to all children. Pace and teaching and challenge is matched to individual children.
• Challenge is available for all children in our Maths lessons

The wider curriculum

• We teach a cross curricular topic each term or half term. Our topics are Explorers, where we study Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong, Australia (incorporating the Daintree Rainforest) and The Great Fire of London.
• We aim to make the topics as engaging and exciting for the children as we can.
• We involve the children in planning for our topics by asking what they already know and what they would like to find out.
• We include Wow days and practical experiences whenever we can.
• Year 2 will be going on an exciting trip to the living rainforest.

Homework:

• Children will bring home a reading book every day – please support them with regular reading at home. 20 minutes reading each day will help them develop as good readers.
• Learning logs will continue – we will make the activities as practical and engaging as we can. The activities will always be relevant to what we are doing in school. We ask that you share this learning with your child at home.  These will not be every week but longer occasional projects.
• Spellings are now taught in school
• We will set maths homework via ‘MyMaths’ which is linked to our current maths work.
• There is no time set for how long should be spent on homework tasks. We believe that at this stage in the children’s school experience you should be in charge of that.

Home / school communication

• Your child will have a reading diary
• Please record in here the daily reading that you do with your child at home.
• Please send a message to the school office if you wish to contact us
• There will be parents evenings in October and February.
• There will be written reports in the Spring and Summer terms.
• We have an open door policy – we will meet your child at the door and see them out to you every evening and will be happy to receive quick verbal messages in the morning or to have a longer chat in the afternoons.
• Please speak to us about any concerns you have – as most things can be quickly resolved if we work together.

Uniform

• Pale blue polo shirt or long or short sleeved shirt or blouse
• Grey Trousers, shorts, skirts or pinafore dress
• Navy blue sweatshirt
• Black shoes (no trainers or boots)
• In Summer, blue/white checked dress

PE kit

Indoor

• Plain navy blue t-shirt.
• Navy shorts
• Plimsolls or black trainers

Outdoor

• As above +  
• Plain  dark tracksuit / joggers / sweatshirt top
• Earrings need to be removed or taped for all PE sessions.

Equipment

• School book wallet.
• Water bottles – all year please.
• Ruck sacks are not required as cloakroom space is limited and school book wallets protect books and homework more effectively.
• No pencil cases please we will provide all necessary equipment.
• Please send reading book and diary in each day.

How can you support at home?

• Regular reading
• Support and join in with learning log homework
• Maths – homework tasks
• Maths – practical activities such as counting, telling the time, counting money, measuring when baking.
• Communicate with us quickly about any issues or concerns you have – you know your child best of all.

The Year 2 team look forward to working closely with you over the next year to ensure the continued happiness and progress of your children.

Knowledge organisers Autumn

Topic:

Knowledge organisers- Spring

Topic:

Science:

Maths: