Welcome to Year 2

Magician Class

Our Year 2 Team

Teacher – Miss. Atkinson

Learning Support Assistant - Mrs R. Taylor 

PPA Cover   – Mrs G. Bedford (Deputy Headteacher)

Welcome to class 2 at Pinders Primary School. Year 2 is a busy, exciting class filled with engaging and enjoyable learning experiences across all areas of the curriculum. Your child will be learning so many new things as well as growing and maturing both socially and academically. We aspire for all our children to be independent, inquisitive learners who will always try their best to be the best they can be. In our class we respect each other, are kind, considerate and good listeners.

Keep undated on our Twitter page to find out more about our learning!

Check our Twitter page (@PindersPrimary) weekly for lots of photographs of our learning!

https://twitter.com/PindersPrimary

Our Classroom - Magician class

Each class at Pinders Primary School, is focussed around a book. The Year 2 classroom this year is called Magician class and is focussed around the book ' Winnie The Witch' by Valerie Thomas and illustrated by Korky Paul. 

We have a wonderful reading corner which is themed with a magical feel, giving the children a safe, comfortable environment to enjoy a good book.

Attendance and punctuality matter!

Missed minutes = missed learning = missed opportunities!

Good attendance means..... the best chance of success so EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS!

Our School Values and Rules

Reading at Home

Reading books should be read at home EVERY day if possible. Can your child read the book independently? Can they read with pace and include expression? Can they answer different types of questions linked to our reading gems?

Help your child reach our reading target each week by listening to them read each day & signing their reading record. The target is to read at least 5 times !

Year 2 Topics and Educational Visits

All of KS1 follow the same curriculum topics, however the learning will be differentiated to meet the different curriculum expectations between Year 1 and Year 2.

Our topic themes are:

Autumn: Explorers

Spring: Fire of London

Summer: Paddington's Travels

In Year 2, we aim to provide the children with experience of a rich variety of environments which contribute to making learning enjoyable and that serve to extend and consolidate their learning.

Our educational visits 2023/4:

Autumn: Wakefield Theatre Royal (English & Oracy Link)

Spring: Sheffield Fire Museum (History Link)

Summer: Yorkshire Wildlife Park (Science Link)

General Information:

The Year 2 team believe that education is most successful when families and schools work together. In class 2 the purpose of homework is to reinforce daily learning and provide opportunities for children to apply skills they have learnt.

• Reading: Reading is highly valued at Pinders Primary and we want your children to enjoy reading. We truly believe that if you learn to read, you read to learn. Each night your child will come home with a reading book and we ask that you listen to your child read every night and enjoy reading together. We also encourage children to read other books as well as their school reading book to foster a love of reading. Help us reach our reading at home target each week by listening to your child read each day and signing their reading record. Each week if your child has read at least 5 times at home they will also receive a reading raffle ticket (a star in the jar) which could win them a book at the end of the term!

• Homework will be given out on Thursdays and will include read and respond and spellings. Homework must be completed on seesaw and submitted on there too. Read and respond books will have a bookmark inserted each week so that you know which pages/chapter to read to your child. Our read and respond lessons are on Fridays so this must be completed by then.

• Library sessions are on Thursday each week. Children will have the opportunity to visit our school library and borrow a book to take home

• Homework: Homework is set weekly on a Thursday and is to be returned the following Thursday. Initially homework will be spellings, reading and Maths practice. 

• PE kits: P.E. will be on a Monday and Tuesday but due to classroom events and external coaching this could change. We therefore ask that your child attends in their P.E. kit on Monday and Tuesday.

• Milk can be paid for online.

• Water bottles will be taken home every Friday to be washed. Children can bring these back to school on Mondays. Water bottles can be bought for £1 from the school office

Key stage 1 national curriculum tests (SATs): information for parents

What happens when it’s SATs time?

Overview

During May, all 7 and 11 year olds take the end of Key Stage national tests (often called ‘SATs’). These tests are designed to check that children in all schools are making progress.

The law says:

• All children must take the national tests at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

• Testing must take place in May. Key Stage 1 children have the whole month to do the tests.

• 7-year-olds are tested on reading, writing, spelling and maths.

• Key Stage 1 teachers mark the tests themselves, with their marking checked by the authority’s moderators (Our Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Bedford - is a previous  Local Authorities KS1 SATs moderator). This is to make sure that all results are absolutely fair.

To sum up

National tests are an important milestone in school life. They give useful information to your child’s teachers and to the government. But it’s important to get them in proportion. They are just one of the ways the school works out how well your child is doing. They shouldn’t be stressful, and in fact many children enjoy the change in routine, as long as they know they have your support and understanding.