Year 2

Class Teachers: Mr Gomersall

Teaching Partners: Mrs Weaver,  Mrs Chilton, Mrs Willis

Learning Support Assistants: Mrs Mulligan, Miss Wilkinson

Welcome to Year 2!

Our class page is your go-to place for all of the key information about our learning journey together this year. The team can't wait to support you in your progress and learning this year, where we will be exploring lots of exciting new concepts and skills!

Please do not hesitate to contact Mr Gomersall with any questions or queries.

Our Timetable - Spring Term

Please note that our PE day is on a Tuesday with KS1 Team. Please come to school dressed in PE kit on these days. Earrings and other jewellery should be removed for PE and hair tied back where possible.

PE Kit includes:

• Red or dark PE hoodies,  black or grey tracksuit trousers or shorts (unbranded)

• Black, grey or white trainers

• Zip-up sports jackets are suitable for colder weather.

Curriculum Overview

Spring Term

• English - Children will write to inform by creating a non-chronological report about animals inspired by the text 'Big Blue Whale'. They will also write to entertain by exploring traditional tales through a narrative unit based on 'Rapunzel'.
• Mathematics - The term begins with a focus on recognizing and using money, followed by an intensive period of learning multiplication and division, length and height, and concluding with mass, capacity, and temperature.
• Science - Pupils will investigate the properties and suitability of everyday materials for different tasks and will later study life cycles and health, including the basic needs of animals for survival.
• Geography - During the first half of the term, children will explore physical and human features of the environment to answer the big question: "Why is our world wonderful?.
• History - In the second half of the term, the class will travel back in time to study the history of flight, focusing specifically on the life and achievements of the pioneer Amelia Earhart.
• Computing - Students will be introduced to data handling and ebook creation, while continuing to develop their understanding of internet research and essential e-safety skills.
• Music - The children will learn to recognize and explore musical moods to match characters or themes and will practice sequencing sounds to create soundscapes that tell a story.
• Physical Education - The curriculum focuses on fundamental movement skills, including dynamic balances and agility for jumping and landing, as well as static balances and ball skills.
• Religious Education - Pupils will continue to explore the "good news" that Christians believe Jesus brings and will also begin a unit on Islam, learning about how Muslims live and what makes certain places special to believers.
• Art - In the first half of the term, children will develop their creative techniques by using painting and collage to explore the relationship between shape and colour.
• Design and Technology - During the second half of the term, pupils will use their engineering skills to design and make a functional fairground wheel using different mechanisms.
• RSHE - Using the HeartSmart program, the children will explore how to "Let Love In" and understand why "Too Much Selfie Isn’t Healthy" to build their emotional and social well-being.
• Forest School - During their outdoor learning block, Year 2 will master practical skills such as using a hand drill, tying half-hitch knots to build bridges, and learning how to safely light a fire.

Autumn Term

• English - Children will write to entertain through narratives inspired by ‘Frog and the Stranger’ and ‘The Last Stop on Market Street’, alongside a study of list poetry. They will write to inform by creating instructions based on ‘How to Make Friends with a Ghost’ and writing letters or postcards inspired by ‘Dragon Post’.
• Mathematics - Pupils will master place value (tens and ones) and progress through addition and subtraction units, moving from fluency within 20 to bridging the tens boundary. The term concludes with an exploration of 2D and 3D shapes, focusing on their specific names, properties, and sorting activities.
• Science - The class will explore habitats by classifying objects as alive, once alive, or never alive and creating food chains to show how living things depend on each other. This learning extends into microhabitats, where students will plan and carry out experiments to discover the specific conditions minibeasts like woodlice prefer.
• History & Geography - In History, children will discover the work of significant inventors, The Wright Brothers, to learn about events beyond living memory. In Geography, pupils will name and locate the seven continents, the poles, and the Equator while investigating the weather and comparing the UK to Kenya.
• Computing - Students will recognize the uses of ICT and the importance of e-safety while using software to create animations about the first successful flight. They will also develop their digital literacy by creating digital art inspired by aeroplanes.
• Art & Design Technology - In Art, pupils will use the world around them for inspiration, re-presenting their findings through drawing and creating wax-resist collages inspired by Monet. In DT, children will explore methods to strengthen structures to design and build an improved chair for Baby Bear.
• Music - The term begins with experimenting with body percussion and rhythmic group performances using various sounds and timbres. As the term progresses, pupils will focus their efforts on rehearsing and practicing songs for their Nativity performance.
• Physical Education - Children will develop fundamental movement skills, including coordination, footwork, and static balances on one leg or while seated. In gymnastics, the focus will remain on developing controlled shapes and different methods of travel.
• Religious Education - Throughout the entire term, the class will explore the "big question": What is the "good news" that Christians say Jesus brings?
• RHSE - Pupils will "Get HeartSmart" by learning how to look after themselves and others, alongside RSE lessons on positive body image and the importance of hygiene. In Economic Education, they will explore where money comes from and how it makes us feel.

Homework

Spellings:

We send home 10 words each week for the children to practise spelling. These words are taken from the list for their year group in the National Curriculum. Spellings will be tested on a Wednesday.

Reading

Please read with your child as often as possible, even if only for a few minutes. 

Mr Gomersall will check the children's reading records each Friday, and for each Year 2 who has read 3 times or more to an adult outside of school during the week, they will be rewarded with Take Care Points! Please date and sign their reading record each time they read to an adult, and encourage them to read a range of text types. Useful documents including key questions to support with hearing your child read can be found below. These will also be sent home with the children at the start of the academic year.

Please note that we encourage the children in Year 2 to take responsibility for changing their own colour-banded books as they come into school each morning. Decodable (Phonics) books will be changed on a Wednesday by Mrs Willis. Please note that children are encouraged to read these books at least twice before being changed.

Key Dates

Parent-Teacher Meetings: 

We offer these termly, dates are included on our weekly newsletters.

Trips and Visits:

Newark Air Museum - Date TBC

Communication

You can contact Mr Gomersall via the below contact forms. Alternatively, please email teachers@archbishopcranmer.notts.sch.uk or the school office (office@archbishopcranmer.notts.sch.uk or schooladmin@archbishopcranmer.notts.sch.uk).