Welcome to our Year 2 information page

On this page, you will find all the general information that you need to know about Year 2 and links to other areas of the website such as our weekly newsletter or isolation learning.

There are two parallel classes in Year 2 -  2J and 2M; our rooms are opposite each other and we share a middle area space for creative activities and intervention groups.

2J are taught by Mrs Jeffs:

Monday - Thursday

and

 Mrs Luxford:

Thursday afternoon and Friday

2M are taught by Mrs Miller

Our teaching assistants are Miss Chalkley

and Miss McLeod 

At Sir Henry Fermor we pride ourselves in Key Stage One as a team working closely and consultatively with our Year 1 colleagues and children, making sure there is a consistent approach. We share the same playground during morning break and lunchtimes.

Please read on to find out about what happens in a week, what to bring, how to support your children's learning and important dates and events during the year.

Timetable and curriculum.

English and maths are taught daily, mainly in the morning and these are supplemented by regular spelling and arithmetic practice to improve skills. These areas are vital for the children to work on for home leaning for motivation to improve on their weekly scores.

Guided reading takes place throughout the week as well as independent reading.  Guided reading sessions teach skills of comprehension, expression, blending and learning about sentence construction.  Confident readers will be asked to read aloud and we will monitor their progress during these sessions, stamping their reading record books to let them know that they have been heard. Independent reading reinforces their phonic learning and adults will hear them read in a 1:1 basis during this session, recording their progress against individual targets. 

All other subjects are taught in the afternoon including history, geography, science, RHE and RE. Art, music, computing and DT are often taught in blocks or cross curricular activities.  More information about the learning during the Autumn term is contained below.

Swimming:  This will take place every other week on a Tuesday afternoon for each class.  Please ensure the children bring a swimming kit on that morning that includes a swimming costume or trunks/shorts, a swimming hat and towel. They may also wear goggles if they wish.

Home Learning: Home Learning projects will relate to the topic and it will be an ongoing task to work on throughout the term.  

This is in addition to the expected reading, spellings and times tables practice which we expect them to work on daily. Whilst each child learns in a different way, we do recommend specific websites to help your child become more independent in rehearsing and retrieving knowledge:

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/5/buried-treasure

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/3/pick-a-picture

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources/phase/3/picnic-on-pluto

Please speak to your child's teacher for further information and read the class pages for weekly updates to their home learning.

Spellings: Spellings will be set on a Friday on the website to be tested on the following Friday,  There are three different levels of spellings each week: Buttercups, Marigolds and Tulips.  Your child's group will be recorded in their contact book.  We will monitor their progress and may alter their group during a term if we feel that the spellings are of a more appropriate level.  We will always inform you of any changes in the contact book.

Forest School: These sessions will happen in blocks throughout the year as a class house group. You will receive information via a letter when it is your child's turn. Please ensure your child has suitable clothing for this as the sessions will go ahead even if it is raining.  They need to have a pair of welly boots in school at all times so that they can use them during forest school or puddle filled playtimes please.

All Saints' Church Worship: Each month, we join together as a school to watch a year group lead the worship at All Saints Church.  Our Year group's worship is normally during the Spring Term.  On these Wednesdays, please drop your child to church instead of the school. 

Trips out and special events:  In Term 1, we take a walk around the local area to look at the geographical features of Crowborough. We welcome voluntary help to supervise the visit, please let your us know if you can join us.  During Term 2, the Crowborough Fire Service visit Year 2 to support us in the 'Great Fire of London' burning event and to teach the children about safety in the home.  At the end of Term 2, Year 2 join with Year 1 to perform a Nativity play.  You will be invited to watch this and asked to provide a simple costume also.  More information to follow nearer the time.

During the Summer Term we hope to visit Herstmonceux Science Centre to reinforce their S.T. E. M. knowledge and skills covered throughout the year such as investigating materials and building bridges.  In Term 6 we investigate minibeasts and habitats in the school grounds and local area too.

READING

By the beginning of Year 2 children are expected to be able to read all common graphemes and should be using these to decode unknown words. In Year 2 we build on this knowledge and develop speedy word-reading skills, increase the vocabulary the children use, work on developing comprehension skills and encourage the children to discuss a wide range of books including fiction, non-fiction and poetry. At the end of Year 2 the children will take part in a Reading SATS paper (which we call quizzes). This helps to support the overall assessment of the children at the end of the academic year.

WRITING

For the beginning of Year 2 the children should be confidently using their phonic knowledge to spell unknown words. Words can still be phonetically plausible during Year 2, but we work hard on teaching correct spellings for more tricky words and especially homophones; such as be, bee; by, bye. We also start to look at the importance of prefixes and suffixes and how these can be used in everyday reading and writing. Handwriting is another key focus, with our children being expected to use the cursive style and show knowledge of how the diagonal strokes in and out of letters help to aid the joining of words.

MATHS

The principal focus of mathematics teaching in key stage 1 is to ensure that pupils develop confidence and mental fluency with whole numbers, counting and place value. In Year 2 we develop these skills by using resources to support counting and we begin to teach the children how to represent their calculations in written form. As our confidence develops we cover larger numbers and we work on all 4 key operations and the relationship between addition and subtraction and between multiplication and division. We also work on developing skills of reasoning and discussing how we know we have calculated accurately. All of this teaching accumulates in 2 Mathematics SATS papers in the summer term.