Friday, 16th May 2025

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The children in Year 2 had yet another busy week, with lots of opportunities to live out their artistic talents.

Continuing in our learning of the Great Fire of London, the class compared jobs and housing in 1666 to modern day London.

Using various junk modelling materials, they created their own models which now form our beautiful display in class.

In RE, the children reflected on the role of the Holy Spirit in the Disciples’, the Apostles’ and their own lives before looking at the story of Saul’s Conversion. They created beautiful oil pastel pictures to express their own symbols for the Holy Spirit and its power.

In Science, the class used the school grounds again to go for a Local Habitat Scavenger hunt. The children used the keys well to identify sycamore trees, dandelions and daisies as well as nettles and holly bushes. They looked at insects and birds and recorded their own interesting finds such as bees, butterflies and even a ‘fox hole’ 🙂

The Year 2 Liturgy group led the class into a wonderful Act of Worship on Thursday reflecting on our relationship with Jesus.

The class swam really well on Wednesday and enjoyed their Playground Game session with Mr Moretti on Tuesday.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spelling–  Words where ‘a’ makes an /or/ sound before ‘l’ and ‘ll’  (consolidation)  Words where ‘si’ and ‘s’ make a /zh/ sound  (next week’s)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading– Please carry on reading at home and sign Reading records

Mathletics–  https://www.mathletics.com/uk/    Please complete assigned tasks based on fractions taught in class

Friday, 8th May 2025

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The children in Year 2 had yet another busy week despite the bank holiday.

In English, the class looked at exclamations, questions and statements and focused on punctuation and word order to differentiate between these before writing their own exclamations using speech marks. Later on, they wrote character descriptions applying their understanding of expanded noun phrases.

In Maths, the class started their next unit of fractions, looking at the relationship between parts and whole and equal/unequal parts. They practised using a range of representations such as cherry models, bar models and mathematical pictures.

On Wednesday, the class went down to the Furzefield Centre to participate in their first swimming lesson where they completed some assessments before working on various swimming techniques.

On Thursday, the class celebrated VE day along with the rest of the school. After discussing the main events leading up to this historical day, the children made replica planes out of paper before creating their own VE medal designs.

On Friday, the class participated in our annual May Procession celebrating Mary and crowning her with flowers. Well done for their beautiful singing that elevated the atmosphere of the event.

I am delighted to confirm our final class trip that will take place on Monday, 14th July 2025 to Knebworth House where we will participate in a Plants workshop linked to our Science topic in the morning and a ‘Story in the Garden’ Literacy workshop in the afternoon. The letter detailing this trip and School Comms tab for payments will go out next week.

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spelling-    Words where ‘-ed’ is added to single syllable words ( consolidation) Words where ‘a’ makes an /or/ sound before ‘l’ and ‘ll’   (next week)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading- Please continue to read at home and sign reading record

Mathletics- https://www.mathletics.com/uk/ Please complete the assigned activities based on fractions.

Friday, 2nd May 2025

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Although the week has been short and sunny, the children in Year 2 covered a lot.

In English, we carried on in our ‘Zahra’ (narrative) learning editing and improving our retelling, before looking at statements and exclamations. We also looked at expanded noun phrases to describe the setting.

In Maths, we read scales to measure mass in kg, as well as, measure capacity and volume. Next week, we are moving on to fractions.

In Geography, we finished our unit on Kampong Ayer, where we considered the differences in transport and schooling with the UK. The children made paper boats as part of their learning, coming up with design elements that would support their daily lives if they lived in Asia.

In PE, the class continued their unit of Play ground games led by Mr Moretti.

In Science, the children continued their new unit of ‘Living things and their habitat’ by going for a walk around our grounds and classifying their findings as ‘living, once alive and never alive’.

In Computing, the children started their new unit of programming, looking at instructions (algorithms) and programming Floor robots (Beebots).

Please remember, swimming starts next week Wednesday! Please ensure that the children have a named swimming bag and that their uniform is clearly labelled so there won’t be any confusion in the changing rooms. Tuesday remains a PE day, please make sure the children come to school in their PE kit.

On Thursday, we will celebrate VE day and therefore the children can come wearing red, blue and white colours.

On Friday, we will participate in the May Procession– please check the School Gateway tab for that or bring in a blossom, piece of flower. Parents are welcome!

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning

Spelling-  Words where ‘-ing’ is added to words ending in ‘e’      Words where ‘-ed’ is added to single syllable words

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading- please read at home and sign reading records

Mathletics- https://login.mathletics.com/

Please complete the assigned activities, all related to measurements covered in class.

Friday, 25th April 2025

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Welcome back!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and a good rest over the holiday. It has been lovely to hear the many amazing things the children did in the past 2 weeks.

Following Pope Francis’ death on Monday, the children reflected on his life and legacy upon their return to school on Tuesday. They watched news reports about his work with refugees and made links between his work and our fifth Catholic Social Teaching principle, Dignity. The children also looked at ways the Pope showed welcome to people from around the world including prisoners and wrote about other important issues they could support when they are older.

With the beginning of a new term, we started new units in English and Maths. We watched our new class story Zahra and identified setting, characters and plot before retelling the story using visual aids, whilst in Maths, we used analogue and digital scales to measure in grams.

In Science, we also started a new unit by looking at Living things and their habitat. We had opportunities to practice our oracy skills when reasoning about ‘things’ being alive or not. Later, the children also discussed what it means for ‘things’ to be once alive.

In PE, the class carried on their work with Mr Moretti, this time learning new play ground games.

Thanks to Amelia and her family’s wonderful care, we could release the beautiful butterflies we grew in class. The children reflected on the various stages of the metamorphosis before releasing the insects in the Peace Garden.

Few important notes for the coming weeks:

PE days will continue to be Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Swimming shall start on Wednesday, 7th May 2025

School will be closed next Thursday, 1st May 2025 for INSET day.

School will be closed on Monday, 5th May 2025 (Bank Holiday)

Next week seems to be a hot one according to weather reports. Please make sure the children have sunhats and water bottles and apply sunscreen before school!

Home Learning:

Spelling– Words where ‘-er’, ‘-est’, and ‘-ed’ are added to words ending in ‘e’ (consolidation) Words where ‘-ing’ is added to single syllable words (next week)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Reading– Please read at home and sign reading record.

Mathletics– https://login.mathletics.com/

Complete assigned tasks all related to measurements (mass, length and money) covered in class.

 

Friday, 4th April 2025

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The children in Year 2 had a busy last few days.

They enjoyed their Easter charity events such as the Toy Swap on Wednesday and their Bunny Hop on Friday. They participated in their Easter Egg Hunt with enthusiasm and enjoyed their Easter activity packs in class. We thank the FOPPS for organising this for us!

On Thursday, the children used dry pasta to create Stained Glass effect Easter cards. We hope you enjoyed reading them.

On Monday, the children also conducted practical investigations to describe materials and their properties, recording their findings in their own tables.

A huge well done to all the children who performed during Tuesday’s KS1 Music Concert. Some of them only just picked up their new instruments! We are proud of you all.

The class worked very hard in the Spring term and I am really pleased with their achievements. They deserve a nice break. So I hope you can all enjoy a bit of sunshine and rest and I shall see you all back for our final term of the year!

Ms Varga

 

Friday, 28th March 2025

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The children in Year 2 had a lovely week in class engaging in various practical Maths activities.

On Monday and Tuesday, the class moved on to measurements and spent time outdoors to experience measuring using a meter stick. Inside the classroom, the children used normal rulers to measure smaller objects. They revised units of measurements such as mm, cm and m whilst also making sure that they notice how starting points differ from equipment to equipment.

On Wednesday, we launched World Maths Day with an assembly following practical activities outside. First the children drew animal pictures with chalks using only 2D shapes. Then, they participated in the 1 minute challenge, where in house teams they raced against each other, depositing bean bags in hoops; all under one minute! Later in the afternoon, we joined forces with year 1 and completed the Matchbox challenge where teams had to fill their boxes with as many things as they could. The team with the largest number of objects won.

At lunch time, some of the children participated in competitive dice games in the hall led by Year 6 helpers.

On Thursday, the class carried on the theme and created Tangram pictures, before participating in the £1 challenge, where the winning team had to find the most number of different ways to make £1 using coins.

Please note, there are a few things happening next week:

Tuesday and Wednesday– the children can bring in clean soft teddies that they do not need any more and later on Wednesday, swap it for a new one. All part of a Whole School Lenten charity event organised by members of the School Parliament.

Thursday- Class photos – full winter uniform please.

Friday- Easter Egg hunt (in school time); early pickup: school finishes @1pm!

Have a lovely weekend and Happy Mother’s Day!

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Spelling- Words where ‘-ing’ is added to words ending in ‘e’ (consolidation),  Challenge words (next week)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Mathletics- Please complete the assigned activities, all centred around measuring length.

https://login.mathletics.com/

https://ttrockstars.com/

 

 

 

Friday, 21st March 2025

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The children in Year 2 started their week with Science as a continuation to last week’s Science Week. Thank you Mia, Joshua and Luca for sharing your amazing Science experiments with the rest of the class. It was fascinating to hear about your work at home!

Mrs Holly arranged a range of fantastic activities in the hall for us to reflect on ‘change and adaptation’ from building waterproof habitats, through animal skin camouflage to the chemical reaction between baking soda and vinegar.

In English, the children wrote engaging poetry pieces to describe a world without darkness, still building on our previous class book ‘The Dark’ by Lemony Snicket whilst in Maths they finished their unit of multiplication and division by working on times table facts before completing a practice arithmetic paper.

In RE, the children looked at the gospel of The Last Supper and learnt how to write a Penitential Rite. In Geography, we studied the globe and atlases to learn about longitude, latitude, the Equator, North and South hemisphere; all in connections with the weather in Kampong Ayer.

In PE, the class continued in their learning of basketball with Coach Moretti, some of them earning certificates for sportsmanship and team spirit! Well done!

I hope you have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning

Spelling- Words where ‘-er’ and ’-est’ are added to words ending in ‘y’ (consolidation), Words where ‘-ing’ is added to words ending in ‘e’ (next week)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Maths- Next week Wednesday, 26th March, we are celebrating World Maths Day. Please see attached your Whole School Maths home learning letter and a document with possible examples. Please email me your photos by Tuesday noon, so they can be part of the assembly on Wednesday! Have fun!

World Maths Day Whole School home learning

Maths Scavenger hunt examples

 

Friday, 14th March 2025

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This week, we celebrated British Science Week, exploring the theme ‘Change and Adapt’ through exciting investigations and practical experiments.

Throughout the week, we looked at various ‘Zoom in, zoom out’ images from Explorify and used oracy skills to discuss our ideas about the objects under a microscope. We applied specific vocabulary that we have been using this term such as: transparent, translucent, opaque,flexible and waterproof.

We also welcomed Mr Friedlander from Dame Alice Owen School, who led us in a wonderful investigation about Indicators. The children used cabbage leaves and hot water to create an indicator and tested various substances used at home to determine if they are acidic or alkaline. They investigated toothpaste, salt, sugar, hand soap, washing powder, lemon juice, etc using pippets, beakers, funnels and filter paper.

We later carried out our own class investigation to answer the question: Which biscuit is the best dunker?

We tested: Ginger nut, Digestives, Rich tea, Nice and Shortbread biscuits and dunked them into cups of tea to then observe and probe. Our winner was the Shortbread that although soaked up some of the liquid, stayed nice and crunchy. We used tables to record our observations and drew conclusions afterwards.

We are going to carry on our Science week activities next week and welcome another Scientist, Mrs Holly, in our classroom who will lead us in some practical enquiries and help us understand how Science is used in other areas of life.

If you would like to continue your learning inspired by the British Science Week, please try one of these fun science investigations at home. Observe what happens, record your findings- this can be a photo or a drawing with labels, and be ready to share them with the class!

British Science Week 2025 Home Learning Challenge

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning

Spelling-  Words where ‘-ed’ is added to words ending in ‘y’ (consolidation) Words where ‘-er’ and ’-est’ are added to words ending in ‘y’ (next week’s )

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Mathletics- https://login.mathletics.com/

TTRockstars

https://ttrockstars.com/ Please also access TTRockstars. I have enabled all tables for all children to extend their knowledge of multiplication facts. In class we learnt 2s, 5s and 10s and will have regular timed tests on these from now.

 

Friday, 7th March 2025

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The children in Year 2 had a busy week of Celebration!

On Tuesday, the class celebrated Mardi Gras. In the morning, the children participated in races before flipping some pancakes (splats) in the hall and later made Mardi Gras bracelets from colourful beads. They also learnt festive dances and sampled pancakes in class. They made masks and gathered for a fun whole school assembly at the end of the day.

On Wednesday, we celebrated Ash Wednesday and participated in a lovely service led by the Year 6 Liturgy group. The class also enjoyed their basketball session with Coach Moretti in the afternoon.

On Thursday, the school celebrated World Book Day. After a whole school assembly, Year 2 participated in an onlive live reading session before completing some writing activities about their favourite books. Later in the afternoon, the class met up with Year 3 in the Peace Garden where the children had an opportunity to share books before listening to a story.

Finally, today the class led a whole school Collective Worship with the theme: Freedom. Well done for all the children! They worked hard to learn their lines and created a beautifully prayerful atmosphere.

I hope you have a restful, sunny weekend

Ms Varga

Home Learning

Spelling- Words where ‘-es’ is added to words ending in ‘y'(consolidation) Words where ‘-es’ is added to words ending in ‘y'(next week)

https://www.edshed.com/en-gb

Maths- https://login.mathletics.com/  Please complete the assigned tasks all related to multiplication and division.

Friday, 28th February 2025

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Happy last day of February!

The children in Year 2 had a busy start to their new term.

On Monday, the class participated in a whole school Collective Worship to introduce our 4th Catholic Social Teaching principle, Community and Participation.

 

The children first reflected on the Scripture reading, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ and created Community nets, whilst later they  designed a formal invitation for a Community Picnic.

In English, the class completed their learning based on our book, ‘The Dark’ and planned their own 3 part narrative based on Lydia Monks’ entertaining book, ‘AAAArrrggghh Spider!’ The children will write their own ‘fear’ stories next week, introducing the characters and their fear of spiders before detailing a resolution to this problem.

In Maths, the class completed their learning of multiplication and moved on to division, using manipulatives to consolidate their understanding between grouping (when the group size is known but not the number of groups) and sharing (when the number of groups is known but not the size).

In Science, the children looked at changing materials and carried our practical investigations, using a large variety of materials, to stretch them, squash them,etc.

In Geography, we used secondary sources to compare housing in the UK and Kampong Ayre reflecting on the significant differences we noticed.

In PE, the class enjoyed their first 2 sessions of specialty basketball training provided by PSD (Primary Sporting Development). Coach Moretti was very impressed with the children’s discipline and hard work!

A few key dates:

Tuesday, 4th March 2025- Mardi Gras Day. Children can come to school in ‘festival’ colours of green, purple and gold.

Wednesday, 5th March 2025- Ash Wednesday Service for KS1 in school.

Thursday, 6th March 2025- World Book Day. Children can come dressed as a book character or wearing their pyjamas.

Friday, 7th March 2025- Year 2 Class Collective Worship @ 9.15. Parents are invited!

PE DAYS WILL MOVE TO TUESDAYS AND WEDNESDAYS STARTING FROM NEXT WEEK!

Have a lovely weekend,

Ms Varga

Home Learning:

Please use the link below to practice our class song: Amazing Grace. The children need to learn the first 3 verses by heart. We have practiced the song in class and in the hall accompanied by piano.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjcfQZtgwAI

Amazing grace, how sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like meI once was lost, but now I’m foundWas blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fearAnd grace my fears relievedHow precious did that grace appearThe hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils, and snaresWe have already come‘Twas grace that brought us safe thus farAnd grace will lead us home
Please also learn your lines for our Collective Worship. We will have further rehearsals next week.
Spelling:
Consolidation: Words where ‘y’ makes an /igh/ sound
Next week’s: Words where ‘-es’ is added to words ending in ‘y’