Good afternoon everyone,

Welcome back to a new term and a brand new year filled with fresh starts, new hopes, dreams and wishes. We hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year break and have enjoyed welcoming the children back into school. We have all been so proud of how quickly the children have settled back into their routines.

This week we, slightly later than usual, have celebrated the feast of Epiphany where the Magi visited Jesus after seeing a special star in the sky. We have explored these wise men and how they trusted and hoped that this sign would lead them to something wonderful, which it certainly did! Even though they didn’t know what they would find, they had faith. We too must have faith in God and that what he has planned for us is good. It isn’t always easy to take a leap into something new or unknown but with God guiding us we can be led to bigger and brighter things!

English - In English we picked up where we left off with our circular narrative. We have identified, found and explained specific features used in our example texts and have begun to thought about the author’s reasons for these. We have begun to plan a setting description which will feed into our longer write next week.

Maths - In Maths we continue our work on addition and subtraction. We have focused upon finding the difference and the various ways we can do this including: counting on, counting back, using hundred squares, drawing number lines and drawing tens and ones. We have also explored word problems related to both finding the difference and addition and subtraction more generally.

Science - In Science we have spent time looking out how we know whether a thing is living or non-living. We have revisited the 7 life processes (MRS GREN) and used these to explain how we know whether specific things are alive, dead or have never been alive.

RE - In RE, we have focused upon the good news and how Jesus brought this through his miracles. We have learned about how Jesus brought Jairus’ Daughter back to health and have dicussed the feelings of characters throughout this story.

History - We have been looking at the meaning of being significant. We wrote about significant people in our own lives and about people significant to the wider world.

PE - In our outdoor PE session we began our net and ball games. We developed our understanding of tennis by playing a game where we bounced a ball over a ‘net’ to score points. Unfortunately, our indoor PE sessions may be affected this half term as Year 1 have a PE coach in during our indoor slot. We will venture to do some activities outdoors, weather permitting, but apologise for any missed sessions - it is out of my control!

Computing - We practised turning on and logging onto computers and got familiar with accessing word, using a keyboard and typing simple sentences.

Art -

Please continue to practise counting in 2s, 3s, 5s and 10s.

Please practise the year 1 and year 2 common exception words sent home before half term. The children need to be able to read and write (spelling correctly) each one of these by the end of year 2.

Spelling

Mr W’s group - /all/ spelt ‘all’ or ‘al’ and /or/ spelt ‘or’.

Mrs B’s group - Y2 Common exception words (Set 1)

There is also a handwriting practise sheet for each group’s spelling words.

Maths

Mixed addition and subtraction word problems. I have also sent home a vocabulary list to support this.

Reading

Practise SATS-style reading comprehension paper.

Golden Award -

Writing Award -

Maths Award -

Year 2 PE lessons will take place on Wednesday and Friday. Please come to school in PE kit on these days.

Water bottles - all the children were given a new school bottle. This will come home each night to be cleaned and re-filled. Please only use the school bottles and ensure your child brings theirs each day. Lost water bottles can be replaced at the school office, but I am afraid you will have to pay for those. Year 2 have green tops.

I will not be in class on a Thursday afternoon, as it is my release time. This will be covered by Mrs Bowdell and Miss Andrew and is also when the children will have Music with Mrs Watson.

Party Invitations - I am afraid that Mrs Bowdell and I will not be able to give out party invitations in class. Please do not send your child into class with them for them to give out - it creates upset and fuss about something that takes place outside of school.Thank-you for your understanding with this matter.

Key Rings - please do not put key rings onto your child’s school bag, it creates fuss in class and then upset if they are lost.

School bags - please continue to use the red book bag that your child was given in Reception, we don’t not have the room to store large bags. Many thanks for your help with this matter.

At Our Lady's we like to support our parents/carers in Online Safety matters.

Keeping children and young people safe online is one of the biggest challenges facing society today and it is all of our responsibility to ensure that children are educated to make positive, informed choices when they are online.

This month’s online safety guides give helpful advice about…

Top Tips for Managing Screen Time - This guide provides some practical tips for helping to reduce your family’s screen time and promote healthier use of their devices.

What Children & Young People Need to Know about Free Speech vs Hate Speech - This free information guide has tips to help combat hate speech online, while still respecting people’s right to free speech.

We hope you find these guides informative and helpful in promoting the positive use of technology to make the online world a better and safer place for us all.