Year 2

Welcome everybody to the Year 2 section of the website.

KS1 Assistant Head Teacher:

Mrs Spoor

 

Class Teachers:

2RS Mrs Spoor (Monday-Wednesday) & Mrs Rycroft (Wednesday-Friday)

2M Miss Molloy

2G Miss Greenhalgh

 

Learning Support Assistants: Mrs Taylor, Mrs Armes, Mrs Antony, Mrs Gordon, Miss Ryan and Mrs Stone.

If you have any questions, then please don’t hesitate to ask one of the Year 2 team.

 

Reading at home

In Year 2, it is important that you read with your child at least 5 times a week and sign their reading record.  A member of the Year 2 team will check reading records daily, so please ensure that reading records are returned to school each morning. Books will be changed once they have read it 3 times. In the front of their reading diary, you will find their login details for online learning too. Every child has been given a folder for their reading books and diaries. Please bring the folders to school every day. Please note: If a reading record or reading book is lost, there is a small charge for a replacement which is payable via ParentPay.

Homework

Children will be given spellings to learn each Friday, spellings should be practised at home each night ready for a spelling test the following Friday.

In Year 2, children are beginning to learn their multiplication table facts for 2, 5, 10 and 3. Please support your child in regularly accessing TTRockstars, Numbots and MagmaMaths to help develop their number fluency. If you need support logging in, please speak to a member of the team. 

We also provide a range of activities from across the curriculum for your child to complete at home.

 

P.E.

Our P.E. days are: 

2RS- Wednesday

2M- Monday and Wednesday

2G- Monday and Tuesday

Children are invited to come to school dressed in their P.E. kit. Please ensure children are dressed appropriately and for the weather conditions. A gentle reminder that our school P.E. kit is a plain white t-shirt, black shorts and black pumps or trainers for outdoor sports, without visible branding. Some P.E. sessions may take place outside so you are welcome to send in long black jogging bottoms and a long sleeved white top. 

Water bottles and snacks

Don't forget to bring a water bottle to school each day - it is important for children to stay hydrated throughout the day. Please label bottles and refill them each day. 

Children are welcome to bring a healthy snack such as fruit and vegetables or breadsticks to school each day for snack time, but are also offered a piece of fruit from school each day. Please do not send in nuts due to children in school with allergies. Milk can be purchased at the start of each half-term, please speak to the school office about this.

 

English

Our English curriculum consists of Read, Write, Inc, Ready Steady Write, Ready steady Read and Ready Steady Spell. 

Read Write Inc. is a systematic phonics scheme. It teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Children then read words and storybooks that are carefully matched to the sounds and words being taught, this allows them to read confidently. Their home reading book is also carefully matched to the sounds they are learning in phonics. Children are taught to read words by identifying the sounds and special friends in the word. They then use 'Fred Talk' to read the words. Children practise 'Fred in your head' to build fluency before 'Speedy reading'.

Please watch the RWI video, understanding phonics for more information 

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

Ready Steady Write- Within this new scheme, the children will develop their writing skills through daily practise with teacher support. This scheme chunks their learning into 4 sections:

1. Immerse: This involves predicting what will happen, asking questions, 'stepping into' the story and thinking creatively. 

2. Analyse: The children will be looking at the structural features and language features of the text. They will also be developing character descriptions and understanding the characters' emotions. 

3. Plan: The children will be breaking the text into each paragraph and looking at what techniques should be included in each. The plan will be composed of simple words and phrases. 

4. Write: This section will develop independent writers as the children will utilise their own independent plan which shows them exactly what they need to write. 

The children will participate in drama activities which allow the children to 'step into' the story and develop their creative thinking. This will be used alongside with daily sentence accuracy activities to develop their language and grammar techniques (expanded noun phrases/ adding suffix -ly/ using exclamations). We focus on the correct use of capital letters, finger spaces, full stops and word choice to develop more interesting simple sentences. Throughout, the children will have many opportunities to develop 'incidental writes' using the techniques they have previously learnt. Children will write using the sounds they have been taught. Over time, we aim to build confident and competent writers. 

Ready Steady Spell-  

The children participate in weekly spelling quizzes for which they should practice daily for. 

Ready Steady Read-

n Year 2, children follow the Ready Steady Read programme, which supports the development of reading and writing through high-quality, engaging texts. Each unit is based on a carefully chosen book that sparks curiosity and deepens understanding of language, character, and story structure. Through guided reading and whole-class teaching, children build key skills in decoding, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar. They respond to texts through discussion, drama, and writing tasks, producing a range of outcomes such as letters, narratives, and reports. The programme not only strengthens reading and writing skills but also fosters a love of books and storytelling across the curriculum.

 

Maths

Place Value

In Year 2, children will build a strong understanding of place value, learning to recognise the value of each digit in two-digit and three-digit numbers. They practise counting in steps of 2, 5, 10, and 3, and learn to partition numbers into tens and ones in different ways (e.g. 47 = 40 + 7 or 30 + 17). Children use concrete resources like base ten blocks and number lines to support their understanding, and they compare and order numbers up to 100 and beyond. They also learn to identify one more or one less and use place value knowledge to solve problems and explain their reasoning using mathematical vocabulary. 

Science

In our Science lessons we cover the three subjects of chemistry, biology and physics.

Throughout our science lessons, the children will learn both substantive (scientific facts) and disciplinary knowledge (planning test, observing and measuring, investigating and making conclusions) to gain a well-rounded understanding of scientific topics whilst developing their curiosity and ability to ask scientific questions. 

To begin the year, we will be focussing on Materials. Children will be able to distinguish between an object and material and identify properties of materials. They will also identify and compare the  suitability of a variety of everyday  materials, including wood, metal,  plastic, glass, brick, rock, paper and  cardboard for particular uses.

 

History

In History, children will be learning about life in the past by exploring the story of the Wright brothers and how they invented the first powered flying machine. They will discover what life was like over 100 years ago and find out how Orville and Wilbur Wright worked hard to make their dream of flying come true. Pupils will look at real historical sources like old photographs, newspaper reports, and drawings to find out how we know what happened. They will learn how the invention of the aeroplane changed the way we travel and connect with the world today. Children will also think about how the Wright brothers never gave up, and how their ideas have inspired new inventions. As part of the topic, children will use their creativity to design their own flying machine, developing important historical enquiry and thinking skills along the way.

 

Geography

Would you rather live in a hot or cold place?

In Geography, children will be developing their knowledge of the world by learning to name and locate the seven continents on a world map, along with the Equator, the North Pole, and the South Pole. They will explore the features of hot and cold places, learning to identify countries with different climates and locating them on a map. Children will investigate the weather in various parts of the world, including the UK and Kenya, and use key vocabulary to describe whether these places are hot or cold. Through this, they will compare similarities and differences between life in the UK and life in a contrasting country. Children will also learn to recognise the geographical features that help us understand temperature and climate around the world. 

 

Art

Pablo Picasso

Children will be learning about the artist Pablo Picasso and the art movement he helped create called Cubism, where objects and faces are broken into geometric shapes and shown from different angles. They will explore Picasso’s Weeping Woman as a visual stimulus, describing shapes, colours, and emotional impact, and use this inspiration to create their own self-portraits. Children will mix primary colours to create a colour palette, sketch their own facial features, and revisit different brushes and brush strokes used by the artist. They will experiment with surreal and cubist styles in their own artwork, and finally, annotate and evaluate their finished piece to reflect on their creative choices and improvements