Welcome to Year 2 Together in God’s love, we care, trust and respect. … September 2018

Meet the team: Teachers: Miss Gough (2LG) Mrs Dicker (Mon, Tues, Wed AM) Mrs Watts (Wed PM, Thurs, Fri) Mrs Roebuck (to teach in 2LG every Wed PM) Teaching Assistants: Mrs Duncan Mrs Cudd

Learning for the year Autumn: Living things in our local environment including humans Where’s Wally Printing Making a Christmas decoration Spring: Traditional Tales Materials Florence Nightingale Easter Story Plants Vehicles Summer: The Great Fire of London Creation story Rainforest

How will you know how your child is doing? Formal Assessment in KS1 takes place in May (after Easter holidays) The assessments will provide information about how your child is progressing, compared to children the same age nationally. Results will be based on teacher assessments, which happen throughout the whole year, however the tests in May will help support us in our judgements. They are not strictly timed tests. We hope that most pupils will be unaware they are taking them as we will incorporate them into everyday classroom practice. We would appreciate you not discussing the tests with your child.

Reporting to Parents In Reading, Writing and Maths, at the end of Year 2, your child will be reported as: Working below WTS Expected EXS Greater depth GDS In Science, at the end of Year 2, your child will be reported as: Has not met standards HNM

English Each child needs to read their books every night. Once books are finished, or any reading has been completed, please sign the Reading Diary. Children will be reminded to change their books on Monday’s, Wednesday’s and Fridays although children may change their books whenever they have read them. They can change both or just 1. It is really important that they sound out correctly any words they don’t know. We would encourage you to ask as many comprehension questions as possible to ensure your child is understanding what they are reading. Please read TO your child as well as hearing them read. Bedtime stories!

Guided and Shared Reading Autumn 1/Spring 1/Summer 1: Guided reading in small groups with the teacher and teaching assistant with independent activities to support. Autumn 2/Spring 2/Summer 2: Whole class shared read with all children in the class completing the reading task together.

Phonics / Spelling There has been a greater emphasis in the new curriculum for accurate spelling and use of spelling patterns. The expectations for a Year 2 child have been raised significantly in the last few years. The children will be continuing to learn phonic sounds and alternative spellings of these sounds in our phonics and spellings time. Most children will be expected to be able to use all these sounds accurately in their writing by the end of the year. The spelling patterns are displayed on the Parent Overview which are sent home half termly.

Phonics / Spelling Spellings will be on paper stapled into reading diaries or on stickers. The focus of the spellings will be on top of the paper. Please practise at home in a variety of ways. The test is a dictation in English books. Incorrect spellings will not be sent home but the total they got correct will be. You are welcome to check the spellings at any point by coming to check the back of your child’s English book. A successful speller is one who uses the sounds and patterns consistently in their writing.

Focus: alternative spellings for oa and ee phonemes sea beard bee boat down

Maths Children will continue to follow the ‘Round the World’ challenge. They will continue from where they got to in year 1. It follows the same format as the rest of the school. By the end of Year 2 most children should know 2, 5, 10 and 3 x tables. If they finish these, they will move on to 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 etc. Over the year we will work towards encouraging the children to complete calculations mentally rather than using physical resources. Word problems, where they apply their knowledge, will be a key skill taught during the year.

Our Collective Worship Every day there is an act of collective worship. Monday – Whole School Assembly Tuesday – Whole School Singing Assembly Wednesday – KS1 Assembly Thursday – Year Group Assembly Friday – Whole School Assembly (Class) Prayers are said daily.

The School Charter: Always try your best Be caring, kind and helpful to others Look after everything at school Show good manners Stay safe Tell an adult if you are unhappy In every class there is a behaviour class board which displays the School Charter.

Attendance: Please let the office know by phone, letter or e-mail on the first day of absence if your child is going to be absent from school and the reason for absence. Please let us know by 9am Please be aware of the new national restrictions for leave of absence. 02380271178 adminoffice@st-francis-pri.hants.sch.uk

School Comms Can register at the school office. Really useful for keeping in touch particularly for urgent messages such as closure for poor weather etc. Text alerts

Parent Helpers: We welcome any time you can spare to help in your child’s class or in another class if you prefer. Activities you may enjoy doing with the children include art, DT, reading…please speak to one of the teachers if you can spare the time. All adults in school undergo a DBS check before starting to help. To obtain DBS clearance, please complete the Volunteer Application Booklet available from the school office. This is to ensure our rigorous safeguarding policy and practices are maintained.

Timetable Please note that the register is taken at 8:45 promptly, any child arriving after the register is closed is marked as an ‘unauthorised absence’ for that session – session is am or pm. Outdoor PE: Autumn/Summer on Wed PM Spring on Tue PM Indoor PE: Friday AM Library Time: Tuesday PM

Marking Over the course of the last year we have been trialling a variety of approaches with a particular emphasis on immediate feedback and marking during lessons. This is something we will be developing over this academic year and will share with pupils and parents in due course.

Communication with Parents Meet the teacher evening Parents Forum (date TBC) hosted by Mrs Jones, Mr Taylor and members of SLT. Mid year report to be sent home February 2019. End of year reports sent home July 2019. Open evenings to pop in and see your children’s books dates to be confirmed. Parents Evenings in October (Tuesday 16th and Wednesday 17th) and February In these meetings we will share your child’s progress both academically, socially and emotionally – however should we need to discuss these prior to these meetings we will make contact with you. Appointments If you have any concerns please do not hesitate to contact us via the school office. If you require a separate / additional copy of a school report / mid year report – please let the office know and they can arrange. Pupil Progress Discussions regarding your child’s progress can be held with the class teacher at any point in the year at your request. Alternatively the class teacher may contact you regarding your child’s progress.

Children’s Belongings We encourage the children to take more responsibility for their own belongings, particularly reading books and diaries. If children bring in their own possessions such as toys/books, they are responsible for them. Toys should be able to fit in the palm of their hand, in order they can fit in their tray.

We are looking forward to a successful year. Thank you