Yeadon Westfield Infant SchoolOur blogs
STARS Before and After School Club this week
Date: 4th Jun 2025 @ 10:06am
This week in STARS we have been riding bikes and scooters safely, making healthy sandwiches and using our imagination in play.
Date: 4th Jun 2025 @ 10:00am
At lunchtime yesterday the children collected sticks and used them to build a city, including Old Skipton Castle.
Date: 3rd Jun 2025 @ 4:37pm
This week the children have been enjoying riding the new balance bikes in Early Years.
Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Summer Term 2
Date: 23rd May 2025 @ 11:52am
Dear Parents,
We hope this blog post finds you well. We can't believe how quickly this half term has flown by! It has been a busy and successful five weeks in KS1, and we wanted to share some of the highlights with you.
Our topic for this half term was "Where I live." In science, we observed the weather in our local area and learned about its impact. In geography, we explored the history of the Aireborough Greenway and used maps to examine the human and physical features of our surroundings. A highlight was walking on the Greenway and adding features on to maps in the sun! Our DT lessons were a blast as the children designed, made, and evaluated their own FANTASTIC vehicles. Each creation was unique and amazing in its own way.
Physical education has been focused on developing skipping rope skills. Although it can be a challenging skill to master, every child has made good progress and should be commended for their efforts. If you can, please encourage children to continue to practise at home.
In year 2
One of our focuses this half term has been the KS1 SATS. These have taken place in the hall over the past 4 weeks and they are so relaxed that the children have asked for more! The children have worked incredibly hard, and it has been wonderful to witness their resilience, determination, and concentration as they strived to achieve the best they could. We couldn't be prouder of their efforts, and they should be proud of themselves too!
In maths, we have spent time recapping and consolidating arithmetic and word problems. The children have shown great progress and confidence in their mathematical skills. In English, they have been busy writing their own version of the story 'Where The Wild Things Are'. It has been fantastic to see their creativity and storytelling abilities shine through. As a treat, we watched the DVD adaptation of the book, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.
In year 1
Once again, the children have worked incredibly hard at their phonics, reading and spelling this term and you can really see the growing confidence and maturity in their work. After the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in June, we shall be spending much more time on putting all their hard-earned skills into practice as we extend their independent writing in preparation for Year 2.
In maths, we have again nudged their learning forward, developing their independent addition and subtraction skills by giving them mixed calculations so they have to think much more carefully about their strategies and the size of their answer. We have also been working on division by 2, 3 and 4 (we call this sharing as well as division), learning about the division symbol and having a go at writing our divisions using correct symbols and numerals. We have done a lot of work on telling the time to the hour and half past, as well as drawing the hands on clocks to show these times. Anything you can do to help your child with this everyday skill to put this into the context of real life would be fantastic. At this stage we mostly work with the analogue clock face but have also exposed them to the digital clock through songs and games.
As we head into the holidays, we hope you all have a super break and take some time to relax and recharge. We are excited about the final half term ahead, which promises even more exciting activities. One of the highlights will be the Year 2 leavers assembly, where we will celebrate the wonderful achievements of our amazing children.
Thank you for your continued support throughout this half term. We look forward to working together in the upcoming summer term, which we are confident will be a successful and enjoyable one. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
Best wishes,
Miss Worton, Mrs Whitehead & Mrs Sharp
Velociraptor Class Blog - Summer Term 1
Date: 23rd May 2025 @ 11:46am
It has been a very short half term but we have certainly packed a lot in! The term got off to a very good start with our visit to the Yorkshire Mining Museum and this seems to have been a highlight for the children when we reviewed what they think has gone well. They have also enjoyed our other two outings, firstly to visit the church for RE and then a week later to go once more along the Greenway for some history and geography fieldwork. These outings really help the children consolidate all their learning, and it was fantastic to hear the children discuss all they knew on every visit. It’s not every day that you hear six-year-olds talk about the change in the law that meant children their age had to go to school rather than work down a mine or work in a mill!
Once again, the children have worked incredibly hard at their phonics, reading and spelling this term and you can really see the growing confidence and maturity in their work. After the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in June, we shall be spending much more time on putting all their hard-earned skills into practice as we extend their independent writing in preparation for Year 2.
In maths, we have again nudged their learning forward, developing their independent addition and subtraction skills by giving them mixed calculations so they have to think much more carefully about their strategies and the size of their answer. We have also been working on division by 2, 3 and 4 (we call this sharing as well as division), learning about the division symbol and having a go at writing our divisions using correct symbols and numerals. We have done a lot of work on telling the time to the hour and half past, as well as drawing the hands on clocks to show these times. Anything you can do to help your child with this everyday skill to put this into the context of real life would be fantastic. At this stage we mostly work with the analogue clock face but have also exposed them to the digital clock through songs and games.
History and geography this half term have been all about the Greenway and its origins as a branchline railway from Guiseley to Yeadon station, built to support the many mills that were operating in this area. It is very important for our children to learn about their local heritage so please keep chatting to them about your memories of the local area and how it has changed. Involve older family members too! They are a great resource, especially if they can remember things like the day the railway bridge over Henshaw Lane was demolished!
We have been thinking about seasons and weather in science, keeping weather data for the half term, and also taking part in weather investigations to support the development of children’s scientific skills – for example using pipettes.
Design technology has been great fun as all the boxes you have sent in have been transformed into model vehicles with axles and moving wheels. The children have gone through the whole process from initial design, to making and then to strengthening their models before finally evaluating their work. They are now desperate to play with them!
In PE we have done lots of running skills and have begun teaching the children how to skip, both on the spot using a rope and also the running skip in case this is an event in our upcoming sports day. Some of the children are also enjoying skipping in the lunchtime sessions and I have noticed some very determined faces when trying to keep up with the Year 2s! The parachute has also been out at some lunchtime playtimes and the Year 1 team have been enjoying watching the fun from the classroom as we eat our sandwiches!
Have a great week everybody – the children certainly deserve a rest! Thank you for all your support at home - everything you do is appreciated by the whole team and makes a real difference to the children’s learning.
We will see you again in June ready for our last term together as Year 1s! This year has been flying by but we will make sure we all enjoy the exciting things that are coming up before the big summer holiday.
Thank you from Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team!
Diplodocus Class Blog - Summer Term 1
Date: 23rd May 2025 @ 11:45am
This last half term has been quick but great! The sun has shone and every child has continued to flourish.
We have been joined by Miss Rhodes a student teacher this half term and she will be with us until June. The children have enjoyed having her as part of our class.
The children have continued to work hard to develop their phonics and writing skills. They are using their phonic knowledge to complete more independent pieces of writing. A lot of children are challenging themselves to write even more which is so good to see. Please continue to work with your child at home on any unfamiliar sounds. New sounds and red words will be introduced in Year 1 so it is helpful if your child is secure on most/all of the sounds we have introduced this year.
In maths, we looked at symmetry and the children enjoyed creating their own symmetrical patterns. Can you spot any butterflies in your garden? We also looked at grouping and using the language of ‘lots of.’ We have continued to look at simple addition and subtraction. We have also had a go at counting in 10’s!
We enjoyed looking at life cycles within our topic. What can the children tell you about ladybirds, frogs, butterflies and spiders? They all have a very interesting life cycle and go through metamorphosis – probably the trickiest word Reception have learnt this year! The children love being outside in the sunshine and they have such a fantastic area to play in and enjoy.
The children absolutely love junk modelling (which you have probably gathered) so please keep saving any small boxes and sending them in. Thank you
Have a lovely half term holiday and we will see you for the last half term which is a busy one!
Thank you for your continued support – the Reception team.
Stegosaurus Class Blog - Summer Term 1
Date: 23rd May 2025 @ 11:42am
Well, what a busy half term we have had!
We have focused on Fairy tales and so far have learnt the story of The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and The Three Bears and The Gingerbread man.
The children have loved acting out and retelling the stories. They have made their own pig houses, designed and built a raft to save the gingerbread man and have explored different materials and amounts at the Three bears house developing their language along the way.
In maths we have been continuing our daily Little Big Maths sessions where we have been counting to 20, learning to read flashcards, recognising numbers to 10 and learning the skills needed to count carefully and accurately.
This term though has really all been about the language of amounts. We have been learning about more, less, hot, cold, tall, narrow, wide, thin and exploring these in relation to our Fairy Tales. We also learnt about ‘just right’ can you guess which fairy tale this came from?
In phonics we have been learning to love sounds and language. We have been singing our Nursery Rhymes and chanting, making sure our tongues and mouths are in the right position when we say words and sounds.
We have been learning about sentences and how they are made up of lots of words that together must make sense.
We have been practising finding syllables, listening for rhyme at the end of words and alliteration at the beginning.
We have also learnt all our initial sounds (s,a,t,p,I,n,m,d,g,o,c,k,ck,e,u,r,b,f,l,j,v,w,x,y,z) and have even started blending those sounds together to read words. Nursery, I am so proud of you!
This term in Drawing Club we have loved doing the Gingerbread man. The last challenge was to imagine what it would be like if the Little Old Woman had made a stinky cheese man instead of a gingerbread man. We really loved that one and the children have been so excited to pick up their pencils and let their imaginations run wild. It has been a joy to watch!
Well done Nursery, you have worked so hard this term and we are so proud of you.
Have a lovely break and see you next term.
End of term message from Ms Lowry
Date: 22nd May 2025 @ 4:07pm
Another half term flies by – a shorter one this time! It has been a great half term and we have seen the children blossom and mature. Year 2 have spent this month doing their special work which they have approached with confidence. We had a successful educational visit to the coal mining museum – thank you for your support. We had our popular Spring Bounce too. Now the Summer is upon us – fingers crossed the weather stays a little longer. See you all in June.
Date: 7th May 2025 @ 2:21pm
At STARS this week we have been very sporty. The children have been skipping, playing tennis and football.
Spinosaurus & Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Spring Term 2
Date: 4th Apr 2025 @ 11:38am
Another half term has come to an end and it has been lovely to welcome Spring, the lighter mornings and warmer weather into the classrooms! It has been an exciting term for our class as they have delved further into our underground topic.
In History, the children how found it fascinating learning about children as young as 4 years old working down the mines. A highlight in our History lessons was pushing all the desks together in both classrooms to create a huge ‘mine’ for the children to crawl through!
British Science week was exciting and informative as the theme this year was ‘adapt and change’. The children took part in various experiments and investigations including finding out what is suitable to flush down the toilet! However, finding out about how animals adapt and change to their environments was a firm favourite and we found out loads of fascinating facts!
Our DT unit was spent making underground hand puppets and we were so impressed with the determination to master the running stitch and the individual creativity. Each puppet was so unique.
PE this half term has been ‘Hit, Catch, and Run’ and we have learnt how to hit balls with power and control using our hands and racquets. In gymnastics, we have developed our flexibility and flair by putting a sequence of movements together, including doing the bridge and attempting to do the splits!
PSHE sessions have included finding out what we put on our bodies, in our bodies and what is harmful for our bodies. The children always think carefully and thoughtfully in these sessions.
Year 1
Over the past half term, we have continued our daily phonics and reading lessons following our FFT scheme and we only have five more weeks of new phonics learning to go. It will then be the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in the week commencing Monday 9th June and after that we will be consolidating the children’s understanding of the different ways of spelling the same sound. As you will have gathered by now, phonics is a complex subject! We are very pleased with the children’s progress in their reading as the pace, fluency and expression is shaping up nicely ready for Year 2. They have come a long way as I am sure you will agree – well done everyone!
In maths, we have been learning and consolidating number facts involving adding 2, adding 3, the ways of making 10 and doubles. These are incredibly important for the children’s future calculations skills so any help you can give them at home is always a bonus! We have continued work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by three and four, as well as lots of work on using coins and working with 2D and 3D shape.
Reminders:
Reading books – Please return them on Wednesday so new books can be sent home on Friday.
Homework – Sent home every Friday.
Year 2
In English, our Year 2 students have been producing some superb writing. We focused on writing nonfiction texts and the dragonfly report they produced was full of fascinating facts. In addition, the children have enjoyed writing an informal letter based on the book; The Dog That Dug. Weekly spelling homework will now be sent out every Monday.
In Maths, we have covered a range of topics including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. It has been impressive to see how much progress our students have made in their numeracy skills this term.
The children take part in whole class reading sessions. These sessions help to develop confidence, pace, fluency, comprehension and reading with expression. Please continue to read at home with your child at least three times a week. Please return reading books on a Monday morning and we will exchange the book and send a new one out on Monday afternoon.
Our library day is Tuesday, please return your library book once you have finished with it and a new one can be chosen on Tuesday afternoon. If you would like to keep your book for an extra week then please do.
We were delighted to see so many of you at the recent parents' consultation meetings, and we are proud of all the individual progress made by each child. Please continue to support your children's learning by encouraging them to read regularly at home, learn spellings and complete any work sent home.
We look forward to another successful half term after our break, and we are excited to see what the children achieve in the coming weeks. Thank you for your ongoing support, and we hope you all have a restful and enjoyable break.
Many thanks,
Mrs Sharp, Mrs Whitehead & Miss Worton
Velociraptor Class Blog - Spring Term 2
Date: 4th Apr 2025 @ 11:31am
It’s Easter time already – the time has flown by but we have covered a lot of learning once again. The children also seem to be having a growth spurt just like the plants in Spring and the “carpet” seems to be shrinking in size as they take up more space!
Over the past half term, we have continued our daily phonics and reading lessons following our FFT scheme and we only have five more weeks of new phonics learning to go. It will then be the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check in the week commencing Monday 9th June and after that we will be consolidating the children’s understanding of the different ways of spelling the same sound. As you will have gathered by now, phonics is a complex subject! We are very pleased with the children’s progress in their reading as the pace, fluency and expression is shaping up nicely ready for Year 2. They have come a long way as I am sure you will agree – well done everyone!
In maths, we have been learning and consolidating number facts involving adding 2, adding 3, the ways of making 10 and doubles. These are incredibly important for the children’s future calculations skills so any help you can give them at home is always a bonus! We have continued work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by three and four, as well as lots of work on using coins and working with 2D and 3D shape.
In history, the children have been studying the history of UK coal mining, focusing on the role of very young children like themselves in the early mining industry. They have been loving these lessons, in one of which they had to pretend they were children down the old mines and had to push big “tubs” of coal (i.e. boxes) through a series of tunnels created by all the tables in the classroom being placed end to end. Ask the children about “hurriers” and “trappers” and see what they can tell you. We are looking forward to our visit to the Yorkshire Coal Mining Museum to learn more. Some of the children are particularly looking forward to meeting the pit ponies.
In geography, we are just beginning our next topic on a local study involving Yeadon and the Greenway cycle path. We will be doing some fieldwork down there next half term, looking for signs of the history of the Greenway as well as mapping it.
In science, we have been learning about wild and garden plants, trees and tree rings, the structure of plants, and have also been planting lots of seeds. Let’s hope those sunflowers grow!
Mrs Gilligan has been continuing with her RE lessons which have included work on different celebrations, and has also been teaching the children music lessons about dynamics, tempo, sound effects and creating a soundscape.
Nicola from Leeds Rhinos has been teaching the children street dance this half term. She is absolutely amazing and has improved the children’s skills and their ability to move independently, with a partner, into a circle and into groups as part of the dance (no mean feat) as well as calming them down with yoga. Thank you, Nicola!
In Velociraptor class we have also been watching our various webcams and are excited that we have a tawny owl sitting on three eggs and well as barn owls and kestrels setting up their homes ready for the nesting season. We also hope to be following the lives of a few osprey families now that they are returning from their holidays in Africa and hope to be watching them lay eggs, hatching chicks and following these chicks from the cute and fluffy stage to learning how to fly in the week or so before the summer holidays!
Have a great Easter everyone! Fingers crossed for some lovely spring weather.
Thank you from Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team!
Diplodocus Class Blog - Spring Term 2
Date: 4th Apr 2025 @ 11:29am
And that was the Spring Term! After a very cold start in January we are ending with plenty of sunshine.
During this half term the children have loved exploring fairy tales. These classic and much-loved tales have enabled the children to listen to stories with enjoyment, join in with familiar language, flourish as story tellers and develop even more their skills as writers.
Each week the children in Reception focused on a different fairy tale.
Week 1: The Gingerbread Man
Making the clay gingerbread men was enjoyed by all the children in the class. All were truly unique! As a side note these were not to eat!!!The children quickly joined in with the story language and adapted the story when playing independently.
Week 2: The Three Little Pigs
The children had a go at making houses out of various materials and engaged in lots of other provision. We listened to various versions of the story.
Week 3: Red Riding Hood
This week the children had the opportunity to make some delicious lemon cheesecakes. The children could decide if they would give their dessert to an adult, just like Little Red Riding Hood did, or if they would eat them themselves!
Week 4: British science week
Taking a break from fairy tales, the children had a jam-packed science week. The children loved being introduced to their very own wormery! There was lots of science in provision for the children to access.
Week 5: Goldilocks
What has happened to Goldilocks? This was the question on everyone's lips. During the final week of our fairy tale topic the children had a go at solving a crime! Knowing that Goldilocks and the Three Bears had been in our classroom sparked some wonderful imaginative play and lots of independent reading and writing. Well done, Reception.
Week 6:
We have enjoyed learning about Easter and joining in with Easter crafts and activities within our provision. We took part in the Big Sing for parents and Reverend Richard came to school for our annual Easter Service.
The children are all making good progress and as each half term finishes we become even more proud of them. All your support at home is greatly appreciated.
All children have thoroughly enjoyed this half term and we look forward to another hugely successful half term after the holidays.
Enjoy your break!
Team Reception xxx
Stegosaurus Class Blog - Spring Term 2
Date: 4th Apr 2025 @ 11:18am
Message from Ms Lowry April 2025
Date: 4th Apr 2025 @ 11:16am
It is so lovely to see the longer evenings and some sunshine. The children are enjoying making the most of the weather in their outdoor play. As always another busy half term with a particular focus on Science during British Science Week. Parent consultations were held and hopefully everyone managed to make their meeting. We had World Book Day – some great imagination was on show! Thanks as always for your support. Have a lovely Easter break and see you on Tuesday 22nd April at 8.40am.
School Council Egg Decorating Competition
Date: 3rd Apr 2025 @ 3:41pm
There were some fantastic entries in the School Council Egg Decorating Competition. These are the winners - well done!
Date: 12th Mar 2025 @ 8:51am
The children have been looking at different insects this week and creating beautiful pictures of their favourites.
Date: 12th Mar 2025 @ 8:39am
At STARS, the children have been creating their favourite pancake toppings and drawing them. They have also been enjoying eating pancakes to celebrate Shrove Tuesday.
Stegosaurus Class Blog - Spring Term 1
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 12:11pm
This term we have welcomed some new children and we have been so proud with how they have settled, begun to make friends and been welcomed by our old children into our Nursery team. We have also welcomed our student teacher Miss Kittle who has been a superb asset to Nursery. We shall miss her when she goes at the end of week 2 next term.
Our focus this half term has been Nursery Rhymes and the children have loved singing (with real gusto!) and acting them out over the past few weeks. We've enjoyed Humpty Dumpty, Incy Wincy Spider, Old McDonald had a farm and Once I caught a fish alive. Our favourite so far though has been Miss Polly had a Dolly. This week we have turned our home corner into a doctor's surgery and we have witnessed a very organised doctor’s office with children taking lots of messages and writing notes and also many successful treatments and operations!
In phonics we have been continuing to fine tune our listening skills, orally blend words and learning to clap the syllables in words. We have been practising speaking in sentences and making sure we pause between the words and say them clearly. We have also begun learning our sounds and the children have impressed us so much by remembering them and saying them correctly!! So far, we have learnt, s,a,t,p,i,n,m,d,g,o.c and k
In maths we have been continuing our work on amounts and have been working on our counting skills. The children are getting brilliant at remembering to touch an object first and then say its name. A vital skill to have when counting accurately in Reception.
We have been practising our known facts ready for learning number facts in Reception. Ask us our name, how many hands we have or how many fingers. We don’t think anymore, we just say it!
We have also been having a great time in Drawing Club. Our favourite so far has definitely been What’s in the Witch’s Kitchen and the children have spent many hours, looking for goblins outside and making their own potions in the mud kitchen.
We all hope you have a wonderful break and we'll see you next term,
Diplodocus Class Blog - Spring Term 1
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 12:01pm
Wow, where has time gone? Another half term done and dusted! We now have Miss Holmes and Mrs Whitehead in Reception and the children have adapted to this change so well. They’ve had another amazing half term of learning through play, exploring new resources and becoming an integrated part of the school.
We have spent a week thinking about E-safety and the importance of asking a grown up for help if we are unsure about anything when using tablets, computers or other devices. The children have listened to some lovely stories that cover the importance of staying safe online .
In phonics and literacy, the children have been focusing on recognising digraphs and have been working hard on their letter formation when writing words and sentences. They all continue to try so hard and it is a joy to watch them grow in confidence each and every day. They can all write their name and are finally starting to put it on their pictures and models!
The children are challenging themselves when reading in school and hopefully are enjoying sharing their reading books at home. Thank you for your continued support with this. We are asking that you try to hear your child read at least three times a week and leave a comment in the yellow reading record. Please return your child’s reading book to school by Wednesday and we will send a new one out every Friday.
The children have continued to work hard in maths. This half term we have covered adding, subtracting and sharing with numbers to 10. We are encouraging the children to count objects reliably up to ten and developing the skills of counting objects to 20 (and beyond). We are now working on the numbers 11-20. We are really proud of how the children engage during our carpet sessions and then independently access their own learning through our provision.
Tapestry is working well. Thank you for sending in photos and videos of your children at home, keep sending them in. We love seeing what they get up to and we think it is equally important for you to see how happy and busy they are in school! Please remember to 'like' any of our Tapestry posts so we can see who we are reaching.
Next half term we will be thinking about Fairy Tales and story language. The children will be working in groups to retell the stories. If you have any fairy tales at home, please share them with your children over the holidays.
Enjoy your break and we look forward to another exciting term in Reception.
Team Reception
xxxx
Velociraptor Blog - Spring Term 1
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 9:56am
The time is flying by and we have now reached the half way point of Year 1! It’s hard to believe, but we have already begun to talk about getting the children ready for Year 2!
All our hard work is paying off. The handwriting is smaller and neater, the use of phonics is more confident in reading and writing, and the children’s abilities in number have increased hugely. They are working hard!
We have continued our daily phonics and reading lessons following our FFT scheme and are now seeing the impact as we gradually introduce more independent working, for example on writing sentences by themselves. The whole idea is that we give them the skills to write correctly first so they do not develop bad habits that are difficult to change. Please continue to support them with correct letter formation at home so they can eventually be taught how to join up their letters.
In maths, we have been learning number facts involving adding 2, learning how to create “fact families” for each number fact by writing the two additions and two subtractions related to that fact. Many children can now put this fact family into multiples of 10, represent the fact with different visual models and answer questions involving the fact. Brilliant progress Year 1! In addition to all that work, they have been adding and subtracting using a numberline, learning about finding half and one third of amounts and shapes, and learning about telling the time to the hour including drawing the hands on clock faces to show the time.
In history, the children have been studying the history of our own school using various sources such as photographs, the old “accident book”, and interviewing people who came to our school in the past. Did you know that our own Miss Davis was one of the very first children in our school?
In geography, we have started to study the United Kingdom and where it is in our world. This work will continue over the two years of Key Stage 1 so that by the end children should know the four countries of the UK and their capital cities alongside understanding its key characteristics and features. The children have loved learning through songs, Google Earth and interactive games as well as studying world and UK maps.
Science has been exciting too as we have been learning about materials and their properties. I think the children’s favourite part was our last lesson, which was an investigation into the properties of slime. As you can imagine, this was messy and hands-on (especially for the poor adults who had to clear up!)
Mrs Gilligan has not only been continuing with her lovely RE lessons, but has had all the children on the new laptops learning about using different progams for data collection. It’s hard getting 15 laptops ready for each lesson, so thank you Mrs G.!
Whew! Thanks to everyone at school and at home - let’s have a rest…
Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team
Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Spring Term 1
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 9:53am
Where has time gone? The children settled back into the rhythm of school brilliantly after the Christmas break, despite the snowy start!
The topic for this term was Underground. The children have been thoroughly engaged so far in this topic and it will continue into next half term. Our areas of provision allow the children to explore what animals they might find underground and above ground and we have shared some beautiful fiction and non-fiction books based around this.
We had an art focus this half term and the children have worked incredibly hard to create an underground shoebox diorama. They were inspired by Zachary Bennett- Brook when they painted and the sculpture artist Lisa Larson was the inspiration behind their clay mice. Thank you to all who made it to our mini art exhibition in the hall, the children were bursting with pride to show off their work.
In history we have looked at how schools have changed over the last 100 years and we all agreed that we are lucky to come to school in the present day rather than the past. We did not like the look of the dunce hat! The children enjoyed looking at different sources to learn about the past and found the school’s accident book from the 1990’s to be interesting, particularly finding all the times Mr Roberts appeared in the book!
In science, the children learnt about materials and their properties (wood, metal, plastic, glass etc.) and carried out an investigation to see which materials could bend, twist, stretch and squash. However, the highlight of the half term was an experiment to make our own slime and find out how much glue makes the best slime. We had so much fun, made some good predictions and filled in a table of our findings.
In PE, we have been learning how to attack, defend and shoot using beanbags and balls of different sizes. These skills will help feed into different sports such as football and tennis. The children practised throwing underarm and overarm to hit a target. Keep practising these skills! Indoor PE has been filled with learning an underground themed dance, taught to us by the amazing Nicola! We have loved every second and the routine was challenging, fun and had lots of movements to remember.
PSHE has taught us about roles and responsibilities, acceptable and unacceptable behaviours, being king and knowing that we are all special. We love reflecting on what amazing individuals we have in our school and continue to feel proud of the children every day.
In Year 1
All our hard work is paying off. The handwriting is smaller and neater, the use of phonics is more confident in reading and writing, and the children’s abilities in number have increased hugely. They are working hard!
We have continued our daily phonics and reading lessons following our FFT scheme and are now seeing the impact as we gradually introduce more independent working, for example on writing sentences by themselves. The whole idea is that we give them the skills to write correctly first so they do not develop bad habits that are difficult to change. Please continue to support them with correct letter formation at home so they can eventually be taught how to join up their letters.
In maths, we have been learning number facts involving adding 2, learning how to create “fact families” for each number fact by writing the two additions and two subtractions related to that fact. Many children can now put this fact family into multiples of 10, represent the fact with different visual models and answer questions involving the fact. Brilliant progress Year 1! In addition to all that work, they have been adding and subtracting using a numberline, learning about finding half and one third of amounts and shapes, and learning about telling the time to the hour including drawing the hands on clock faces to show the time.
Year 1 children please return your reading book on Wednesday. New books will be sent out on Friday.
Homework will be sent home on a Friday.
In Year 2
In literacy, we have looked at the stories: ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘The Tunnel’. The children have written their own versions of the stories, using adjectives and conjunctions (e.g. and/ but/ or/ so) to extend their sentences. Miss Worton, Mrs Whitehead and Mrs Sharp have been blown away by their unique and lively stories. We are continuing to work on punctuation, neat handwriting and spelling, particularly ‘common exception words’. Weekly spelling homework will now be sent out every Monday.
In maths, we have been extremely busy. We have covered place value, addition, subtraction, fractions ( ½ and ¼ ), measuring and time! Children have worked practically when covering these skills and we will be consolidating these skills again next half term. Please help at home by looking at time: O’clock, half past, quarter past and quarter to.
The children in Year 2 take part in whole class reading sessions. These sessions help to develop confidence, pace, fluency, comprehension and reading with expression. Please continue to read at home with your child at least three times a week. Please return reading books on a Monday morning and we will exchange the book and send a new one out on Monday afternoon.
Our library day is Tuesday, please return your library book once you have finished with it and a new one can be chosen on Tuesday afternoon. If you would like to keep your book for an extra week then please do.
Thank you again for your support this half term. It has been a busy but great one. If you have any questions then please speak to a member of staff in and we will be happy to help.
Many thanks,
Mrs Sharp, Mrs Whitehead & Miss Worton
Date: 14th Feb 2025 @ 9:39am
Another half term has flown by! It feels like a long time ago when we had the snow! The children have been busy as always engaging in their learning. We have had dance in Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus classes, a visit from an author in Keystage 1 who entertained everyone and our Keystage 1 Art Exhibition. Thank you for all your support and enjoy the break – hope it warms up!
Date: 11th Feb 2025 @ 3:10pm
We have been celebrating Valentine’s Day at STARS this week. The children have made Valentine bracelets, decorations and pictures.
Spinosaurus and Dilophosaurus Class Blog - Autumn Term 2
Date: 20th Dec 2024 @ 10:24am
Christmas already?!
What an amazing half term we’ve had! The children have settled into their new classes now and we are having a great time.
In literacy, year 2 have looked at fiction and non-fiction texts. The children have continued to use adjectives to enhance their own versions stories and have worked hard on writing skills. We are continuing to work hard on the presentation of writing and accuracy in spelling. You could help your child at home by practising to spell the Common Exception Words (the sheet was given out at parent’s consultation meetings). Year 1 children have been looking at sound families in phonics and working hard to use new sounds in simple sentences.
This half term in maths, year 2 have looked at multiplication, division, 3D Shape, time, money and fractions. We continue to use practical games and methods to work out the answers. The children in year 1 have worked hard on measuring length, 3D shape, multiplication, early division skills, finding half of numbers and more!
In Topic (science, history, geography and DT), we have had focused weeks on Guy Fawkes and Remembrance Day and have become quite the historians! In geography, our key question has been: ‘Where is our school?’. We have been doing lots of fieldwork outside, looking at maps of our school grounds, using a compass to find north and making our own maps. It has been really interesting and lots of fun. In DT this half term we have made pictures with moving parts (sliders, levers and wheels). The children have loved building up their picture over 6 weeks and have followed the design criteria in order to make a successful product. As the seasons changed we enjoyed looking at evergreen and deciduous trees that are on our school grounds in science. We have also looked at the structure of animals and compared a rhino to a triceratops. The children also carried out an investigation and compared the teeth of herbivores, carnivores and omnivores. We are so proud of the children but more importantly, they are proud of themselves.
In PE, we have been looking at gymnastic movements and particularly rolls. Mrs Jones and Mrs Sharp are now confident in teddy rolls after much practise! We have also been working on team work skills and games in our outdoor P.E lessons. It has been a little chilly but the children love going outside and so we have wrapped up and got stuck in!
We have had lots of other busy and exciting events this half term including our Beauty and the Beast pantomime, the Santa dash, Christmas fair and, of course, our nativity. What a show! Thank you to all the parents who showed their support and came to watch the performance. The nativity will also be uploaded on to the school website. We are so very proud of the children and they thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you so much for your support this half term. If you have any questions, then please speak to a member of staff and we will be happy to help. Mrs Jones will be moving to a new school in January. She has been a wonderful part of our team as she covered Miss Worton’s maternity leave. She will be truly missed and we wish her every success in her new school, they are lucky to have her. We are also looking forward to welcoming Miss Worton and Mrs Whitehead back to our team in January.
Many thanks for your continued and happy holidays.
Mrs Jones & Mrs Sharp
PS, please bring in shoeboxes after Christmas for our art project. They are needed the first day back.
Velociraptor Class Blog - Autumn Term 2
Date: 20th Dec 2024 @ 10:19am
The year is nearly at its end and, can you believe it, the children are one third of the way through their time in Year 1! Once more they have worked incredibly hard and are certainly in need of a good rest over the next few weeks.
They have continued to make great progress in phonics, reading and writing, learning lots of new ways to make different sounds and becoming more and more fluent in their reading. It is great to hear them reading along with me in their everyday work in all our subjects!
In maths, we have been learning the different ways of making ten, which is one of the most important things children ever learn as it is a crucial building block for future calculations. In our main lessons we have covered measuring length, 3D shape, multiplication and division skills, using coins to pay for shopping, comparing mass, finding half of objects, 2D shapes and amounts and, finally, odd and even numbers.
The children loved learning about Guy Fawkes in history and then thought carefully about Remembrance Day and why we wear poppies. We have been doing lots of fieldwork around our school in geography, starting with thinking about the physical and human features surrounding our school, then using compasses to find north, learning to use a real plan map of school then adding detail to the map, and finally having a go at drawing our own maps of a small area of the playground.
Continuing under our umbrella topic of “dinosaurs”, in our science we have been investigating why animals (including humans) have different teeth, whether there is any correlation between body height/length/size and foot length, and comparing the structure of various animals to think about their similarities and differences.
Mrs Gilligan has continued to teach the children about different religions, their customs and their stories, as well as introducing them to a range of music skills. The children love these lessons, so thank you Mrs Gilligan!
In PE, the children have been building up their stamina for running around the playground as well as skills in body management, problem solving, team games and jumping.
The last few weeks have been particularly hectic, what with our “special visitors” and the preparations for the nativity performances. The children really rose to both occasions, impressing the visitors with their confidence and attitudes, and impressing the staff with how they quickly became performers in their roles as busy villagers and lambs in our nativity. They can’t wait to be Year 2s so that they can dress up in the various costumes and take on the major roles!
So I think we all deserve a well-earned rest! We will see you in the new year, ready for the next stage in our Year 1 journey! Have a great Christmas everybody!
Mrs Nolan and the Velociraptor Team