The teachers in Year 2 are:
Miss May (2M)

Miss Janjua (2J)

Welcome to the Year 2 class page!

The children have been working extremely hard throughout the year and will be encouraged to keep this up into their final term of Year 2. Summer will be a busy term and we would like to continue the outstanding efforts and progress the children have already made.

Religious Education

In Religious Education, our topic is ‘To the Ends of the Earth’. The children will study the role of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians, focusing on the events of the Ascension and Pentecost. They will learn how the Holy Spirit gave strength and courage to the apostles, enabling them to share the message of Jesus. They will also explore the life of St Paul, recognising that he was transformed by the Holy Spirit and became a key figure in the early Church.

The children will be introduced to the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, including qualities such as kindness, patience, and self-control. They will consider how these qualities are developed not only through actions, but also through prayer and reflection, and how they relate to a person’s interior life. Pupils will also learn about Christian prayer, including the prayer “Come, Holy Spirit”, and understand how Christians believe the Holy Spirit guides and transforms lives, inspiring people to bring about positive change in the world.

During our Summer 2 topic ‘Dialogue and Encounter’, pupils will study the teaching of Jesus about love of neighbour through the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37), in response to the question, “Who is my neighbour?” They will learn that Jesus challenges people to show love and care beyond their own group, teaching that everyone is to be treated as a neighbour. Pupils will explore how this message is explained in Fratelli Tutti by Pope Francis and will consider how this teaching is lived out today by Christians, including through service in local communities such as food banks and support for refugees. Pupils will reflect on the impact of the parable, recognising that it teaches Christians to actively support those in need and help build a fair and caring society.

As part of the encounter dimension of the unit, pupils will also learn about Judaism. They will explore how beliefs from the Torah are lived out in practice today. Pupils will see how Jewish beliefs are expressed in daily life and will begin to recognise the importance of Hebrew scripture and writing within Jewish tradition.

English

We will begin with a story called The Man on the Moon. We will be retelling the story of The Man on the Moon in our own words, focusing on suffixes and interesting sentence openers. We will then look at a fiction story called Rocket – Look Up. We will continue to explore the story through role-plays, hot seating and writing in role. Then we will look at the inspirational story of astronaut Mae Jemison.

In Summer 2, we will look at the stories Meerkat Mail and How the Stars Came to Be. We will also look at the non-fiction book Lands of Belonging: A History Of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Britain. We will write a poem inspired by this.

Please continue to spend time at home reading with your child every night as our school mission is to empower our children to love and appreciate reading for life.

Maths

Time is one of the first topics we will cover in Maths. We will first recap o’clock and half past, before moving on to quarter past and quarter to. By the end of the year, the children will be telling the time at 5 minute intervals. Enabling your child to wear an analogue clock to school is permitted to help them with this concept. 

After that, we will be learning about position and direction, length and height, time and mass, capacity and temperature. Children will be using different metric units to measure things like metres and centimetres, and grams and kilograms. 

We will also use this term to consolidate key topics involving number and place value – the four operations mainly. Please continue to help your child learn their tables and related division facts – recalling these quickly is an important skill that will really help them with maths! 

History

In History, we will be looking at significant people and what makes them significant. We will study Neil Armstrong and Amelia Earhart, and discover how their accomplishments have impacted our society. They will be able to answer questions about them and recognise that information comes from different sources. They will also accurately order the events they have learnt about, creating a timeline to demonstrate their understanding.

Geography

Our topic for the next few weeks will be “What’s in a Region?” and through this topic we will be exploring the country of Ghana. Children will look at maps, reading, locating the country on a world map and comparing life in Goa to their own lives here in the United Kingdom. The children will have opportunities to learn about traditions and lifestyles in Goa and be able to complete a range of cross-curricular activities to scaffold their understanding of the topic.

Science

In the summer term, students will explore Living Things and Their Habitats. The children will discover and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been alive. Identify that most living things live in habitats to which they are suited and describe how different habitats provide for the basic needs of different kinds of animals and plants, and how they depend on each other. They will also describe how animals obtain their food from plants and other animals, using the idea of a simple food chain, and identify and name different sources of food.

Expectations

As is the case throughout school, we expect and encourage all children to adhere to high standards of behaviour both in class and in the playground.

The children in Year 2 will continue to follow the set of Golden Rules that they created in Autumn 2. The children have all agreed to follow these rules with the understanding that doing so will create a happy learning environment that will help their learning.

Working together with parents and guardians plays a big part in establishing good relationships and standards of behaviour.

General Reminders

• Please ensure that your child brings their book bag to school every day.

• Homework is set regularly and must be returned the following week. We really appreciate your support when helping children with homework. The task set is related to what we covered in class that week and provides a chance for them to consolidate their learning. 

• PE takes place every Wednesday morning. Please ensure that your child comes to school in their full PE kit.

• Please ensure that your child brings in a named bottle of water every day. Water should not be warm/hot.