Y2 Curriculum Newsletter - Summer

Science Week

The theme we focussed on this year was sustainability and pupils completed differing activities over the course of the week. The children enjoyed learning about honeybees, especially when they had the opportunity to look at them close up using magnifying glasses. Pupils also carried out their own mini investigations involving ‘cleaning up a beach’ and making observations of an ice balloon over a period of time which they thoroughly enjoyed!  

British Olympian visits George Street

We were lucky enough to receive a visit from a current British Olympian, Montell Douglas, who has competed in both the summer and winter Olympics. She currently competes in the two-woman bobsleigh team for Great Britain. She spoke to the children about how she got into sport, the challenges she faced after a serious injury and how she overcame them, as well as what it takes to become a professional athlete.

Kidzania

Year 2 went to Kidzania in London to experience what it would be like to work in the real world, linking to our PSHE learning. They had the opportunity to try out different jobs over the course of the day from firefighting to being a weather reporter. Pupils loved the experience as it was very hands on, they even earnt pretend money!  

Indoor Sports Event

Year 2 had the privilege of taking part in an indoor athletics competition at Laureate Academy. Pupils completed a number of activities from obstacle courses involving different types of jumping through to javelin throwing! The children had lots of fun completing individual events as well as competing in small groups, developing their team work skills!

Y2 Curriculum Newsletter - Spring 

History Week

Pupils have managed to delve a little deeper into the lives of historical figures such as Samuel Pepys. Year 2 have learnt what an eyewitness is and why Samuel Pepys diary was so important in relation to finding out about the past. They then wrote their own diary entries as if they were there back in 1666. They learnt how London recovered and what changes were made to buildings and streets.

The Great Fire of London Drama Workshop

To bring children’s history learning to life we had a drama workshop. The children learnt about the King Charles II, the Mayor and what led to the devastating fires that swept through London in 1666. The children produced their own scenes and took on the roles of different historical figures using props and costumes!   

Fire Crew

As part of ‘The Great Fire of London’ history topic, the local fire brigade visited Year 2. They had a fire safety talk and discussed how the fire service has changed over the years. We then safely set fire to our paper Tudor homes to re-enact how quickly the fire spread all of those years ago. The children even got to explore inside and outside of the fire engine and had a go using the hose!  

Poet Visit

We had a whole school visit from the Poet, Paul Lyalls who shared some of his work with us. We then had our very own workshop, in Year 2, we wrote ‘What If?’ poems using everybody’s great ideas – we really thought outside of the box!

Brazilian Music Workshop

As part of Black History Month, we had a Brazilian percussion workshop. The class were taught how to clap rhythms, sing songs to a beat and finally play a samba on the drums. The pupils also learnt first-hand from Marcus what life is like in Brazil and where the country is located in the world.

Art

Pupils have been introduced to two different artists ‘David Best’ who is an American sculptor and the famous Dutch painter ‘Rembrandt’. Initially, the children created a mini fact file on both artists and then focussed on one of their pieces of work to sketch and colour. The children then progressed to learning about primary and secondary colours and produced their own colour wheel using paint as a media. Pupils have then been introduced to creating different tints using white paint as a base. I think you would agree that the Year 2 pupils are budding artists in the making!

Science

We have started our ‘plants’ topic for this half term. So far, pupils have set up their own comparative investigation, looking at the best conditions needed for grass seeds to grow. We have also planted our own seeds and bulbs which we will be keeping a beady eye on over the next few weeks to see they grow and change.

Maths

Year 2 have been busy practicing their counting skills in maths, identifying number patterns and sequences through games such as ‘hiccup stick’ and ‘spot the swap’. The children have also been learning about the values of digits, using Base 10 to make and partition 2 digit numbers.

English

We kicked off the new school year with the book “And Tango Makes Three” which is based on a true story about two male penguins who fell in love at Central Park Zoo in New York. The pupils have had lots of writing opportunities during this time and have produced some lovely work including; postcards, animal reports and diary entries. The children also took inspiration from the story and wrote their own animal stories.

Dare to Aspire

During our first full week back at school we had a visitor by the name of George Fouche who is an ex-professional rugby player. He spoke to the children about resilience and the importance of never giving up. As part of the day, the children had to work as a team and build their own free standing tower made out of spaghetti and marshmallows. Check out our photos to see how successful we were!