“You’re off to great places! Today is you day! Your mountain is waiting! So… get on your way!”

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Dear Parents / Annwyl Rhieni,

Welcome to Year 2!  I hope your child is excited about everything that this year has to offer. I am thrilled to have your child in my class, and I believe that by working together we will make this a very happy, productive and successful school year.  This is an important year in your child’s school career, as we will be reviewing a lot, learning even more, and of course having lots of fun along the way!   

It is very important that you play an active role in your child’s education. I invite you speak to me any time that you have a question regarding your child’s progress in school. I will keep you informed by sending home class letters and homework regularly.  The school blog will be updated every week, and this is a great way for you to see some of the exciting things that happen in class.  Spare copies of homework activities and letters will be posted on the noticeboard found outside my classroom.  Also, I would appreciate it if you would keep me informed any time your child has a concern/ difficulty whether it be it academic, social, or emotional.

Please find below some useful information that you will need: 

Class Staff

Class Teacher: Mrs Cusack
TAs:  Miss Miles and Mrs Jones

PPA Cover: Mrs Stonham

SLT Time Teacher: Mrs. Stonham 

Aims of Year 2

• Being more independent.
• Working with others and independently
• Becoming more confident
• Using Literacy, Numeracy and Digital skills with growing confidence
• Reviewing previous learning, acquiring new skills and having lots of fun along the way!
• Making their last year in infants one to remember!

Outdoor Learning

· The children will be working outdoors regularly throughout the week, whatever the weather. Therefore, please ensure that your child comes to school dressed appropriately for the weather e.g. coat, sun hat etc.

· Every Monday the children will participate in ‘Messy Monday’ outdoor sessions. Please send in wellies for your child to change in to which can then be kept in school. All wellies must be clearly marked with your child’s name. Please ensure a suitable coat is sent in for these sessions. School uniform can be worn for most sessions. N.B. If some sessions are expected to be particularly messy, I will email you the week before so suitable clothing can then be worn to school.

P.E.

PE – Thursday and Friday (Pupils need to come to school dressed in their P.E. kits. Please ensure long hair is tied back and jewellery is not worn for P.E. sessions.)

Friday: P.P.A. (Planning, Preparation and Assessment)/ SLT (Senior Leadership) Time

My P.P.A. session is on a Friday morning and Mrs. Stonham will be teaching the class. Mrs Stonham will also teach the class every Friday afternoon when I take my Senior Leadership Time. 

Big Questions:

Our Big Questions for this year are as follows: 

Autumn Term: Why do we celebrate?
Spring Term: How has our world changed?
Summer term:  How are we moving forward?

I’m sure that the children will thoroughly enjoy the practical experiences and focus activities offered to them in an environment which supports a range of learning styles.  If your child has any books, artefacts, DVDs etc linked to the current big question, they are more than welcome to bring them in to school.  Please ensure that all items are clearly labelled with your child’s name. 

Summer Term 2024:

Reading

Please help your child to work on their reading every night.

• Reading for 20 minutes aloud every day is the ideal!
• Please encourage your child to read fiction and non-fiction texts.
• When listening to your child read and ask them questions about the text. (We want the children to talk about and understand what they are reading.)
• When faced with new/ unfamiliar words, encourage them to use the different skills of decoding e.g. using picture clues, breaking down longer words, chunking, skipping words then revisiting, thinking about what could make sense, looking for words in words etc.
• Help your child to sight recognise high frequency words (list can be found on our school website)
• Encourage reading for pleasure.

Writing

•This year we will be helping your child with extending his/ her writing as much as possible. Please help them with this at home. Independent writing opportunities are important.
• Spelling – Spelling lists / rules will be sent out every week.
• We will also be working hard to learn to spell high frequency words accurately (list can be found on our school website)
• We will be continuing to support your child’s cursive handwriting skills. Please help them with this at home (Correct cursive letter formation can be found on our school website)

Mathematics and Numeracy

· By the end of the year we aim for most pupils to know the 2, 5 and 10 times tables.

· Estimating, weighing, measuring are all important to work on and do practically.

· Money – Support your child with using it in the shops, working out change, adding up bills, questions e.g. if 1 bag of sugar costs 10p, how many will 4 cost?

· Mental addition, subtraction, multiplication & division skills will be developed throughout the year in practical contexts

· Reading and writing numbers to 1000

· Doubling and halving numbers

· Fractions of shapes and small numbers

· Problem solving activities will be used to help the children apply their skills in meaningful contexts

Multilingualism

· Children are taught about their Welsh heritage

· Children are taught incidental Welsh (commands in Welsh in every lesson)

· Emphasis on developing knowledge of the Welsh language as we work towards achieving our Siarter Iaith Silver Award#

· Children will develop speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in Welsh

· Children will be exposed to incidental French

Homework

· The Year 2 children are set Maths homework on Friday using online ActiveLearn games.

· Spelling lists will be sent home on a Tuesday following the class spelling session, so that the spelling patterns can be worked on at home.

· Please ensure your child brings his/ her reading book to school every day and complete the parent/ pupil column to let us know about the reading undertaken at home.

How can you help?

· The best help is to support your child’s learning and work with us to ensure they make good progress.

· Ensuring that homework is completed regularly.

· Good communication between the school and home.

· Getting plenty of sleep on a school night!

· Keep us informed of anything that you feel may affect your child in school.

Other information

· Parents Evenings – One in Autumn term and one in Spring term (TBC). Reports in Summer term. · Keep up to date by subscribing to the school blog at www.pontlliwprimary.co.uk

· Sign up to Squid to ensure you receive all emails sent home.

· We will be using the iPads and PCs throughout the year. At times the children will need to use headphones. If possible, please could you send in a pair of headphones clearly marked with your child’s name, so they can keep them in their trays in class. Please note that the children will be responsible for taking care of them so I would advise against sending in expensive headphones. If they could be sent in within the first few weeks of term, I would be very grateful.

and finally…

Once again, please feel free to talk to me about any questions/ concerns that you may have. May I take this opportunity to thank you in anticipation for your support throughout the coming year. Let’s work together to make this year a success and a happy, memorable time in your child’s school career!

Regards,
Mrs. Cusack