Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 11TH october 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s been another brilliant week at Hamstel Infants, chock full of great learning, sporting prowess and exciting activities to enhance the enrichment of our children.

Across the week, Year 1 and 2 children have enjoyed our swimming crash courses and we will be sad to see the pop-up pool leave us after our final sessions on Monday. Although it’s only been two weeks, we have already seen the progress made in the pool with the children showing much more increased water confidence and skills. Despite the sad situation with our own school pool being unusable at the moment, we are still really pleased that we were able to offer these swimming sessions so early in the year and completely free of charge to our children.

On Tuesday, Team Hamstel took part in the Portico Sports event where they joined in uncompetitive action alongside children from the other Portico schools. The children engaged in a wide range of events such as archery, boccia, kurling, football, dodgeball, bench ball, badminton, basketball and speedstacks. It was a real ‘feel good’ event that allowed the children to have a taster of each of these sporting activities and a great time was had by all as they represented the school with such pride.

Thursday saw the school turn yellow as we recognise World Mental Health Day and raised money for Young Minds. Thank you to everybody that donated to help us raise over £180 for this great charity.

On Friday morning, Mrs Tracy and I had the privilege of going along to the Southend cross country event where Team Hamstel competed against many other KS1 children from local Southend schools. Our children did themselves and the school proud with many of our children featuring in the top ten and two of our girls, winning silver and bronze medals. A big thank you to Mrs Walker who has worked so hard to prepare our team and to the parents that helped support the event. A full report will be available soon, but huge congratulations to our team for representing our school so brilliantly.

The week ended with our Black History focus day and the children have really enjoyed learning about influential figures from the past such as Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole and more recently, Mae Jemison. We hope you enjoyed seeing the children’s work during our extended open-door session at the end of the day today.

This week we also shared details of how to book a parents evening meeting with your child’s teacher, so please remember to book a time for either Tuesday 22nd or Wednesday 23rd October. We hope you can make it, but should you not be able to make one of these days, please speak to the teacher directly and every effort will be made to meet you at a different time.

Next week, it’s a little quieter although we do have Nite owls visiting Year 2 on Monday, a Year 1 parent phonics workshop and visit to a phonics lesson on Tuesday and a fantastic Black History Month focused author assembly on Friday to look forward to - Never a dull moment at Hamstel Infants.

Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday!

Scott Roche

Principal

Nursery

This week Nursery have enjoyed listening to the story ‘The Train Ride’. We have been answering questions about what happened in the story. The children have enjoyed sharing their experience of going on a train. We made a train outside, the children made tickets for where they wanted to go on the train.

We have been learning about different modes of transport.

In Maths we have been looking at objects and sorting which of these are the same and which objects were different.

The children enjoyed moving and mark making in response to The Locomotion song.

Outdoor Learning FRIDAY

Please ensure that your child has named boots at school.

It is very muddy in wildlife area so please send your child in wearing shoes as we will change them into their boots. Thank you

Letters sent home this week

Whole School - Internet Safety - 07.10.2024

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week the children have been busy learning about things that can float and sink, smooth and hard, full and empty, we have continued with the story 'Shark in the Park' the children are enjoying role playing, learning about the different things that we may see in a park and all around us. The children have made some lovely artwork using different materials and media, they have been learning about sharks, and different animals that we might find around us. The children have continued with pencil control, cvc words, phonics and number work. It has been a very busy week with swimming. Friday was dedicated to learning about the five senses, we had a tuff tray of assortments where the children were able to touch, feel, hear, smell and taste. We also hid some sharks around the classroom and the children had to find them!

This week letters: All letter families

Numbers: additions up to 10 subtractions up to 6 (according to child's abilities)

Starlight

This week we have continued reading ‘Shark in the Park.’ The children made their own telescopes using cardboard tubes and we have thought about what other things Timothy may have seen through his telescope. We used pictures from the story to write a list of things that he could see.

In PSHE we have been learning about sharing and why sharing is important. We spoke about how sharing/not sharing makes other people feel.

We had two swimming sessions this week. The children listened well to the swimming instructors; they used a noodle and kicked their legs, and of course, we saw some lovely star floats! It was great to see the children trying hard to dress independently after the swimming lesson.

How to help at home:

• Continue to share your child’s reading books and library book with them.
• Continue to look for numbers in the environment and encourage your child to represent these numbers on their fingers.

Reception Year

This week our theme has been ‘Up, Up and Away!’. We have been reading ‘Wishing for a Dragon’ and learning about transport in the air. In history we have been learning to describe how aeroplanes have changed over time. In writing we have been writing a list of items that we would like to take on a hot air ballon ride.

In PSHE we have been learning about why it is important to take turns and share resources. In handwriting we have been learning to write the long-legged giraffe letters l and i.

In Science we have continued our learning about floating and sinking, thinking about why some objects float and why some sink. In DT we have enjoyed following our designs to make our boats out of junk modelling materials.

In Maths we have been learning about groups of 2, 3 and 4 objects and how we can make up these groups e.g 3 is made up of 3 one’s.

How to help at home

Handwriting: Practise writing l and i, remember to start at the top.

Reading: continue to listen to your child read their book and share their library book.

RWI: Practise the sounds in the Speedy Sounds Books as well as joining in with the virtual classroom videos.

Maths: Make groups of objects with total 2, 3 and 4

Outdoor Learning next week

• Owl: Monday
• Peacock: Tuesday
• Woodpecker: Wednesday
• Kingfisher: Thursday

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Internet Safety - 07.10.2024

Year One

This week we have been continuing with the story ‘Here comes Mr Postmouse’. We drew our own imaginary houses and wrote some noun phrases to describe them. In our big write we used this vocabulary to write some descriptive sentences.

In Maths we have been consolidating our learning in addition to 10. We have been making our own number stories and finding the answer. We have also been looking at picture problems.

In Science we have been continuing to look at our senses, we explored things to touch and feel, herbs and spices to smell and we tasted lemon and syrup. We discussed some vocabulary to explain how things smelt, tasted and felt.

Year 1 have also enjoyed swimming sessions this week. The children have shown great resilience and perseverance, and we are very proud of them. Well Done!

REMINDER:Year 1 Phonics Workshop and watch a phonics lesson: Tuesday 15th October at 9am in the school hall.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Internet Safety - 07.10.2024

Year Two

In Year 2 the children have enjoyed their last swimming lessons and a week with some time learning in the Wildlife Area. In the Wildlife Area we have been developing our scientific skills by working as a team to create a ‘choice chamber’ for some minibeasts. The boxes had 4 different areas in which the children thought about the features that might make a good habitat or not for example an area that was dark and damp and an area that was not. The children then observe which area the minibeasts chose and why. The children discussed their findings with their friends in class.

In Literacy the children have enjoyed learning the first verse of the classic nonsense poem ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’. The children then planned their own versions of the poem by changing the animals, musical instrument and the type of boat. The children then wrote their changed verse with their chosen animals, thinking about the organisation of the poem. The year 2 children came up with some exciting and new ideas and wrote some great versions of the poem.

In Maths the children have been further consolidating their knowledge and skills of addition when adding a 2-digit number without renaming. The children have also had time to apply their knowledge to problem solving.

The children have also enjoyed an immersive Black History Day learning about Rosa Parks, using the Rosa Parks Little People, Big Dreams to inform us of some key events in her life and why she is significant person in history. The children put some events of her life on a timetable and discussed some of these using language such as past, now, long time ago. The children also explored some artwork by Jacob Lawrence who is a painter known for African American historical subjects. The children discussed some of his artwork and the colours and shapes used, then created their own story telling piece of art using different shapes. In Music the children listen to and discussed some music by Aretha Franklin, they thought about the style of music and how it made them feel.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Internet Safety - 07.10.2024
• Year 2 - Nite Owls - 07.10.2024

Fire Safety

Whether it’s during a major event like bonfire night or simply while using a heater on a chilly day, fire safety is a vitally important topic on which to educate children and young people. One mistake with fireworks, electronics or open flames can have catastrophic consequences: damage to property, serious injury or even worse.

As parents and educators, it's vital that we teach the children in our care how to protect themselves around fire and flammable materials in a mature and responsible manner. This guide offers expert advice on how to educate children and young people on fire safety, detailing what precautions can be taken to keep them as safe as possible when exposed to fire-related dangers.

Online Safety

Fortnite is a game well-known for its popularity with younger players, as well as its many different modes and expansions intended to keep the experience fresh for long-time fans. One such addition has been LEGO Fortnite – a kind of “survival mode” where players take control of LEGO characters, craft tools, and build structures in a manner similar to the toy set of the same name.

While the content of LEGO Fortnite has been rated as suitable for children of 7 and older in the UK, it – like any online game – carries inherent safety concerns. For this reason, parents and educators should consider keeping themselves apprised of any potential dangers posed to children who enjoy this title. This guide offers plenty of insight into the most prominent risks associated with this title, and lets you know how to ensure children can safely enjoy their time with this expansion.

Extra Second-Hand Uniform Sales added due to popular demand.

Our lovely PTA have signed us up for Asda Rewards Cash Pot - if you usually shop there please consider adding Hamstel Infant School so we can have a chance at some extra funds.

How does Asda Cashpot work?

Asda's new Cashpot for Schools initiative has raised almost £1million for UK primary schools in its first 72 hours. The industry first campaign sees Asda donate 0.5% of the value of its customers shopping to a primary school of their choice – every time they shop using Asda Rewards.

For full details on how to use this Reward Scheme follow the link to Asda

Messages from the Office

Parent Meetings - Now Live for Bookings

A letter with full details came out this week about booking to see your child's class teacher. Please check your email or the Communication section on your ParentPay account.

School Tours for Reception September 2025

If you or anyone you know has a child who is starting school next September, please let them know we have our school tours available for bookings.