Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News

Excitement has filled our classrooms this week as the Happy Chicks arrived and we watched eleven pure white eggs hatch into adorable, fluffy chicks! Over the first couple of days, the children carefully observed the eggs, learning about the incubation process and what chicks needed to grow and thrive. The moment the first cracks appeared brought great anticipation, and soon enough, all eleven chicks had made their way into the world—each one greeted with smiles and amazement as the children watched on our very own ‘chick cam’. The children have loved watching the chicks become more active each day, noticing how they move, eat, and interact with one another. We can’t wait to see what next week brings! Today, has been extremely busy…..not only has our school been a sea of red as we celebrated Comic Relief but our choir also took part in the Infant Music Festival. This event is a wonderful celebration of music to build expression, confidence, and early music development and this year was no different as our children enjoyed exploring a variety of sounds using simple percussion instruments and sang familiar songs. The choir have been rehearsing hard and it was especially heart-warming to hear how confidently they performed on the stage. A big thank you to Mrs Stubbington for preparing the children so well for this great experience and to all the parents that went along to support. We look forward to many more musical moments ahead! Alongside our music celebrations, our children also enjoyed a series of engaging poetry workshops today designed to spark imagination and a love for language. Through playful activities, the children explored rhythm, rhyme, and storytelling in a fun and accessible way before bringing all of the day’s fun to a conclusion in a poetry-based assembly! Finally, Team Hamstel were also in action as six of our intrepid gymnasts headed off to a gymnastics event in Leigh on Sea. Throughout the event they showed fantastic dedication, determination, and teamwork and their hard work and enthusiasm shone through. A full report will follow but well done to the team for representing the school so wonderfully. Next week is obviously the last week of the spring term and we have many more exciting things going on, as well as lots of opportunities for parents to come into school…. On Thursday 26th Nursery will be doing their Easter crafts with parents and our Reception relatives are invited for afternoon tea. On Tuesday and Wednesday, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, as our fabulous Year 1s take to the stage for their eagerly awaited spring show. The children can’t wait to perform for their families! And finally…Year 2 bring the week to a close when they have their own Royal banquet on Friday afternoon to round up their castle themed work. It promises to be great fun! Have a fabulous weekend and we will see you bright and early on Monday morning for the last week of term. Scott Roche   Principal

Reception Parents Our Reception team are working very hard to set up the outdoor learning garden for the children to use each day. Unfortunately, we have had some recent cases where equipment that has been set up for the children to use has either been moved or broken. Please can we respectfully ask that children are not allowed to play with or on any of the equipment as this disrupts the learning for the day. Thank you for your cooperation. 

Weekly Celebrations!

There was no celebration assembly today as we had our poetry assembly instead – however, children were celebrated in their classrooms instead and we will return to normal service for our last celebration assembly of the term next week.

 Attendance

Our attendance was hit hard this week as we saw lots of bugs, sickness and common childhood illnesses take us well below our 95% target.   Get well soon if you’ve been unwell this week and we hope to see you back again next week!

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Competitions - Spring 1 Diary Dates - Nursery - Reception

Rainbow & Starlight - Year 1 - Year 2 - Lunch Menu - PTA - Messages from the Office

Spring 2 Diary Dates - Community

Competitions

Nursery

This week our NELI story has been ‘When a dragon goes to school’. We have been talking about our Nursery Day and how similar it is to the Dragons. The children enjoyed outdoor learning, especially looking for signs of spring and having the opportunity to explore our lovely wildlife area. In maths our focus has been measuring and comparing objects by their size. In the garden the children have enjoyed making up their own races and saying ‘Ready Steady Go!’ How to help at home NELI Special words: share, wrap, begin, kind. Nursery Rhyme: The Grand old Duke of York.

REMINDERS: Nursery Easter Crafts Thursday 26th March Starfish AM - 8.50-9.20 am Seahorse and Starfish PM 2.20-2.50 pm It will be lovely to see you all.  

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Foodbank Donations - 17.03.2026

Reception

This week we have been reading the book ‘Whatever Next!’ and writing about the items that we would like to space.  In PSHE we have been learning that different strengths and interests are needed to do different jobs. In PE we have learning to understand where to dribble the ball and why.  In fine motor we have been learning to cross the midline by placing objects on one side and using our opposite hand to move them to the other side. In maths we have been investigating ways to make 7 with two parts and using our fingers to make and describe 7 as 5 and 2 more.  In outdoor learning we have been turning our peeled stick into a character as well as building a den for our character. We have also been exploring objects that float and sink and testing the boats we made last week to find out if they float or sink.   How to help at home NELI Special words: front, back, through, opposite, aeroplane, plane, fly, holiday, carry, suitcase, rucksack, luggage. Handwriting:  

Nursery rhyme of the week: Five little men in a flying saucer - BBC Teach Maths: Number bonds to 7 | Reception maths | addition - BBC Bitesize

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Foodbank Donations - 17.03.2026

Starlight

Starlight

We’ve had a fantastic week, and the children have worked incredibly hard across all areas of their learning. In English, the children created their own word banks to describe an imaginary dragon. They then used these ideas to write detailed descriptions. We were so impressed with their creativity—some dragons had mysterious smells, while others were as tall as a skyscraper! It was wonderful to see such imaginative thinking. In maths, we have been learning about money, focusing on pounds and pence. The children practised recognising coins and counting different amounts, building their confidence with real-life maths skills. In science, we have begun our topic on plants. The children have been identifying and describing the basic structure of plants, including roots, stems, leaves, and flowers. In PSHE, we discussed the importance of keeping personal information private and how to stay safe by not sharing important details with others. In music, we continued exploring body percussion. The children used their hands, mouths, and feet to create rhythms and accompany short pieces of music—lots of energy and fun!  

REMINDER: Outdoor Learning on Monday. Please dress your child in appropriate clothing and provide a change to clothes too. Thank you.

Year 1

This week we have been reading ‘Something Different’. We read the story and looked at some of the alien creatures. We designed and drew our own aliens and created a word bank that including its appearance and personality. We used this to help us write a character description about our aliens.  In maths we have begun looking at addition and subtraction word problems. We have been looking at the vocabulary that helps us work out if it is an addition or subtraction sum. We have been doing lots of show practise to get ready for our grown-ups next week! We are very excited to show you all what we have been working on!   

REMINDERS: Show next week;

• Tuesday – Duck and Dragonfly families are invited to enjoy the Year 1 show
• Wednesday – Heron and Newt families are invited to enjoy the Year 1 show

  Outdoor learning next week Please come in as normal for this, even if it is a show day. Children will get changed into their costumes in the classroom and then back into their outdoor learning clothes. 

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Foodbank Donations - 17.03.2026

Year 2

This week in reading, we explored the story 'Tell Me a Dragon'. The children designed and wrote about their own dragons, consolidating their use of rich vocabulary and developing their descriptive writing skills. It has been wonderful to see their creativity and imagination. In maths, the children have begun learning about money. They have been recognising different coins and notes and practising how to calculate totals. We have also had some very exciting news in school! The chicks have arrived! We now have 11 baby chicks, and the children have been excited to go and visit them and watch them hatch!

 REMINDER: Banquet Day - Friday 27th March. Please come dressed up! See class windows for further details. 

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Foodbank Donations - 17.03.2026

Support Our School with Easyfundraising!

Our PTA is using Easyfundraising to help raise money for our school and you can help too, simply by doing your everyday shopping online! It’s completely free to use and takes just a minute to get started.

1. 🛒 Here’s how it works: Visit our fundraising page here
2. Click “Support this cause” and create your free account.
3. Start your online shopping at your favourite retailers (like Amazon, Argos, Tesco, M&S, Just Eat and many more!).
4. The retailer sends us a free donation at no extra cost to you!

It’s an easy way to support our school while doing what you’re already doing online. Every penny raised goes directly towards enriching the learning experience for our children from new equipment and resources to fun events and activities. Please take a moment to sign up and share the link with friends and family too!

Messages from the Office

Parking around the school

Have you spotted unsafe, illegal and inconsiderate parking near to the school at drop off and collection times? As a citizen if you see problem or illegal parking you can report this - the link for Southend Council is here Report a Parking Problem and the link for Essex Police is here Report antisocial behaviour | Essex Police

Arbor Hints and Tips

How to make a payment towards the Enrichment Events:

1. The payment item can be found on your child’s main profile page under ‘Quick Actions’, ‘Trips’, choose this option.
2. You will see a section 'Trips Open to (your child's name), choose School Enrichment Events.
3. Now you can view the information and on the right hand side of the page is a 'Sign up ....' button, choose this option.
4. The cost for the Spring Term events your child will be taking part in is £6.00, increase the amount to pay to this figure or you can also choose to pay the full amount.
5. You can now choose to 'Add to basket' - use this option if there are other items you want to pay for in one total transaction.
6. Or choose 'Make Payment'. You will then be asked to add your card details and confirm the payment.

If you are unable to make payments using the system after following these steps please contact the school office.

Breakfast and After School Club

To change or cancel Breakfast or After School Club you need to contact the office. Parents are unable to change/amend their own bookings. If your child is booked into After School Club or Breakfast Club, it will show on their calendar in Arbor, including the session i.e SHORT, FULL, LATE. A full week view can be seen by clicking the blue arrow in the ‘Calendar’ tab.

Are you eligible for tax-free childcare? This can be used to pay for wraparound care at our setting. Please see the information below.

Community