Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News

Nursery

Welcome back! The children back into Nursery life well. Our NELI story this week has been ‘Toby and the tricky things’. We have talked about what we find that is tricky to do. In the garden the children have enjoyed looking for signs of spring. In Maths we have been learning to use our fingers to show quantities to 5. How to help at home NELI special words:  pour, tricky, big/small, by yourself.   Maths:  Say a number and the children are to show that number of fingers - for example 2 and the children show 2 fingers etc. Nursery rhyme of the week: 

Friday 6th March: Share a book open door Starfish morning – 11.00am Starfish afternoon – 12. 00pm Seahorse – 2.30pm  

Letters sent home this week

• Nursery - Spring Events - 26.02.2026
• Nursery - Spring KIRFs
• Nursery Spring 2 Overview
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Meetings - 24.02.2026

Reception

This week we have started our new theme Journeys and been reading the book ‘Duck in the Truck’. In writing we have been writing words and sentences about the characters and events in the story. This half term we will be focusing on writing dictated sentences and moving onto writing our own sentences. In PSHE we have been learning some simple rules when using technology. In PE we started our new unit learning to use our feet to move balls and this week we have started to explore different ways to move a ball with our feet. Our scissor skills focus this week has been to cut around basic shapes with more precision. In maths we have been learning to use more and fewer than to describe quantities.  In handwriting we have been recapping the curly caterpillar letters, focusing on the letters that we are still finding tricky! In outdoor learning we have been learning to use a potato peeler and have been peeling a variety of sticks. We have also been learning about some of the signs of spring and seeing if we can find them in the wildlife garden.   How to help at home NELI special words: friend, family, mine, yours. Handwriting: 

Maths: Use toys to make two groups. Which group has more and which group has fewer than? Nursery rhyme of the week:

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parents Meeting - 24.02.2026
• Reception - Spring 2 Overview

Rainbow

Welcome Back! The children came back ready to step right back into learning, it has been a good week with lots of ground covered.  The children have been learning about being kind, helpful and considerate of others and saying thank you. The book we have been reading is 'Duck in the Truck'. The children have enjoyed making some fantastic artwork and learning some new vocabulary.   The children have been revising and recapping last terms topics, and added new ones with prepositions, one more one less, tens frames, new sounds and cvc words. We have been looking at ways of working together in small groups, collaborative work, helping peers, and sharing.  It has been a busy week for the children and can say they have been fantastic displaying focus and dedication with their work.   

Year 1

Welcome back! We hope you had a lovely half term break! This week in literacy we have been focussing on the use of ‘because’ in a sentence. We read the story ‘Whatever Next!’ and made a list of some of the things we might like to take to space. Using our lists we wrote sentences using ‘because’ to explain why.  In maths we have been learning to count up to 40 by grouping in tens. We worked practically using the dienes to work out how many tens and ones for a given number up to 40. We also practising writing numbers to 40 in numbers and words.  In history we looked at a significant figure from the past – Neil Armstrong. We learned about the important moments of his life and created a timeline. 

Outdoor Learning next week; 

• Monday - Dragonfly
• Tuesday - Duck
• Wednesday - Heron
• Friday – Newt

  Only this week due to World Book Day on Thursday    Library Visits next week;

• Tuesday – Dragonfly and Newt
• Friday – Duck and Heron

Letters sent home this week

• Year 1 - Spring Events - 25.02.2026 ​
• Whole School - Teacher Parents Meeting - 24.02.2026
• Year 1 - Spring 2 Overview
• Year 1 - Home Challenges​

Year 2

Welcome back!   This week, the children have been learning about prepositions. They collected exciting and interesting vocabulary and used it to write detailed character descriptions about dragons. The children loved discovering new words and produced some fantastic writing. In maths, we have begun learning about pictograms and how to use data to answer questions. The children are developing their confidence in interpreting information carefully. We have also started our new history topic. The children have been learning about the features of castles and what life was like in the past. This learning will link nicely with our upcoming visit to Colchester Castle.  

Monday 2nd March Colchester Castle trip – Fox and Hedgehog class. If you have chosen a home packed lunch option please remember to bring this in with your child. Children should arrive at school for 8.30am on Monday.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parents Meeting - 24.02.2026
• Year 2 - Spring 2 Overview
• Year 2 - Home Challenges

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

Do you or someone you know have a child turning 3 years old before 1st September 2026? We are now starting our admissions and have tours available.

Book soon as some dates are already fully booked.

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

Course for Carers of children aged 0-25 years with SEND.

A six-week programme to support the health and wellbeing of carers. It is free and more information and registration is through Eventbrite.     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ssif-6-week-healthy-parent-carer-programme-tickets-1976576391194?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl