Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 7th february 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

Another ‘eggciting’ time at Hamstel Infants as the chick related learning has continued a pace this week. The chicks themselves have thrived and the children have enjoyed seeing how they have grown so quickly and are already developing their wing feathers. They have become much more lively this week and have outgrown their various boxes at speed. We waved goodbye to them today as they move on to pastures new but it has certainly been a lovely experience for the children. Our media team have created a fabulous report for you to read and some of the work the children have produced off the back of their experiences has been absolutely brilliant. Thank you for all your donations that allow these events to happen in our school, we literally couldn’t do it without you!

Aside of our chick fun, our Year 2s have continued to enjoy their visits to Holy Trinity church. It’s been great for the children to experience this fascinating old building with all its features and they have learnt a lot by seeing this for themselves.

We ended the week by holding an ‘inside out’ themed dress down day in recognition of Children’s Mental Health week. Whilst always good fun, this event also had an important message around encouraging children to recognise and understand all of the different emotions that life brings us.

Next week we are looking forward to welcoming Year 2 parents on Tuesday to see our ‘Number in Mastery’ sessions in action. While on Thursday, it’s one of our Spring term highlights as we hold our Reception Relative’s Afternoon Tea. We hope to see you there!

On Wednesday, we are also holding one of our important Parent Council meetings, where we get to discuss plans for the future and get feedback on the year so far. If you are able to volunteer an hour each half term and would like to be a part of this vital forum, please get in touch.

It seems hard to believe that we are nearly at half term already, but we still have another busy week ahead so we look forward to seeing you bright and early on Monday morning.

Have a great weekend.

Scott Roche

Principal

REMINDER

After School Club and Breakfast Club

Due to growing numbers in both our breakfast club and After School Club, we are now nearing capacity in both. It is therefore, vital that all places are booked and paid for on ParentPay BEFORE attending the club to avoid disappointment on the day. Thank you for your cooperation.

Nursery

This week the children have enjoyed reading ‘The Magic Porridge Pot’ story. We have enjoyed designing our own magic pot and making a pot using clay.

In Maths we have been learning about capacity, using the words ‘full’, ‘empty’ and ‘nearly full’ to describe the contents of their container. The children also had the opportunity to create their own potions!

In PSHE we have been learning about different digital devices and the internet. The children have also been taking part in different activities for Children’s mental Health Week. We have been thinking about different emotions and how they make us feel.

We have also been practising drawing wavy lines.

REMINDER:

• Starfish sessions start at 8.30am and 12.00pm
• Seahorse session starts at 9.00am and finishes at 3.00pm

Please ensure that your child has a complete set of spare clothes at Nursery and please return any borrowed clothes Thankyou.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Children's Mental Health Week - 30.01.2025

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week's story is 'The Little Red Hen' It's a lovely story about friends, loyalty and sharing. The children have enjoyed listening to the story and we have looked at different ways of sharing and caring. The children have continued with their RWI learning, this week we have been looking at 'special friends'.

We have been exploring different ways of using materials, what can be made out of wood, plastic etc. The children have enjoyed doing a handprint of a hen and liked playing with coloured feathers.

This week:

CVC words:

RWI:

Maths: additions/counting up to a certain number/writing formation/stopping at a certain number/partitions/more or less.

Starlight

We had Outdoor Learning on Monday. The children loved exploring; they found pictures of birds hiding in the trees and shrubbery. They also enjoyed digging in the mud.

This week we shared the story of' Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. We made a bears’ den in the classroom for the children to explore. The children used adjectives to describe Goldilocks’ appearance and personality, which they used to write a wanted poster – the bears were not happy with the damage she’d caused!

In PSHE we have been learning how to care for people and animals. The children used role play to care for poorly animals at the vets, using bandages, thermometers and giving injections.

In cooking, the children followed instructions to make jam on toast. We practiced our spreading and cutting skills.

Reception Year

This week we have continued learning about Goldilocks and discovered that Goldilocks had eaten all the porridge in our role play areas! We have written Wanted Posters to help us find Goldilocks, so she can clear up all the mess that she has made!

In PSHE we have started our unit on Media Literacy and Digital Resilience by learning about different digital devices and the internet.

In Maths we have been learning to use more than and fewer than to describe quantities and that the words equal number can be used to say when there is the same number of items in 2 sets. In shape, space and measure we have been building squares and rectangles by combining two or more shapes.

How to help at home:

Maths:

• Say when two sets are equal
• Use the words more than or fewer than to describes set of objects
• Make squares and rectangles

Handwriting: Continue to practise the curly caterpillar letters, focusing on a and d, remembering to start at 1 o’clock.

REMINDER: Thursday 13th February at 2.30pm: Relative’s Afternoon Tea

Letters sent home this week

• Kingfisher - Special Afternoon - 05.02.2025
• Owl - Special Afternoon - 05.02.2025
• Peacock - Special Afternoon - 05.02.2025
• Woodpecker - Special Afternoon - 05.02.2025

Year One

Year 1 have been working hard this week exploring the text ‘The Extraordinary Gardener’. The children have been discussing the setting in the story, describing it with lots of lovely descriptive language with their friends. The children have also been writing some fantastic sentences to describe the setting in the book using some adjectives and ‘and’ to join their ideas together.

In Maths the children have been exploring numbers up to 40 by comparing them. We have been teaching the children to look at the tens number first to decide which number is more or less and thinking about why. We have encouraged the children to say how they know by using stem sentences such as ____ has ____ tens and ____ones. ____ is ____ more than ____. This structure helps the children explain their understanding.

The children been developing their D&T projects, focussing on developing their sewing skills. They have been exploring the running to stitch to join two pieces of fabric together. By the end of their project will have made a plush product of a weather symbol.

This week's spelling pattern: ea / ee alternative

Common Exception Words:

Don’t forget to practise this spelling pattern in your home spelling book to get your stamp at the end of next week.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Infant Music Festival - 05.02.2025

Year Two

Well, it’s been another busy week in Year 2! The children have continued to enjoy observing and checking in on the chicks, which are growing fast and very fluffy! In the classroom the children have learnt more knowledge about the life cycle of a chick by exploring the different stages from egg to hen. They have looked at a simple diagram and then written some great factual sentences to explain about each stage. Through our research and writing tasks the children built on their scientific vocabulary too. The children produced some very informative fact files demonstrating all their knowledge.

In Maths the children have revisited some previous learning which included, counting in steps 2, 5, and 10, comparing and ordering numbers to 100 and some problem solving. Why not, continue practise counting in patterns of 2’s, 5’s and 10’s at home or own your way to school linking it to the times tables.

Otter and Badger class enjoyed their visits to Holy Trinity Church and were incredibly well behaved, making their class teachers very proud!

Next Week don’t forget to pop along a little bit earlier on Tuesday 11th February at 2.45pm to watch a Number in Mastery lesson. It’s a great insight into the ways explore maths fluency.

This week's spelling pattern:

Adding the suffix –ed (ending with two consonants)

Don’t forget to practise this spelling pattern in your home spelling book to get your stamp at the end of next week.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Infant Music Festival - 05.02.2025

Online Safety

While misinformation and ‘fake news’ are well-known concerns online, it's also the case that scammers and other cyber-criminals can try to utilise this phony material to manipulate, frighten or otherwise persuade their victims into cooperating.

With constantly evolving scams and such a high volume of misinformation online, it's vital that parents and educators know how to safeguard the children in their care against these kinds of tactics. Our guide breaks down the most prominent ways in which scammers attempt to use ‘fake news’ to their advantage, as well as how to protect youngsters from being manipulated by such techniques.

Messages from the Office

Nursery Admissions for September 2025

Do you or someone you know have a child who will be 3 years old by 31/08/2025? If so, you may be interested to know that we will soon be taking applications.

We are pleased to announce that we are offering tours of our Nursery to prospective parents who may wish their child to start with us in September. Some of the dates are already fully booked, so don't delay!

Application packs will be available from the school office from Monday 3rd March.