Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 20th September 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

It was a very busy second full week at Hamstel Infants, as the children successfully continued to settle back into our routines and expectations around school.

This week it was great to welcome our EYFS parents into school for the first of our Healthy Schools workshops. We hope you found the information interesting and useful and that it has given you a better understanding of our school’s role in keeping our children healthy. A big thank you to all the parents and carers that came along, to all of the different professionals who gave their support and time and especially to Miss Golding, our healthy schools coordinator, for organising the event.

Next week is our multicultural week in school, where each year group will be learning about a different country, finding out about their culture, their food and comparing their lives with ours. The week also includes our Harvest Festival celebrations and our whole school Harvest Assembly.

Also next week, we would like to invite our Year 2 parents into school for our maths workshops on Wednesday 25th September. There will be sessions at 9:00am and 2:15pm in the hall, so please come along if you can.

Thank you to those parents who have already shown an interest in being part of our Parent Council. Don’t forget if you would like to get involved, to register your name with the school office and we will be in touch shortly.

Just a further date to save in your diaries…we have our first parent’s evenings of the new academic year on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd October. This is a great chance for you to speak to the teacher and find out how your child has settled in this first half term. More details will follow but please try and attend if you can – we hope to see you there.

I hope the children really enjoy next week’s learning and that you all have a great weekend.

We look forward to seeing you again on Monday morning.

Scott Roche

Principal

Nursery

The children are settling well into the Nursery routine. We have introduced our theme of ‘Journeys’ with our story of ‘Ten Little Pirates’. We looked at the different types of weather in the story. In Maths we have introduced our ‘Days of the week’ Song and counting to five. In PSHE we have been establishing the Nursery routine and naming body parts.

Tapestry has been set up, you should have received an activation email. Any problems please speak with a member of staff.

REMINDER: Outdoor learning - Friday 27th September – Please bring your children in clothes suitable for the weather and a coat.

If you haven’t could you please bring in named wellington boots thank you.

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week the children have listened to the story 'We`re going on a bear hunt', they have enjoyed making all the sounds, and actions to the story, and role playing in the garden with mud, water and a scary bear in a cave! We have continued with pencil control, number work and subitising up to 5. letter writing and cvc words, turn taking games and puzzles. The children have created some amazing artwork, a cave, handprints made into bears and a river out of tissue paper.

Please continue practicing numbers and letters at home. reading a book, talking about the story and labelling pictures.

Letters: Curly Caterpillar Family

Numbers: ordering 1 to 10(20/30) Subitising to 5 (10) counting backwards from 5. (10) (according to child's ability)

REMINDERS: Reading books will be changed every Friday beginning this week.

Please make sure books are in bags on Friday Thank you.

Starlight

This week we have continued reading ‘Going on a Bear Hunt.’ The children have been looking at the settings in the story and writing words or captions to describe the settings. We have been busy creating the scenes using different materials, such as paint, paper and glue.

In Maths, we have practised counting on from a number and have been finding one more than a given number.

How to help at home:

Reading: please can you share/listen to your child read and make a note in their reading record books.

Maths: practise counting with your child, e.g. how many buttons on their coat, how many stairs when climbing the stairs. Looking for and recognising numbers when out and about, e.g. house numbers, numbers on number plates.

Reception Year

This week we have started our theme ‘Journeys’ with reading ‘Once there were Giants’ and learning about the journey from being a baby to joining big school. We have been describing how the girl in the story changes throughout the story. In history we have been learning to use time words to describe and sequence events from the story.

In PSHE we have been learning to talk about different emotions and feelings. We have learnt about the zones of regulation and made our lolly sticks that we can use to show which zone we are in.

In handwriting we have been learning to write dots, straight lines and crosses. We have been introduced to the P Checks rhyme to make sure we are all ready for handwriting. In Writing we have been learning to give meaning to our marks by drawing a picture of our families and talking about the people in the picture. In science we have learning the identify and name our body parts and facial features. In art we have been learning how to hold a pencil effectively to draw a self-portrait. In music we have been learning the nursery rhyme Pat a Cake.

In maths we have been continuing with our daily maths meetings, learning the songs as well as counting forwards and backwards, identifying numbers and days of the week.

Thank you to all the grown-ups who joined us for our Healthy School workshop. We hope that you found the workshop informative and enjoyed spending time with your child.

How to help at home

Reading: continue to listen to your child read at least 5 times a week.

RWI phonics: encourage your child to join in with QR codes for the RWI Virtual Classroom.

Maths: count forwards and backwards to 10.

Handwriting: encourage your child to draw dots, lines and crosses:

Upcoming Events

Baby Photos - For an activity in class next week we would be grateful if your child could bring a photo of themselves as a baby into school ready for Wednesday 25th. Please write your child's name on the back of the photo.

Please don't send in any special or precious photos/frames, a simple small photo or photocopy of one will do perfectly.

Outdoor Learning next week

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

PE to start next week

Multicultural week open door: Friday 27th September 3pm

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Multicultural Week & Harvest Festival - 19.09.2024
• Whole School - Harvest Appeal Poste​r
• Reception - Reception Baseline Assessment - 17.09.2024
• Reception - Reception Baseline information Booklet - 17.09.2024
• Whole School - Class Dojo Platform - 16.09.2024​
• Whole School - School Attendance - 13.09.2024

Year One

This week as part of our Geography topic we have enjoyed a local area walk. We went on a walk around the block spotting physical and human features. Back in the classroom the children made a simple map, plotting their route and marking their findings along the way.

In literacy we have been reading ‘The Bog Baby’ by Jeanne Willis. We have been learning about what an adjective is and have been working hard to include some descriptive words in our sentences. In our big write we have been writing a setting description from the story.

In maths we have been looking at 1 more and 1 less and smaller and greater numbers. We have been working practically with tens frames and have been learning how to use our maths books some more now that we are in Year 1.

IN PE we have been continuing our work on running and gymnastics.

REMINDER: Multicultural week open door: Friday 27th September 3pm

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Multicultural Week & Harvest Festival - 19.09.2024
• Whole School - Harvest Appeal Poster
• Whole School - Class Dojo Platform - 16.09.2024
• Year 1 - EasiMaths - 12.09.2024
• Whole School - School Attendance - 13.09.2024

Year Two

It’s been another busy week in Year 2 with our learning in the classroom and outside in the Wildlife Area too! The children have had a great time putting their scientific minds to the test as they explored micro-habitats in the wildlife garden. The children have learnt and discovered first-hand that micro-habitats are homes to the smaller creatures that live amongst us. We have found homes to spiders, woodlice, worms, beetles and much more! We have learnt what types of places these creatures like for them home e.g. under a log or stone, or amongst leaves and plants. The children have also learnt about what makes a good home for these creatures, why not ask them and see if they can remember?

In Literacy the children have been working hard developing their knowledge and understanding further about diary entries. We have used the story Alice in Wonderland and learning last week about Alice as a character to write a simple diary entry in the voice of Alice. We have sequenced events from the story to help us organise our ideas and structure our writing. The children have written some brilliant diary entries in character role thinking hard about their adjectives for description and time conjunctions to signal the events e.g. first, then, next.

In Maths, we have continued with unit of work that is all about numbers to 100. We have continued to build on our learning and counting on in steps of 2, 5, 10 and 3 from any number counting forwards and backwards. This has challenged our thinking in applying what we know about numbers and patterns. Why not practise counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s at home and starting from different numbers, forwards and backwards?

In RE we have been thinking about Christians and what they believe using the stem sentence ‘Christians believe....’ to help us articulate our knowledge. The children have recorded their thoughts in simple sentences in their books.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Multicultural Week & Harvest Festival - 19.09.2024
• Whole School - Harvest Appeal Poster
• Year 2 - Fox, Badger & Squirrel - Hyde Hall Letter - 17.09.2024
• Year 2 - Hedgehog & Otter Hyde Hall Letter - 17.09.2024
• Whole School - Class Dojo Platform - 16.09.2024
• Year 2 - EasiMaths - 11.09.2024
• Whole School - School Attendance - 13.09.2024

Celebration Assembly - Enthusiasm & Determination

This weeks value has been 'Enthusiasm & Determination', below are highlights from around the classes.

Online Safety

With most children today having access to their own tablets, phones, computers and other devices, it’s vitally important that parents and educators know how to keep young people protected while using them. Between targeted adverts, age-inappropriate content, and other online safety concerns, it can sometimes feel overwhelming to keep on top of.

Parental controls, present on most devices and several apps, can make this job significantly easier – but a certain amount of knowledge is required to use them effectively. This free online safety guide will provide you with the information you need to activate and maintain parental controls on children and young people’s devices.

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

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.