Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 24th january 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

A much calmer week this week but one where our children have continued to be brilliant around the changes to their normal daily routines.

It was great to welcome Year 1 parents into school today to view our ‘Number in Mastery’ lessons. We hope it gave you a good insight into how we teach early Maths and the focus we put into ensuring that our children have the best chance to develop their confidence, fluency and understanding of number that is so crucial to future success in maths.

Our Year 2s began their local church visits this week. Always a favourite on the Hamstel calendar, Fox & Squirrel classes enjoyed their time exploring this fascinating building and seeing the features that they learn about in class, up close in real life. Thanks to the staff at Holy Trinity for their continued support.

Next week we have the happy chicks being delivered on Monday which is really exciting for the children! They are going to be set up in their own special room (appropriately yellow coloured) and children will get to visit them across their time with us, to see for themselves, the hatching and growth process that the chicks go through. Our special ‘Chick-Cam’ will ensure that nobody misses any of the action should it happen outside of school hours.

Please note that the previously advertised Reception phonics and writing workshops scheduled for next week have been postponed due to our hall remaining out of action. These will take place at a later date in the term.

As I am sure you already know we are going to be taking part in ‘Waddle on Sea’ this Summer, where we will design and paint our own penguin sculpture. The children have already been set the challenge of creating our design but we also need to fundraise to pay for our sculpture, with all of the proceeds going to support the brilliant work of Havens Hospice in Southend. With that in mind, we will be holding a ‘black and white’ dress up day on Friday 28th February and we are also reaching out to local businesses to see if they would like to help us by sponsorship, donation of prizes etc in turn for some advertising space on our newsletters, social media pages etc. If anyone has any contacts or knows any businesses that might be interested in supporting us, please email the school office on office@his.porticoacademytrust.co.uk and we will get in touch with them personally.

Many thanks for your support, have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you all on Monday.

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 we have been reading ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and talking about what happened at the beginning of the story in the middle and at the end of the story. We have been looking at Healthy foods and talking about what food we would take to Granny’s house.

In Maths we have been learning to subitise to 5, this is knowing the amount without needing to count the objects.

In PHSE we have been reading the story ‘Why can’t I?’ and why we need rules.

We have been practising drawing straight lines and circles.

REMINDER: Could you please bring in a complete spare set of clothes for your child. Please return any clothes that have been borrowed. Thank you.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Waddle on Sea - 24.01.2025
• Whole School - Curriculum Enrichment Experience - 21.01.2024

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week the children have been listening and learning about the story 'Hansel and Gretel'. We have been looking at how the children might have felt and looked at descriptive words and visuals to explain this. The children have been looking at the materials used in the story, such as clothing, plates and forks, bread, and what they are made of (properties). We have used some sensory items to explain the surfaces of items, such as smooth, rough, solid and soft etc. We have made some lovely pictures using different materials with different textures. The children have continued with RWi, they have been learning how to use the correct pencil grip and sitting posture. The children are learning letter sounds and names, learning to write in the correct formation and building/blending cvc words.

• This week's letters: RWI - C K U B
• Letter Family - Zig Zag Letters

We have been looking at labelling a map of Hansel and Gretels home, made a step-by-step drawing of the witch and decorated the house of sweets with shiny paper, and lots of colour.

We have looked at different ways of partitioning numbers, (according to child's ability) they have been learning to count from a given number, stop counting on the last item. To recognise a set of dots (blocks/claps) and to complete simple additions, one more and more or less.

In the afternoons we had free flow, so the children can choose, between sensory room, iPad, and or listening to a story, we also have sensory items out for the children such as playdough, slime, kinetic sand and puzzles.

REMINDER: Wednesday next week we will be making some cookies, so it will be messy play, children may wear their PE Kit if preferred.

Starlight

This week in Literacy we have been reading the traditional tale ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We discussed the appearance of the giant and thought of some noun phrases to describe what he looks like. We also thought of some words to describe his personality. We used all this information to write a character description about the giant.

In Science, we have continued learning about animals. We have looked at different birds that live in the UK and thought about features of birds, comparing these features to those of mammals.

REMINDER: Next Friday (31st January) we would like to invite you to come into Starlight at 2:30pm to play some Maths games/activities with your child. We look forward to seeing you!

Reception Year

This week we have been reading ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’ and writing sentences about the story. In DT we have been learning to construct our house for the Three Little Pigs use the joining techniques we have learnt about.

In PSHE we have been learning about right from wrong, thinking about some of the right and wrong choices we could make in school and why it is important to make the right choices.

In Maths we have been using our fingers to represent numbers to 5, know that 5 can be partitioned into different parts and use what we know to work out the hidden number. In shape, space and measure we have been learning about shapes with 4 sides and building our own rectangles and squares.

How to help at home

Reading: Continue to listen to your child read at least 5 times and week and encourage them to join in with the QR codes.

Handwriting: Form all the long-legged giraffe and one-armed robot letters.

Maths:

• Partition 5 in different ways, use some objects to help.
• Work out missing numbers to 5.

Letters sent home this week

REMINDER: Outdoor Learning next week

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

Change of date – Phonics and Writing Workshop

The planned phonics and writing workshop on Wednesday 29th January has been postponed until after half-term, date to be confirmed nearer the time.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Waddle on Sea - 24.01.2025
• Whole School - Curriculum Enrichment Experience - 21.01.2024

Year One

This week in Literacy we have been reading the traditional tale ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. We discussed his appearance and thought of some noun phrases to describe what he looks like. We also thought of some words to describe his personality. We used all this information to write a character description about Jack.

In Maths we been revising what we have learned so far in Year 1. We have consolidated our knowledge on addition and subtraction to 20, shape, number families and word problems.

In Science we have been looking at animals. We have discussed what animals you might find in the UK and what kind of pets some of us have. We have begun to discuss what a mammal is and looked at some examples in the UK.

In PE we have been playing some team building games and doing circuits.

This week's spelling pattern: ir sound: stir, shirt, thirty, bird

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 - Waddle on Sea - 24.01.2025
• Whole School - Curriculum Enrichment Experience - 21.01.2024

Online Safety

Over time, more and more fitness apps have been finding their way into circulation. Usually free to download – at least initially – these apps claim to offer helpful advice and assistance in routine management to those looking to lead a healthier lifestyle.

While these platforms can be useful, they do present several safety concerns. These issues become more significant when we consider that children and young people can use these apps to stay active – whether out of concern for their own health or for reasons of body image. Our free guide breaks down the risks of health and fitness apps and offers expert advice on how to address these concerns to safeguard younger users.