Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 15th november 2024

Dear Parents and Carers,

Another extremely busy week at Hamstel Infants!

Across the week we continued to welcome prospective parents for our Reception year in September 2025. They spent a lot of time around the school and in classrooms and I must say that all the children did us proud with their exemplary behaviour and focus on the learning that was taking place.

As part of our Anti-bullying week, the children have been learning about differences and even though cases are extremely rare, why we don’t ever accept bullying in our school. Each class looked at our child friendly anti-bullying poster to learn what to do and who they can speak to if they are ever unfortunate enough to experience bullying. We also celebrated ‘being different’ on Tuesday with children and staff wearing an array of odd socks – there were some truly marvellous combinations on show!

On Monday, we held our annual Remembrance assembly, where we shared poems and laid our poppy wreaths. The children were also treated to a ‘march by’ from the Westcliff High School for Boys Cadets, who joined us for the morning. A big thank you to Lieutenant Colonel Baggs and the cadets for their time and for enhancing our already poignant assembly. A big shout out goes to our Year 2 children who were also part of the day, selling poppies, laying our poppy wreaths and Harry and Shonali especially, who read their poems so beautifully. A fitting tribute to those who gave their lives for our country.

Reading has also been a high focus across the school this week!

A big thank you to all the Year 2 parents who came along to our ‘Reading Rocks’ workshop, we had really good attendance and we hope you enjoyed the session. Also thank you to those of you that completed the feedback form at the end of the session, your feedback is always really valuable to help us make these events even better.

Throughout the week, Year 2 have been visiting the library with Badger class concluding these visits on Monday next week. The children returned very excitedly, sharing their book choices and we continued the ‘reading’ theme with our ‘share a book’ open door sessions this afternoon.

Our Children in Need dress down day was again really well supported and there was an array of Pudsey and Blush t-shirts, jumpers, ears, headbands and head boppers on display! Pudsey Bear himself even managed to pay us a visit early in the week, much to the delight of the children (and some of the adults). A big thank you for your support with this event.

Next week we have two parent workshops for you to enjoy. On Wednesday at 9:00am and 2:30pm, there are Maths workshops for Year 1 parents in the hall. Then on Thursday at 9:00am Reception parents are invited to attend a phonics workshop and watch how we teach handwriting to our children as part of these sessions. We hope you can attend and that you find these sessions useful.

This week we also shared plans for our festive events in the build up to Christmas. Please make sure you have seen this letter and put those all-important dates in your diaries.

Have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you all again on Monday.

Scott Roche

Principal

Water bottles reminder:

Please can we remind all parents/carers to send a suitable water bottle into school. This should be filled with water only and can be filled up during the day if necessary.

Thank you for your cooperation

Scott Roche

Principal

Nursery

This week we have enjoyed listening to the story ‘Owl Babies’ and talking about how the owls were feeling. The children enjoyed making poppies and painting poppy fields as part of our Remembrance Day activities. We talked about what makes a friend and it is ok to be different as part of our Odd Socks Day.

In Maths we have been learning to subitise which is knowing the number of objects without counting each object.

We have been looking at different sources of light.

Reminder - As the weather is getting colder, please ensure that you put your child's name on any hats, gloves and scarves thank you.

Could you please ensure that your child has spare clothes at Nursery.

If your child has borrowed Nursery clothes could you please return them.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Anti-Bullying Week - 07.11.2024

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

It has been another busy week for Rainbow children, we have continued listening to the book 'Can't You Sleep Little Bear' and delving deeper into the storyline, and why Little Bear was scared. The children have enjoyed learning about the dark, how it affects us, and how little bear overcame his fear. On this subject we have continued learning about Light and dark, day and night, and sound. The children have been experimenting with different instruments and what types of sounds they make, we have been looking at how light changes and fractures, and the children have used different appliances to look at the changes in light and sound. The children made some lovely artwork and used their imagination drawing pictures of nocturnal animals. We practised using plastic knives to butter some toast and made playdough snow for sensory play.

Reminder - Outdoor Learning Monday

Starlight

This week we have continued reading the book ‘Room on the Broom’. The children have labelled parts of the dragon, either by writing the words or using visual supports. We have also used paint, felt tips and goggly eyes to make magic cauldrons. The children followed instructions to make broomsticks using bread sticks and cheese strings and enjoyed eating them! We made magic potions in the tuff tray using coloured water, pipettes and test tubes.

Reminder - Outdoor learning on Monday. Please dress your child in appropriate old clothing and bring in some wellies (if they are not already in school.) Please can you also provide a change of clothing. Thank you.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Christmas Events - 12.11.2024

Reception Year

This week we have been learning about day and night and reading the book ‘Goodnight Moon’. In writing we have been writing labels for items in the book, remembering to use our Fred fingers to pinch each sound in the word. In science we have been learning about day and night and sorting activities into daytime or nighttime activities. In outdoor learning we have been learning about fire safety and applied this when toasting our marshmallows over the open fire in the hobbit hut.

In art we have been using a paintbrush effectively to paint swirls like those in Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. In DT we have been exploring a range of sliders.

In PE we have been learning to jump efficiently by applying the basic jumping technique.

In maths we have been subitising amounts to 4, comparing groups up to 3, saying when there is more than, fewer than or an equal amount. In RE we have continued learning about Diwali, this week trying to recall the story of Rama and Sita.

On Monday all the children took part in our Remembrance service learning a bit more about Remembrance Day.

How to help at home

Reading: Watch the QR codes and practise the sounds in the speedy sound book.

Handwriting: Continue to practise the all the long-legged giraffe letters.

Maths:

• Count 5 different object accurately
• Subitise 5 different items
• Use your fingers to make different numbers to 5

Reminder - Watch a handwriting lesson: Thursday 21st November at 9am

Letters sent home this week

• Reception - Walk to the Postbox - 13.11.2024
• Whole School - Christmas Events - 12.11.2024

Year One

In Literacy this week we have been reading ‘Where’s my Teddy?’. We used the pictures from the story to write some sentences including the word ‘and’.

We brought in some of our own special teddies from home and we wrote about what they look like and why they are special to us.

In Maths we have begun looking at numbers to 20. We have been practising counting on from 10, using tens frames and counters to help us.

In Art we have been practising our use of tone and shading by drawing our special bears from home in our sketch books. We have really enjoyed sharing our drawings with each other!

In outdoor PE we have been doing basketball and have worked hard to practise our dribbling skills. For indoor PE we have started our dance block.

This week spelling focus has been words with the ‘igh’ sound e.g. light, bright, sight

Our Year 1 Common Exception Word Spellings: are, his, here, come

Please practise at home in your home spelling book so you can collect your stamp next week.

Reminder - Outdoor Learning next week

• Maths workshops – Wednesday 20th
• Heron and Newt – 9am
• Duck and Dragonfly – 2:30pm

Letters sent home this week

• Year 1 - Maths Workshop - 17.11.2024
• Whole School - Christmas Events - 12.11.2024

Online Safety

Most modern-day families probably use a multitude of devices at home. Sometimes, such devices are used more often by the children of the household, with many smartphones, laptops, consoles and the like being exclusively enjoyed by the younger members of the family. However, between the online safety risks that come with this technology and the physical, emotional and mental impacts of overuse, it can be a good idea to set some ground rules for the sake of children’s wellbeing.

Agreeing rules around the use of tech in the home can sometimes pose a challenge, and it can be difficult to know what's reasonable, what might be a step too far, and what doesn’t go far enough. That’s why we’ve created this safety guide, offering you top-level advice on how to successfully think up and enforce rules for using devices.

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.

We have added an additional date as the tours have been so popular - Wednesday 20th November at 9.30am.