Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News 28th NOVEMber 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s been another busy time with Christmas festivities firmly arriving in school this week. We are looking very festive as our trees are now lit and decorated and our Christmas hoops are up in the school hall, showcasing a special Christmas decoration made by each of the children in our school and nursery. Well done Hamstel Infants they look amazing! This week our Reception children completed one of the most important missions they will undertake this year, by delivering their letters to Father Christmas. Every child looked so proud and pleased as they returned after successfully posting their letters off to the North Pole. A big thank you to all of the parents/carers who came along to support this walk, which is definitely one of my favourite events of the year. The biggest event of the week was our Christmas Fair on Wednesday. It was lovely to see both halls so packed and busy as people enjoyed the various games, stalls and raffles on offer. Thank you to everybody who supported the fair… to the staff for organising and running the stalls, to the Friends of Hamstel for their help with stalls and refreshments, to our site team for their brilliant help setting and cleaning up, to Mrs Tracy who coordinated the whole thing and to everybody who came along to support. With typical Hamstel community spirit, we raised almost £2000 – a fabulous effort! To end the week, just this morning Team Hamstel headed off to the Dodgeball competition, where they performed really well winning four of their eight games. Most importantly they all had a great time and represented our school brilliantly. And finally, we also had our first delivery of resources towards our outdoor learning project, when a huge truck full of timber arrived very kindly donated by Jewsons of Westcliff. This was such a generous donation and puts us well on the way to starting our exciting plans….Mrs Shine was very, very excited…. Talking of Mrs Shine… I would also like to share an amazing challenge taking place soon, as Mrs Shine’s sister, Sheila is one of the four Essex women undertaking an immense challenge of rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to raise money for a fantastic charity, The children’s Heart Federation that supports children with serious heart conditions. This is a charity that is very close to my own heart as my youngest daughter had major heart surgery at the age of 6 months old so I can truly endorse the great work that this charity undertakes. For more information, please visit The Only Way is Rowing website https://www.theonlywayisrowing.co.uk/ Or if you would like to donate, please click on the link below. https://www.gofundme.com/f/zvevx-the-only-way-is-rowing-campaign-costs Sheila, sets off in just a few days’ time and we wish her and the team, the very best of luck in this extraordinary test. Just a couple of reminders… Since half term our school drop off window closes at 8:45am, so children can arrive from 8:30am but doors will closely promptly to allow the formal learning to begin. If you arrive after that time, please enter through the office. I would also just like to highlight that should you see anything around our school site that makes you feel that a child may be at risk of harm, please do not hesitate to either email the office or come into school to speak to a member of our safeguarding team. We have five senior staff responsible for safeguarding our children, so there will always be somebody here to help. Next week we have rehearsals galore as the children prepare for their Christmas performances, Enzo the elf is also visiting school for some physical fun and on Thursday we have a ballet company coming into school to perform for our KS1 children….Never a dull moment at Hamstel Infants! Haver a fabulous weekend and see you on Monday. Scott Roche Principal

Weekly Celebrations!

This week we were focusing on Effort and Resilience. Earning certificates were Dolleigh-Bow & Elijah (Hedgehog), Mikki & Andre (Otter), Jesse M & Romeo (Fox), The whole class (Squirrel), Leo & Isaac (Duck), Flynn & Uthman (Heron), Skyler-Rae & Hudson (Newt) and Khadija & Nasrya (Dragonfly). Going for Gold stickers this week went to Hallie, Ezio, Harry, Freddie, Niccolo, Skylar-Rae, Thomas, Ellie and Jack who all earned 20 dojos or more. Hallie reached gold three times so she earned a special principal award. Our Golden Stars for the classes with the most dojos went to Newt class in Year 1 and Fox class in Year 2 for the second week running. We had a great WOW moment this week from Ruby A who completed amazing maths homework and we also gave out Numbot certificates to Dylan, Tommy, Ellis and Safiye in Otter class for brilliant maths achievements and certificates to Team Hamstel for their efforts in the dodgeball competition this morning. We ended our assembly by giving out the prizes from our Christmas Fair to some very excited children. In the adult raffle, congratulations to Ben in Newt class who won the hamper first prize. Tubs of festive chocolates also went to Sienna (Heron), Thea (Heron) Duggie (squirrel) Joe (Hedgehog) and our very own Mrs Walker. In the children’s raffle, huge congratulations go to Jack (Fox) who won the top prize of our children’s hamper. Our other lucky prize winners were; Evelyn x2 (Squirrel), Daisy (5W), Theo (Duck), Phoebe (Woodpecker), Thea (Heron), Archie (hedgehog), Jenson & Jorgie (Newt & Heron), Ellie W x2 (3HW), Beau (Heron), Flynn (Heron), Marlo (Newt), Matilda (Owl), Gracie (Otter), Albie J (Squirrel), Delilah (Duck), Thomas (Hedgehog), Millie (Seahorse), Niccolo (Newt), William (Duck), Elliott (4H), Blerim x2 (Fox) , Jack (Dragonfly), Safiye (Otter), George F (Seahorse), Sienna (Heron), Hugo (Duck), Alice (Woodpecker), Evelyn-Rose (Woodpecker), Hudson (Newt), Thea (Squirrel), Emma (Duck) Congratulations to Nolan in Hamstel Juniors who guessed the correct name of our Christmas duck and Luke (Hedgehog) who managed to guess the correct number of presents in the stocking. Well done to all our winners of the week!

Attendance

With lots of nasty viruses and bugs around, our attendance dipped again as we recorded 92.3% this week, still below our 95% target. This week our attendance awards went to… • Woodpecker class who recorded 95.8% and just pipped Owl & Peacock classes by 0.1% to win the reception cup • Heron class, yet again recorded over 98% with 98.7% to win the Year 1 attendance cup for the second week running, • And Squirrel class, registered 95.6% to win the Year 2 attendance cup. If you are unsure, don’t forget that you can always speak to our office for advice about whether to keep a child off school. Get well soon if you’ve been unwell this week – hopefully we will see you on Monday!

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Autumn Term Diary Dates - Nursery - Reception - Rainbow & Starlight - Year 1

Year 2 - Dinner Menu - PTA - Messages from the Office - Arbor Hints and Tips

Key Dates for Spring Term - Community

Nursery

This week we have been reading the book ‘Stickman’. We have been focusing on looking at different pages and talking about what we can see in the pictures and what Stickman was used as. We have been encouraging the children to talk in full sentences. In Maths we have been learning to recognise and name numerals to 3 and have been counting backwards from 5. How to help at home Song of the week

REMINDER: Please return your funding forms ASAP Outdoor learning on Monday Could you please ensure that you respect our neighbours by keeping your children with you whilst waiting to come into Nursery if the gate is locked thank you. Please ensure that you name your child's hat, gloves and scarves thank you.

Reception

This week we have been reading the book ‘Peace at Last’ and learning about different sounds. In writing we have been labelling the different objects that make the sounds in Peace at Last. In PSHE we have been learning to say no and learning that there may be some situations where we need to say no. We have been practising saying no clearly and politely. In maths we have been investigating ways to compose and de-compose sets of 3, 4 and 5, knowing that different parts can make the same whole. In shape, space and measure we have continued learning about triangles, identifying corners and sides. In science we have been exploring how solids change into liquids and observing ice melting into water. In RE we have been sharing the special occasions that we celebrate. In art we have been using paint to show sounds and movements, using bold marks to show loud sounds and soft marks to show quiet sounds. How to help at home NELI special words: scratch, stroke, rough, smooth, clothes, buy, make Maths: the children have been watching the Numberblocks to learn about parts and whole BBC iPlayer - Numberblocks - Series 1: The Whole of Me Handwriting: Practise all the one-armed robot letters:

Rhyme of the week: Hickory Dickory Dock CBeebies House - Songs: 16. Hickory Dickory Dock - BBC iPlayer

Letters sent home this week

• Reception - Nativity - 25.11.2025 ​

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week, the children have been learning about weight, exploring the concepts of heavy and light, and investigating which objects sink or float. They loved experimenting with a variety of items and were fascinated by the results. We also continued our work on light and dark, thinking about the differences between day and night. The children created some beautiful artwork of nocturnal animals/starry night and the moon to support their learning. We also learned about trust—who we can trust and how we can be good, kind friends to one another. We also looked at the importance of respecting other people’s feelings. The children explored a range of emotions, thinking about what each one might feel like and how we can manage them, what we can do when we feel sad and ways to help ourselves and others feel better. RWI: i n p g o - o / CVC words Letter Family: r m n h b k p Maths: partitioning, number sets/subitising/number recognition/simple additions/counting fingers/ one more one less

REMINDER: Friday 5th Letter to Santa 2.30pm

Starlight

In History, we continued exploring life in Victorian times, with a special focus on Victorian Christmas traditions. The children learned how many of the traditions we enjoy today began in the Victorian era, such as decorating a Christmas tree and pulling Christmas crackers. They enjoyed comparing these traditions with modern ones and wrote some fantastic factual sentences to describe the similarities and differences. During our Zones of Regulation sessions, we learned all about the Blue Zone. The children discussed feelings that belong in this zone—such as sadness, tiredness, or feeling unwell—and thought carefully about how these emotions might show up in their bodies. Together, we brainstormed strategies to help move from the Blue Zone back to the Green Zone, including talking to a trusted adult, taking breaks, or using calming techniques. The children shared thoughtful ideas and are beginning to show self-awareness. In Maths, we continued practising two-digit subtract two-digit subtraction, including problems that require renaming. The children have been working hard to set out their calculations clearly and use their place-value knowledge to solve problems accurately. We are very proud of their perseverance and growing confidence.

Year 1

In literacy this week we have been reading ‘The Lost Property Office’. In the story the little girl lost her teddy. We wrote some adjectives and noun phrases to describe what the teddy looked like, and we used this to help us write a lost poster to find the missing teddy bear. We also learned about proper nouns and edited sentences to make sure the capital letters were in the correct places. In maths we have been learning about corresponding addition and subtraction number families. We identified the numbers we needed and made two addition sums and two subtraction sums. In history we have been continuing with looking at toys from different time periods. Last week we looked at old toys and this week we looked at toys from now. We sequenced toys in chronological order of age to create a timeline. We then wrote some comparative sentences between the old and new toys.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 1 - Christmas Crafts - 24.11.2025
• Year 1 - Phonics Screening Check - 24.11.2025

Year 2

It’s been a bit colder this week for our Outdoor Learning days, but that hasn’t stopped us getting out and enjoying the environment out there. We have toasted marshmallows over the fire and learnt about fire safety. We also enjoyed making Victorian Christmas decorations using pinecones. In our literacy lessons we have been using images to discuss and prompt our thinking of how Christmas has changed over time. We noticed some very interesting things and learnt lots of new facts about what Christmas was like during the Victorian era and how it has changed over time. We discovered that Prince Albert first introduced the Christmas Tree, a tradition he brought over from Germany. We also learnt about the invention of the Christmas cracker. Did you know that Tom Smith invented the idea of wrapping sugared almonds when he became inspired by a visit to Paris and he discovered the Bonbon sweets that were wrapped up in paper. The Christmas cracker continued to develop from there with mottoes being added and then the ‘snap’. The children wrote some of their factual sentences about Christmas traditions and compared the Victorian traditions to the traditions of today. We used our conjunctions such as ‘and, because, then’ to explain our ideas. In maths this week we have continued with our unit on subtracting, moving to developing our subtraction skills when renaming. We have had to think about the equation we are solving, the method we need to use to solve it, demonstrating our method clearly and talking about how we solved the given equation.

Letters sent home this week

• Year 2 - Christmas Celebration & Christingle - 24.11.2025

Support Our School with Easyfundraising!

Dear Parents & Carers,

We’re excited to let you know that our PTA is now 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!

Thank you for your continued support,

Messages from the Office

Arbor Hints and Tips

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.

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