Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News 3rd october 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

Another busy week at Hamstel Infants that started with some great sporting news!

Last week we shared that Team Hamstel had attended the inter-school cross country competition on Friday, well… once all of the scores had been collected in and counted up, we were over the moon to discover that we came 3rd overall. Again, a big well done to our running team for such a great start to the year’s sporting calendar, and to Mrs Walker and Mr Sayer for training our team, proving that collectively Team Hamstel are a force to be reckoned with across the city!

On Tuesday, we welcomed Reception parents into school for a Phonics meeting with Mrs Bryant before parents had the chance to watch the children (and teachers) in action during a phonics lesson. Thank you to everybody who gave such positive feedback, we are glad you found the session useful. Next week, it’s the turn of our Year 1 parents to have the same experience – so please join us on Tuesday 7th in the Infant Hall at 9am. We hope to see you there!

This morning we held our Harvest assembly, with the Revd Andy Goodliff from Bellevue Baptist Church. Revd Goodliff, always delivers a great, fun and exciting assembly for the children and today was no exception as he spoke about the Christian creation story and the meaning behind the song ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’. The children even had the whole world in their hands as a giant, inflatable globe was passed back and forth over the heads of the children, much to their delight! A big thank you to Andy for yet again, delivering a memorable assembly and giving up his time to support our school.

The fabulous display of donations was also on show and it never ceases to amaze us, how generous and supportive our school community are. Your donations are being shared between two very worthwhile charities; HARP and St Vincent’s foodbank, so thank you so much for your support.

The children also had their individual and sibling school photographs taken today. They all looked so smart in their uniforms as they posed for their pictures. I hope you are pleased with the results!

Next week, in addition to our phonics workshop, we also have one of our regular Story Box assemblies for KS1, as we are joined by Jacqson Diego Story Emporium on Wednesday and on Friday we have our Whole school Black History Day. This was a great success last year, as the children celebrated the multiple achievements of important figures from across the world, while also helping them to learn and understand more about the history, heritage and culture of black communities. We hope the children have an equally as engaging and interesting day next week.

Just a couple of reminders…

Please don’t forget to book an appointment for our parent’s evenings on 14th and 15th October. If you have any problems using the system, please speak to the school office who will be glad to help.

Finally, sponsorship forms for our Colour Run on 17th October should now have come home. Please get behind this fantastic event, which is taking place to support new developments in our outdoor learning garden. The great thing about projects such as this is that any funds raised, go straight back into developing the resources and spaces used directly by the children, so please support if you can!

I hope you all have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday.

Scott Roche

Principal

Jump to a section...

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

Year 2 - Dinner Menu - PTA - Messages from the Office

Key Dates for Autumn Term - Community

Nursery

This week the children have enjoyed listening to the story ‘Can I play’, we have encouraged the children to talk about what they like to play with answering in full sentences.

In Maths we have been looking at repeating patterns, the children have enjoyed creating repeating patterns during our continuous provision.

During some of our morning carpet sessions we have introduced different speaking and listening games.

We have enjoyed learning the song ‘The wheels on the bus’ we have had activities related to buses such as colouring, counting small world people on buses, making a bus in the garden and making our own bus tickets.

Your child has chosen a book to take home and share with you. Please return the book on a Monday and they will be able to choose another story.

REMINDER: We have added photos to tapestry, please let Miss Brooks or Mrs Snashall know if you are unable to access your account.

Please ensure that your child has spare clothes at Nursery. Thank you

Reception

This week our theme has been families, and we have been reading the book ‘All Kinds of Families’ by Sophy Henn. The children loved talking about their own family and describing everyone in their family. Thank you for uploading the photographs to Tapestry, these have helped support the children’s oracy by giving them a prompt of what to talk about.

In PSHE we have been learning to talk about how feelings can affect how people behave, helping us to understand each other when we are playing.

In maths we have been counting objects, actions and sounds and creating our own patterns with two pictures or objects.

We have all enjoyed our first PE lesson this week in the school hall. We learnt all the new expectations and routines needed for a successful PE lesson and learnt how to move around the hall safely.

How to help at home:

Reading: Continue to listen to your child read their book and write a quick note in the home school diary.

RWI: Encourage your child to watch and join in with the QR code videos.

Handwriting: Practise the long-legged giraffe letters:

Maths: Count some toys at home. Remember to start at 1 and that the last number tells us how many there are.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parent Meetings - 01.10.2025

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week the children have familiarized themselves with the story 'The Feelings Book'. We have been exploring different emotions and how they make us feel, and what to do when we feel over excited or sad using the Zones of Regulation. We have looked at how some situations and items may make us feel, and the children have been using words and visuals to express their feelings. We also have been learning about families, and how they make us feel. We have continued with RWI, maths and pencil formation.

RWI: d - Review: m a s

Letter family: j - Review: l i t

Maths: Counting fingers up to said number, counting backwards from 6, subitising, simple additions, building sets of numbers with blocks and Lego, building towers from said number to said number. Matching number and letter games. Cvc words

I am pleased to say that the children have been engaged and focused during activities this week, and I am very proud of their hard work and determination.

Starlight

We’ve had a busy and exciting week full of hands-on learning experiences across the curriculum.

This week, the children used their observation skills to explore key features in our outdoor learning area. They worked together to use a compass and successfully identified North.

In Literacy, we read Percy the Park Keeper: The Owl’s Lesson. The children really engaged with the story and wrote character descriptions of Percy using expanded noun phrases. It was wonderful to see them applying their writing skills in such a thoughtful way.

In Maths, we have been practising counting forwards and backwards in steps of 2, 5, and 10. The children are becoming more confident with number patterns and developing strong foundations for future learning.

Well done to all the children for their enthusiasm and hard work this week.

Letters sent home this week

• Rainbow & Starlight - Colour Run - 26.09.2025
• Rainbow & Starlight - Colour Run Sponsor Form - 29.09.2025

Year 1

This week in literacy we have been reading ‘Here comes Mr Postmouse’. We designed our own imaginary home and wrote a description about it using noun phrases and adjectives. In maths we have been consolidating our knowledge of comparing numbers. We used vocabulary such as more than, less than, fewer and equal to. We worked practically together to work out which learning partner had more and how much more.

In Science we have begun learning about senses and the body parts they use. We explored sight by completing a fireworks experiment using food colouring and water. We also used musical instruments to explore sound.

REMINDER: Tuesday 7th October - Phonics workshop 9am

Letters sent home this week

• Year 1 - PSHE/RSE Lessons - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - Speech Bubble Activity - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - PSHE Planning Safe Relationships - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - Worksheet Body parts - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - Worksheet Pants Cut Out - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - Safe Adult Worksheet - 02.10.2025
• Year 1 - Lesson 1 - Pants Power - 02.10.2025
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Meetings - 01.10.2025

Year 2

We can’t believe we are now half-way through this half term already! The week has been fun-filled with lots of learning taking place.

In Literacy this week we have been reading and exploring a Percy the Park Keeper book ‘The Owl’s Lesson’. We have enjoyed listening to and discussing the story and been thinking about the main character, Percy. We thought about different adjectives to describe him. We finished the week by writing some character descriptions using some of the language we had collected during the week.

In Maths this week we have been reviewing our learning about place value with numbers to 100. We have practised different ways of partitioning a two-digit number using the part, part, whole method. We have also been practising counting in different patterns, e.g. forwards and backwards from any number in steps of 2 and 10.

We have also continued with Geography work around maps. We have been thinking about our school grounds, where the different buildings are and placing them on our maps. We have started to think about what a key is on a map and creating our own symbols.

We enjoyed finishing the week with Rev.Goodliff who visited us for a Harvest celebration.

REMINDER: Next week is our Outdoor Learning week. Otter Class will on Monday next week instead of Friday.

Don’t forget to collect your sponsors for our big Colour Fundraising Run on Friday 17th October.

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parent Meetings - 01.10.2025

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,

Friends of Hamstel PTA

Messages from the Office

Reception September 2026 - School Tours

If you have a child born between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022 they will be due to start school in September 2026. The application process opens on 16th September and if you live within the Southend City Council area you can apply online at www.southend.gov.uk/admissions. Deadline for applications is 15 January 2026.

If you, a family member or friend have a child due to start school and would like to view our school please contact the school office either by telephone 01702 468461 or by email office@his.porticoacademytrust.co.uk to book onto one of the tours we have coming up.

Christmas Fair

We know it is very early to be mentioning Christmas - but initial plans have already begun - please see the flyer below.

Community

Blast Off into Sci-Fi Fantasy at The Royals

Beam yourself down to The Royals Shopping Centre on Saturday 4th October, 10am – 4pm for an out-of-this-world Sci-Fi Fantasy Fun Day.

Follow this link for more info.

The best bit? It’s FREE for all the family.