porters grange weekly newsletter week ending 12th september 2025

Year 1

Welcome back! We hope you had a fantastic summer, and we cannot wait to start this learning journey with you and your child.

This week, we have started out phonics lessons again to help us practise our segmenting to spell and our handwriting too.

In maths, we have been putting our numbers in order from 1-10 and challenged ourselves with numbers to 20 as well.

On Monday, we spoke about a significant person in our history lesson; Queen Elizabeth II. We made crowns to commemorate the longest reigning queen in history.

REMINDER: Reading books and reading records will be coming out to you as soon as possible. We want to make sure they are the right level for your child.

When you have the reading books, they must come back to school every day. This is a year 1 expectation.

PE kits need to be in school too. PE is on a Thursday. No jewellery should be worn on this day to prevent injury.

Year 2

This week Year Two have been learning about adjectives. They have learned to describe different nouns and been using new vocabulary to describe what they see. Maths has been recapping numbers 0-20, matching and writing numbers as words. In science, the children looked at the similarities and differences between just small animals and baby animals.

REMINDER: Please hear your child read their book as much as you can! Make a note in their reading record, of how they read, so we can keep up to date with how they are reading at home.

PE is on a Wednesday.

Year 3

This week, our English work has been based on a poem called My World. As a class, we used our senses to write our own poem with the same features.

In Maths, we learnt different ways to make one hundred and one thousand using base ten and other methods.

REMINDER: Our PE days are Monday and Friday. Please ensure that your child has the correct kit and footwear. All jewellery needs to be removed.

Year 4

This week Year four have been writing poetry to describe characters. We have been using adjectives, similes and trying out some rhyming words. In maths we are learning about place value and reminding ourselves of the vocabulary that goes with it.

REMINDER: Please remember to bring in PE kits, Year four have PE Tuesday and Thursday. Earings must be removed for all PE lessons.

Boys and girls will now change in separate rooms for PE which will eliminate the need for anyone to change elsewhere. Please speak to a member of staff if you have any questions.

Reading records should be in school every day.

Year 5

What a busy first week back! In English, we completed writing challenges aimed at recalling prior knowledge. We then began looking at poetry, including identifying similes and relative clauses. In history, we began our unit looking at the Space Race, finding key dates and adding them to a timeline. In maths, we started our unit looking at place value, learning Roman numerals, how to read and write numbers in word form, and the value of digits expressed in larger numbers.

REMINDER: Our P.E days are Tuesday and Wednesday this year.

Please ensure your child has a suitable PE kit for these days.

We are currently sorting your child’s levelled reading book, so please strive to read with them daily and record this in their reading records.

Year 6

Everyone has settled well into Year 6 after the summer holiday. In English, we have been writing poems about Victorian Britain. It has been fantastic to read all the descriptive language, including powerful verbs, similes and metaphors. In maths, we have focussed on the place value of numbers up to 1 million.

We have started our art lessons focussing on different ways to shade and add tone to sketches using pencils and coloured pencils. In science, we are learning about electricity. In PSHE, we are thinking about how much sleep we need, how sleep helps us learn and feel well. Your child should have brought home some information that they learnt. Please ask them about some of the relaxation techniques we looked at. They are great as part of quiet time before bed and can be found here:

REMINDER: PE lessons are on Mondays and Fridays.

Spellings are given on Mondays and tested on Fridays.

Reading at home – please write the book and number of pages you have read in your child’s diary.

Music

IMPORTANT: if you have a choir polo shirt at home, please return it ready for the next performance.

Music Lessons

• Tuesday -  Guitar - Mr Brown (beginning Tuesday 16th September)
• Wednesday -  Guitar – Mr Elliott (beginning Wednesday 17th September)
• Wednesday -  Keyboard – Mr Hockey (began Wednesday 10th September)
• Wednesday -  Drums – Mr Peters (beginning Wednesday 17th September)

We have availability - if your child is interested in learning a musical instrument, please contact Mrs Baines for more information. These lessons take place within the school day.

French

Pupils return to French lessons in Autumn Term 2, however, we look forward to the European Day of Languages Challenge on September 26th. This year, the challenge will be to create a sentence or some words in an invented, “alien” language. I look forward to launching the challenge next week, in preparation for activities on the day.

Community

Cost of Living Advice

Click here to access cost of living advice from Southend City Council. It contains information on housing support, energy cost advice and benefits and support for those with children.