Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 4th july 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s been a great week at Hamstel Infants that has been full of hot weather, farmyard friends and our big class swap transition events.

Firstly, I must congratulate our children and staff for how well they handled the hot weather earlier in the week. We are very lucky to have such a historic (and well-built) Victorian building that forms a large part of our school site. However, it does mean that in very hot weather our building becomes very warm and holds the heat almost too well. Great in the winter, but not so much in the summer, however despite the heat the children managed brilliantly and our teachers adapted timetables and activities to ensure that everybody stayed as comfortable as possible!

Of course the warm weather also affected our Gemma‘s farm visit on Tuesday as it was too hot for the animals to travel. I am pleased to report that after two postponements, this visit finally took place on Wednesday and Thursday and what a great event it was! Seeing our wildlife garden transformed into a farm for two days and the children enjoying such great hands-on experiences with lots of familiar farmyard friends is what makes this event so rewarding. I hope the children really enjoyed their time at the farm and came home full of excitement and enthusiasm to tell you about their experiences.

On Tuesday, Team Hamstel headed off to the Borough Sports where it was another successful day! Mrs Walker and Mr. Sayer have spent lots of time training our team to get them ready for this event and all of the hard work put in by both them and the children, paid off as we came a brilliant third place overall out of 14 local schools. The children proudly displayed yet another trophy for Team Hamstel this year, another fabulous achievement!

Our week concluded with our Class Swap event for our current children, and Talking Transitions day for our new reception children. Any transition can be a time of not only excitement, but also a few nerves for our children, but from walking around the school all the children seemed happy, relaxed and excited to meet their new class adults and spend the morning in their new classrooms. There will be lots more occasions over the next two weeks (and two days) for the children to see their new adults but I hope that today’s event has settled any nerves or worries that the children might have had. Of course, if you feel that your child needs some further transition support, please speak to the class teacher and we will arrange some additional time with their new teachers and teaching assistants.

Next week we have lots more things to look forward to as Hamstel Infants continue to go out and about in the local area. Nursery are visiting Southchurch Library across the week while our Reception children are heading off to the beach for some full days of fun on Wednesday and Thursday. Team Hamstel head off to our last sporting event of the year, the Mini Games event at Eastwood High School and we also welcome parents into school for our Year 1 and Year 2 curriculum meetings. Our current Reception parents should attend the Year 1 meeting on Tuesday 8th July, while current Year 1 parents should attend the Year 2 curriculum meeting on Thursday 10th July. The times are 9:00am and 2:45pm on both days. This is a great chance to hear all about the plans for the children’s learning next year, so we hope to see you there!

Please don’t forget that on Monday 14th July it’s our open evening from 3:30 till 4:30pm, where you can come and look around the school, visit the current classroom and let the children show you their new classrooms and meet their new teachers. The Portico Art and DT festival will also be in school and is definitely worth a look!

Our Year 2s are also busy rehearsing for their Leavers Show which will take place on Tuesday 15th July (Hedgehog & Otter) and Wednesday 16th July (Badger, Fox and Squirrel).

I can’t sign off today without a big shout out for the ‘Friends of Hamstel’ who have worked their socks off to get our Summer Fair organised for tomorrow - Saturday, 5th July. It looks as if its going to be a great event, with lots of different things to do, so please come along to have some Saturday fun and support if you can!

Have a fantastic weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday morning!

Scott Roche

Principal

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Summer 2 Diary Dates - Nursery - Rainbow & Starlight - Reception - Year 1

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

Community Information - Key Dates for Autumn Term

Nursery

This week we have been sharing the story ‘What the ladybird heard next’. We have been learning about animals that live on a farm. The children enjoyed Gemma’s Farm and being hands on with the animals.

In Maths we have been matching quantities to numerals.

In PSHE we have been learning about road safety.

In RWI Phonics we have learnt the sounds ‘'l' and ‘h’ please look on tapestry for the QR codes to watch the videos at home with your child.

Library visits

• Starfish visits are Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th July
• Seahorse visits are Friday 10th and Tuesday 15th July

Please ensure that you apply suncream before your child comes to Nursery and provide a named hat.

At the start and end of sessions please ensure that your child stays with you and do not let them run around on the playground. This is for safety reasons.

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week the children have been learning about friendship, through the story “Share a Shell” We have been looking at what “kind” looks like and how we can help our friends. The children have also continued their learning on the Zones of Regulation and linking this to the story. Looking at all the different feelings and emotions in the story and how they affect the characters. It has been good to see how the children have perceived “happy” “sad” “lonely” and “sharing”.

We have made some lovely shell suncatchers, pictures of snails and step by step drawings of undersea creatures. The children coloured in some mindfulness colouring sheets, practised breathing techniques using visuals to support. The children have made lovely progress with RWI, pencil control and CVC words/sentence building and maths.

On Friday the children enjoyed Gema`s Farm, seeing and petting all the animals, it was enjoyed by all.

RWI: ng/nk review ck and ch linking words

Letter family: random letters linked CVC words

Maths: show said number on fingers, build blocks to said number, simple additions, subitising, grouping sets of numbers, colour sequencing

Advanced: problem solving/stem sentences/subtractions/multiples

On Monday we have outdoor learning, please dress children appropriately, suncream, hats and a change of clothing.

Please continue talking about feelings and emotions at home, even if it seems like the children are not listening, make some facial expressions and ask what it is? Or show pictures/visuals to support learning.

Starlight

This week we have been reading the book ‘Tiddler’ and learning facts about turtles. We literacy we have been talking about turtles and writing factual sentences about turtles. In maths we have been making 10 in different ways, counting on from 10 and adding numbers to 10. In PSHE we have been learning about different jobs that help us such as doctors, nurses, fire officers and police officers. In science we have been identifying different materials and thinking about their properties and their purposes.

We have also visited Gemma’s Farm this week, learning about different farm animals and enjoyed stroking and patting them.

Reception Year

This week we have been learning about historical superheroes and reading the book ‘George and the Dragon’ and writing a description of the dragon.

In PSHE we have been learning about different jobs that keep us safe such as police officer, firefighters and nurses. In PE we have been learning to understand why it is important to take turns when playing a game. In maths we have been partitioning (splitting up) 5 in different ways and learning double patterns to 5.

In outdoor learning we have been identifying some features of summer and thinking about the most appropriate clothing to wear in the summer months. We also enjoyed visiting Gemma’s Farm, learning about all the farm animals, stroking them and patting them. This has linked in well with our learning in RE, where we have been talking about different ways to look after animals.

How to help at home

Handwriting:

Maths:

Find 5 toys at home and partition them into two different groups. Can you fill in the blanks to complete the sentence: ___ and ____ make 5.

Year One

This week in literacy we have been writing a recount based on our visit to Gemma’s Farm. We looked at sequencing events in the correct order, using photographs to support us. We made sure when we wrote our report it was in chronological order. We also recapped our knowledge on time conjunctions and made sure we included these too.

In maths we have been revising and consolidating our year 1 maths knowledge including addition and subtraction to 20 and other areas including mass, money and number patterns.

In science we have been recapping our knowledge on animals and their features We revisited categories including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds. After our trip to the beach, we have also looked at seaside animals and what they need to survive.

This week the children also got to enjoy a visit from Gemma’s Farm! They got to see sheep, ponies, goats, chicken’s and many more! The children loved it, and it was great to see them so excited!

Outdoor Learning next week

Year Two

It’s a been a super busy and exciting week in Year 2. Gemma’s Farm came to visit us on Wednesday and Thursday, and the children loved going to meet the animals. We had our transition morning on Friday, and the children met their new teachers and spent some time in the juniors. They had a tour of the school, got to know their teacher and some new classmates and had an assembly in the sports hall to finish. All the children were buzzing with excitement when they returned and couldn’t wait to tell us about their experience.

• Year 2 - Year 3 Welcome Letter - 30.06.2025

PTA

Hamstel Schools Fayre

The wait is over!! Come along to our PTA Summer Fayre - free entry and lots of fun to be had.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Messages from the Office

Arbor – Our New Communication, Booking and Payment System

Current Year 1 and Reception Year parents were sent a letter today with details of the new platform we will be using from September. This will replace ParentPay. However for the remaining few weeks of term, please continue to book items in the usual way through ParentPay.

Arbor will be used for all communications and payments and will be the way in which you book or pay for after school/breakfast club, trips, clubs, and nursery meals from September. We will provide an update when bookings are open on the new system and aim to have it available for breakfast and after school clubs from Tuesday 26th August.

Community Information

Reporting a Parking Issue

Following on from Mr Roche's message regarding parking issues all Southend City residents can report parking problems to the council using the website - link provided below. Please note you will need a MySouthend account to use this.

01702 468461 - office@his.porticoacademytrust.co.uk