Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 12th SEPTEMBER 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

What a great week that was!

Firstly, our KS1 children have continued to re-adapt to life back in school, demonstrating great attitudes to their learning and super focus on behaviour. This was highlighted by the huge amount of dojo points won across years 1 and 2 this week (over 2700) and the fact that we awarded 18 ‘Going for Gold‘ awards to those children reaching 20 or more dojos in our celebration assembly today. Well done KS1 a fabulous effort!

Added to that, it is lovely to have a full school again as our Nursery and Reception children joined us fully this week. The children have all approached each new routine with enthusiasm and curiosity, quickly becoming familiar with their classroom and outdoor spaces and it has been wonderful to see new friendships beginning to form and the children already showing great confidence and independence. We are very proud of how well they have taken to school life and are excited for all the learning adventures ahead.

Talking of new adventures…Mrs Shine, our new outdoor learning lead has also led her first sessions with the Year 1 classes this week, (to rave reviews from children and staff alike). Over the summer holidays, Mrs Shine spent a lot of time working on our wildlife garden and we have some great plans to improve it even further with the help of the Friends of Hamstel and some additional fund raising. Exciting times are ahead for our Outdoor Learning programme!

Thank you to all the Reception parents that came along to support our curriculum meetings on Tuesday, we had a fantastic 80% attendance! Next week, there are two new opportunities for parents to come into school; Nursery are holding their curriculum meeting on Tuesday at 8:40am and 2:30pm in the Infant school hall. While on Friday, Year 2 parents can come along to our maths workshops with Miss Goodman, and also take part in some fun maths activities with their children too. These start at 9:00am and 2:30pm in the Infant Hall.

Our Year 1 children will also be out and about next week as they start their local area walks, exploring all of the interesting features in our community.

I hope you have seen our letter this week regarding our school meals and packed lunches from home. In addition to that information, I just wanted to ask for your support to make the lunch booking process easier.

The Arbor system lets parents book their children’s meals in advance, so if you would like to discuss meal choices with the children at home and then book their choices for the week please do so. You can also select a home packed lunch as an option too. However, please don’t worry if you haven’t made a lunch selection as our staff will still continue to ask any children without a lunch choice for their preference when they get into school.

When booking lunches, please can I ask that you DO NOT select the allergy menu unless you have an arranged specialist menu agreed with Pabulum. This option is only for those children with confirmed specific dietary requirements and is not available without prior agreement. Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

So…week 2 done already and we are now really back into the swing of school again. I hope you have a great weekend and we look forward to seeing the children again on Monday.

Scott Roche

Principal

Jump to a section...

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

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

Community Information - Key Dates for Autumn Term

Nursery

We would like to welcome everyone to Nursery. The children have settled in well.

This week we have spent time getting to know the children and introducing our Nursery routines.

Nursery Curriculum meeting Tuesday 16th September 8.40am or 2.30pm

Please ensure that your child has a spare set of clothes at Nursery.

Could you ensure that Nursery uniform has your child’s name in especially their jumpers and cardigans thank you.

Letters sent home

• Whole School - Newsletter - 05.09.2025
• Whole School - Using Tax Free Childcare - 04.09.2025

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

It has been lovely to welcome the children back into school and to see how excited they were to return to Rainbow Room. They have settled in exceptionally well, quickly adapting to routines and classroom expectations. This week, we have been learning about feelings and emotions and thinking about how we can treat others fairly. We are enjoying the story 'The Colour Monster', which has sparked lots of interest. The children have loved exploring the different colours and the emotions they represent.

The children have been busy creating some wonderful artwork, exploring different materials and media. They have enjoyed experimenting with paint and crayons, as well as expressing their feelings through art. Using newspapers and magazines, they made interesting shapes to show how they might feel in different situations.

Alongside this, we have continued with our RWI sessions, pencil control, name writing, and number work.

Outdoor learning has been lots of fun this week! The children were very excited to be back in the hobbit hut and loved having their snack there. We also explored the natural world, looking at different types of trees and plants, and collecting leaves and twigs along the way.

Our PE days are on Wednesday, please send children dressed in their uniform, PE kits in bags, as we will dress and undress in school. Thank you

Starlight

We’re so pleased to share that the children have settled back into school wonderfully after the summer holidays. They’ve returned full of energy and enthusiasm, and it’s been lovely to see them quickly adapting to our classroom routines and expectations.

This week, we’ve started exploring 'Alice in Wonderland' as part of our English lessons. The children have enjoyed diving into the magical world of Wonderland and have been working hard on writing their own expanded noun phrases inspired by the story.

In maths, we’ve been revisiting number bonds to 20 to help build strong maths foundations, and the children are becoming more confident each day.

During outdoor learning, we’ve been observing the early signs of Autumn — from crisp leaves to changes in the weather. The children showed great curiosity and enjoyed learning through nature.

Thank you for your continued support. We’re looking forward to a fantastic term ahead.

Our P.E. day is on Mondays. Please can you send in suitable footwear on these days (if you haven’t done so already.) Thank you.

Reception Year

It has been lovely to see all the happy, smiley faces of our new Reception children come into school this week. All the children have settled in beautifully and are quickly learning all the new routines and making lots of new friends – well done Reception!

This week the children have enjoyed showing their pictures on Tapestry of all the exciting adventures they got up to with their talking school dinosaur.

How to help at home

Reading: encourage your child to talk about the pictures in their school book.

RWI: watch the QR codes with your child, encouraging them to join in. Please tick under the box when you have watched the video and return the slip to your class teacher by Thursday.

REMINDER: If you are still having trouble accessing Tapestry please email the school office or catch Mrs Bryant on the gate.

Letters sent home this week

• Reception - Baseline Assessment Information - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - School Lunch Information - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Lunch Box ideas - 09.09.2025
• Reception - Autumn Term Events - 09.09.2025
• Reception - Home Learning in Reception - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Newsletter - 05.09.2025
• Whole School - Using Tax Free Childcare - 04.09.2025

​

Year One

Year 1 have had a busy and exciting start to the term! In English, we have been enjoying 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and writing sentences to describe both the caterpillar and the butterfly. In maths, we have been consolidating our Reception learning by spotting smaller numbers within larger ones and working practically to recall our number bonds to 5. In Geography, we have been exploring our local area and even used a map of Southend to see if we could spot the streets where we live. In PE, we have been practising our running skills and building our confidence in moving with control and speed.

Next week we have local area walks, please let the class teacher know if you are available to help;

• Tuesday 17th 9:15am – Duck
• Tuesday 17th 9:30am – Dragonfly
• Wednesday 18th 9:15am – Heron
• Wednesday 18th 9:30am – Newt

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - School Lunch Information - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Lunch Box ideas - 09.09.2025
• Year 1 - Local Area Walk - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Newsletter - 05.09.2025
• Whole School - Using Tax Free Childcare - 04.09.2025
• KS1 - Class Dojo Platform - 03.09.2025
• KS1 - Diwali video - 03.09.2025
• KS1 - Start of the New School Year - 01.09.2025

Year Two

Year 2 have had a great start to the new year and have settled well into their new classrooms with their new teacher. There has been lots of happy faces and of course lots of new learning taking place. We have spent time practicing our routines and going back over our school and classroom expectations as these are very important to ensure we are all successful in our learning.

We have begun our new theme ‘Wonderland’ using a simple version of the story ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lesley Sims. The children have become familiar with the story and discussed the different events that occur to Alice. Using some of our sentence and language knowledge from Year 1 the children have been writing simple diary entries in character role, imagining they are Alice. The children had to use the pronoun I, adjectives to describe events and feelings and challenged themselves to extend their sentences with ‘because’. There has been some fabulous writing to start the year with, and the children were very proud of their work.

In maths the children have been reviewing some key number learning from Year 1. The children have been reviewing numbers to 20, some simple addition and subtraction using numbers up to 20 and doubles and halves. We have been working hard on reviewing the language we use, symbols and presenting our work carefully in our books. There has been an amazing effort with presentation this week – well done!

The children will be bringing home their spelling passports today. Please find 5 minutes to practise the weeks spellings and bring the jotter in each Friday to get a stamp.

Next Week: Year 2 Maths Workshops are on Friday 19th September, please come and join us in the hall - full details on the separate letter sent home.

• 9.00am - 9.45am: Otter Class and Hedgehog Class
• 2.30pm - 3.15pm: Fox Class and Squirrel Class

Letters sent home this week

• Whole School - School Lunch Information - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Lunch Box ideas - 09.09.2025
• Year 2 - Maths Workshops - 09.09.2025
• Whole School - Newsletter - 05.09.2025
• Whole School - Using Tax Free Childcare - 04.09.2025
• KS1 - Class Dojo Platform - 03.09.2025
• KS1 - Diwali video - 03.09.2025
• KS1 - Start of the New School Year - 01.09.2025

PTA

Messages from the Office

Flu Immunisations for Year 1 & Year 2 - Wednesday 17th September

The immunisation team are with us on Wednesday 17th September, for your child to receive the immunisation a parent must complete the consent form. Full details have been sent out via email already.

The link for the consent form can be found here also https://eastanglia.schoolvaccination.uk/flu/2025/essex

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.

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