Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News 30th january 2026

It has been another quiet and settled week in school, with children showing a great attitude to learning throughout. I have been particularly impressed with the excellent effort and focus across classes, and the pride pupils are taking in their work.  Well done to all the children for continuing to demonstrate such a positive approach to their learning.   It was a pleasure to welcome our Year 1 parents into school today to observe our Number in Mastery lessons. We hope the visit provided a valuable insight into how we teach early mathematics and the strong emphasis we place on developing children’s confidence, fluency and understanding of number — skills that are vital for future success in maths. Next Friday, 6th February it’s the turn of our Year 2 parents so we hope to see you there!   Next week is quite a busy one! In addition, to our Year 2 parents coming into school on Friday, we also hold our first ‘Lift the Lip’ sessions in school on Monday or Tuesday. This quick visual check where a child’s upper lip is gently lifted so the front teeth can be seen clearly, is a simple early oral-health screening approach regularly used in health and school settings to help spot early signs of tooth decay in young children before it becomes more serious. If you would like your child to have this simple check, please ensure that you complete or return the consent form on Monday morning if you haven’t done so already.   On Tuesday next week, our Year 1s are also out and about in the local area as they head off to explore Southend Christian Fellowship Church. This is just one of the brilliant local links we have with the churches in our area and the children are always guaranteed a great visit. We hope they enjoy themselves and learn lots of new facts about this fantastic building.   During the last week of this half term, we also have our Science Day, which will take place on Tuesday 10th February. Once again, we welcome back the wonderful Einstein Entertainers who will be in school all day to inspire and excite the children with their explosive brand of wild and wacky science experiments…. it’s going to be fun I’m sure! As you know we rely heavily on parent support to have these special events take place so if you have already made a contribution, thank you, we are very grateful. It's never too late, so if you can please consider making a payment using your Arbor account. Thank you.   With half term now just two weeks away, just a reminder that Monday 23rd February is an INSET day so no children will be in school, while the teachers attend our yearly Portico Conference.   I hope you all have a lovely weekend and we will see you again on Monday!   Scott Roche Principal

Weekly Celebrations!

This week we didn’t get a chance to hold our celebration assembly due to our parent ‘maths mastery’ event taking place. However, the children have still been working hard on the first of our ‘We Care’ values – Working Together.     On Monday, we will be going around each class to share the names of our certificate winners but we had some great reasons, which included; ·         Being great learning partners ·         Great teamwork in football ·         Always being helpful to peers ·         Working well to design an animal home in science ·         Following our ‘talk partner guidelines’ ·         Working with teachers to be brave and answer questions in class ·         Tidying up the classroom ·         Working with friends to build a new role area in class   We also had over 30 children earning a Going for Gold award this week, as well as two of our adults who challenged the children to a bit of friendly competition and also managed to earn themselves a sticker!     In Year 2, Emily also earnt her copper Numbot award for super maths work and our WOW moments this week went to Uthman, who was awarded swimmer of the term at his swimming club and our wonderful media team Dolleigh Bow, Joe, Evelyn, Willow P, Beau, Thomas R, Chanju, Savannah M, Leo M, and Dylan J who were challenged to think of their own interview questions on the spot and they absolutely smashed it by using question words and full sentences. What a team of phenomenal journalists!   We will share the names of our certificate winners and Going for Gold recipients next week - well done to all our winners!

Attendance

This week our attendance figure stood at 94%, against our 95% target. Our attendance cups went to….

• Kingfisher class who won for the fourth week running, recorded 96% in Reception
• Duck class, who managed 97% to win in Year 1
• Fox class, who regained the Year 2 cup with 98%, the best attendance in the school

Well done Hamstel Infants!

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Spring 1 Diary Dates - Nursery - Reception - Rainbow & Starlight

Year 1 - Year 2 - Lunch Menu - PTA - Messages from the Office

Spring 2 Diary Dates - Community

Nursery

This week our NELI story has been ‘Shh don’t wake tiger’.  The children have enjoyed cutting out candles for birthday cakes, floating and sinking activities, playing games with balloons and catching floating feathers. In maths our focus has been completing sequencing puzzles, using language such as first, next and finally. How to help at home NELI special words: float, hurry, stroke and worry Maths: Encourage your child to count out 5 objects from a larger group. Such as 5 bricks, 3 spoons, 4 cups, 2 shoes etc  

REMINDER: Please ensure that your child has spare clothes in Nursery. Thank you.

Reception

This week we have been reading the book ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and writing words and sentences to describe the characters and events in the story. In PSHE we have been thinking about how to be a good friend and talking about how to resolve disagreements. In PE we have been learning to throw a beanbag in different ways. In maths we have be learning to recognise numerals 1-5 and to put them in order. In DT we have been using split pins and clips to join paper and card together. In outdoor learning we have taken part in the Big Bird Watch, identifying and naming different birds that we have seen in the wildlife garden. We have also been drawing maps of our school grounds.   How to help at home NELI special words: firefighter, police officer, help, fire engine, ambulance, police car, siren, doctor, vet, healthy, ill. Maths: Caterpillar Ordering - An Ordering and Sequencing Game Handwriting:   

Nursery rhyme of the week: Nigel sings Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star with Baby Bear - CBeebies

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

The children have continued to learn about story characters and prepositions by listening to 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. They enjoyed discussing/showing where Jack’s house is and where the Giant lives, using words/choosing visuals such as up, on, next to, behind and in. The children also created some lovely artwork, using their imagination and exploring a range of different materials and media. We have been working hard with our RWInc sessions, and the children have done amazingly well. They have been focused, engaged, and very enthusiastic in their learning. In maths, the children have been learning about number sets, including subitising and grouping items. We have also been exploring feelings—about how different situations may make us feel and what we can do to help ourselves feel better by using visuals and words that express these emotions.

Year 1

This week we have been continuing with the story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ We made a story map to break down the beginning, middle and end. We also included different story openers and exciting vocabulary. We used our imagination to change the golden hen that Jack stole from the Giant. Some examples included treasure chests, golden coins and jewels. We then used our plans to help us write our own simple 3-part story.  In maths we have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes and repeating patterns. In PE we have been continuing with team building games and gymnastics.  In science we have been continuing to learn about animals including fish and amphibians. We also looked at how we would care for and look after animals and what a suitable home for them would be. 

REMINDER: Outdoor Learning next week. Please note Duck Class have changed to Monday (2nd Feb) for this session only. 

Year 2

We have continued exploring the story 'Lost and Found'. The children created their own imaginative stories by changing the characters, using story openers and rich story language to improve their writing. In maths, the children are finalising their work on division and applying their knowledge to solve word problems. In science, we have been learning about how animals adapt to survive in the Arctic. The children particularly enjoyed taking on the role of scientists by carrying out an experiment to test how blubber helps animals stay warm. 

Friday 6th February- Mastering Number live lesson at 14.45pm

Letters sent home this week

• Year 2 - Maths Mastering Numbers - 27.01.2026

Support Our School with Easyfundraising!

Our PTA is 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!

Messages from the Office

Does your child turn 3 before 1st Sept 2026? Nursery Tours are available to book now.

Parking around the school

Have you spotted unsafe, illegal and inconsiderate parking near to the school at drop off and collection times? As a citizen if you see problem or illegal parking you can report this - the link for Southend Council is here Report a Parking Problem and the link for Essex Police is here Report antisocial behaviour | Essex Police

Arbor Hints and Tips

How to make a payment towards the Enrichment Events:

1. The payment item can be found on your child’s main profile page under ‘Quick Actions’, ‘Trips’, choose this option.
2. You will see a section 'Trips Open to (your child's name), choose School Enrichment Events.
3. Now you can view the information and on the right hand side of the page is a 'Sign up ....' button, choose this option.
4. The cost for the Spring Term events your child will be taking part in is £6.00, increase the amount to pay to this figure or you can also choose to pay the full amount.
5. You can now choose to 'Add to basket' - use this option if there are other items you want to pay for in one total transaction.
6. Or choose 'Make Payment'. You will then be asked to add your card details and confirm the payment.

If you are unable to make payments using the system after following these steps please contact the school office.

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.

Community

Course for Carers of children aged 0-25 years with SEND.

A six-week programme to support the health and wellbeing of carers. It is free and more information and registration is through Eventbrite.     https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ssif-6-week-healthy-parent-carer-programme-tickets-1976576391194?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl