Hamstel Infant School & Nursery Weekly News week ending 20th October 2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

Well, it seems hard to believe but we are already at the October half term and of course mid-way through our Autumn term.

This half term is always a very busy one for everybody in school. The children and parents return after the summer and have to adapt to new routines and the teachers have to get to know all of those special little details about each child in their class. I must say how impressed I have been with all of our children and how quickly they have settled, especially our Nursery and Reception children, who for many, this half term was their first experience at Hamstel Infants.

This week we have welcomed so many current or prospective parents into school.

Throughout the week we have being running parent tours for our prospective new 2024 Reception intake. It is always a pleasure to show people around our wonderful school site and to hear such positive first impressions of our school from people new to Hamstel Infants.

We have also welcomed Reception parents in for our Handwriting workshops led by Mrs Bryant. Thank you to everybody who came, we hope you found it useful.

It was lovely to welcome so many of you into school for our Parent/Carer Evenings on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings – this is always a great opportunity for our teachers to discuss your children’s learning but equally as important to talk about how they have settled back during this first part of the academic year. Thank you to everybody who came along, especially those who braved some truly awful weather to get here!

Sadly we also said goodbye to two of our team here at Hamstel Infants this week but we wish Mrs Esp and Miss Booker every happiness in their new schools and thank them for all of their efforts over the years.

During the first week back Year 1 are off to The Hive for some exciting outdoor learning work and on Thursday 2nd we need the children to look their best for their individual school photographs.

Then after that it’s the countdown to all our seasonal fun. Did you know Christmas is actually only 66 days away?

Anyway, let’s put any festive thoughts on the back burner for now as its half term! I hope you have a great week and we look forward to welcoming you all back to Hamstel Infants on Monday 30th October.

Scott Roche

Principal

Nursery

This week we have shared the story ‘The diggers’ we have been learning about different vehicles that you might find on a building site. We have also been talking about our favourite modes of transport.

The children have really enjoyed looking at the photos of themselves as babies and talking about how they have changed.

In Maths we have continued looking at repeating patterns, we have also been looking at different amounts of objects and saying which group had more or fewer in.

REMINDER: Please ensure that you have your childs name on their clothes, Thank you.

Could you please ensure that your child has spare clothes at Nursery and if you could return any borrowed clothes as we are running very low.

Letters home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversations - 13.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversation Booking guide - 13.10.2023

Rainbow & Starlight

Rainbow

This week in Rainbow Room the children have been learning about and singing to nursery rhymes, they have made some lovely pictures, using paint and different textured media. The children have danced to and sang along to '123 once I caught a Fish Alive', 'The Muffin Man' and 'Twinkle twinkle little star', we have used these as incentives to learn new words and make lots of different art.

We have had sand play, messy play using household items, and much more, the children have been using rhythms to learn and further their knowledge of numbers, letters, colours and shapes, it has been a busy week for Rainbow Room.

Starlight

This week children in Starlight Room have been enjoying the story ‘Whatever Next’. They have designed their own space rockets using different shapes and producing some lovely artwork. We have also been learning about the artist Bridget Riley, the children have used chalk to create their own masterpieces in the style of Bridget Riley. The children have been learning to recognise numbers and count the appropriate number of objects.

The children have really entered enthusiastically into What’s in the Bucket and enjoyed all the activities alongside it.

Reception Year

This week we have been learning about the book ‘Whatever Next.’

In Literacy we have been learning to spell simple words using our Fred Fingers to help us. In Art we have created our own artwork based on Bridget Riley. In Handwriting we have been learning to write the long legged giraffe letters ‘j and y’, remembering to start at the top. In Maths we have been learning to represent a given number on our fingers without looking, compare two sets of objects and say which is more than or fewer than.

In outdoor learning we have been learning about our school environment, we have been on a walk around the school grounds naming the different areas around the school and learning how to draw a simple map. We have also tested our boats we made last week, to find out if they float or sink.

How to help at home:

RWI

Handwriting

Encourage your children to write the letter j and y. Make sure they start each letter in the right place and finish in the right place.

Letter home this week

• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversations - 13.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversation Booking guide - 13.10.2023

Year One

Year 1 have continued to read and learn about the traditional tale ‘The Gingerbread Man’. We have written our own versions of the story and thought about what the character might be saying.

In Maths we have continued to explore subtraction and number families.

In Geography this week we have been learning about the compass points and using maps to locate different areas of our school.

REMINDER: We will be going on our first Hive trip after half term. It is outside so please make sure your child is wearing warm, waterproof clothing. If you have not yet completed the permission form please do this now using this link.

If you send your child into school wearing wellie boots please make sure they have their school shoes to change into.

• Monday – Newt
• Tuesday – Duck
• Wednesday – Dragonfly
• Thursday - Heron

Letters home this week

• Whole School - School Council - 19.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversations - 13.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversation Booking guide - 13.10.2023

Year Two

Wow! We can’t believe we are at the end of the half term already! The year 2 children have settled brilliantly this autumn and have worked incredibly hard building on and learning new skills.

The classic poem 'The Owl and the Pussycat' has been our focus this week in Literacy. The children have learnt to recite the first verse of the poem and worked together as a class to create a pictorial map to help remember the words. Using our imaginations, we then changed the animals, the transport and the musical instrument to create our own versions. Just some of the ideas included cobras, squirrels, elephants, bumble bees and Labradors. The children wrote them out beautifully and all the children had some great ideas and finished the week feeling very proud of their new poems.

In Maths we have been working hard at developing our calculating skills to understand subtraction. The children have shown an increased confidence in representing the column method and partitioning numbers in the written form to show their working out.

Reminders: Mrs Farrell Headteacher will be conducting tours for prospective parents who are thinking of sending their child to Hamstel Juniors in September from Year 2.

The dates are:

• 31st October at 9.15am
• 2nd November at 9.15 am
• 9th November at 4.30pm

Letters home this week

• Whole School - School Council - 19.10.2023
• Year 2 - Nite Owl photos - 16.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversations - 13.10.2023
• Whole School - Teacher Parent Conversation Booking guide - 13.10.2023

Online Safety

With children increasingly going online, the chances of them coming across content that may cause them upset also increases. Whilst carefully monitoring and the device settings will minimise this there may be occasions when you will need to talk with them. This latest guide offers you some ways to support them.