Term 1 Overview

Welcome to Orange Class!

I’m Emma Simmonds and I’m happy for parents and carers to call me Emma. To the children, I will be Mrs Simmonds. I am very keen for us to work in partnership, so we do our best for your child. I will be teaching your child 3 days each week on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays with the odd exception.

My email address is emma.simmonds@hawkhurst.kent.sch.uk and I am happy for you to contact me via email. Please always copy Miss Hanson in too, so we can keep communication between us running smoothly. I will respond during my working hours, Wednesday – Friday: 08.00-16:00. It might not be the same day, but I will reply to you as quickly as I can.

If you need to speak to me in person about any issues, please ask me at pick up or via email and we can plan a mutually convenient time for this to happen. I am super flexible and will always try to accommodate you.

Our first job as your children’s teachers is to make sure that they feel safe, valued and cared for. We place a high value on building up your child’s sense of self-worth and confidence. A child will only do their best learning if they are happy and feel safe. With this in mind, please let us know if there are any issues going on for your child, at home, that you think may have an impact on this. We can then take steps to support your little one and nurture them. 

This term, we’ll be ensuring that your children are developing in all these essential areas and ensuring that their well-being is at the centre of everything we do. On that note, it is important to acknowledge that these little people are still little. They need nurturing and care and whilst we would never ask your child for a hug, if they are upset and reach out to us, we won’t push them away.

The school day is the same, every morning, with a big focus on phonics, reading, English (language and literature) handwriting, spelling and maths. In the afternoons, we like to broaden our horizons by focusing on the wider curriculum – history, geography, PSHE, RE, science, art, DT, music and computing.

Our topic this term is geography based and focuses on oceans and continents. In PE, we are learning some of the fundamental skills, such as balance, jumping and sprinting, before moving on to ball skills. Our literacy lessons will be about learning all the grammatical concepts needed to write well in year 2 and our science will be about animals, including humans.

Please read with your children at home - every day, if possible, even just for 5 minutes. Reading is the most important thing you can do to help your child. They need to be able to read to access every other subject and the more fluently they can read, the better they will progress. Your child will bring home a reading book this week. If they finish it, they can bring it back in and we will change it. The exception is phonics books, which children will have for a full week.

Every Monday, your child will bring home a list of 10 spellings to learn. The children will need to know all Year 1 and Year 2 common exception words by the end of the year. There is a list for you to take home so you can help your child to learn them. They will also bring home a page of maths work, which will support what we are doing in class. This needs to be returned every Friday, please.

Through the year, the children will be learning their 2-, 5-, 10- and 3-times tables. We have prepared those for you, too. If we identify an area of difficulty for your child, we will send other homework accordingly for them to help them make better progress. 

We are firm but fair, and most of all, we love to bring a lot of fun into the classroom, so please expect your children to come home with tales of singing, dancing and a little silliness thrown in, too!

Here is some information about what your child needs into bring to school each day.

• A waterproof coat (Children will still go outside to play unless it is torrential rain)
• A water bottle (water only, please. No juice)
• Their reading book (please remember to send this in each day)
• A healthy snack (snacks are provided for children in Y2 but they are welcome to bring their own, too)
• PE kit (black or navy shorts, joggers or leggings, a school PE t-shirt or a t-shirt in their house colour, plimsoles or trainers)

PE is EVERY Friday.

Forest school is twice a term on a Thursday afternoon. Dates for this will be posted in the school newsletter and sent home on Arbour, too! On Forest School days, children can come into school in their home clothes (long trousers and long sleeve top) and must bring wellies and a waterproof coat. We will still go to Forest School - even in the rain!

We take the behaviour of the children seriously and will continue to follow the school behaviour policy, including the use of the ‘Good to be Green’ system. If the need arises, we will call and talk to you directly about your child and their choices, though we have every faith that they are all going to have a super year.

We are looking forward to working with you to help your children to grow and make great progress. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to catch us at the end of the school day, or to make an appointment (via the school office or our email addresses) to come in and speak with us. 

Many thanks,

Mrs Simmonds and Miss Hanson.