Welcome to Owl Class

Our Learning

In Owl Class, we are using the Cornerstones curriculum for our non-core subjects such as, art, music and history! This is because we strive to ensure our curriculum instils a love of learning and curiosity in our children

The Cornerstones curriculum helps us learning important skills in Owl Class. We’ll work on problem-solving, thinking creatively and sharing what we know about lots of different subjects.

Learning is FUN in Owl Class!

We use special projects that take you on a learning journey in 4 steps:

• Engage: Spark your curiosity and get excited about learning!
• Develop: Build your skills and knowledge.
• Innovate: Think creatively and come up with your own amazing ideas.
• Express: Share what you've learned and show off your talents!

We believe in every Owl! Our curriculum is designed to spark a love of learning, build confidence, and help each child reach their full potential. Through exciting projects and engaging activities, we'll nurture curiosity, creativity, and a sense of well-being.

Our new topic for Terms 5 + 6 is Wriggle and Crawl.

This term, Owl Class will be exploring the fascinating world of minibeasts through our topic, "Wriggle and Crawl." Our students will embark on exciting investigations to discover the diverse range of these small creatures in their natural habitats. We will venture outdoors to observe minibeasts under logs, stones, and within various microhabitats.

We'll learn how to identify and group minibeasts by their characteristics, such as the number of legs they have, their colours, shapes, and unique body parts. We will even use keys to help us in our identification.

Through our investigations, we will discover more about the habitats minibeasts live in, including those small habitats called microhabitats, and how they survive. We will also explore food chains to understand what these minibeasts eat and how they get their energy!  

We will also have some companion projects:

• Do insects have a favourite colour?
• What is the life cycle of a ladybird?  
• Do snails have noses?
• Where do snails live?

We'll also be focusing on specific minibeasts like bees, worms, and butterflies, and explore how they change and grow. We will also learn how minibeasts protect themselves from predators, including camouflage, mimicry, warning colours and playing dead.  

It's going to be a term filled with wiggly, crawly fun as we become minibeast experts!

Key Focus Areas

In Owl Class, we are committed to providing a challenging and enriching learning environment that fosters your child's growth and development. This year, we have identified three core priorities:

• Mathematics: Daily maths challenges will provide opportunities for your child to develop problem-solving skills, deepen their understanding of mathematical concepts, and build confidence in their abilities.
• Writing: Dedicated writing sessions each week will focus on enhancing your child's writing skills, including composition, grammar, and punctuation. We will also emphasize developing their stamina for sustained writing tasks.
• Challenge: Throughout the curriculum, we will incorporate opportunities for your child to embrace challenges, think critically, and extend their learning beyond their comfort zone.

In addition, we will be implementing the Letter-join handwriting scheme to develop consistent and legible handwriting. Your child can also access this program at home for additional practice.

Knowledge Organiser

If your child is particularly curious about something related to our topic, encourage them to explore it further! The knowledge organiser provides a great foundation for any extra research or study. By the end of the topic, your child should be able to confidently recall the information on the knowledge organiser.

Discrete Subjects

Although many subjects are taught as part of our topic work, core subjects such as English and Mathematics are taught discretely.  The children will take part in daily Read, Write Inc sessions where the emphasis will be on phonics, reading and writing.  For these sessions, the children are taught in groups to ensure they are working at the level they are currently at. For maths, the children are split and  taught in year groups.  Religious Education is  taught as a discrete subject weekly.

P.E.

Our P.E. day is on Friday. Please ensure your child brings their kit into school. PE bags can be stored in school on pegs through the week. P.E. will sometimes take place in the hall and sometimes outside so please ensure your children has suitable clothing, such as jogging bottoms in case the weather is cold. Please ensure that your child is not wearing any jewellery on Fridays.

Behaviour & Rewards

To make sure we have a happy and successful learning environment, we follow our school rules:

• To flourish and grow:

• We stay seated

• We listen to each other

• We use indoor voices

• We are organised for learning

We're working hard to help our Owls become independent learners! We do this through classroom monitors, taking care of our own stationery and books, and other fun responsibilities.

The children are rewarded in class with Dojos and stickers for following the School rules or for producing excellent work. Our 'Value' award and the 'Flourish and Grow' award are nominated weekly and announced in worship on a Friday morning. The Year 2 children also receive a whole class reward each term! The children choose a treat and working as a team to earn the reward of their choosing. This may be watching a movie, a class party or extra time in the playground. 

Important Reminders:

• Attendance: Please make sure your child arrives at school on time and attends every day. Good attendance is super important for learning!
• Uniform: Please help your child wear the correct school uniform every day.
• Jewellery: Our school has a no jewellery policy, except for stud earrings.
• Hair: Long hair must be tied back at all times.

Thank you for your support in helping our Owls flourish and grow!

Challenge

We believe that children enjoy a challenge and so provide additional challenges in most lessons to try to encourage children to push themselves that little bit further.  Seeing the pride in their faces when they overcome a challenge is a daily reward for us teachers!  

As well as challenges in lessons, there will also be a challenge section on homework and a termly class challenge.  Please encourage your child to take part.

Homework

All children have a homework book which they need to bring to school each Thursday and Friday.  A copy of common exception words can be found stuck on the inside front cover of the book. Please encourage your child to learn to read and write these spellings.

Year 2

Daily: children are expected to read their school book, practise reading and writing common exception words and practise the 2, 5 and 10 times table.

Weekly: a piece of literacy and mathematics homework will be sent home each Friday. Children in some phonic groups will also be sent home a spelling list on a Friday. 

Termly: ideas for homework are stuck in your child's homework book. Please try to encourage your child to undertake a minimum of three pieces a term.

Every child is unique and we adapt learning to meet individual needs.  If your child is registered with the school as having specific special learning needs, please look at the links below for further information and support. Thank you.

Stay Connected

We welcome open communication in Key Stage 1!

• Quick Chat: Feel free to catch your child's teacher on the playground after school, once all students have been safely dismissed to their grown-ups.
• Schedule a Call: If after school doesn't work for you, just call the school office and ask for the teacher to give you a ring back to arrange a better time to talk.
• Send a Note: If all else fails, simply write a note to the teacher and have your child hand it over.
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Important Reminders for a Great Year!

Independence Matters: We're helping your child grow into independent learners by giving them responsibilities like classroom jobs and taking care of their own supplies.

Attendance is Key: Being at school on time every day is so important for your child's learning. Please ensure that your child arrives at school on time and attends every day.

Uniform and Appearance:

• Correct school uniform is required every day.
• No jewellery is allowed (except for stud earrings).
• Long hair should always be tied back.