Year 2

Welcome to Year 2!

Welcome to Year 2, where, together with Miss Williams, your child will work hard, develop as an individual, achieve their goals and have fun. It is going to be a busy year, full of new opportunities and areas of learning. Miss Williams and all the staff at Daresbury are here to support you and your child throughout the year. Within the classroom, all children are valued and cared for so please let Miss Williams know if you have any concerns (big or small) via our communication platform, Seesaw.

As a school, we could not achieve all that we do without the continued support and dedication of our parents and families. If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Miss Williams looks forward to working with you this academic year to support your child on their learning journey and achieving their full potential!

Daily Essentials

Each day your child is required to bring to school a coat, their book bag, reading diary, a water bottle (re-usable if possible) filled with water, lunch and a snack (unless they order a hot dinner or toast).

Communication

Seesaw is our main method of communication so please continue to check it regularly. Where possible, please get in touch via the inbox tool on Seesaw to ask any questions or share any concerns (no matter how small) and Miss Williams will always aim to answer as quickly as possible. Miss Williams appreciates that messages may pop up at any time, but please be mindful that if a message is sent in the evening or over the weekend, it may not be responded to until the next school day. Likewise, teachers will also give advanced notice of any messages or announcements, wherever possible, so that they don’t arrive late in the evening.

Rules, learning behaviours and rewards

We are developing children's ability to discuss their learning and helping them develop a language to talk about their own learning. The children in school today are going to be facing a variety of different situations in the wider world and we are working with them to develop the skills and attitudes that will help them be successful.

Our Key Values: Kindness, Integrity and Tenacity.

Daresbury’s Learning Behaviours are: Collaborating, Active Listening, Showing Curiosity, Being Independent and Reflecting.

These are displayed within the classroom and throughout the school, so children are aware of the clear expectations of their behaviour.

Children can gain house points for a variety of things from following our learning behaviours to receiving a reward. Their teacher and other members of staff can award house points throughout the school day or on Seesaw. If a child has been awarded a certificate in our celebration assembly on a Friday, they will also receive house points:

Special Mention = 3 pom poms

Wall of Success = 1 pom pom

Mathematician of the week = 1 pom pom

Reader of the week = 1 pom pom

In addition to recognising achievements and positive reinforcements of our school rules, we do have systems in place for when our school rules, behaviour expectations and learning behaviours are not followed.

Step 1: a reminder of the rule that they have broken.

Step 2: children will receive a verbal warning (this will be done 1:1 and not in front of others).

Step 3: a 2 minute reflection time with an adult.

Step 4: an age appropriate reflection with an adult. Parents will be informed and the incident will be logged onto the school monitoring system.

Step 5: Follow up- repair and restore. Class teacher to discuss the behaviour with child/children and consider collaboratively how to best repair the problem/behaviour. For example, this could be completing work missed in their own time like at break times.

Homework

The expectation for children in Year 2 is that they are reading at least three times a week and logging into Numbots/TTRockstars. Throughout the year, children may be given additional projects or tasks to complete to enrich their learning experience in class. If teachers feel like your child may need more support on a particular area of the curriculum, short tasks may also be assigned.

Reading expectations

Reading is really important as it provides children with pleasure and enjoyment, the ability to expand their vocabulary and open them up to a world of imagination and adventure. It is also highly beneficial for other areas of their learning, including their wider knowledge of the world and other subjects they learn in school.

You are expected to comment in their Reading Diary at least three times a week, although it doesn’t just have to be about their school book. A little comment about how they found the book, how their reading was, or some reference to the VIPERS skills would be fantastic! Reading three times or more helps the child discuss the book, author, illustrator, themes, features, and language, which all contribute to their comprehension and literacy skills. Reading Diaries are monitored throughout the week to keep track of who is reading regularly at home. Books provided by school will need to be brought in every Monday as this is when they are changed.

Your child’s diary will be checked with either a ‘Well done you’ve read three times this week’ or an ‘Oops, you’ve forgotten to read three times’ sticker, alongside a teacher’s signature. In addition to this, a half termly progress comment that reflects your child’s reading target will be uploaded to seesaw. If at any stage we feel that your child needs additional support with their reading we will inform you of the steps that we will put in place to assist their progress.

Miss Williams will have a tracker in class to monitor how often children are reading throughout the week and therefore throughout the year. Please note that if a Reading Diary is lost, there will be a small charge to replace it. These details, if needed, can be found with Mrs Staveley.

Reading VIPERS

We use VIPERS to help children develop their comprehension (understanding) skills in relation to texts. They stand for Vocabulary, Infer, Predict, Explain, Retrieve, and Summarise. Attached to this page are key questions linking to the VIPERS skills that can be asked when your child reads at home. This will give you a chance to see the type of questions they are asked during lessons and assessment periods.

We will have two PE sessions a week. We will be continuing to ask that your child comes ready into school on PE days already in their PE kit. We request that children wear a school PE kit with a logo or a plain white t-shirt, with plain black shorts or bottoms. Please can children wear no jewellery on PE days and have their hair tied up.

Seesaw

Seesaw is an interactive learning journal where your child will be able to share their work. It will be used in all subjects from problem solving in Maths to Dance in PE. As parents, you will be able to like and comment on your child’s work, which will add to the great sense of achievement that the children will feel when they personally use the app in School. If you have any questions about Seesaw and how it works, please ask as we will be more than happy to help! You can send private messages to teachers via the inbox element of the app, although please be aware that if you message a teacher via your child’s account, then children may also be able to access this too. If you have an urgent message, please ring Mrs Staveley on the school number.

Birthdays and Treats

Birthdays are a big part of our Year 2 classroom, and each child will be celebrated and recognised on their birthday. It is an important day for them, and this will be reflected in school. Miss Williams already has a birthday display, with all the children’s birthdays noted down and a special bag full of birthday cards for each child from everyone in Year 2!

In addition, Daresbury is a ‘Healthy School’ and so we are not actively promoting sugary treats on a regular basis. We don’t want to put anybody under pressure when it comes to children’s birthdays and providing this treat for everyone. Therefore, we would prefer not to distribute cakes and sweets in class, and this can also take up quite a bit of time at the end of the day. Thank you for your continued support and understanding with this.

Key takeaways

Each day children will need: