Year 2
Hello and a very warm welcome to Year 2!
Year 2 is filled with lots of exciting learning from dragons and castles, to animals and explorers. Rich opportunities are provided for the children so that their learning is memorable and lots of fun too!
Who's in the team?
Our teaching team this year consists of Miss Smith who teaches Badgers Class, Mr Tagg who teaches Foxes Class, and Miss Acierno and Mrs Perkins who teach Otters Class. Mrs Joyce also teaches two mornings a week whilst the teachers have their planning time. We are very lucky to have fantastic TAs working in the team too.
This is Miss Smith’s second year teaching at Grand Avenue Primary and Nursery School, and before this, she taught in schools in the UK and Dubai. Year 2 is Miss Smith’s favourite year group to teach! She loves teaching maths and also enjoys teaching dance as part of PE. Dance breaks regularly happen in Badgers Class!
Mr Tagg has worked at the school for twelve years! He is new to the Year 2 Team this year and is ready to see just how great teaching Year 2 can be. A keen sports person, Mr Tagg loves teaching PE and he loves to attend sporting events with the children.
Miss Acierno and Mrs Perkins share the teaching of Otter's class where Miss Acierno teaches at the beginning of the week and Mrs Perkins teaches at the end of the week. Miss Acierno has worked at the school for nine years and loves teaching English. Mrs Perkins has worked at the school for six years and her favourite subject to teach is art. Together, they make a great team!
Trips and Visitors
In Year 2, we are fortunate to go on many school trips! Our main school trip happens in the Autumn Term where we visit the Tower of London. This is an incredible trip where the children explore the Tower and see the Crown Jewels! Throughout the year, we also visit Emmanuel Church, Tolworth Library and Claremont Gardens. There may be additional workshops that happen throughout the year, such as African Drumming and Zoolab for the children to enjoy. Based on the previous year, a rough yearly cost for these trips and possible workshops is £50 in total.
PE and swimming
Throughout the year, PE lessons happen twice a week for the children.
Badgers Class: PE days are Mondays and Wednesdays
Foxes Class: PE days are Thursdays and Fridays
Otters Class: PE days are Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Swimming lessons take place for Year 2 in the second part of the Autumn Term and for the whole of the Spring Term. The children love swimming lessons and we’re very lucky to have a swimming pool on site!
Badgers and Otters have their swimming lessons on Wednesdays and Foxes have their swimming lessons on Fridays.
Sharing our learning
In every term, there is an opportunity to come and see your Year 2 child perform! In the Autumn Term, we have the Christmas Show, and in the Spring and Summer Terms, we have class assemblies where you can see for yourselves the great learning that has been taking place in school. We also invite parents/carers in for our parent showcases throughout the year so that you can see some of the children’s work in the classrooms.
How parents can support
Home Learning
In Year 2, the children are set weekly spellings to practise at home. Children are encouraged to learn the spelling of common exception words. These are words that are spelt without using the normal spelling rules. Click here to see the list for Year 2. They are encouraged to practise these spellings in a variety of creative ways! The children are also set an English or a maths task.
We also encourage daily reading and the children receive a sticker if they have been reading regularly at home. If a child completes all of their homework within a half term, they receive a certificate to commend their efforts.
Parent volunteers
We are grateful for any support that parent helpers can offer us throughout the year. In Year 2, we love having parent helpers in school who can read with the children. There are also projects that happen during the year such as sewing cushions in the Spring Term and painting portraits in the Summer Term where any help from parents is gratefully received. Having the support of parent helpers during swimming lessons in the Autumn and Spring Terms is also warmly welcomed. Thank you in advance for any time that you can give us!
Year 2 Parent letters
For letters applicable to all year groups, please click here.
Year 2 Letters:
Tower of London trip - Thursday 24th October