Welcome to Year 2
Year 2 Key Information
Teacher 2A: Miss Garside Email: bgarside@inspire.victoriousmat.org
Teacher 2B: Miss Smith / Mrs Shemeld Email: jsmith@inspire.victoriousmat.org / sshemeld@inspire.victoriousmat.org
Who to follow on Twitter: @miss_bgarside /@MissSmith_KS2 / @MrsShemeldY3
Weekly Spelling and Times Tables Test: Monday mornings
PE days: Autumn 1 – Wednesdays and Thursdays
Autumn 2 – Tuesdays and Thursdays
Spring 1 – Wednesdays and Thursdays
Spring 2 – Wednesdays and Thursdays
Summer 1 – Thursdays
Summer 2 – Thursdays
Forest School:
11th and 18th September (the Class Teachers will advised which date is for 2A and which is for 2B)
23rd October and 6th November (the Class Teachers will advised which date is for 2A and which is for 2B)
Spring / Summer dates TBC
Note on SATS: As of the year 2023-24, Y2 SATS will become non-statutory, but we will still do our own assessments to make our end of KS1 judgements
Long Term Plan:
Year 2 Long Term Plan
What’s happening in Autumn term?
In Autumn 1, the children will travel back in time to the Crimean War.
They will be learning all about Mary Seacole and her contribution to nursing during the Crimean War, how she cared for wounded soldiers and set up the ‘British Hotel’.
In Autumn 2, we will hopefully be going on our Year 2 trip to support our History topic. We will be learning all about Alan Turing and his incredible code breaking skills.
Autumn Class Reading Text
Hotel Flamingo by Alex Milway
Truly heartwarming and uplifting. I’d love to book a room there myself’ Philip Ardagh ‘Hotel Flamingo is bursting with charm, friendship and fabulous characters!
The Snowman by Michael Morpurgo
When James wakes to see snow falling one December morning, he is delighted and rushes outside to make a snowman. With coal eyes, an old green hat and scarf and a tangerine nose, he is perfect and James can hardly bear to go inside and leave him. In the middle of the night, he wakes and creeps out to see his Snowman again – and to his amazement, the Snowman comes to life…
What’s happening in Spring term?
In Spring 1 we will learn about and compare Cape Town and Manchester. Using Digimaps, the children are going to locate each country and city, identify and compare physical and human features and make information texts.
The children will also look at art work from the famous artist, L.S.Lowry. We will develop our sketching and painting skills throughout this unit of work.
In Spring 2 our new topic will be ‘The Explorers.’ We will conduct research to find out more about a number of famous explorers such as Christopher Columbus, Neil Armstrong, Amelia Earhart, Matthew Henson and Felicity Aston. We celebrate their achievements and discuss their relevance in history.
Spring Class Reading Text
The BFG by Roald Dahl
In The BFG, the dream-hunting giant takes orphan Sophie back to his cave in Giant Country, where he lives surrounded by nine other fearsome giants who spend every night guzzling down humans. Or, as the giants call them, human beans.
The Nothing to see here Hotel by Steven Butler
This book is so good you won’t blunking believe it!’ Tom Fletcher ‘Hilariously funny and inventive, and I love the extraordinary creatures and the one thirty-sixth troll protagonist…’ Cressida Cowell ‘A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, amazerous magical adventure.
What’s happening in the Summer term?
This term the children will be learning all about the events of the Great Fire of London.
Freshwater Theatre Company are coming into school to complete some drama activities with the children who will then perform the events from those fateful few days in 1666.
In DT, the children will be making some Great Fire of London cakes. We’ll be making and tasting the original cakes from 1666 and will then be designing, making and tasting our own delicious cakes!
Summer Class Reading Text
Amelia Fang Series by Laura Anderson
Meet Amelia Fang – a little vampire with a big heart! Amelia lives with her parents Count Drake and Countess Frivoleeta, and her pet pumpkin Squashy, in Nocturnia – a city in the Kingdom of the Dark, where glitter is terrifying and unicorns and sparkly fairies are the stuff of day-mares.
Reading
At Inspire we believe reading is the heart of our curriculum. It opens doors, sparks 
your child’s imagination and stimulates curiosity. It is therefore crucial your child reads every night and that you sign their reading record to show that this homework has been done. Children will have the opportunity to change their reading books regularly, as well as choosing a new library book from our Reading Retreat once a week.
Spelling
In Year 2, spelling is an important part of the curriculum.
The children learn a number of Year 2 spelling rules and also focus on common exception words which they need to remember. The spelling lists for Year 1 and 2 are in the back of their diaries. Spelling shed is a fantastic app for practising spellings and we have noticed a huge improvement in spelling scores when children have used it often. Each child has their own login in the back of their diary.
Times Tables
At Inspire we believe that the sky is the limit. Knowing your times tables (and their associated division facts) supports mathematical learning and understanding. By the end of Year 2, pupils should know their 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables in order, out of order as well as the division facts. The answers should be known instantaneously without the need to work out the answer in their heads or on their fingers.
Our times tables are tested every Monday and the children will move through them at their own pace. Every child has their own login details for Times Tables Rockstars. They can use this at home as well as in school to help them to learn and practise their times tables.