This week has been particularly busy. The children rehearsed on Monday and performed their nativity on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. They learnt all their lines and their singing and acting was brilliant! I was so impressed and proud of all of them. On Thursday, the children went to Leeds Playhouse to see Stick Man and thoroughly enjoyed it. They made a card for Mrs Stott to say thank you for their theatre trip. On Friday, the children participated in some gardening. I think they might need a rest over the weekend!

Each class is participating in Advent activities over the next few weeks. One of the activities is to open an online Advent calendar which reveals a story for the children to listen to. The children have been enjoying watching and listening to them daily. All classes are also contributing to an Advent wall display in the main school hall. The pictures have been added each day. 2H have contributed by creating an image that represents inn keepers (picture below) saying there is no room to Mary and Joseph on their arrival in Bethlehem. Great acting skills 2H and brilliant expressions!

This week, the children have been exploring religious rules. They had the challenge of ordering a set of rules from the most important to the least important.

This week, the children went outside to continue learning about plants. They explored whether materials in the playground were dead or had never been alive and sorted them into two piles. The children worked with the organiser of ‘Grow to Schools’ and observed whether any of the vegetables that had been planted had grown. It was a chilly day but the children worked really well together. They showed great collaboration skills.

This week, the children went to the hall to remember those who had died in World War I and all the other wars since that time. The children stood for two minutes in silence and Zachary read out a remembrance poem.

This week was also anti bullying week. The children discussed the importance of telling a trusted adult if they believe they are the victim of bullying.

The children have also been practising their parts for the upcoming nativity performance. They have started to learn their lines which is great to see.

It has been a busy first week back! The children have been experimenting in science and using their collaboration skills to investigate which materials are waterproof. They have also enjoyed participating in ‘A Taste of India’ this afternoon. They had the opportunity to have some naan bread and poppadoms, as well as some mehndi (traditional art commonly used in parts of South Asia) decorated on their hands. A great start to autumn term two!

This month, the pupils have been exploring black history month. The children have looked at Nicola Adams and they were able to recognise the special post box in Leeds (on the slides) that they saw on their excursion to Leeds City Centre. The class also listened to a story by Floella Benjamin. We also discussed as a class the purpose of Black History Month.

This week, 2H participated in some outdoor activities. On Monday, as part of the Grow Your School project, they started to prepare the soil for planting vegetables. They learned how to hold gardening tools safely and some children used trowels for planting.

On Thursday, 2H went on a walk as part of their Geography topic this term. They walked around the local area identifying human and physical features.

This week, the children have been writing their shared write and continuing place value in maths. They have also started learning actions to a poem to perform next week, in Collective Worship, in celebration of National Poetry Day which was on 2nd October. Furthermore, in RE, the children discussed ways Christians might pray and how it can help them focus on their thoughts. Some of the children volunteered to show how Christians might pray.

On Thursday 25th September, year 2 went on an excursion to Leeds City Centre. The children saw some of the iconic buildings of Leeds including the Leeds City Museum and the Corn Exchange as well as a walk to Leeds Bridge (which dates back to 1870) to see the River Aire.