At Windmill Hill Academy, we are ‘Inspiring Passionate Lifelong Learners’ by providing them with a broad and balanced to inspire and motivate pupils to have high aspirations; provide them with the tools to become assessment-capable learners; and be socially responsible within the school and wider community.
To keep you updated and informed, you will receive parental overviews at the start of each half term. These will outline our new learning, including our history and geography which will be linked to our whole-school learning concept. The project overviews, class timetable, knowledge organisers and home-learning menus are also available for you to view on both our website and class dojo.
As a school, we are working towards the Rights Respecting Schools Award. This means that we actively discuss the children's rights with them and how this relates to how we behave. See our behaviour policy for more information.
One area that we will be keeping you informed about this year is our 'Visible Learning' journey. Pupils are now familiar with the 'learning sails' which contribute to making a good learner.
- resilience and tenacity
Please take the opportunity to ask your child what these mean and when they have demonstrated them.
At Windmill Hill Acadedmy, we want the children to develop effective spelling strategies. Each day, the children will have specific lessons which teach the children phonemes, spelling rules and spelling patterns and these are then referred to throughout the week in other lessons where appropriate to enable the children to secure this knowledge. For Years 2 and above, we use the Babcock No Nonsense Spelling Programme.
Reading is extremely important in Year 2 and the children should be doing it at least 4 times a week if not every night. Year 2 uses Accelerated Reader which allows the children to read a book that is at their level and to develop their comprehension. Each Accelerated reader book must be read 3 times before the children can complete their quiz. This is to help with their comprehension. It is expected that every child reads at least four times a week at home and has their reading log signed each time. The children's Karate Bands are continued to be counted each week and the children will receive their colour band once they have achieved that amount of reads.
White: 15 reads
Yellow: 30 reads
Orange: 45 reads
Green: 60 reads
Blue: 80 reads
Purple: 100 reads
Brown: 120 reads
Red: 150 reads
Black: 180 reads
Recommended reads for children in Year 2
Here are some super texts for children to read while in Year 2. We will read lots of these in class but it would be great for you to read some at home too!
The children in Key Stage One will be engaged in enrichment activities this year in order to support their learning. Each term, the Key Stage One team will plan opportunities that best match the learning in the classroom. This may include: enrichment/themed days.
Please can you ensure your child has their PE kit at all times. PE kits will be sent home on a Friday to be washed and will be needed again on Monday. All items, including the bag, need to be labelled. In Year Two for this half term, PE will be on Thursdays and Fridays.
Rebellion and Invasion- Autumn 1
Natural Elements- Autumn 2
Civilisation and British Values-The Victorians
Discoveries- The First Aeroplane Flight