HIGHLIGHTS Year 2
Reception & KS1 Performance – Everyone Loves a Baby It felt great to be back in class for the Michaelmas term, and one of the highlights was our annual Nativity performance, Everyone Loves a Baby! The performance was a remote but remarkable one, with family and friends able to enjoy it at home again and again! With EYFS and Year 1 friends, the children put on a spectacular performance; they wore colourful costumes, used props made at home, sang super songs in tuneful tones accompanied by dazzling dancing and, most importantly, shared the special story of the birth of Jesus through wonderful words and actions.
Remote Learning Highlights Lent term saw a sudden about-turn, with the abrupt switch to remote learning. The unexpected change in circumstance was met with unsurprising good nature with children swiftly getting accustomed to engaging (again!) with remote lessons. After initial reminders that these were probably best conducted without a bowl of cereal, not wearing pyjamas or sat on an armchair, the children showed themselves to be quick to adapt, raising remote hands and participating as enthusiastically as they would in class. Highlights included plenty of handson learning opportunities; from building structures out of spaghetti and marshmallows and creating our own space rockets as part of our IPC
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focus on the first humans in space, to conducting our own experiments to test the absorption of different household materials. World Book Day was a particular remote learning highlight, with children creating their own comic strips based on their favourite books. Of course, a number of children remained in school as part of the key worker provision, so had the advantage of maintaining some kind of normal routine, although unfortunately without the benefit of seeing the rest of their classmates in person. To everyone’s huge relief we were able to come back to school for three weeks in March, getting back to being together as a year group cohort. The thrill was palpable, and the time sped by quickly with children getting stuck into the joys of in-person PE and games sessions, music, art and of course, handwriting!
Trinity Term in the New Junior School Before long, we were back home for Easter holidays, and a well-deserved period of time without learning, remote or otherwise, but with the tantalising prospect of return after the break to a brand-new classroom, playground and school. By now we were used to dealing with all manner of changes and the final term of Year 2 was spent learning, laughing and enjoying each other’s company; all in our amazing new school spaces. What a year! Mr B Chambers and Ms S Ghandour
