Welcome to the new school year! We look forward to working with all the pupils and their parents/carers. The pupils have settled into year 2 very well. They have been working incredibly hard to adjust to the new routines in year 2.
All pupils should:
All usernames and passwords are stuck in the front of your child's reading record.
If your child should need to learn from home as a result of Covid 19 then printed home learning packs are available when requested.
We are very fortunate that some of our Year 2 pupils can speak different languages (EAL).
Did you know that studies have shown that learning a foreign language early in life improves cognitive abilities and influences achievement in other areas, resulting in higher test scores in reading and math. Studies have found that students that speak more than one language score higher on standardised college admission exams than monolingual students.
As part of this terms topic Kings, Queens and Castles we visited a local castle. Conisbrough Castle is a a symbol of power and wealth built by the Warenne family after the Norman Conquest, with 850 years of history to discover. We learnt all about the medieval world with an expert-led Discovery Visit workshop to compliment our learning.
As always our pupils made us proud with their outstanding behaviour, which was noticed by members of the Conisbrough Castle team and members of the public who were visiting the castle too.
We began this term with the topic of heritage and diversity. In year two we decided to base our heritage topic on the Doncaster Racecourse.
Doncaster is one of the oldest established centres for horse racing in Britain, with records of regular race meetings going back to the 16th century. For sheer spectacle, atmosphere and excitement a day at Doncaster Racecourse is a tradition that is hard to beat. Race days at Town Moor have been drawing appreciative crowds for centuries and Doncaster has long been regarded as one of the finest racecourses in Europe and the best place for horse racing in Yorkshire.
The children have completed many different curriculum activities which focused on Doncaster Racecourse. They learnt about the history of the racecourse and what horse racing was like in the past and then compared it to what horse racing is like now.
To enhance our learning, we were very fortunate to have two of the Racing to School team members visit us. Carrie and Jo both told us about their experiences. Carrie was a horse jockey for many years and Jo's grandad was the legendary horse trainer Donald "Ginger" McCain who trained Red Rum!
The children had the opportunity to ask questions that they had prepared for our horse experts. All the children completed different activities during the day and were able to look at some clothes that horse jockeys wear when racing. Our learning during the day also included learning about the safety measures that jockeys need to adhere to.
The day ended with the very enjoyable experience of the horse riding simulator, where the children all got to experience what it would feel like to be a horse jockey. This was a fantastic day and the children learnt lots about Doncaster Racecourse. Thank you to Carrie and Jo from the Racing to School team for taking the time to visit us.
To add to our heritage and diversity topic we had a visit from one of our year two parents. Mrs Vidor (Isaac from Robins class) came in to talk to the children about their family heritage and diversity. We learnt about that Isaac had family heritage from India, Pakistan, Italy, Russia and Ireland. We also learnt about all the different celebrations Isaac's family celebrate and all of the different foods they eat on these special days. All the children listened respectfully and engaged in this fantastic learning session. Thank you to Issac and Mrs Vidor (Isaac's mum) for supporting our learning and giving us the pleasure of learning about their family heritage.
To conclude our learning about Doncaster Racecourse the children came to school dressed for a day at the races. All the children had the chance to parade their race day hats that they had planned, designed and created themselves as part of a design and technology lesson. There was a best hat design competition and we has two judges who found it very difficult to make the decision of first, second and third place. All the children enjoyed watching some old races and making 'fun bets' of which horse they thought would win! We all enjoyed eating scones with jam and butter after the watching the races. Thank you to our parents for making such a tremendous effort in dressing the children for this event. All the children looked amazing in their best clothes.