The Buzz

I wanted to start by thanking those who made a very generous contribution to the Harvest collection of food items. The Junk Food Project came along to an assembly this week and spoke to the children about their work and what a difference the contributions will make to families who use the food bank.

I also want to thank you once again, the wonderful HISN community for all the gifts that the office receives daily from the wish lists, everyday is like Christmas at the moment and the items are excitedly received by the staff and children which is fantastic and certainly adds to the teaching and learning in the classroom.

Today we start the open morning tours for both schools, the tours are for parents of children who will be starting Nursery or Reception next September or for those starting year 3. The tours are always busy and offer an opportunity to visit the school during the morning. This year we are offering a Saturday morning which seems to be more convenient for families as it is very popular. I very much look forward to seeing many of you at either school. Tours are booked through the website.

A reminder for all year 2 parents, applications for year 3 are open and your children will be able to move to HJS however, you still need to apply officially through the local authority.

Despite coming up to the final week of half term, the school is still busy. Next Monday the children will be taking part in the HPPA twist and turns sponsored event with Little Gym. This is very exciting for them and raises much needed funds for HPPA project priorities which HPPA will be communicating soon as they have only just been finalised.

Next week is also the Flu immunisations if you have provided consent for your child they will receive their vaccination on Tuesday 22nd October.

I'm pleased to invite you to the Phonics information session next Thursday at 9am, this is for all year groups and will clearly help you understand the school approach to teaching phonics which is key to your child becoming a reader so please do come along and understand how you can support your child at home.

Finally, we will be participating in the local Remembrance Parade on 10th November. We are looking for 2 or 3 children to volunteer to represent the school. Children will need to wear their school uniform. If you would like to volunteer please contact the school office for further details.

We have had a very busy but exciting half term and I know from experience that the next one will be even more so!

We will break up for half term on Friday 25th October at the normal time.

Have a good weekend.

Helen Lockey

Executive Headteacher

Big thank you to everyone who contributed towards the Rags 2 Riches collection. The Infant School donated 37 bags and the Junior School managed to collect 160 bags. These bags have been collected and we are delighted to announce the school has raised £200.52.

Big thank you to the HPPA who have helped facilitate this.

1B & 1GC had 99% attendance last week

RP & 2B had no late students last week

Certificates have been handed for following the HPP principle of:-

Nursery Eve & Mason

RC Aria

RK Kacey

RP Sophie

RY Edward

1B Ares

1C Lydia

1D Enzo

1GC Reggie S

2B Ibanathi

2D Thea

2M Amelia

2P Hugo

An amazing week in Nursery! We have been continuing to explore Autumn and have wowed everyone with our super spotting skills. The children have loved making forest in playdough, adding conkers, pine cones and leaves to represent the forest floor. The children have loved decorating the classroom too as they use autumnal colours to craft paper chains - it really is feeling Autumnal.

In maths, this week we have continued our Autumn theme and have been using our counting skills to match numerals with the correct number of Autumn leaves. The children have loved rolling the dice to do this and have been super friends as they help each other to count! Well done Nursery!

As we have been thinking about our Focus Text: The Squirrels Who Squabbled, we have been particularly impressed by the cosy dens the children have been making of the hibernating autumn animals and squirrels. We learnt why animals hibernate and what autumn resources they use to create a house that is warm and cosy. The children were so inspired they collected leaves, pine cones and twigs to make beds fit for a hedgehog to sleep in.

It has been a super week here in Nursery and we look forward to next week as things get a little spooky ready for Halloween!

We all know how important talking at home is for exposing children to a wide range of vocabulary and ideas. This all helps them with not only their language skills, giving them the tools for communication and the vocabulary to express themselves, talking also supports their reading and inspires them to become future writers. Each week we will share an idea with you for 'talk homework' with your child.

This week, the children have loved reading the 'Squirrels who Squabbled' and have noticed lots of Autumnal signs - they spotted that the leaves falling and changing colour and that the squirrels were gathering food for their store cupboards in preparation for winter. They also noticed that the squirrels were finding it tricky to share and were 'squabbling'. This would be a great opportunity to chat about sharing. How do we share? What words could we use to communicate this? Why is it good to share?

This week in Reception the children have been busy practising the words and actions for our Harvest song 'Bean Harvest' - they're very excited to share this with their parents on Tapestry.

We have also been thinking about how animals prepare for winter through our topic lessons and our key text, 'The Squirrels who Squabbled' by Rachel Bright. The children were interested to learn that some animals sleep for the whole season! Our 'Expanding our Vocabulary' words were 'hibernate', 'seasons' and 'senses' and the children had the option of making their own hedgehogs out of playdough and in the painting area, using a fork for the spines.

In phonics we have introduced the new sounds: 'n', 'o' and 'p' which the children have practised reading and writing in VC and CVC words.

In Maths, we have been subitising groups of dots and auditory patterns; using positional language; recognising when groups of objects have changed and making amounts within five in different ways.

We all know how important talking at home is for exposing children to a wide range of vocabulary and ideas. This all helps them with their reading and to become future writers. Each week we will share an idea with you for 'talk homework' with your child.

This week, you could talk to your child about our focus text, 'The Squirrels who Squabbled' by Rachel Bright. What did the squirrels argue about? What could they have done instead? What happened in the end, and why is it good to share?

Year 1 have been really healthy this week! Through our focus book of ‘T-Veg’, which tells the story of a carrot-crunching dinosaur who eats all fruits and vegetables, we were inspired to make smoothies for a DT project. We have looked at what defines a fruit and a vegetable and where they grow, whether that be on a tree, on the ground or under the ground. We were all amazed at how a cucumber is actually a fruit because of its seeds! Then, we had to decide what smoothie to make, and the only way to choose was through tasting all the fruits and vegetables that are on offer. Some of us discovered a new liking for a fruit or a vegetable. We are so excited to make our smoothies next week!

In English this week, we have been looking at the book ‘The Girl with the Yellow Bag’. The book tells the story of a girl with an extraordinary yellow bag that magically changes the things she puts into it. We have been using this story to help us with our own imaginative writing this week, thinking about what items we could put into our own bag and how we could ‘recycle’ these into something amazing.

We have been using our knowledge of number bonds to help us when practising our addition skills in maths. We have been using ten frames, bar models and part-whole models to help us work out number problems, write addition number sentences and represent these in various ways.

In history, we have been sharing our toys from home with the class and telling our friends all about them. We made a large circle and asked questions such as “Is it old or new?”, “How do you know?”, “What is it made from?”. We then made our own timeline using some of the toys, placing them from the oldest to the newest.

In science, we have continued our focus on the senses, with this week focusing on our sense of smell. We learnt about how the sensitive cells inside our nose can detect smells, or ‘odours’, when things around us release tiny molecules. These cells then detect the odours and send a signal to the brain, which tells us what the molecules smell like. We found out that our sense of smell helps us decide what we might like to eat and what we might like to have around us, such as flowers or perfume, and it also helps keep us safe, for example when there is a fire or food has gone off. We then used our sense of smell to identify different items in our ’smell test’, discussing those we liked and those we didn’t, and shared our reasons why. What smells do you like?

This week in English, the children have been busy writing their version of the classic story ‘The Three Billy Goats Gruff’, with a focus on using adjectives to bring the setting and characters to life. They have been describing the lush, green meadow where the goats graze and the rickety, old bridge where the grumpy troll lives. The children have also been working hard to edit their writing, paying close attention to using capital letters and full stops correctly.

In maths, we have been learning how to add numbers by making 10. To help with this, we’ve been using tens frames to add two single-digit numbers through the bonds to 10 method. For example, when adding 7 + 6, we used counters to visually demonstrate the process. We moved 3 counters from the frame with 6 counters to the frame with 7, changing the sum to 10 + 3, which makes the calculation easier to solve.

In science, we explored the concept of elasticity and what it means. As part of the experiment, we tested various materials to determine which had the best elasticity. Before conducting the experiment, the children made predictions about which material they believed would be the most elastic. To measure elasticity, we used a ruler to observe how much each material could stretch and whether it returned to its original shape after being stretched.

In PE, we have been focusing on improving our jumping techniques, and this week, we put those skills into action by learning how to French Skip. The children not only practised their individual jumping skills but also learned the importance of teamwork by working together and taking turns.

The year 2 team would like to say a big thank you to everybody who has generously bought items from the amazon wish list!

Dear Parents / Carers,

As part of Kingston Council, Kingston Adult Education provides a range of courses to people aged 19 or over. A lot of their courses are free, and take place in school hours.

They have a number of 6-week courses starting after half term, including:

• Maths for Parents - aimed at parents with children moving into, or already at, secondary school so they can better support schoolwork

• Explore your business potential: a pathway to self employment - a 6-week course to consider how your skills can be used to make a successful business

• A range of wellbeing courses to teach you how to take better care of your mental health

• French and Italian courses - for those learners with basic or no previous knowledge of these languages.

Enrolment is also open for a range of qualification courses starting in January, including Bookkeeping; Childcare; Community Interpreting; Counselling; Information, Advice and Guidance; and Understanding Mental Health.

See their latest prospectus for further details about these courses as well as their wider offering: bit.ly/KAE-2425prospectus

Their classes take place both online and at centres across the Royal Borough of Kingston.

For further information, please contact Kingston Adult Education directly on 020 8547 6700 or at adult.education@kingston.gov.uk

The well being and safety of our children is everyone's responsibility. If you have concerns about a child please contact SPA on 547 5008 or out of hours on 0208 744 2442.

Click on above tab to view HISN's virtual school tour

Email: office.hisn@hpp.school
Website: hpp.school
Location: Hampton Infant School and Nursery, Ripley Road, Hampton, UK
Phone: 0208 979 1815