The Buzz

Despite being November, I have started to hear the wonderful sound of Christmas songs as I walk around the school as the classes begin rehearsals for their Christmas shows. We are at the very early stages and I am sure you will enjoy them once the children are "show ready."

HISN have a very busy festive season that starts next week with the Christmas shopping event for the children, many thanks to the Elves of HPPA for this. On Saturday 30th it is the Christmas Fair and in preparation for that children have a non uniform day on Friday 29th in exchange for a full bottle or an age appropriate and complete toy. I hope you are able to come along and support the school.

I would like to remind all parents that children are not allowed to wear "smartwatches" to school, if children do bring them they will be looked after by their class teacher and handed back to parents. Several children have started to wear them and they are unsuitable for school.

It was wonderful to speak to so many parents last week at the consultation sessions and I know that the governors found the feedback provided useful regarding clubs and wrap-around provision and the Executive Leadership Team will be working with them to understand the issues involved.

Finally I would like to congratulate Mr and Mrs Crook on the arrival of Elsie last weekend, they are both now at home and I look forward to meeting her properly.

Have a wonderful weekend when it arrives.

Helen Lockey

Executive Headteacher

Below is our brilliant display of odd socks that the children decorated, every single one is different and we have put the display up in the hall.

The Infant School Spring term clubs timetable will be released next Wednesday 27th November at 7pm, at which point you will be able to make bookings for next term directly with the clubs providers.

In order to help with your planning, below is a summary of the clubs for each day.

For those with children at both schools, the Junior School timetable will be released on Thursday 28th at 7pm to stagger bookings with ours.

RK had 99% attendance

RK 2D 2B had no late students

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

RC Shlok

RK Yasmin

RP Ariya-Rayne

RY Rosie W

1B Sam

1C Tommy

1D Eva

1GC Sophia

2B Klara

2D Myra

2M Ruby

2P Ibrahim

Such an interesting week at Nursery. We have been learning all about 'People Who Help Us', especially around the school. One of the highlights of the week is we had another amazing visitor - Toby the Lollipop man came to tell us all about road safety and how he makes sure cars slow down for us. We loved hearing all about the bright colours he has to wear when he is out in the streets and how he likes to eat a hot bacon sandwich before he starts work to help him stay warm in these cold months.

In Maths, we have been continuing to explore patterns. We have loved connecting coloured cubes to make snake patterns, making sure that our colour patterns are repeating. We also noticed that animals have patterns too. We discussed how a tiger has a striped pattern in orange and black, but a snow leopard has spots in black and white. It was so interesting to notice these differences - and even extended our learning by discovering that although a tiger and a zebra both have stripes, they are also different because their fur patterns are different colours.

For PE, we travelled to the lunch hall for the first time. The children were amazing as they quietly walked through the Reception wing and into the hall. The children showed off their brilliant listening ears as they learnt to stand in a 'safe space', making sure that they had lots of room to move around in. A really big well done Nursery.

We finished off this week with some Christmas spirit and started to learn our Christmas songs. The children loved using jingle bells and not to give too much away...a Christmas themed Hokey Cokey. We can't wait to show you all soon!

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, inspired by the important road safety discussion we had with Toby the Lollipop man, this would be a perfect time to discuss how we can be safe whilst crossing the road and walking to school. What should we do when approaching a busy road? Can you think of any top tips?

This week we have continued learning about 'people who help us'. The children loved our visit from Toby the lollipop man who spoke to us about how he helps the community cross the road safely. We spoke about the most important things to remember when crossing the road and also how people who help us often wear uniforms and have lanyards. We have also begun practising for the Reception Christmas Show! The children are enjoying learning the actions and the songs.

In phonics we have continued learning our new sounds /d/, /v/, /f/ and /e/ which the children have been practising reading and writing. In maths, the children have been introduced to the concepts of the 'parts' and 'whole' of an amount, using physical manipulatives such as cubes to support their understanding.

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 the changing weather as we move into winter. What have they noticed? What has changed?

Year 1 have been gearing up for Christmas and getting ready for this year’s production of The Nativity. We have been learning lots of nativity-based songs, creating actions to go along with the words, and we have even included a little dancing. We are all so excited for you to come and see us!

In English we have been learning about the suffixes ‘ing’ and ‘ed’. We have discussed how the tense changes when we add ‘ing’ and ‘ed’ to a word. For example, “I am jumping in a puddle” and “Yesterday, I jumped in a puddle”. We have practised applying these words to our writing.

In Maths, we have been continuing with our focus on subtraction. We have been using various methods, including taking away, breaking apart, counting on to find the difference and counting back using number lines. We have also looked at different representations for subtraction and written the number sentence next to it accordingly.

In Science we have been continuing our work on materials. We have been looking closely at what materials different objects are made from and why that material is the best choice for that object. For example, we have had whole class discussions about why a window is made from glass and not from plastic.

In Geography, we have been discussing how a map can help us find places of interest with a focus on our local area. We have looked at the symbols used on maps and learnt what these mean, using a key. Using Google Maps, we went on a tour of Hampton and spotted different features virtually.

In Art, we have been looking at the London-born artists Chantelle Martin and Bridget Riley. We created our own patterns and used these to help us produce a larger scale piece of art inspired by these two artists.

Year 2 have had an exciting week filled with engaging activities! The highlight was our immersive Great Fire of London workshop, where the children travelled back in time to the year 1666 and stepped into the streets of Pudding Lane.

In addition, classes 2M and 2B enjoyed their trip to the library, where they explored a variety of books and listened to a story read by the librarian. The year 2 team would like to thank all the parent helpers who volunteered their time to support our library trips and making the visit possible.

This week in English, we have begun learning all about non-fiction texts, with a focus on our new book, Turtles and Tortoises by Laura Marsh. We explored a variety of non-fiction books, identifying and discussing the unique features that set them apart from fiction. The children examined elements such as diagrams, glossaries, indexes, captions, and sub-headings, learning how these features help readers locate and understand information more effectively. We look forward to continuing our exploration and uncovering even more about turtles, tortoises, and the wider world of non-fiction!

In maths, we have been focusing on adding 2-digit numbers across ten. We began by partitioning the numbers into tens and ones and then counted the ones, and when the total exceeded ten, we practised exchanging 10 ones for 1 ten. This crucial step helped the children understand how to carry over and made it easier to calculate the answer. Using dienes, the children were able to visualise the process in a hands-on way, deepening their understanding of addition.

In science, we stepped into the role of zoologists, diving into an exciting research project about our class pet! Using Chromebooks, the children explored fascinating facts and gathered valuable information about our pet’s needs and what is essential for their survival. Through this research, the children learned about important aspects such as diet, habitat, and care requirements for our pets.

In geography, we have been looking at compass points and how they help us navigate. The children learned how a compass works to show direction and discussed real-life situations where a compass might be used. To put their learning into practice, the children used the eight compass points to give directions on a map of a zoo. They worked on identifying locations and guiding others around the map using terms like north, south, east, west, and the intermediate points.

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.

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