Year 2

Today (Wednesday 13th March) the children were lucky enough to witness the hatching of Jessy the first St. Anthony's chick of 2024. Hopefully, he will have some friends very soon! Watch this space!!

It is with great delight that we are now able to share the news that our recent visits from OFSTED have resulted in St. Anthony's receiving an OUTSTANDING judgement.  All the children have received a paper copy of the report and it can now be found on the website. Some of our favourite phrases from include...

Pupils love coming to St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School. They feel safe and happy here.

Pupils’ behaviour is exemplary. Pupils demonstrate high levels of respect for each other. They help one another in lessons. Pupils are very keen to learn.

Leaders have implemented a strong curriculum which is broad and ambitious. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), learn well in this inclusive school.

Parents, pupils and staff are particularly positive about the school. They feel an integral part of a school family which sits at the heart of their local community.

We could go on so please read the final report! We all wanted to say a HUGE thank you for all the support you give to your children and for helping to make the year 2 class so very special.  We are lucky to have a class full of wonderful children and it was lovely to be able to share such positive messages at parents evening this week. 

Many thanks once again!!

To launch our new History Topic focussing upon the concept of significance, Year 2 were introduced to Mrs Delaney. She is a nurse. She came to ask and answer questions about her role and the significance it has. She delivered a lesson all about being a nurse nowadays. Year 2 were amazed by her role and can't wait to find out other nurses from the past. 

The children are beginning to recognise that different devices can be used to capture photographs and they captured their own photographs using i-pads. They learnt that a photograph can be taken in either portrait or landscape format and they were challenged to take the following photographs -A building, a person, a close-up of an object, an action shot, a selfie and something in the distance. These were taken in both portrait and landscape formats and they then explored the reasons why a photographer may favour one over the other.

As part of our work on looking at information technology all around us the children were able to think about the choices that are made when using information technology, and the responsibility associated with those choices. They used IT in different types of activities and were able to explain that sometimes they will need to use IT in different ways. We explored the digital 5 a day, in these pictures we are getting creative and painting a digital picture, come and look at our work!

On Monday 13th November, Year 2 took part in a road safety session with Leeds City Council. They focused on identifying safe places to cross, crossing the road using the Green Cross Code and using zebra crossing facilities to help us cross the road. Well Done Year 2!

Here are our Year 2 School Council representatives. These members have been elected by their peers, using a democratic process in line with our British Values. These children attend special meetings weekly and conduct roles around school. They represent the views of our Year 2 pupils. Congratulations on this special role during this academic year. We are very proud of you! 

This term, Year 2 are learning all about the United Kingdom. As Geographers learning about "Place" they have asked and answered questions to increase their learning, knowledge and skills. So far, the children have used atlases to name and locate the four countries of the United Kingdom and looked at capital cities of each country. We are really enjoying this topic! We have explored books linked to our topics, including books in our book nooks and reading areas. We have even had a visitor from Northern Ireland share her experiences of living there. We got to ask her lots and lots of questions too. Which region of the UK will we find out about next ... watch this space! During week 3 of HT2 we will have our retention of knowledge check so we will be able to share all the key substantive knowledge that we have retained. Well done Year 2!

In this lesson year 2 have been developing their understanding of instructions in sequences and the use of logical reasoning to predict outcomes. They were given commands in different orders to investigate how the order affects the outcome. The children learnt about design in programming, developed their own artwork and tested it for use in a program. We began to design algorithms and then test these algorithms as programs and debug them.

Every Tuesday, Year 2 take part in Choral Singing sessions with Mr Leech. The children learn a variety of secular, traditional and modern songs and carry out a number of different singing exercises. They have made amazing progress singing in unison with pitch, rhythm and in harmony as one. They have started their weekly Choral Singing lessons since September and we are so proud of them all. Well done Year 2! They look forward to singing for you all very soon! 

Year 2 have done an amazing job designing, making and evaluating their new chair for Baby Bear. We tried to make sure our chair was strong, stable, rigid and had a design that Baby Bear would like. Using a variety of different junk modelling materials and paper, we carefully constructed our chairs. Then Baby Bear got to test all of our finished chairs - she was so happy with our designs! We then evaluated our work carefully against our design criteria, suggesting what we might improve if we were to construct a chair again. Super work Year 2!

We investigated the stability and strength of different shapes made using paper by testing them with heavy books. Following our investigation, we concluded that cylinders were the most effective. We then worked together to make our own paper cylinders, attaching them together to form on large structure. Our tests revealed that our cylinder was very strong, stable and rigid. It could hold Baby Bear, lots of books and almost held one of our children! We then applied this knowledge when designing and making our new chairs for Baby Bear. 

Year 2 have been reading "Jack and the Baked Beanstalk" in their new Reading Fluency Lessons. They have been busy planning, writing and editing their own alternative traditional story tales using this text as their inspiration. What creative writers we have in Year 2! Well done! 

Our Year 2 Scientists have carried out simple tests to discover whether they can change the shape of a solid material through bending, squashing, twisting and stretching. They made predictions prior to carrying out their tests and worked in teams to test each material. We really enjoyed testing each material and seeing what happened. Well done Year 2!

A huge well done to Kevin our Year 2 Mathlete of the month earning an amazing 7341 points this September! Wonderful dedication to home-learning - we are all very proud of you!

Maths Group 1 have worked really hard partitioning numbers to 100 this week.  The children have learnt how to use a range of manipulatives to represent the numbers and then have partitioned them into tens and ones. They have then represented their partitioning using a place value tables and part whole models. Their next step will be to flexibly partition numbers to 100. 

Year 2 are learning about materials in Science. This week, we carried out an investigation to see what material would be best to build a house for the Three Little Pigs. We tested each material to see how strong it was, how absorbent it was and how likely it is to blow over in the wind. Take a look at some of the pictures, we are going to test more materials next week! Well Done Year 2!

Dear Parents,
Thank you all for attending the meet the teacher event last Thursday. It was lovely to meet you all and find out more about your lovely children.
I have attached the PowerPoint from the meeting as a reminder and for any parents who couldn't attend.
Kind regards, Mrs Reuben

Hello Year 2,


I am so excited to be your teacher this year and learn so much about your hobbies, talents and interests. Year 2 is brilliant year and I am really looking forward to sharing all of our engaging and fun topics with you. To start the year, we will be learning all about Our United Kingdom in Geography and Materials in Science.

Our first text will be:
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

The majority of class updates will be posted onto the Google Classroom page. This includes things such as copies of letters and announcements/reminders. Below, we have posted some useful information to begin the year with:

Mrs Reuben will be teaching English to Year 2 this year and Miss Taylor will be teaching Maths. 
Read every night at home, focussing on your understanding of the text.  All books sent home will be in line with our Little Wandle Phonics scheme.
PE will take place every Monday and Friday for Year 2. Please come to school in your PE kit on these days.
Come into school everyday, excited and ready to learn!
Our meet the teacher meeting will take place on Thursday 7th September 3.15 - 3.45pm.
Half termly newsletters (including any key dates) and spellings can be found via the Year 2 class page. 
Mrs Cook will also be supporting your children in Year 2 to achieve their very best.

If you have any questions about Year 2 please do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to meeting you all next week!

Mrs Reuben

What a fantastic workshop we had with D:Side! We learnt all about different parts of our bodies and how we can keep them healthy. Our visitor was so impressed with the children's knowledge of different body parts and the facts they shared about them. Well done Year 2!

We had some fascinating discussions about gender stereotypes during our visit from Catholic Care. We discussed lots of different questions together including whether girls can wear blue, whether girls can be firefighters and whether boys can be nurses. I was so impressed by the mature, in-depth discussions that took place. Well done Year 2! 

Year 2's current Geography topic is, "Oh I do like to be beside the Seaside!"

We have been working hard to understand geographical similarities and differences between our local area of Beeston and Bridlington, a coastal town. We have used our observational skills to study the human and physical features of their surrounding environments. Using Digimaps, Year 2 studied the area of Bridlington, in order to develop their own maps. Using a key, they identified key features such as the harbour, pier, beach, sea, vegetation and cliffs. I was so impressed with their observational skills...well done Year 2!

Our current Maths topic is, 'Position and Direction'. This week, Year 2 have been developing their ability to use positional language by following a route in order to find hidden and missing treasure. They used 'clockwise', 'anti-clockwise', 'left' and 'right' to describe quarter, half or three-quarter turns and worked collaboratively in order to debug their routes in order to get to the end point. Then, we created our own maps and wrote a list of directional instructions for others to follow. The children worked in groups to follow the instructions using the Bee-Bots. Amazing work Year 2!

We were so lucky to have a workshop from a visiting tennis coach this morning. The children all worked so hard to develop their racquet skills and to work as part of a team to participate in the different games. What little tennis superstars!

In our music lesson today, we have been learning how to combine sounds to create musical effects. We have developed our understanding of how music, dance and drama can combine in storytelling when looking at 'The Nutcracker'. We listened to 5 clips which retell the story of Clara's Christmas experience, inspired by the Nutcracker score. We identified different instruments we recognised and considered how the tempo, dynamic and pitch worked together in order to tell the story. We then split into groups to recreate different parts of the story using a range of instruments.

Year 2 took part in an online workshop with the National Archives to explore the evidence which informs us about the Great Fire of London. We explored maps of London before and after the fire, which showed us the impact of the fire. We pinpointed where Pudding Lane was on the map, based on how the streets of London had changed after the fire. The lighter parts of the map showed us how the buildings had been destroyed and engulfed by the fire. We then explored Hearth Tax from 1666, showing us evidence of Thomas Farriner and his bakery on Pudding Lane. After, we looked at King Charles’ declaration where he stated that any new house or building must be made from brick or stone. We learnt so much from our session and all children asked fantastic questions!

As part of our exciting History topic, 'The Great Fire of London', Year 2 created our own Great Fire right here at St Anthony's! Each child created a magnificent building from 1666 in order for us to create a London scene of Pudding Lane and beyond...

From this, our fire started in Thomas Farriner's Bakery on Pudding Lane, spreading rapidly throughout the streets of London. We saw how the fire spread so quickly because the houses were so close together and also the wind carried the leaping waves from building to building. Afterwards, we discussed the impact of the fire and saw how lots of London was left as rubble and ash. What an amazing experience!

Thank you so much to all of the parents in Year 2 for supporting our wonderful children with this exciting activity, through creating some extraordinary 1666 buildings. Wow! I'm so proud of you all Year 2, what a great afternoon of History learning.

In our History topic, 'The Great Fire of London', Year 2 have been exploring old and new maps to discover what they could tell us about the fire. We compared the maps and considered what was similar and what was different about each map. We then used our observational skills to identify where the famous Pudding Lane was on each of the maps. We noticed that Pudding Lane could be identified by crossing London Bridge and moving up and to the right - some great skills here Year 2! We then looked at the newer map of London to consider how it looks different to the map of London before the great fire started. What a fantastic start to our topic Year 2, I'm really proud of you!

Our Year 2 class have been History explorers. On Wednesday 22nd March 2023, they visited The Thackray Medical Museum to find out key knowledge about Florence Nightingale using first hand exporation, as well as seeing sources of evidence to find out about the past. They returned with improved History understanding and knowledge. Mr Whittle, our History leader, attended the day too to capture this excellence and learning with all our children. Well done Year 2!

During Spring 2 2023, we have been focussing on clay in our Art lessons. We responded to examples of contemporary clay sculptures before we designed, made and painted our own pinch pots. Our final task will be to evaluate them. As well as pinch pots, we were given the opportunity to use clay imaginatively and make minibeast sculptures. We are all so proud of our creations!  

We have been creating microhabitats for minibeasts in science, using recycled cardboard and natural materials (grass, leaves, twigs etc) collected from our local area. We thought carefully about how we could make our mircrohabitats suitable for the survival needs of creatures, ensuring there were lots of sheltered areas to hide from the elements and predators!

Our Year 2 class have been really bringing alive their reading. They have been breathing in reading in order to breathe out the highest quality writing. Their shared area display shows evidence of their learning on key texts so far this year. We are really proud of you Year 2. 

In Science, Year 2 are exploring 'microhabitats'. To begin with, we explored different types of microhabitat, exploring photographs and discussing why the microhabitat will be suitable for the animal. We all recognised that the microhabitat provides food, water and shelter for the living thing. We then explored our school grounds to see which microhabitats we could find. Mrs Gledhill was so impressed with how well you all used Science knowledge such as 'predator' and 'camouflage' to describe how the microhabitat helps the living thing to survive. 

We found:

- leaf litter

- fallen logs

- clumps of grass

- moss

- piles of sticks

- lumps of soil

Well done Year 2, some super Science investigations!

Come and take a look at our amazing moving information books designed to teach Year 1 children about food chains! We all tried so hard to use the skills we learnt in our exploring sliders lessons and are thrilled that the slider mechanisms work. Some of us were even able to independently create bridges/guides to prevent the sliders from wobbling. After finishing our books, we took time to evaluate them and consider what we like about our own product and how it could be improved.

Our D&T topic this half term has been to make our own moving information books. We first explored and responded to the work of Ramon Llull who created the first "pop-up". Then, we had a session exploring sliders in which we discovered how slider mechanisms can make pictures move vertically and horizontally. Mrs McGuire also gave us a challenge to see if we could prevent a vertical slider from wobbling side-to-side. She was very impressed with our efforts! We later learnt that these were called guides and bridges. Since then, we have designed our own moving information books, designed to teach Y1 children about food chains (linking in with our Science topic). We have made a great start to constructing them and look forward to finishing our wonderful creations next week!

Maths Star of the Week - Jamelia

This week, Jamelia has been chosen as Maths star of the week as she has worked hard in all lessons to develop her verbal reasoning skills. 

She spotted a number of 'Marvellous Mistakes' during our lesson and used super mathematical language such as 'value' and 'worth' to explain why they were incorrect. What great reasoning skills you shared with us all Jamelia, amazing work!

Year Two are really enjoying their music curriculum this Spring Term. Each Tuesday, they take part in Choral Singing lessons with Leeds Diocese, led by Mr Tom Leach. They receive vocal training and exert tuition in singing, building on the required key knowledge and skills from our music curriculum. In addition, our Year Two pupils take part in weekly lessons using our scheme, Music Express. 

Well done to Christina for completing her own writing inspired by our Australia topic at home. It is wonderful to see you remember so many facts Christina! A special mention also goes to Libby, who brought in some amazing family memories of her Auntie's time visiting Australia. Libby was so excited to share the special pictures and memories with her friends and it was wonderful for us to see all of our knowledge in action. Thank you for sharing Libby!

Today, we begun our Geography lesson by having a 1-minute quick capture of the facts we remember about Australia. I was so impressed with how much information they had remembered from our learning journey so far. What excellent geographers you are Year 2!

Celebrating Our Writing in Year 2

This half term, Year 2 were inspired to write their own 'World's Worst Children' stories after reading an array of fun stories by David Walliams. We used focussed vocabulary we explored within the text, in order to create our own very mischievous characters. We used a range of sentence types to share the stories of our own exciting characters. What amazing young authors you are Year 2! 

This week, Liam was chosen as our Maths Star of the Week! All week, Liam has been growing in confidence in recognising and making equal groups of numbers. In our lessons on Thursday and Friday, Liam especially showed his understanding through sharing a top tip with the class. "All of the groups have to be equal", Liam said when sharing out the counters. Liam used this method to divide numbers through grouping and he helped his peers to solve a range of problems using a range of resources too. On Friday, Liam was delighted to be named Maths Star of the Week. Well done Liam - we are so proud of you!

In our Geography work in Year 2 this half term, our children are being Geography explorers! They are using atlases, globes, maps and plans to locate and name all the main continents of the world. Today (Thursday 19th January 2023) they located the equator and thought carefully about the climate of the countries found around the equator. They asked incredible enquiry questions and could answer questions posed by others. Great Geography work Year 2!

We have had a lovely day getting into the Christmas spirit in Year 2! A very special visitor came to see us in the morning, we made party hats for our delicious Christmas lunch and spent the afternoon playing some fabulous party games (including musical statues, pass the parcel, build a snowman, and a Christmas colouring competition). What a fabulous day!

Year 2 all took part in Pedestrian training this afternoon, in order to learn how to use and cross the road safely. Before each session, the children learned the 'Green Cross Code' to help them remember what to do when crossing the road. They then all put this into practice. You were all so sensible Year 2...well done!

During our painting topic this half term we have been responding to the abstract artwork of Wassily Kandinsky, practising our colour mixing skills and using these to create our fabulous final pieces. We used Kandinsky's use of shape to inspire us - take a look at our amazing creations! Well done Year 2!

This week, Patrick has been chosen as our Maths Star of the Week! Patrick has shown some amazing reasoning skills within our new 'Shape' topic and gave us our 'magical maths moment' from which we all can learn.

Patrick shared - "When you count the sides on a 2d shape, you can cross the sides off as you count so you don't count the same one twice. You've got to make sure that you don't count more than one side at a time or you will get the wrong amount". Year 2 used this advice to successfully count the sides of the 2d shapes they were exploring. What a great Maths tip Patrick!

Our current History topic is, "A day in the life" where we are considering ways in which life has changed from the 1950s to now. As part of our learning, we took part in a virtual workshop hosted by Abbey House Museum. The focus of our workshop was to explore toys from the 1950s and consider how they are both similar and different to the toys we have today. We looked at the material of the toys, the types of toys children played with in the 1950s and considered how our toys are different to those in the past. We asked some really insightful questions and learned lots about old toys. Well done Year 2!

Year 2 took part in a walk of our local area to visit Cross Flatts Park. Whilst at the park, we used all of our senses to develop expanded noun phrase for the autumnal things we could see around us. Together, we explored some amazing adjectives to describe the scene around us. This experience will really help us when we begin to write our own setting descriptions over the next couple of weeks. 

Just a snapshot of some of the super noun phrases Year 2 thought of are:

"Crunchy, golden leaves"

"Mossy, ancient tree trunk"
"Cold wind softly blowing through the gigantic, bare trees"

"Twisting, brown branches"

What amazing work Year 2! Mrs McGuire and I are so proud of you all!

When we came back from Good Work Assembly on Friday, a mysterious letter was awaiting Year 2. Blue Crayon had quit! Year 2 decided to write information texts describing what Blue Crayon looks like, why he had quit and why Year 2 wanted him back. We then wrote these up and put them up around school. A couple of weeks and lots of hard work later...he decided to return to us!

We have had a lovely afternoon in Year 2 learning how to use primary colours (red, yellow and blue) to mix secondary colours (orange, green and purple). We also explored how to make lighter shades of colour using white and darker shades without using black! Instead, we tried using colours from the same family. For example, adding a bit of purple to make a darker shade of red. Have a look at our fabulous colour mixing!

Our Year 2 pupils had three days of balanceability training starting on Wednesday 16th November 2022. They built upon thier learning from EYFS and KS1 as they mastered balancing on bikes. The trainer from Cycle North was hugely impressed with the skill of the pupils. Superb progress Year 2. Remember to use these skills when you are out on your own bikes at home. Well done!

In today's Science lesson, Mrs McGuire set us a challenge to find out which material would be the best for making a waterproof coat. We tested paper, kitchen foil, fabric and cling film. Carefully, we filled syringes with water and squirted them on top of the different materials before recording whether they were waterproof or not. We discussed the meaning of waterproof and Harry M gave a great explanation that "the water will run off". We also discussed the name of the property when a material soaks up water - absorbant. We discovered that kitchen foil and cling film were both waterproof and had to decide which material out of the 2 would be best. Lots of us concluded that cling film would be more suitable as it doesn't tear as easily. A great investigation Year 2! Well done!