Catton Grove Primary School
Year Two
Welcome
In Year 2, we continue to develop children’s social and emotional well-being by providing a safe and collaborative learning environment where children feel happy and excited to learn.
We focus on friendship and kindness, whilst encouraging children to become independent in problem solving with their peers, and learning about others customs and cultures. We encourage children to share their feelings and to celebrate their successes with individuals and groups too.
Please find our Year group Curriculum Overview at the bottom of the page.
Maths
In Maths we participate in daily Number Time, in addition to daily Maths lessons, to give the children the opportunity everyday to practise key mathematical learning. We use this time to revisit previous learning, develop their knowledge of times tables and build their confidence of the four operations.
We encourage children to use a range of equipment and also written workings out which include arrays, number lines and grids so that children can check their work, and also discuss the process they have used to solve a calculation or problem with others.
Phonics
In Year 2 we continue to build their phonics knowledge through daily Phonics sessions and we follow the ‘Catton Grove Phonics Programme’.
We focus on building fluency when blending and segmenting, alternative spellings, word types (adjectives, nouns, adverbs and verbs) and the use of grammar. This is further modelled and demonstrated throughout our English and Reading Lessons and our daily Story Time too.
Core Values
At Catton Grove Primary School, we have eleven Core Values that underpin our curriculum and ethos throughout the entire school.
The children join the rest of the school in revisiting a Core Value for each month of the year and we celebrate children for demonstrating that value.
Reading & Writing
In Year 2 we aim to build upon ‘the year of the sentence’ in Year 1 by providing daily opportunities for children to build their vocabulary, pace and stamina through daily English lessons, opportunities for discussion and written outcomes across other subjects too.
By the end of Year 2, your child is able to write sentences and paragraphs that contain a range of grammar and a wide range of interesting vocabulary in fiction, non-fiction and poetry.
We use the ‘Talk 4 Writing’ scheme to support their progression in writing and language by exploring and learning a text through imitation, exploring language choices and changing parts of the text (innovating) and then inventing their own stories using the knowledge they have acquired. We also support the children to edit and present their work in creative ways. The children have opportunities to share their work with others through performance, publishing their work on displays and on the website for others to hear and see.
Reading is a main focus in Year 2 to build children’s knowledge of stories, poems and non-fiction texts. We have daily Story Time where we share and discuss the books we read in detail and relate them to other texts we have read. Children also have the opportunity to read to the whole class during this time too.
We also share and explore texts in detail within our daily Reading Sessions and within these we look at plot, settings, character profiles and relationships as well as language choices, layout of text and use of rhyme and alliteration. In non-fiction focused sessions we reflect upon the use of layout, structure and the content presented to us.
In addition to this children access the school library on a weekly basis to choose a book of their choice and also immerse themselves in a collaborative reading environment. Children have reading challenges alongside their individual reading books which are changed regularly.
Fun & Challenges
In Year 2 children are able to demonstrate what they have learnt through the Statutory Key Stage 1 tests (SAT’s) for Reading, Maths and SPAG (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar). We complete these in a fun and calm atmosphere.
As teachers we then use these papers, and our teacher judgement, to inform a child’s end of Key Stage results. In regard to writing we work as a team and alongside other schools to inform our judgements.
Year 2 is full of fun and lots of new challenges, where children flourish and we cannot wait to share this journey with you and your children!