On Tuesday, Year 2 had an exciting day out visiting Home Farm at Temple Newsam. The children learnt all about farming through the ages, discovering how farming has changed in the past 400 years. We were amazed to learn that what would have taken 150 hours with a threshing machine now takes 1 hour with a modern combine harvester.

We saw lots of animals: pigs, sheep, cows, donkeys, chickens, geese and more! A real highlight was seeing 11 adorable piglets that had been born that very morning.

As part of our trip, we took part in a fantastic workshop that linked to our Design and Technology learning on structures. Using wood and putty, the children had to build a prototype structure to act as a shelter for some pigs. They thought carefully about important features, making sure their structures had a wide and flat base and were not too tall.

We had a brilliant day exploring the farm, meeting the animals and taking part in the workshop. The children were full of enthusiasm and asked great questions throughout the day – they represented St James’ impeccably!

Philosophy is thinking deeply.

Every Friday, we start our day with some time to wonder and ponder.

We’ve a different question each week – there’s no obvious right/wrong answer and no underlying moral message. All children are given the opportunity to contribute their ideas and give reasons for their thoughts.

This question sparked some interesting discussion and debate.

I agree because family is everything to me.
– Izabella

I think the best thing in life is nature and that’s free.
– Athena

There are some good things in life that cost a lot of money.
– Woody

Friends are the most important thing and your family too. They’re both free.
– Arthur

Help at home by discussing this week’s Philosophy Friday question with your child.

In RE, we’re learning about messages.

Christians believe that God sends them messages through prophets. Stories in the Bible tell of prophets – inspired teachers who spread the word of God.

This week, we’ve read the story of Daniel and the Lions’ Den. The story teaches Christians about the importance of faith in God and that God will protect those who trust him.

The children enjoyed acting out the story and reflected maturely on the important of trust.

Help at home by discussing faith and trust with your child. What does trust look and feel like?

To start this half term, our Living and Learning focus has been relationships. We’ve learnt about 3 key areas:

• respecting differences between people
• understanding that we all have different needs
• understanding that there are different types of families

Respecting differences

In this session, we explored the differences between boys and girls.

Sometimes, stories, TV and people say that ‘boys do this’ and ‘boys do that’. The children were able to demonstrate their knowledge that boys and girls can do the same tasks and enjoy the same things.

We also learnt about the PANTS rule. The key points are:

• pants are private
• always remember your body belongs to you
• no means no
• talk about secrets that upset you
• speak up – someone can help

Help at home by discussing the PANTS rule with your child. Explore the resources on the NSPCC website (along with lots of other helpful advice and support).

Different Needs

We all have different needs and we all need different types of care. We discussed the needs that people might have at different stages of their life and who might care for them. We explored different kinds of care:

• fulfilling basic needs
• playing
• loving
• medical
• listening
• physical
• emotional
• social

The children showed fantastic maturity and impressed me with their sensitivity when discussing people’s needs.

Help at home by discussing different needs with your child. You could use this stem sentence to help: I care for ______ by ______.

Different families

We started this session by sharing who was in our families. That was enough to realise quite how different families can look!

There are lots of different ways to be a family. Family is special no matter what it looks like. The important thing is that people in families care about each other.

We discussed how children can seek support when they’re worried about members of their family. Help at home by discussing trusted adults with your child. Where can they seek support at school and at home?

In PE, we continue to work on fundamental movement skills. This week, we’ve been rolling and throwing at targets.

The children worked hard to improve their aim and control, showing fantastic perseverance throughout the session. It was brilliant to see how they encouraged and supported one another, celebrating each other’s efforts and progress.

Help at home by setting up some targets to practise at home. Assign each target a points value and challenge your child to a game!

Our current topic is Design and Technology. So far, we’ve learnt about the importance of asking questions at all stages of the design process.

• What is the product for?
• Who will use it?
• How will it help the user?
• What materials will be used?
• How will the materials be joined?
• Did the product match the design?
• How could the product be improved?

We’ve also discussed the importance of stability in structures. The children enjoyed using their maths learning to mould some 3D shapes out of play-doh and test their stability.

We concluded that stable structures have a flat base and might be wider at the top than the bottom.

Help at home by building some structures. Which 3D shapes might you use to make a stable structure?

This week, we’ve been exploring the imaginative world of Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty. This book links to our topic this half term – D&T.

The story of Rosie, a young girl who dreams of becoming a great engineer, has sparked curiosity in our classroom, leading to some brilliant questions.

We’ve discussed perseverance and the importance of learning from mistakes. The children were inspired by Rosie’s resilience and her ability to reflect on her failures. Her ability to evaluate demonstrates an important part of the design process.

The children enjoyed embodying Rosie Revere and writing a note to her Aunt using lots of fabulous adjectives.

Rosie Revere, Engineer has taught us that with a bit of imagination and a lot of perseverance, anything is possible! Mistakes help us to learn and grow!

Help at home by asking your child about a time when they’ve had to persevere after an initial failure. What did they learn from not giving up?

Enjoy the story at home here.

Top tip for watching YouTube with your child: go to the settings cog (it’s along the play bar) and turn off autoplay – this avoids an inappropriate clip coming up automatically, and helps to discourage your child from passively watching clip after clip.