Welcome to Junior 2!

Junior 2 is a mixed year 5/6 class and their teacher is Mr Tyler.

4.9.25

Dear Parents,

I hope you all had a great summer.  We have had a lovely start to the new school year and the children have returned to school and their new year groups really well.

In English, this half term we will be looking at recount writing using the books ‘The Day of Ahmed’s Secret’ and ‘Hurricane’.  We will be then be looking at narrative poetry with the poem ‘The Highwayman’ looking at recount writing using the books The Day of Ahmed’s Secret’ and ‘Hurricane’.  In maths, we will be focussing on number, looking at place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. 

Throughout this term in Junior 2, our topic will be ‘World War 2’.  This half term this will include looking at how the war started, the Battle of Britain, the Dunkirk evacuations and the Blitz.  In science this term, we will be learning about electricity and circuits, which will include using simple apparatus to construct and control a series circuit, describing how circuits are affected when changes are made to it, and using recognised symbols to represent simple series circuit diagrams. 

In RE, we will be thinking about God and answering the question ‘What does it mean if God is holy and loving?’  In PSHE, we will be thinking about working collaboratively, friendships and peer-group dynamics.  In computing, we will be looking at e-safety and binary numbers.

On a Thursday afternoons this half term, Mrs Brown will be teaching music, where the children will be learning about songs from WW2, developing greater accuracy in pitch and control, and developing confidence when singing in parts.

Junior 2 will have PE on Thursdays this half term where we will be doing Tag Rugby so on Thursdays the children need to come to school wearing their PE kit.  As you already know, Junior 2 are swimming on Fridays all term, starting on Friday 12^th September with the last session on Tuesday 12^th December.  Please ensure your child has their swimwear and towel each week.  Boys require tight fitting trunks or shorts with no pockets and which are no longer than mid-thigh length.  Girls require a snug-fitting one-piece swimsuit.  If you would like your child to wear goggles, you need to have sent in a goggles form for them to do so. 

Your child has been given a planner this week, which should be brought to school each morning and taken home each night along with their reading book.  Inside the planner, there should be your child’s values card, reading pages, and homework and reminder pages. 

Homework will usually be given through Mathletics and reading comprehension:  

• Mathletics will be set before each weekend to be completed by the following Friday (login details are stuck in to your child’s planner). 
• A short reading comprehension sheet will also be sent home on a Friday and is to be completed and returned to school the following Friday. 

There is also an expectation that children read at home each week both independently and to an adult, with the minimum requirement recorded in your child’s planner.  To show the reading has been completed, please tick the relevant boxes and sign your child’s reading pages for Friday each week. 

Please support and encourage your child to complete this homework to the best of their ability and to a high standard. 

The children will also have bi-weekly spellings to learn and they will be tested on these in school, on a Monday every two weeks.  Their first spellings have already been given out and their first test will be on Monday 15^th September.   Spellings for the term are available on the Junior 2 page on the school website.

The children should have their water bottle in school every day.  Also, please ensure your child has their name in their school clothing, especially for when we are swimming.

Before the summer holidays, you should have received information about our summer residential to Rock UK’s Frontier Centre in Northamptonshire, where the children will take part in a variety of adventurous and team building activities over 3 days (Wednesday 24th to Friday 26th June 2026).  Just a reminder that the total cost is £266 plus approximately £25 to £30 travel depending on the number of children who commit to the trip.  A £50 deposit is required by Friday 26th September 2025  and the full payment is required by Friday 17th April 2026.  Further instalment dates in between these dates will be confirmed later this half term.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to me, please either come to speak to me on the playground before school or contact the school office.  If it is not urgent, please email junior2@gunthorpe.notts.sch.uk which I will be checking weekly.

Many thanks

Mr J. Tyler

RB Cricket Festival - Flintham Cricket Club - Wednesday 21st May

Well done to our U9 Boys, U11 Girls and U11 Boys teams who took part in the cricket festival at Flintham Cricket Club.  The children all had a great evening and played some super cricket.  A big thank you to Robin Baxter Simms for all of his support coaching the children in school and for organising this event.

Carnarvon Cross Country  - Tuesday 20th May

A big well done to our Y3s, Y4s, Y5s & Y6s who took part in this event.  All of our children should be really proud of themselves for the effort and determination they all demonstrated.

Orston v Gunthorpe Football Match - Monday 28th April

Our football team gave a super performance away at Orston Primary School, winning 8-3 in a match that was much closer than the score suggests.  The boys played some super football, scoring some great goals.  They should all be really proud of themselves.

3/6/24

Dear Parents,

I hope you have all had a great good half term holiday.  We have an extremely busy half term ahead of us with Year 5s completing their end of year assessments, Year 6s working towards their end of year writing assessments, our play “Let Loose” and we have our residential to Rock Uk’s Frontier Centre to look forward to in July as well. 

Firstly, I would like to remind all Junior 2 parents that there is a meeting in Junior 2 at 3.20pm this Thursday, 6^th June, where you will be provided with more information about our Rock UK residential

During this half term in Junior 2, will be learning about ‘The Maya Civilisation’, which will include lessons on meeting the Maya; gods and religion; the Maya number system; exploration and discovery; Maya writing; and food.  We will also be learning about Ancient Greece, which will include lessons on who the ancient Greeks were; democracy; the ancient Olympics; the Battle of Marathon; and the Trojan War.

In English, we have started by looking at persuasive writing, thinking about recycling.  We will then be using the books ‘Tin Forest’ by Helen Ward and Wayne Anderson, and ‘Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish’ by Michael Foreman as inspiration, to help us create posters and write stories.  In maths, we will be looking at properties of shapes, converting units of measurements; perimeter, area and volume; and statistics.

In science this term, we will be learning about life cycles, describing the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird, as well as describing the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.

For this half term, Junior 2 have PE on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  On Tuesdays, the children will be doing Outdoor, Adventurous Activity, which will involve orienteering with Mr Tyler.  On Wednesdays, we have Mr Geeves from Premier Education working with us, delivering tennis.  Year 6 also have an extra PE lesson this half term on a Thursday, when they will be working with another coach from Premier Education doing Danish Long Ball, which they have voted for.  Therefore, Year 5 children need to come to school in their PE kits on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and Year 6 pupils need to come to school in their PE kits on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.  After school, on Tuesdays this half term, there is also an after school netball club, being run by Mrs Owen (a letter about this has gone home with the children today – please encourage your child to sign up for this). 

In RE, we will be looking at answering the question ‘How do religions and beliefs respond to global issues of human rights, fairness, social justice and the importance of the environment?’.  In French, we will be finishing off our unit of work on be ‘School Life’, before moving on to shopping.  In computing, we will be looking at programming using Scratch and micro:bit.

On a Wednesday afternoon, Mrs Richardson will be teaching Design and Technology in Junior 2.  The unit of work in D & T is looking at mechanical systems to create a pop-up book.

For homework this half term, all children will have maths homework given on Mathletics, which will be set before each weekend and is to be completed by the following Friday.  Bug Club reading comprehension homework will be set on a regular basis where the children will be set a book and be given a deadline for when it needs to be completed by. Please support and encourage your child to complete this homework to the best of their ability and to a high standard.  There is also an expectation that children read at home each week both independently and to an adult, with the minimum requirement recorded in your child’s planner (they can always read more than this).  To show the reading has been completed, please sign your child’s reading pages for Friday each week. 

The children will continue to be given 20 spellings and will have 2 weeks to learn the spellings, before being tested every other Monday.  We will be working on the spelling rules and patterns in school, but please support and encourage your child to learn their spellings at home too.  All of this term’s spellings and the dates of the tests are on the class page of the school website. 

The children will be given their parts for our summer production ‘Let Loose’ this week.  Please help your child to learn their lines at home.  The children will also be given song words this week to learn as well – the songs are on the Junior 2 page of the school website.  Information on what the children need to wear for the performance will be sent out in the next couple of weeks.

Please make sure your child has a water bottle in school, so that they can keep hydrated as the weather gets warmer.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to me, please contact the school office if it is of an urgent nature.  If it is not urgent, please email junior2@gunthorpe.notts.sch.uk which I will be checking weekly.

Kind Regards

Mr J. Tyler

Monday 9th October - Flintham 6 - 3 Gunthorpe

Our school football team played their first match of the year away at Flintham Primary School on Monday.  It was an exciting game with Flintham winning 6-3.  A great effort from our team and a big thank you to all of the parents who came along to support.