Welcome to Junior 2!

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

2/6/25

Dear Parents,

I hope you have all had a really good half term.  We have a 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 “School of Pop” and we have our activity week to look forward to as well. 

In English, we will start by continuing our unit of work on reports and journalistic writing using the book Tuesday by David Weisner as inspiration.  We will then be looking at short fantasy stories, using the book ‘Outer Suburbia’ by Shaun Tan.  In maths, we will be looking at ratio; algebra; position and direction; converting units of measurements; and statisitics.

During this half term in Junior 2, we will be starting a new topic of ‘The Stone Age to the Iron Age’.  Within this topic we will be looking at the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age, focusing on the tools for hunting, Skara Brae, copper mining, Stone Henge, roundhouses and druids.  In science, we will be continuing to learn about forces, in particular gravity, water resistance, air resistance and friction.  We will also be looking at evolution and inheritance.  There are knowledge organisers for our topic and science units on the Junior 2 page of the school website. 

In RE, we will be thinking about the questions ‘How do people’s beliefs about God, the world and others have impact on their lives?’ and ‘How are religious and spiritual thoughts and beliefs expressed in arts and architecture and in charity and generosity?’

In French, we are going to be do a unit of work called ‘This Is France’, which will focus on French geography including neighbouring countries, distances and directions.  In Design & Technology, we will learning about monitoring devices.  In computing, we will be learning about data handling and music creation.

For this half term, Junior 2 have PE on Tuesdays and Wednesday so, on these days, the children need to come to school in their PE kits.  On Tuesdays, the children have outdoor and adventurous activities.  On Wednesdays, we have rounders with Mr Geeves from Premier Education.

As you should already know, we will be having our activity week on the week beginning 14^th July.  Hopefully you have already paid the second payment of £21 which was due by Thursday 22^nd May and the final payment of £21 is to be paid by Thursday 26^th June.  More information will be sent out nearer the time.

Homework will continue to being given through Bug Club and Mathletics.  Mathletics will be set before each weekend to be completed by the following Wednesday.  There is still 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 sign your child’s reading pages for Friday each week.  The children will also have bi-weekly spellings to learn and they will be tested on these in school, every other Monday.  Spelling lists and test dates are on the Junior 2 page of the school website.

The children have been allocated roles for our summer production “School of Pop”.  Please help and encourage your child to learn their lines and song words.  We will try to give out information on required costumes as soon as possible.  If you know that your child will not be able to attend the performance on the evening of Thursday 10^th July at 6pm, please let me know as soon as you can.

Please ensure your child has their water bottle in school every day, as hopefully we will be having some lovely weather during the final half of the summer term.

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

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.