Year 2

Welcome to Year 2

Dream Big, Aim High

Caring Creative Confident

Meet our team

A very warm welcome to Year 2 from Mrs Siddons, Mrs Radford, Miss Beldham and Mrs Wallis

This year, our teaching assistants are Mrs Jordan, Mrs Housden and Miss Tutty

The following pages will hopefully provide you with as much information as possible. However, if you ever have any problems, concerns or questions, please see a member of the Year 2 staff at the beginning or end of the day, or by phoning the school office.

We are looking forward to a brilliant year in Year 2!

Flying High with Nottinghamshire Police

We were delighted to welcome officers from the Nottinghamshire Police Drone Department into school to talk to the children about the important work they do in our local community. The children were fascinated to see the drones up close and learn how they are used to help keep people safe, support searches, and work alongside other emergency services such as the fire department. It was a fantastic opportunity for the children to find out more about modern policing, community safety and the different ways technology can be used to help others.

“A huge thank you to Nottinghamshire Police for giving our children such an exciting and memorable learning experience.”

Sherwood Forest Visit

As part of our Medieval Nottingham learning, the children enjoyed a fantastic visit to Sherwood Forest. They took part in den building activities, developing their teamwork, problem-solving and creativity, before walking through the forest to see the famous Major Oak. The children loved making links between the history of Nottingham, Robin Hood and life in medieval times. We were even guided around by Lady Marion herself, which brought the stories and legends of Sherwood Forest to life in a memorable and exciting way.

ZOO LAB Visit

Our Year 2 children were very lucky to welcome ZooLab into school for an exciting hands-on workshop linked to their Geography learning. As part of their topic comparing the Amazon Rainforest and Sherwood Forest, and learning about the Equator and different climates around the world, the children met a range of fascinating rainforest creatures. The ZooLab visitor brought along several amazing mini-beasts and amphibians including a spider, a giant snail, a cockroach and even a snake! The children listened carefully as they learned about the habitats, adaptations and behaviours of these animals and how they survive in rainforest environments. Many of the children were brave enough to gently hold some of the creatures, making it a memorable and engaging experience that really brought their geography learning to life.

Art in Year 2

Great Fire of London Drama Workshop

Welcome Meeting & Information slides for Year 2 expectations

Welcome Meeting Sept 2025.pdf

PDF File

Writing in Year 2

In Year 2, children developed their writing through the environmentally themed text The Last Wolf, following the Pathways to Write approach. Throughout the unit, pupils worked towards carefully selected Gateway and Mastery Keys, including using subordination with if and that, applying apostrophes accurately in contracted forms, adding -er and -est to adjectives, and distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones. The children completed a wide range of purposeful writing tasks, including diary entries, commands for Little Red, directions, character thoughts and feelings, descriptive writing and persuasive speeches about endangered animals. These activities enabled pupils to write for different purposes and audiences while exploring important themes such as habitat loss, conservation and caring for wildlife. Their work demonstrates increasing confidence in organising ideas, selecting effective vocabulary and using a wider range of sentence structures. Visual prompts, oral rehearsal and targeted scaffolds supported all learners, while teacher feedback and editing opportunities helped children correct misconceptions and apply their individual writing targets with growing independence.

In Year 2, children developed their writing through the environmentally themed text The Last Wolf, following the Pathways to Write approach. Across the unit, pupils worked towards carefully selected Gateway and Mastery Keys, including using subordination with if and that, applying apostrophes in contracted forms, adding -er and -est to adjectives, and using homophones and near-homophones accurately. The children completed a wide range of purposeful writing tasks, including commands for Little Red, directions, diary entries, character thoughts and feelings, descriptions and persuasive speeches about protecting endangered animals. These activities encouraged pupils to write for different purposes and audiences while also exploring important themes such as habitat loss, conservation and caring for wildlife. Their writing shows growing confidence in organising ideas, selecting effective vocabulary and varying sentence forms. Visual prompts, oral rehearsal and targeted scaffolds supported all learners, while teacher feedback and editing opportunities helped pupils correct misconceptions and apply their individual writing targets with increasing independence.

In Year 2, children developed their historical writing through creating an informative fact book about the Great Fire of London. Using the Pathways to Write approach, pupils worked towards carefully selected Gateway and Mastery Keys, including using coordination with but and or, subordination with because and when, commas in lists, and adding -ly to adjectives to create adverbs. They applied these skills across a range of purposeful tasks, such as describing the job of a gong farmer, writing fire-drill instructions and explaining key facts about how the fire began, spread and was eventually stopped. Children used historical vocabulary and information from sources such as Samuel Pepys’ diary to organise their ideas into clear sections and sentences. Visual prompts and symbol-supported scaffolds enabled all learners to contribute successfully, while more independent writers showed increasing stamina and control over sentence structure. Teacher feedback highlights accurate application of taught grammar, improved punctuation and growing confidence in writing engaging, factual accounts for a real audience.

In Year 2, children developed their writing through the imaginative text The Dragon Machine, following the Pathways to Write approach. Across the unit, pupils worked towards carefully chosen Gateway and Mastery Keys, including writing different sentence forms, using question and exclamation marks, maintaining the correct tense and extending ideas through subordination with because and when. The children completed a range of purposeful writing activities, including dragon descriptions, persuasive posters, letters, instructions explaining how to care for a dragon and an extended retelling of the story. Visual prompts, phonics support and sentence scaffolds enabled all pupils to record their ideas successfully, while more independent writers demonstrated increasing stamina and creativity. Their writing shows growing confidence in selecting interesting vocabulary, sequencing events and applying taught grammar accurately. Teacher feedback and editing opportunities helped children identify misconceptions, improve spelling and punctuation, and recognise where they had successfully met their individual writing targets.

In Year 2, children developed their writing through the thought-provoking text Major Glad, Major Dizzy, using the Pathways to Write approach. Across the unit, pupils revisited and applied previously taught Gateway and Mastery Keys, helping them to build secure “sticky knowledge” over time. These included writing expanded noun phrases, using subordination with because and when, applying present and past tense consistently, and using capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks accurately. The children completed a range of purposeful writing tasks, including descriptions of treasured toys, explanations and an extended diary entry written from the perspective of the characters. Their final pieces show growing stamina, imagination and awareness of the reader, with pupils sequencing events, describing feelings and using vocabulary linked to wartime experiences. Visual prompts, phonics support and sentence scaffolds enabled all children to access the learning, while teacher feedback and editing opportunities supported them to correct spellings, improve sentence structure and apply their individual writing targets more independently.

In Year 2, children have been developing their writing through the engaging text Troll Swap using the Pathways to Write scheme. Throughout the unit, the children worked towards clear Mastery Keys, which were used as focused writing targets. These included using capital letters and full stops accurately, writing expanded noun phrases to describe characters and settings, and joining ideas using coordination and subordination, such as and and because. The children began by generating descriptive vocabulary and creating their own trolls before progressing to instructions, character descriptions, letters and story writing. Visual prompts, oral rehearsal and sentence scaffolds supported all learners to organise and communicate their ideas. Their final independent pieces demonstrate growing confidence, stamina and creativity, with children increasingly applying the taught skills to create imaginative descriptions and sequence events clearly. Teacher marking and feedback show how misconceptions were identified and addressed, while also celebrating the children’s successful use of the Mastery Keys.

Mrs Siddons, Mrs Wallis & Mrs Jordan Pankhurst Class

Hi, I am Mrs Siddons, the class teacher for Pankhurst Class. I am also Deputy Head, Maths Lead, Year 2 Lead, Curriculum Lead, DSL and DPO. I love teaching in Year 2 and I have worked at Butler's Hill since 2014. I really enjoy teaching you all new things and my favourite year two topic is all about dinosaurs. In my spare time I love visiting my family in Barnsley, reading and watching 'The Masked Singer' with my family. My favourite children's book is 'Grandad's Island' By Benji Davies.

Mrs Jordan TA

I am Mrs Jordan. I work in Year 2. My favourite subject to teach the children is P.E. I am part of a really sporty family. I enjoy watching my boys play cricket on a hot summers day! I love to go on holiday anywhere that is hot! My favourite book is Stig of the Dump.

Mrs. Wallis

I am the Thursday and Friday class teacher in Montessori Class and I enjoy teaching Pankhurst class on a Wednesday alongside Mrs. Jordan, who is our fantastic teaching assistant. My favourite topic in Year 2 is 'The Great Fire of London' because we learn so much about the past. Outside of school, I enjoy singing (not necessarily in tune!) as part of 'Rock Choir' and spending time with my two children. My favourite place to be is Tenby in Wales, because the beaches are so sandy and I can eat lots of ice-cream on our holidays there!

Miss Beldham – Montessori Class Teacher

Hello! I’m Miss Beldham and I teach in Montessori Class on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I’ve been part of Butler’s Hill for over 10 years, and I still absolutely love it.

I am also the school’s P.E. Lead, but my favourite subject to teach is History — especially our Great Fire of London topic! The drama workshop we do is always a highlight, and I really enjoy watching the children immerse themselves in the characters.

Outside of school, I’m kept very busy running around after my two young children. On Thursdays and Fridays, you’ll often find us at White Post Farm or enjoying time together in our garden.

Hi I'm Miss Tutty and I work in Year 2. I love teaching PE to the children and fitness is one of my passions. In my spare time I also like to read and go on holiday to lots of different places around the world.

Ada LoveLace Class

Hi, I am Mrs Radford, the class teacher for Lovelace Class. I am Geography, History and one of the schools DSL's. I love teaching in Key Stage One and I have worked at Butler's Hill since 2011. I really enjoy teaching you all new things and my favourite lessons are Maths. In my spare time I love visiting my family, spending time with my friends, reading and going on holiday to Cornwall. I also enjoy spending time with my dog, Eric, especially taking him a walk along the beach.

My favourite colour is orange and my favourite book is 'Wonky Donkey' by Craig Smith because it makes me laugh.

Welcome!

Year 2 is a fun and exciting place to be! We have a wonderful and supportive team that love working with children within our school. It's an amazing time for everyone as the children end their journey in Key Stage One and we prepare them for the exciting journey into Key Stage Two. We learn about lots of exciting things this year, answering thought provoking questions such as 'Where in the world am I?' 'Were dinosaurs real? and 'Why was the fire so Great?' We learn through a concept based curriculum that progresses through the different year groups. We learn through hands on activities, role play, practical and theoretical learning opportunities. We have several enrichment opportunities linked to our topics throughout the year. Our role play areas are super exciting, giving our children lots of independent and creative time.

For those of you that can't make the new welcome to year 2 meeting, here is everything that we discussed and anything that you might need to support your child at home, feel free to contact us via class dojo or at home time.

Thanks for your support

Year 2 have begun this year with the most fantastic book! We are reading and working using Troll Swap by Leigh Hodgkinson as our inspiration. We are looking at Tabitha Lumpit and Timothy Limpit and how they are not like other trolls and children! They swap places, but soon realise that they were perfect as they were!

We have created noun phrases, written instructions, letters and innovated our own version of the story.

Here are a few of our pieces of work...

year-2

Year 2 have been looking at the non fiction text 'The Great Fire of London' this half term. We have enjoyed reading the different contents of the book and it has really helped us with our sticky knowledge from History.

We have written diary entries, job descriptions, created posters and our final piece was a non-fictio9n report telling people all about where, when and the fire started, the events and how London changed after the fire had stopped.

We have used noun phrases, adjectives and used conjunctions such as because, and, but and the tricky 'or'.

Here are a few examples of our work...

Long Term Plan

YEAR 2 LONG TERM PLAN

DOCX File

Year 2 expectations

In Year 2 we have high expectations of our children.

Reading - At least four times a week is expected in Year 2. Every child that reads three times a week (or more) is moved up the reading ladder and entered into a weekly class draw to win a prize. Please ensure reading diaries are in school each day.
Homework - Homework is mostly Maths based and is set each Friday to be completed by the following Wednesday. The work should be done by the child, it is at their level and should not need your help. Once completed, the child moves up the homework tower and when they reach the top, they get to watch a film and have treats with their friends.
P.E is twice a week in Year 2, both inside and outside. We have strict rules on kits. It is a white t-shirt and black shorts or joggers. Children need trainers (cheap, just in case they get dirty) or plimsolls as sometimes we go outside if the weather is nice.
Each child has a spelling book. Spellings are set each Friday to be tested the following Friday. These books need to be in school every Friday to be tested and new spellings can be stuck in.
Swimming - All children take part in swimming in the Summer Term (details will be sent home near to the time).
Uniform is non-negotiable at Butler's Hill. This consists of white shirts/t-shirts and black trousers/skirts. School logo jumpers or plain red jumpers are totally fine, too!

Work at Home

There are lots of things you can do at home to support your child's learning. Below are a series of websites/activities you can use to do this:

YEAR 2 SPELLINGS TO PRACTISE AT HOME

PICK & MIX OPTIONAL EXTRA CREDIT HOMEWORK

Reading Activities

Purple Mash Fun interactive activities for home and school learning

Butler's Hill Infant and Nursery School