What a super and sparkling week we have had in Year 2! We can’t quite believe we are heading into our final week of term. It really has flown by!

English
This week we started our new non-fiction book How Bees Make Honey, which links beautifully with our whole-term focus on non-fiction texts. The children have absolutely loved it already and have really thrown themselves into becoming bee experts! There have been lots of great discussions and fascinating facts shared in class.

We have been working on developing our note-taking skills by using bullet points to record key information. The children have done a brilliant job at picking out important facts and organising them clearly. We have also been focusing on using more expert, scientific vocabulary to make our writing sound more formal and informative.

Alongside this, we have been practising using conjunctions (such as and, because, so) to join our ideas and make our sentences flow. The children have also revisited using questions as subheadings to help structure their writing and guide the reader (just like in real non-fiction books.)

On Friday, we brought all of these skills together to plan our own non-chronological reports about bees. The children thought really carefully about how to organise their ideas and what information to include in each section. Next week, we are very excited to turn these into our own informative leaflets. We can’t wait to see the finished pieces!

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time. Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.

Maths
In maths this week, we have been focusing on fractions, and the children have been absolutely fantastic!

We started by refreshing our understanding of fractions of shapes, making sure we were confident in recognising equal parts and explaining what makes something a half, quarter or third. The children then moved on to finding fractions of amounts, which they approached with great determination.

We have been particularly impressed with how the children have challenged themselves with trickier fractions such as 2/3, 2/4 and 3/4. They have been using their times tables knowledge to help them and explaining their thinking really clearly. It has been lovely to see their confidence grow over the week. They should be very proud of themselves!

Thematic
The children have been super scientists this week during our thematic learning!

We have been learning all about the life cycles of living things. The children compared the life cycle of a mammal with that of a bird, spotting similarities and differences and using some fantastic scientific vocabulary in their discussions.

We also explored how humans grow and change over time. As part of this, the children carried out their own investigation, measuring children from Reception all the way up to Year 6. They loved getting involved in this and took their role very seriously! We then discussed what we noticed and how height changes as we grow. It was a great opportunity to work scientifically and think carefully about what our results showed.

Next week, we will be starting RE, which we are really looking forward to.

Home Learning
This week, we would love the children to continue practising their fraction skills with a little Easter fun!

Create your own Easter fraction problems for someone at home to solve!

Be creative and have fun!

Red words of the week

Half, hold, hour, improve, kind

Young Artists’ Competition 2026

DEADLINE – Wednesday 1st April 2026

The Rotary Club of Margate have launched their Thanet schools’ art competition. Selected entries will be displayed at Sainsbury’s Westwood Cross in their annual art exhibition.

To enter, please create a piece of A4 artwork with a wildlife theme- artwork will need to be flat so it can fit into a frame. On the reverse, please write the following information:

Child’s Name

Year Group

Medium Used

Brief description of the artwork

Permission and Consent - By submitting your child’s artwork to the competition, you give permission for the artwork to be displayed in a public exhibition. You also consent to your child’s name, age, school name, and title of the artwork being shown alongside the piece. You understand that the exhibition may be visited by members of the public and that images of the display may be used by the organisers for promotional or reporting purposes, both in print and online. No other personal details will be shared.

If you have any questions – please feel free to contact Mrs Barlow.

Thank you, we look forward to receiving your competition entries!

Mrs Barlow and Mrs Howard

We hope you have a lovely weekend and we can’t wait to see you on Monday!

 Dates to remember:

Week Beginning 30th March – Parent Teacher consultation week

Wednesday 1st April at 9.05am– Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Periwinkle, Team Ocean and Team Cornflower

Wednesday 1st April at 2.45pm – Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Teal, Team Sky and Team Sapphire

Thursday 2nd April – Chilton Fundraisers Sponsored Eggscellent Event - Non-Uniform to be worn with further details to follow next term.

Thursday 2nd April - Last day of term. School to finish at 3.15pm

The Year 2 Team 
Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk 
Mr Josh Belsey – Team Cornflower – joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

English

This week we began our exciting new non-fiction book, Sharks! Sharks! Sharks! and the children have absolutely loved diving into the fascinating world of sharks. We have discovered lots of fun and interesting facts and the classroom has been full of brilliant shark discussions!

We have been exploring the different sentence types often used in non-fiction texts. The children have been learning how exclamations can be used as captions to show excitement, such as “What big, sharp teeth that shark has!” We have also been writing questions as subheadings, for example “Where do sharks live?”, to help organise information and make readers curious to find out more. Alongside this, the children have written clear statements to share all the wonderful facts they have discovered about sharks.

One of the highlights of the week has been creating our own fantastic fact files about sharks. The children have shown such creativity and care when organising their information and presenting their ideas clearly. We will be continuing with this exciting book next week and are very excited to write even more amazing non-fiction writing!

Reading 

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time. 

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online. 

Maths

This week the children have been magnificent measurers!

Our focus has been on length, exploring metres and centimetres. We began the week by discussing how many centimetres are in a metre and thinking carefully about how this translates into different measurements, for example understanding that 50cm is equal to ½ metre.

The children have been comparing different lengths and heights, ordering them from shortest to longest and using their brilliant mathematical thinking to explain their answers. We also practised adding measurements together, which the children tackled with fantastic determination and focus.

Next week we will continue developing these skills by using the four operations to solve problems involving height and length. We can’t wait to see the children continue to grow as confident mathematicians!

Thematic

In our thematic learning this week, we have continued to explore the life and achievements of Florence Nightingale and the incredible impact her work has had on hospitals today.

The children had a wonderful time investigating artifacts from hospitals in the past. They carefully looked at different objects and discussed what they might have been used for. This sparked lots of thoughtful conversation and curiosity about how hospitals have changed over time.

One thing we all agreed on was that we are very grateful for the modern equipment we have today - especially after seeing some of the very large needles that were used in the past! The children were fascinated by how much medical care has improved thanks to Florence Nightingale’s work.

Home Learning

For home learning this week, we would love the children to continue practising their measuring skills at home!

Measure and order different items around your house using centimetres or metres. You could measure toys, books, furniture or anything you can find. Be creative and have fun!

Red Words of the Week

Every
Everybody
Eye
Fast
Father

Young Artists’ Competition 2026

DEADLINE – Wednesday 1st April 2026

The Rotary Club of Margate have launched their Thanet schools’ art competition. Selected entries will be displayed at Sainsbury’s Westwood Cross in their annual art exhibition.

To enter, please create a piece of A4 artwork with a wildlife theme- artwork will need to be flat so it can fit into a frame. On the reverse, please write the following information:

Child’s Name

Year Group

Medium Used

Brief description of the artwork

Permission and Consent - By submitting your child’s artwork to the competition, you give permission for the artwork to be displayed in a public exhibition. You also consent to your child’s name, age, school name, and title of the artwork being shown alongside the piece. You understand that the exhibition may be visited by members of the public and that images of the display may be used by the organisers for promotional or reporting purposes, both in print and online. No other personal details will be shared.

If you have any questions – please feel free to contact Mrs Barlow.

Thank you, we look forward to receiving your competition entries!

Mrs Barlow and Mrs Howard

We hope you have a lovely weekend and we can’t wait to see you on Monday!

 Dates to remember:

Thursday 19th March – Team Sky to Quex Park Forest School

Friday 20th March – Team Ocean to Quex Park Forest School

Friday 20th March – Red Nose Day (Wear something funny for money)

Monday 23rd March – Rock your socks for Downs Syndrome Awareness (Wear bright or mismatching socks to school)

Monday 23rd March – Year 3 Roman Dress up day

Tuesday 24th March – Team Periwinkle to Quex Park

Thursday 26th March – Team Teal to Quex Park

Friday 27th March – Viking Speaker Final at Royal Harbour

Friday 27th March – Parents come into school to look at children’s books prior to Parent Teacher Consultations

Week Beginning 30th March – Parent Teacher consultation week

Wednesday 1st April at 9.05am– Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Periwinkle, Team Ocean and Team Cornflower

Wednesday 1st April at 2.45pm – Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Teal, Team Sky and Team Sapphire

Thursday 2nd April – Chilton Fundraisers Sponsored Eggscellent Event - Non-Uniform to be worn with further details to follow next term.

Thursday 2nd April - Last day of term. School to finish at 3.15pm

The Year 2 Team 
Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk 
Mr Josh Belsey – Team Cornflower – joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

English

This term, we are exploring the exciting world of non-fiction texts, linking closely to our science and thematic learning. We have started our new book, Growing Frogs by Vivian French, and the children are already showing fantastic curiosity and engagement.

We have been identifying the key features of non-fiction books. The children have been writing clear captions to match pictures, creating thoughtful questions as headings and recording accurate facts in full sentences using the present tense. We have also been challenging ourselves to use conjunctions such as and, because, when and if to extend our ideas and add extra information. It has been wonderful to see the children organising their writing carefully and thinking about how to present information clearly for the reader. We are already seeing super progress in their confidence and sentence structure!

Reading 

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time. 

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online. 

Maths

In maths this week, we have been focusing on using the inverse to strengthen our understanding of addition and subtraction within 100. The children have been solving calculations and then checking their answers by using the inverse operation. For example, after solving a subtraction, they have used addition to check whether their answer is correct.

We have been solving problems with addition and subtraction and using related number facts to check calculations. The children have also applied this skill to word problems, thinking carefully about which operation to use and explaining their reasoning clearly. We have been so impressed with their resilience and determination when tackling trickier problems. Such fantastic mathematicians!

PSHE

We absolutely loved our PSHE day learning about British Values and the protected characteristics. The children explored individual liberty, rule of law, mutual respect and democracy, and discussed what these values look like in our school and wider community.

Through roleplay and thoughtful discussion, the children practised their oracy skills by explaining their ideas, asking questions and building on one another’s responses. We were incredibly proud of the mature conversations they had and the respectful way they listened to each other. Their sparkling behaviour and super teamwork truly shone through.

Thematic

This has definitely been the highlight of our week! We kickstarted our history learning with our wonderful Teddy Bear Hospital, and the engagement was simply fantastic. The children took on the roles of nurses and doctors, carefully writing notes about symptoms and thinking about how to care for their patients. This hands-on experience helped them begin to understand how hospitals help people and how medical care has changed over time.

We then began learning about Florence Nightingale and why she is considered such a significant individual in history. The children discovered how she improved cleanliness in hospitals, helped reduce infection and changed the way nurses were trained. We have been thinking carefully about how hospitals were different in the past and how her actions led to important changes that still affect modern medicine today. The children have shown amazing curiosity and asked some super thoughtful questions.

Home learning

For home learning this week, we would love the children to express all their curiosity for our new Thematic topic! We would like the children to write questions that they would like to ask Florence!

Be creative and have fun!

Red words of the week: Child, Children, Christmas, Class, Climb.

World Book Day Thursday 5^th March 2026 

This year’s World Book Day theme will be books that make us laugh.  We invite children to dress up as their favourite book or character for World Book Day. The children will take part in a variety of fun activities throughout the day. All children will receive their £1 World Book Day Voucher.  This can be used at our school Book Fayre or in shops.   

Chilton Book Fayre 

The Chilton Book Fayre will arrive on Monday 9^th March and run until Friday 13^th March outside the Year 5 classrooms. Children will come home with a World Book Day book voucher.  These can be spent at the Book Fayre. Cash and online payments are also available, and a percentage of the monies raised will go towards funding more books for Chilton children.  

Reading competition 

We will be running a reading competition the week of World Book Day (week beginning 2^nd March).  We would like the children to read as many books as they can in a funny or unusual place! Please take a picture of these and email them to Mrs Rowland-Hill (helen.rowland@chiltonprimary.co.uk) A winner from Ks1 and a winner from KS2 with the most books read in a funny and usual place will win a prize! Deadline for entries is Monday 9^th March 2026. 

Mrs Rowland-Hill - English Lead/Upper Phase Lead. 

We hope you have a lovely weekend and we cant wait to see you on Monday!

Monday 2nd March – Secondary School Offer Day

Thursday 5th March – World Book day, children to dress as their favourite book character

Monday 9th March – Book fair in school this week

Friday 13th March – Chilton Speaker Final

Thursday 19th March – Team Sky to Quex Park Forest School

Friday 20th March – Team Ocean to Quex Park Forest School

Friday 20th March – Red Nose Day (Wear something funny for money)

Monday 23rd March – Rock your socks for Downs Syndrome Awareness (Wear bright or mismatching socks to school)

Monday 23rd March – Year 3 Roman Dress up day

Tuesday 24th March – Team Periwinkle to Quex Park

Thursday 26th March – Team Teal to Quex Park

Friday 27th March – Viking Speaker Final at Royal Harbour

Friday 27th March – Parents come into school to look at children’s books prior to Parent Teacher Consultations

Week Beginning 30th March – Parent Teacher consultation week

Wednesday 1st April at 9.05am– Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Periwinkle, Team Ocean and Team Cornflower

Wednesday 1st April at 2.45pm – Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Teal, Team Sky and Team Sapphire

Thursday 2nd April – Chilton Fundraisers Sponsored Eggscellent Event - Non-Uniform to be worn with further details to follow next term.

Thursday 2nd April - Last day of term. School to finish at 3.15pm

The Year 2 Team 
Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk 
Mr Josh Belsey – Team Cornflower – joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

This week has been all about celebrating their achievements, reflecting on how far they’ve come. It has been such a joy to see their confidence grow and their personalities shine. 

English 

In English this week, we have been rewriting Traction Man to link with our exciting topic of The Harbour. The children were thrilled to reimagine the story and transport Traction Man from his usual household adventures to the busy, bustling setting of our very own Ramsgate Harbour. Instead of rescuing toys from the sink, Traction Man found himself saving boats from stormy seas, helping stranded sailors and protecting the harbour from danger! 

Throughout the week, we focused carefully on developing our writing skills. The children worked hard to include expanded noun phrases to add detail and description, such as the enormous crashing waves and the rusty old fishing boat. They practised using conjunctions like and, but, because and so to extend their sentences and explain their ideas more clearly. We also applied our knowledge of punctuation, ensuring we used capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks accurately to make our writing clear and exciting for the reader. 

It has been fantastic to see the children’s creativity shine and their confidence grow over the course of the week. They have shown great enthusiasm and pride in their work, and they thoroughly enjoyed bringing their harbour adventures to life right here in Ramsgate. 

Reading 

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time. 

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online. 

Maths 

In Maths this week, we have been learning about statistics, focusing on pictograms and bar charts. The children have been developing their skills in collecting data, organising it carefully and presenting it clearly. We began by interpreting pictograms, making sure we understood what each symbol represented and using this information to answer questions about the data. The children practised finding the most and least popular categories, comparing amounts and working out how many there were altogether. 

We then moved on to bar charts, where we explored how to read the scale on the vertical axis and ensure the bars were drawn accurately to match the data. The children worked hard to understand that bar charts must have a clear title, labelled axes and evenly spaced bars. They enjoyed creating their own bar charts based on class surveys and asking thoughtful questions about the results. It has been wonderful to see them growing in confidence when interpreting and presenting data. 

RE 

This week in RE, we have been learning about the life of the Buddha and exploring why he chose to give up his comfortable life in the palace to help those who were less fortunate. The children were fascinated to learn about Siddhartha Gautama’s early life as a prince, how he was protected from sadness and suffering, and how his experiences outside the palace changed his understanding of the world. 

We created a timeline of his life, identifying the key events that led him to make the important decision to leave the palace and search for answers about suffering and happiness. The children reflected thoughtfully on his choices and discussed what it means to show compassion and kindness to others. We also considered how his teachings continue to influence people today. It has been lovely to see the children engaging in such mature discussions and sharing their own reflections about helping others and making positive choices. 

Home Learning 

During the half term we would love you to keep diary entry of all the fun things you get up to! Have fun and as always present it in anyway you like.  

Red words: Please recap the red words you have learnt and practiced as we will be constantly going over them after half term! 

Dates to remember 

Monday 23rd February – All children back into school at the normal time 

Monday 23rd February – Friday 27th February – Bring in any unwanted world book day costumes 

Wednesday 25th February – Year 3 Swimming begins and will happen every Wednesday throughout term 4 

Friday 27th February – Second hand world book day costume sale from 3pm by school gates 

Monday 2nd March – Secondary School Offer Day 

Thursday 5th March – World Book day, children to dress as their favourite book character 

Monday 9th March – Book fair in school this week 

Friday 13th March – Chilton Speaker Final 

Thursday 19th March – Team Sky to Quex Park Forest School 

Friday 20th March – Team Ocean to Quex Park Forest School 

Friday 20th March – Red Nose Day (Wear something funny for money) 

Monday 23rd March – Rock your socks for Downs Syndrome Awareness (Wear bright or mismatching socks to school) 

Monday 23rd March – Year 3 Roman Dress up day 

Tuesday 24th March – Team Periwinkle to Quex Park 

Thursday 26th March – Team Teal to Quex Park 

Friday 27th March – Viking Speaker Final at Royal Harbour 

Friday 27th March – Parents come into school to look at children’s books prior to Parent Teacher Consultations 

Week Beginning 30th March – Parent Teacher consultation week 

Wednesday 1st April at 9.05am– Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Periwinkle, Team Ocean and Team Cornflower 

Wednesday 1st April at 2.45pm – Easter Bonnet Parade for Team Teal, Team Sky and Team Sapphire 

Thursday 2nd April – Chilton Fundraisers Sponsored Eggscellent Event - Non-Uniform to be worn with further details to follow next term. 

Thursday 2nd April - Last day of term. School to finish at 3.15pm 

The Year 2 Team 
Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk 
Mr Josh Belsey – Team Cornflower – joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

English

In English this week, we have continued to build and strengthen key writing skills as part of our Traction Man learning journey. The children have been working hard to develop exciting action sentences, focusing particularly on using speech and conjunctions to add detail and interest to their writing.

They practised writing dialogue using the correct punctuation and thought carefully about what characters might say and how this shows their personality. Alongside this, the children explored how conjunctions can be used to join ideas and extend sentences, helping their writing to flow more smoothly and sound more engaging.

The progress has been wonderful to see, and the children have shown growing confidence when applying these skills independently. Next week will be our final week with Traction Man, and we are very excited to see all of their learning come together in their final pieces of writing!

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.

Maths

This week in maths, we had a ‘Ditch the Book’ week, and the children absolutely loved getting hands-on with their learning! We focused on being practical mathematicians, using resources, games and movement to explore our maths in an engaging and meaningful way.

Our main focus was telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes. The children worked with clocks and practical activities to help them understand how the minutes move around the clock face. They showed great concentration and perseverance as they practised reading different times and explaining their thinking.

Of course, we finished the week by celebrating all of our wonderful maths learning with Number Day. We loved seeing the children’s fantastic costumes and enjoyed taking part in number-themed activities throughout the day. It was a brilliant celebration of maths and a real highlight of the week!

Thematic

Our thematic learning has begun to draw to a close this week. The children have been developing their comparison skills by looking at Ramsgate and comparing it to a town outside of the UK.

Using their PSHE knowledge of Malala, the children compared life in the UK with life in Pakistan, thinking carefully about similarities and differences such as schooling, daily life and opportunities. The discussions were thoughtful and respectful, and the children showed a growing understanding of the wider world.

Next week, we will be moving on to a new focus with RE, which we are very much looking forward to starting together.

Home Learning

This week’s home learning links to our love of superheroes!
We would like you to create your own superhero character description.
You might like to include:

You can write a paragraph, label a picture or get creative in any way you like!

Red word spellings of the week:
because, behind, both, break, busy

Dates to Remember

Friday 13th February – Non-school uniform day 

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We hope you all have a lovely weekend 😊

The Year 2 Team
Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk
Mr Josh Belsey – Team Cornflower – joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

English

This week, we reached the end of our Max learning journey, and the children have absolutely loved every moment of it. They have worked hard to fully immerse themselves in the story, thinking deeply about the characters and their feelings.

The children explored how to transform themselves into Max, focusing on writing in the first person so their writing truly sounded like the character. We spent time identifying and using effective verbs and adverbs to add detail and action to our writing, as well as learning how to write with emotion to help the reader understand how Max was feeling at different points in the story.

All of this learning came together beautifully in our final piece of writing a diary entry written by Max. The children carefully planned their ideas, chose their vocabulary thoughtfully and worked hard to make their writing engaging and expressive. The finished diaries were fantastic and really showcased how much progress the children have made as confident, creative writers.

Next week, we are very excited to begin our new story, Traction Man, which we know the children are going to love. We can’t wait to dive into this action-packed story and start a brand-new writing adventure!

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time. Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult. The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning. Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.

Maths

In maths this week, we have been building on our place value knowledge to subtract two-digit numbers with growing confidence. We began by using Base Ten equipment to help the children clearly see what is happening to the numbers when we subtract.

A key focus was learning that sometimes we need to make an exchange when subtracting—for example, exchanging 1 ten for 10 ones. The children worked carefully and patiently with the resources, showing a fantastic understanding of how numbers can be regrouped. They explained their thinking clearly and showed great resilience when tackling trickier calculations.

Later in the week, we moved on to using a 100 square to support our subtraction. The children learned that:

• we jump backwards to subtract ones

• we move up the square to subtract tens

They practised this strategy with increasing confidence and were able to choose the correct movements independently. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they became more secure with subtraction methods.

Thematic

In Thematic learning this week, we have been both historians and geographers, exploring our local area and beyond. We continued learning about the history of Ramsgate Royal Harbour, discovering how it was given its royal title by King George IV. The children were fascinated by this link to the past and enjoyed learning more about their local heritage.

We also learned about Operation Dynamo and the courageous Little Ships that travelled to Dunkirk. Through discussion and storytelling, the children developed an understanding of why this event was so important and showed great respect and curiosity when learning about the bravery of those involved.

Later in the week, we began our geography learning by exploring the United Kingdom. The children learned that the UK is made up of four countries and started to identify them. This has been an exciting starting point, and next week we will broaden our geographical skills even further as we explore the wider world.

Home Learning

This week’s home learning links to our maths learning on subtraction.

• Choose a two-digit number (for example, 54).

•  Subtract a one-digit or two-digit number (for example, subtract 7 or 20).

•  Show how you worked it out.

You can write, draw or talk through your thinking, whatever works best. The most important thing is to explain how you know. Be creative and have fun!

This week, the whole school is took part in the Big Schools' BirdWatch to collect data for the RSPB. We are inviting you to take part at home too. Here's what you need to do:

1. ‎Choose an hour between 23 and 25 January 2026

2, Only record the birds that land in your garden

3. Record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time

4. Sign up online and submit your results to the RSPB. Here's the link: Big Garden Birdwatch

Miss Isaac, who is Chilton's science leader, would love to see any photos of you doing this and also know any particularly interesting birds you saw. Feel free to send her an email: carol.isaac@chiltonprimary.co.uk

If you are fan of being out in nature and would like to show off your photography skills, you might be interested in the competition outlined below:

Bird Wise East Kent and Thanet Coast Project have teamed up to host a photography competition. There is a category for under 18s with the winner and runner up having their work displayed in Margate, Whitstable and Ramsgate. The deadline is midnight on Sunday 15^th February. Please go to their website for more information: Photography Competition | Bird Wise East Kent

Have fun twitching!

Dates to Remember

Friday 6th February – NSPCC number day (Reception and KS1 children to come in dressed in number themed clothes/KS2 to come in dressed as a Times Table Rock Star) 

Friday 6th February – KS2 Countdown assembly at 9am (parents of year group house winners to be invited) Tuesday 10th February – Safer internet day 

Friday 13th February – Non-school uniform day 

Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a lovely weekend! 😊

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

English

In English this week, we have started a brand-new story, Max by Bob Graham, and the children have absolutely loved it. They have shown a fantastic understanding of the story and have been eager to share their thoughts and ideas during our discussions.

Our main focus has been sequencing the events of the story. The children worked carefully to identify what happened at the beginning, middle and end, thinking about how the story flows and how each event links together. They did a brilliant job retelling the story in the correct order and explaining their reasoning.

Building on this, the children worked on summarising the story using clear sentence openers, while also remembering to punctuate their sentences correctly. They impressed us all with their focus and effort, and their writing truly blew us away! The children produced some super sentences, showing growing confidence, strong understanding, and pride in their work.

It has been wonderful to see how enthusiastic the children are about reading and writing, and how much progress they are making as storytellers and writers.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

In maths this week, we have been diving into place value, and the children have approached their learning with fantastic enthusiasm and confidence. We began by exploring number lines, including the challenge of estimating where a number would belong on a blank number line. The children showed great reasoning skills, using what they know about numbers to make sensible and increasingly accurate estimates.

We then used our number line knowledge to help us round numbers up and down. The children particularly enjoyed learning our rounding song, which helped them remember the rule in a fun and memorable way:
“1, 2, 3, 4, round it down to the floor.
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, round it up all the time!”
It was wonderful to see how confidently they could apply this when rounding numbers independently.

Later in the week, we moved on to partitioning numbers into tens and ones. The children explored different ways to break numbers apart, using practical resources and clear explanations to show their understanding. They worked brilliantly, explaining their thinking and showing a strong grasp of how numbers are made.

The children have made excellent progress with place value this week, and this strong foundation will really support us as we move into addition next week. We are very proud of their hard work and positive attitudes towards maths!

PSHE

In PSHE this week, we have been focusing on our school value of courage. The children have loved learning about Malala Yousafzai and were inspired by her bravery and determination. Through discussion and storytelling, we explored what it truly means to be courageous and how courage can look different for everyone.

We talked about situations where we might need to stand up for ourselves or for others, and the children shared thoughtful ideas about fairness, kindness and speaking out when something doesn’t feel right. These discussions showed great maturity and empathy.

The children also spent time thinking about their own goals and aspirations, and how being courageous can help us achieve them. Whether this meant trying something new, believing in themselves, or not giving up when something feels tricky, the children showed a wonderful understanding of how courage helps us grow.

It has been a really meaningful week of learning, and the children impressed us with their thoughtful contributions and positive attitudes.

Home Learning

This week, our home learning links to our PSHE focus on courage. We would like the children to think about a time when they have been brave, or something they would like to be courageous about.

• Share an example of when they have shown courage (big or small!)

Be creative and have fun!

RSPB Big Garden BirdWatch

This term, the whole school is taking part in the Big Schools' BirdWatch to collect data for the RSPB. We are inviting you to take part at home too. Here's what you need to do:

1. ‎Choose an hour between 23 and 25 January

2, Only record the birds that land in your garden

3. Record the highest number of each bird species you see at any one time

4. Sign up online and submit your results to the RSPB. Here's the link: Big Garden Birdwatch

Miss Isaac, who is Chilton's science leader, would love to see any photos of you doing this and also know any particularly interesting birds you saw. Feel free to send her an email: carol.isaac@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Have fun  twitching!

Dates to Remember

Thursday 15th January – Reception September 2026 application closes 

Friday 6th February – NSPCC number day (Reception and KS1 children to come in dressed in number themed clothes/KS2 to come in dressed as a Times Table Rock Star) 

Friday 6th February – KS2 Countdown assembly at 9am (parents of year group house winners to be invited) Tuesday 10th February – Safer internet day 

Friday 13th February – Non-school uniform day 

Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a lovely weekend! 😊

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Let’s have a look at what we have been up to this week!

Our Nativity practice is now in full swing, and the Christmas cheer is definitely spreading! The children are doing brilliantly with their songs and actions, and we can’t wait for you to see the final performance.

A quick reminder that Nativity costumes need to be in by Friday 8th December, please.

Let’s have a look at what we’ve been up to this week!

English

In English this week, we have continued our journey with Julia Donaldson’s story Stick Man, and the children’s enthusiasm for the text is still going strong. Building on our earlier comprehension work, we moved into a brand-new focus: learning how to write a letter and doing it all through the eyes of Stick Man himself!

We began by exploring the features of a letter, looking carefully at real examples and spotting important elements such as the greeting, introduction, main body, and closing. The children did brilliantly at identifying what makes a letter different from other types of writing, and they enjoyed practising how to set one out correctly.

Next, we worked on one of our key writing skills for the term: using commas in a list. We played games, created our own silly lists, and worked together to spot where the commas should go. It was lovely to see how confidently the children then used this skill in their own writing.

With all these tools under their belts, the children were ready for their show piece of the week: writing a letter to Father Christmas from Stick Man! Stepping into character helped them think carefully about what Stick Man, Stick Lady Love, and their little stick children might wish for this Christmas. Their ideas were wonderfully imaginative from cosy twig blankets to sparkly forest decorations and they showed such pride in their finished letters.

It has been a joy to see the children developing their writing skills while having so much festive fun.

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

In maths this week, we have moved on from last week’s work on statistics and begun exploring the exciting world of money and the children have taken to it brilliantly! We started by looking closely at different coins and notes, talking about their values and how we can combine them to make different amounts. The children enjoyed hands-on activities where they built totals using a range of coins, carefully checking their work and explaining their thinking.

Once we were confident making amounts, we moved on to counting money, adding coins and notes together and practising efficient strategies to help us total up more quickly. The children showed great focus and resilience, especially when working with trickier combinations.

We then began comparing amounts, using the greater than, less than and equals signs to show which total was larger. This really helped the children strengthen their understanding of value and reinforced their place value knowledge too.

To finish the week, we tackled the challenge of giving change. The children loved role-play shop activities where they practised working out how much change a customer should receive. They did a wonderful job thinking carefully about counting on and using number bonds to help them find the answer.

DT

After discovering how the Great Fire of London destroyed so much of the city including London Bridge. We took our inspiration straight into DT, where the children became engineers for the week.

We began by exploring different materials and discussing which ones might make a strong, stable bridge. The children carefully selected their resources and practised a range of joining techniques, working together to create their very own model bridges. It was wonderful to see them problem-solving, adapting their ideas and showing fantastic teamwork throughout the building process.

Once our bridges were complete, it was time for the big test! First, we checked whether each bridge could hold the weight of a small doll, there were lots of proud smiles as many of them stayed standing strong. Then came the ultimate challenge: could the bridge withstand gale-force winds? The children loved watching their creations being put to the test and were eager to discuss what worked well and what they might improve next time.

It has been a brilliant week of creativity, engineering and hands-on learning, and we were so impressed with the children’s enthusiasm and resilience.

Home Learning

This week we are on the count down to our Nativity! This week we would like the children could learn their lines and use expression for their home learning this week.

Advance warning for our party day…

Red Romans: Sweet treats

Blue Vikings: Fruits and Vegetables

Yellow Saxons: Savoury snacks (Not crisps)

Green Normans: Crisps and dips

Dates to Remember

8th December – Year 3 to Royal Harbour

10th December – No swimming this week, Year 5 will have PE as usual

10th December – Christmas Fair 3.15pm-4.15pm

11th December – Year 4 to Maidstone Museum

12th December – Reception Nativity at 9am in the hall

15th December – No PE this week

15th December – Year 1 Nativity at 9am in hall

16th December – Year 3 and 4 Church Performance at 10am and Year 5 and 6 Church Performance at 2pm, both at St Laurence Church

16th December -Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas Parties – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Year 2 Nativity at 9am in School Hall

17th December – Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 Christmas Party Day – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Christmas Dinner Day

18th December – Year 2 and 3 to watch the Pantomime at St Lawrence College

18th December – Christmas Jumper Day

18th December – Final day at school; school finishes at 2pm and there will be no after school club

Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a lovely weekend! 😊

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Let’s have a look at all the exciting things we have been up to this week.

English

In our English groups this week, we have embarked on a brand-new literary adventure with another wonderful Julia Donaldson story ‘Stick Man!’ Exploring a fresh text has brought so much excitement to the classroom, and the children have been fully engaged as we followed Stick Man through his unexpected and sometimes rather dramatic journey.

Our main focus this week has been strengthening our comprehension. We have been working on sequencing the events in the story, encouraging the children to identify the beginning, middle and end, and to place key moments in the correct order. This helps them build a clear understanding of narrative structure and improves their ability to retell stories in their own words. We have also been developing our vocabulary skills by clarifying unfamiliar words, using clues from the text and illustrations and dictionaries to infer the meaning. It has been wonderful to see the children growing in confidence as they discuss new vocabulary and make thoughtful predictions about what might happen next.

And, of course, we couldn’t resist adding a bit of drama! We transformed ourselves into reporters, interviewing Stick Man about his adventures. The children prepared thoughtful, imaginative questions and took turns playing both journalist and Stick Man, using their speaking and listening skills brilliantly. This role-play has helped them develop empathy for characters, practise asking open-ended questions, and use expressive language to bring the story to life.

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

In maths this week, we have been busy applying our growing knowledge of division to explore the wonderful world of fractions and the children have been absolutely amazing! Building on last week’s learning, we began by discovering how dividing shapes into equal parts links beautifully to finding fractions. The children were brilliant at identifying the numerator and denominator, proudly using the correct mathematical vocabulary as they worked.

We started our journey by splitting shapes into halves, making sure each part was fair and equal. Once we had mastered this, we moved on to quarters, carefully checking that the shape had been divided into four parts of the same size. After that, we challenged ourselves even further by exploring thirds (a tricky concept) and the children rose to the challenge with enthusiasm and determination. It has been wonderful to see them using their reasoning skills to explain how they knew their shapes were divided correctly, showing real confidence in their understanding.

Some of our budding mathematicians even ventured into recognising simple equivalent fractions! They were able to spot, for example, that two quarters can be the same as one half, and they were so proud to share their discoveries with the class. We are incredibly proud of the focus, resilience and excitement the children have shown while working on fractions.

Thematic

What an absolutely incredible week we have had in our thematic learning as we fully immersed ourselves in the fascinating story of the Great Fire of London! The children have been completely captivated, and their enthusiasm has made each lesson feel like a real adventure through history.

We began by sequencing the key events of the fire, carefully piecing together what happened across those dramatic four days in 1666. Using maps of London from the time, the children were able to trace the path of the fire, explaining how it spread so rapidly from Pudding Lane across the tightly packed wooden houses. They were amazed to see just how quickly the flames travelled and how differently London looked compared to today!

Our learning became even more exciting when we turned our attention to Samuel Pepys’ famous diary. The children were fascinated to discover that much of what we know about the fire comes from his personal writing. We explored extracts from his diary, discussing how he described the sights, smells and feelings of those days. Inspired by his vivid descriptions, the children even had a go at writing their own diary entries, imagining what it might have been like to live through such an extraordinary moment in history. Their creativity, empathy and use of historical detail were truly impressive!

Home learning

Building on their knowledge of diary entries, we would love the children to create their very own! This can detail any day they like and should include anything they might get up to in chronological order!

Be creative and have fun!

Dates to remember

24th November – Book Fair on all week

28th November – Year 3 and 5 Come Dine with me (Azure 11.30, Peacock 11.45, Royal 12.30 and Indigo 12.40)

4th December – Year 5 Pegwell Bay Trip

5th December – Year 2 and 4 Come Dine with me (Sapphire 11.30, Cornflower 11.45, Team Aqua 12.30 and Team Topaz 12.40)

8th December – Year 3 to Royal Harbour

10th December – No swimming this week, Year 5 will have PE as usual

10th December – Christmas Fair 3.15pm-4.15pm

11th December – Year 4 to Maidstone Museum

12th December – Reception Nativity at 9am in the hall

15th December – No PE this week

15th December – Year 1 Nativity at 9am in hall

16th December – Year 3 and 4 Church Performance at 10am and Year 5 and 6 Church Performance at 2pm, both at St Laurence Church

16th December -Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas Parties – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Year 2 Nativity at 9am in School Hall

17th December – Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 Christmas Party Day – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Christmas Dinner Day

18th December – Year 2 and 3 to watch the Pantomime at St Lawrence College

18th December – Christmas Jumper Day

18th December – Final day at school; school finishes at 2pm and there will be no after school club

Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a lovely weekend! 😊

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

English

In our English groups this week we have had a journey through the enchanting world of language, we have been immersing ourselves in the colourful realm of adjectives and discovering how they can add an extra sparkle to our verbs, creating vibrant and descriptive sentences.

This week, we continued to explore the delightful story of "The Gruffalo's Child," which has opened up a treasure trove of imagination for our learners. Using our senses, we described the fantastic settings, focusing on phrases such as "the towering, green trees" and "the bendy, waving branches." It has been truly heartwarming to witness the children’s creativity soar as they conjured up their own imaginative adjectives. Their ability to classify the different word groups has made for some absolutely thrilling discussions!

Adding to the excitement, we have also begun to introduce conjunctions into our writing. This allows the children to form even more elaborate sentences, weaving their thoughts together beautifully. It is a joy to see them so enthusiastic about expanding their sentences, transforming simple statements into descriptive narratives full of life and expression!

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

In maths this week we have enthusiastically embarked on an exploration of multiplication, and the children have been buzzing with excitement!

To lay the groundwork for multiplication, we have been investigating the fascinating world of odd and even numbers. Using our Numicon shapes, the children had a fab time spotting the odd piece out. Their faces lit up with excitement each time they made a discovery! They also enjoyed double-checking their findings by counting in twos, which turned into a fun classroom competition. It's great to see their teamwork and enthusiasm as they engaged in these activities!

Alongside this, we have ventured into the concept of doubling. The children have been practising this skill with great energy, and I encourage you to continue the fun at home. Playing games that involve doubling can be a lovely way to reinforce their learning - perhaps counting the number of toys they have and doubling that number.

Next week we will be focussing on division!

Thematic

What an absolutely amazing week we have had for our thematic learning focused on firefighters! We kicked things off by diving into how firefighters from the past were different from those today. It was such a thrill to learn about the old-fashioned gear and methods of firefighting compared to the technology and safety equipment they use now.

Our excitement really kicked into gear during our trip to the local fire station. Wow, did it exceed our expectations! The children had a fantastic time exploring the entire station. They got to see where the firefighters sleep, the impressive fire pole, the changing rooms, and of course, the shiny fire engines. The highlight was learning that the firefighters have just one minute to jump into action! We've been having some fun in class trying to see if we can be as quick as them.

One of the most thrilling moments was watching the firefighters put out a real fire! It was great to connect our trip to our ongoing discussions about the Great Fire of London. We talked about how the fire could have been managed so much better with smoke alarms and how today’s methods and technology would help to tackle it much quicker.

Take a look at our ideas!

The firefighters were lovely enough to give us a challenge: to check on the smoke alarms at home! It’s a simple yet important task that can really make a difference in keeping our families safe. Plus, it’s a great way for the children to apply what they’ve learned in a practical way.

Thank you all for your support in making this a memorable learning experience. Next week is world kindness day and to celebrate this we will be having a PSHE week!

Home Learning

To celebrate world kindness day, we would like the children to think about being kind to themselves. We would like the children to compliment themselves and everything that makes them the amazing them!

Be creative and have fun!

🎄 Christmas Card Competition 🎄

Our school has been invited to take part in the annual Christmas card competition organised by our local MP, Polly Billington.

Children are encouraged to create a festive design, and the winning cards will be printed and shared with businesses and organisations across East Thanet, as well as Members of Parliament in Westminster — spreading festive cheer far and wide!

Competition Categories

• Under 7 years

• Under 11 years

A template sheet has been provided.
Children should complete their Christmas card design on the back of this sheet. Please note, all designs should be hand drawn on A4 paper with colouring pencils, crayons, felt-tips pens or paint. Please do not use glitter, sequins, or digital artwork.

Consent

A permission form will be sent home to allow your child to take part.
At no stage will full names be used; however, winners’ first names, ages and school names will be shared.

Please complete and return the form along with your child’s artwork on the back of the consent form.

Deadline

Entries must be returned to school by Wednesday 12th November.

We can’t wait to see the wonderful designs our children create!
Thank you for your support — and good luck to all our young artists! 🎨✨

Dates to remember

11th November – Service Uniform Day, children allowed to wear their service uniforms into school

12th November – Individual School Photos

14th November – Children in need – This year is a challenge yourself theme. We are challenging the children to come into school wearing as many spots as possible!

14th November - Year 1 and Year 6 Come Dine with me (Sky 11.30, Ocean 11.45, Cyan 12.30, Turquoise and Cobalt 12.40)

21st November – Reception Come Dine with me (Periwinkle 11.30 and Teal 11.40)

24th November – Book Fair on all week

28th November – Year 3 and 5 Come Dine with me (Azure 11.30, Peacock 11.45, Royal 12.30 and Indigo 12.40)

4th December – Year 5 Pegwell Bay Trip

5th December – Year 2 and 4 Come Dine with me (Sapphire 11.30, Cornflower 11.45, Team Aqua 12.30 and Team Topaz 12.40)

8th December – Year 3 to Royal Harbour

10th December – No swimming this week, Year 5 will have PE as usual

10th December – Christmas Fair 3.15pm-4.15pm

11th December – Year 4 to Maidstone Museum

12th December – Reception Nativity at 9am in the hall

15th December – No PE this week

15th December – Year 1 Nativity at 9am in hall

16th December – Year 3 and 4 Church Performance at 10am and Year 5 and 6 Church Performance at 2pm, both at St Laurence Church

16th December -Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas Parties – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Year 2 Nativity at 9am in School Hall

17th December – Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 Christmas Party Day – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Christmas Dinner Day

18th December – Year 2 and 3 to watch the Pantomime at St Lawrence College

18th December – Christmas Jumper Day

18th December – Final day at school; school finishes at 2pm and there will be no after school club

Thank you all for your support and we hope you have a lovely weekend! 😊

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk

It’s been fantastic to see the children getting involved and showing such enthusiasm in their learning. They’ve worked wonderfully together and supported each other along the way. We are really proud of each and every one of them!

English

This week in English, we’ve had a fantastic time wrapping up our learning around 'Rapunzel' by Bethan Wallvin. The children have really dived into the story, and it’s been wonderful to see their creativity shine.

We’ve been focusing on mixing up our sentence types, and I’m thrilled to say that the children have been doing a great job. They’ve been working on different sentence openers, especially using prepositions and time phrases, which adds some extra flair to their writing.

As part of our lessons, every child has had the chance to plan and write their very own fairy tale. It’s been so exciting to see what they’ve come up with! I encourage you to ask your child about their story – I’m sure they’ll be eager to share their ideas with you!

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

This week, we’ve been embarking on a journey as terrific time tellers! We started with a recap about the minute hand and the hour hand. It was essential for everyone to grasp the fundamentals before moving on, and we are pleased to say that the entire year demonstrated great enthusiasm and understanding while learning how to tell the time to the hour and to half past. Their faces lit up as they successfully identified the times on the clock, which was heartening to see!

After solidifying those skills, we dived deeper into the concept of telling the time to quarter past and quarter to. The progress the children have made in such a short time is nothing short of impressive! Their ability to quickly identify these times not only showcases their hard work but also indicates how well they are picking up the concepts we’re covering. It’s a joy to see them engaged and excited!

To ensure that this newfound knowledge sticks, I encourage you to practise telling the time at home with your children. You might consider incorporating this into your daily routines, whether it’s using the clock in your kitchen or during outings.

RE

In RE this week we have been focusing on the theme of leadership and exploring what makes a good leader.

Throughout the week, we have engaged in discussions about the significance of leaders within various faith traditions, looking closely at Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. The students have been learning about the unique roles that leaders play in their respective communities, particularly within places of worship. We have examined their responsibilities, the qualities that contribute to effective leadership, and the impact they have on their followers.

Our exploration has been both enlightening and thought-provoking. The children have participated actively, sharing their thoughts and asking meaningful questions. This has not only deepened their understanding of different faiths but has also encouraged them to reflect on the values that define good leadership, such as empathy, integrity, and commitment.

Home Learning

Next term, our Thematic curriculum will be based around the topic ‘Fire, Fire,’ where we will be learning all about The Great Fire of London! We would love the children to think of some questions they would like to find out the answers to!

Be create and have fun!

Dates to Remember

27th October – Inset Day, children not in school

28th October – Parent/teacher consultation week

29th October – Year 5 to start swimming

31st October – Halloween disco

3rd November – Poppies on sale for following 2 weeks; children to bring in donations in named envelope and house captains to bring poppies round to classrooms

11th November – Service Uniform Day, children allowed to wear their service uniforms into school

12th November – Individual School Photos

14th November – Children in need – This year is a challenge yourself theme. We are challenging the children to come into school wearing as many spots as possible!

14th November - Year 1 and Year 6 Come Dine with me (Sky 11.30, Ocean 11.45, Cyan 12.30, Turquoise and Cobalt 12.40)

21st November – Reception Come Dine with me (Periwinkle 11.30 and Teal 11.40)

24th November – Book Fair on all week

28th November – Year 3 and 5 Come Dine with me (Azure 11.30, Peacock 11.45, Royal 12.30 and Indigo 12.40)

4th December – Year 5 Pegwell Bay Trip

5th December – Year 2 and 4 Come Dine with me (Sapphire 11.30, Cornflower 11.45, Team Aqua 12.30 and Team Topaz 12.40)

8th December – Year 3 to Royal Harbour

10th December – No swimming this week, Year 5 will have PE as usual

10th December – Christmas Fair 3.15pm-4.15pm

11th December – Year 4 to Maidstone Museum

12th December – Reception Nativity at 9am in the hall

15th December – No PE this week

15th December – Year 1 Nativity at 9am in hall

16th December – Year 3 and 4 Church Performance at 10am and Year 5 and 6 Church Performance at 2pm, both at St Laurence Church

16th December -Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Christmas Parties – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Year 2 Nativity at 9am in School Hall

17th December – Year 3, 4, 5, and 6 Christmas Party Day – children to wear Party Clothes to school

17th December – Christmas Dinner Day

18th December – Year 2 and 3 to watch the Pantomime at St Lawrence College

18th December – Christmas Jumper Day

18th December – Final day at school; school finishes at 2pm and there will be no after school club

We wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt thanks for your ongoing support in your child's learning. Your involvement makes a significant difference in our school community and in your child’s education.

We hope you have a lovely half term and we will see you again on Tuesday 28^th October!

The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

English

this week in English, we’ve started reading an exciting new book, Rapunzel by Bethan Woollvin. The children are absolutely loving it, and their enthusiasm has been fantastic to see!

We’ve been having a great time exploring the story, focusing on predicting what might happen next and making inferences about the characters’ thoughts and feelings. The discussions have been lively, and it’s wonderful to watch them share their ideas! We’re also working on our comprehension skills and learning how to order events in the story, which will set them up well for future reading.

To keep the excitement going at home, I encourage you to chat about the book with your child. Ask them what they think will happen next or who their favourite character is. Next week, we will continue our learning based on Rapunzel.

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

 In maths this week we’ve had a great time focusing on subtraction, and I’m really proud of how the children have tackled this topic!

We started off the week with the part-part-whole model, which helps the kids visualise how subtraction works. They learnt how to write the number sentences and find the missing number, and they absolutely smashed it! After that, we moved on to subtracting a 1-digit number from a 2-digit number, and once again, the kids showed us how well they could do it.

Looking ahead to next week, we’ll be taking it a step further with subtracting a 2-digit number from another 2-digit number. I’m sure they’ll handle this challenge brilliantly, just like they did this week!

Thematic

This week we concluded our thematic topic, “Sow and Grow.” It has been heartwarming to witness the children’s enthusiasm and engagement throughout the lessons.

The students have truly excelled in showcasing their new knowledge. This week, they created impressive fact files about plants and various types of trees, demonstrating their learning by providing examples of each. Their ability to articulate what they’ve learned has been particularly amazing!

In addition to this, we held a fun quiz, which the children absolutely smashed! Their confidence and knowledge shone through, and we couldn’t be more proud of their hard work. We rounded off the week with a consolidation lesson focused on germination, where we discussed the wonderful cycle of plant growth.

Next week we will be moving onto computing and looking at different technology around us.

Love to Learn

For love to learn this week we would love you to tell us all about the life cycle of a plant – you might want to write about this process or show it in a new way!

Be creative and have fun!

Dates to remember 

7th October – 9am Reception Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 3 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

8th October – 9am Year 2 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 1 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

9th October - 9am Year 4 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 5 and 6 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

16th October – Kent test results sent to families

17th October – Final day of term

Have a lovely weekend,
The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

From our exciting work in Art to the stories we’ve been diving into during literacy, it’s been a week full of curiosity and progress. Keep reading to see what we’ve been up to — and don’t miss the photos of our favourite moments! 

English

In Mr. Belsey’s English group, we’ve continued our work with the book “Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?” by Lauren Child. This imaginative and funny story has sparked some fantastic discussions about characters, story structure, and the idea of "falling into a book." The children have been thinking about what makes a story exciting and how illustrations and text can work together to tell a story in creative ways.

This week, we’ve focused on identifying key events, making predictions, and using inference to understand what characters might be thinking or feeling. The children have been practising answering comprehension questions in full sentences and backing up their answers with evidence from the text. They are becoming more confident in explaining their ideas in their own words, which is a really important step in their reading development. You might like to ask your child about their favourite part of the story so far, or what they think might happen next.

Our daily phonics sessions continue to play an important role in developing the children’s reading and writing skills. This week, we have been using Fred Fingers to sound out and spell words, especially trickier ones with more sounds. We’ve also spent time blending sounds to read unfamiliar words more fluently and practising our Red Words – these are words that don’t follow regular phonetic rules and need to be remembered by sight, such as “said,” “because,” and “come.”

The children have also been writing sentences independently, working hard to remember their finger spaces, capital letters, and full stops. They are making fantastic progress in becoming more independent and confident writers. If you have a few minutes at home, going over Red Words or encouraging your child to sound out words using their Fred Fingers can make a big difference. Even a short practice each day helps reinforce what we’re doing in school.

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths  
This week in Maths we’ve been working on our addition skills. We began by adding a two-digit number and a one-digit number using number lines and physical resources to help us understand what’s happening. We then moved on to adding tens to two-digit numbers, paying close attention to how the tens digit changes. Finally, we challenged ourselves to add two two-digit numbers together.

We’ve also been using 100 squares to look for number patterns and help build our fluency and confidence. Along the way, we’ve been learning how to explain our thinking clearly and use mathematical vocabulary to describe the steps we take to solve a problem. You can support this at home by asking your child to help with everyday maths – for example, adding items while shopping or working out how many more minutes are left until bedtime. Playing simple number games is also a great way to build confidence and keep things fun.

Thematic Learning
In our science and topic lessons this week, we’ve become little scientists, learning about the life cycle of plants and what they need to grow. We’ve talked about the different parts of a plant, including roots, stems, leaves and flowers, and learned about what each part does to help the plant survive.

We then set up an exciting class experiment to investigate what plants really need to grow. Each group planted seeds, but each plant was given different conditions. One was kept without water, one without sunlight, one without soil, and one had everything it needed. We’ve been observing these plants each day and recording what we see in our Science Observation Diaries. The children have been making predictions, asking questions, and learning how to observe changes over time – all important scientific skills. They’re very excited to see what happens over the next few weeks. If you’d like to try this at home, planting a simple seed in a cup and watching it grow together is a lovely way to support the learning.

Love to Learn

We have been learning all about plants. We are beginning to explore how plants change through the seasons. We would love you to show everything you know about these changes. You can do this in any way you like.

Be creative and have fun!

Dates to remember 

25th September – Chilton School’s 50th Birthday (please see separate letters for details on how we will be celebrating this)

26th September – Thrive coffee morning 9am-10.30am in the studio – a chance to meet our well-being team

7th October – 9am Reception Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 3 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

8th October – 9am Year 2 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 1 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

9th October - 9am Year 4 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 5 and 6 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

16th October – Kent test results sent to families

17th October – Final day of term

Have a lovely weekend,
The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk 

What a brilliant start to the school year! We couldn’t be prouder of how beautifully the children have settled into Year 2. It’s been such a pleasure to see them embracing the Chilton Way in everything they do - from showing kindness to one another, to tackling their learning with confidence and enthusiasm.

The children have blown us away with their positive attitude and eagerness to explore all the joys that Year 2 has to offer. It’s clear we’re in for a fantastic year ahead!

English

We’ve hit the ground running in our phonics sessions by revisiting the sounds we’ve already covered and diving into new ones. It’s been a joy to see the children spotting their “special friends”, using ‘Fred Talking’, and growing in confidence every single day.

In our writing, we’ve been using Fred Fingers to help us sound out words, and we can already see such a difference in the children’s independence. We’ve also been working on our red words, which are key for both reading and writing. If you could find a little time at home to go over these with your child, it would make a big difference. Any extra practice really does go a long way!

Reading

Reading at 3: Every Friday at 3, our doors will open for you to come in and enjoy a quiet read with your child. This will be for the full 15 minutes, and we kindly ask that children are not taken home early during this time.

Reading folders: Some children are bringing home two books – one of these will be a Read Write Inc (RWI) home book, which we ask them to read three times throughout the week to help build fluency. These books will be changed by an adult.

The second book (with the coloured sticker) should be changed independently by your child – ideally first thing in the morning.

Some children have moved onto the Accelerated Reader programme and will be able to change their books once they’ve completed the quiz online.
AR login: Click here
Parent Guide: How to use Accelerated Reader

Please ensure reading folders are placed in the trays each morning so that we can read with your child and update their books when needed.

Chilton Heroes Reading Certificate – Each week, one child per class will be recognised for their fantastic reading in our Chilton Heroes assembly.

Maths

This week, we’ve been exploring place value, focusing on two-digit numbers and the different ways we can represent them. We’ve used a range of resources to break down tens and ones, and the children have been doing a great job showing what they know in different ways. It’s been wonderful to see their number confidence growing already!

PSHE

Our focus this week has been on PSHE, and we’ve spent time exploring our core values: kindness, courage, respect and equality.

These themes have sparked some really thoughtful conversations in class. We’ve been so impressed by the children’s maturity and their eagerness to show these values in their actions – whether it’s helping a friend, speaking up bravely, or making sure everyone feels included.

Love to Learn

This week’s Love to Learn task is all about personalising their home learning books. We would love for the children to decorate the front covers of their books with drawings, stickers, or photos that reflect who they are and what makes them happy. It’s a lovely way to take ownership of their learning and bring a little bit of themselves into their work.

Thank you all for such a positive first week. We can already tell that this is going to be a very special year, and we’re so excited to see where our learning takes us next.

Dates to remember 

11th September - Kent Test for year 6 children

 10th September – Swimming begins for year 6 (every Wednesday until end of term)

16th September – Meet and greet for years 1 and 2 from 8.45am-9am in your child’s classroom. This is an opportunity to meet your child’s teaching team and get to hear about what to expect in the year ahead.

17th September – Meet and greet for years 3 and 4 from 8.45am-9am in your child’s classroom. This is an opportunity to meet your child’s teaching team and get to hear about what to expect in the year ahead

18th September – Meet and greet for years 5 and 6 from 8.45am-9am in your child’s classroom. This is an opportunity to meet your child’s teaching team and get to hear about what to expect in the year ahead

19th September – Welcome to Reception meeting for Reception parents from 2.30pm in school hall

25th September – Chilton School’s 50th Birthday (please see separate letters for details on how we will be celebrating this)

26th September – Thrive coffee morning 9am-10.30am in the studio – a chance to meet our well-being team

7th October – 9am Reception Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 3 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

8th October – 9am Year 2 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 1 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

9th October - 9am Year 4 Harvest assembly and 2.45pm Year 5 and 6 Harvest assembly (in school hall with families invited to watch)

16th October – Kent test results sent to families

17th October – Final day of term

Have a lovely weekend,
The Year 2 Team

Miss Maddy Kennedy – Team Sapphire – maddy.kennedy@chiltonprimary.co.uk

Mr Josh Belsey - Team Cornflower - joshua.belsey@chiltonprimary.co.uk