Elder Class 2026 - 2027

WELCOME TO ELDER

Class teacher - Mrs Savage

Learning Support Assistant - Mrs Rowland

Mr Thomas teaches on Thursdays

Mrs Turner teaches Science on Tuesday afternoons

Mrs Shapland will teach French to Y3 on Wednesdays

Elder class strives to live the values and vision that we have for our school life. In the thankfulness and trustworthiness we demonstrate around school, we follow our faith that making wise choices and always striving to do the right thing by ourselves and others allows us to grow in confidence and maturity. The wisdom that comes from endeavouring to make these wise choices enables us to make the most of the many opportunities we have to shine in Elder class. Our current learning is...

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Our key question, ‘How have ancient civilisations shaped our world today?’, will help us in history to explore the four ancient civilisations, when they existed, what made them successful and their greatest achievements. Our main focus will be on Ancient Egypt, where we will learn about the River Nile, its importance to the success of the civilisation, and the many things from this period that still influence our lives today. Geography lessons will help us locate where these civilisations were and understand why rivers were so important. Our Design and Technology project will link to this learning as the children explore mechanisms and create a shaduf (a device used to lift water).

Elder class will also be learning about significant people, places and events that are closer to us in time through our study of Bonfire Night and Remembrance. We will learn about Guy Fawkes and the events that led to Bonfire Night. Linked to this, our computing topic of coding will help the children develop their understanding of directions and navigation, including work with countries and capital cities in the UK and beyond. Computing lessons will also focus on internet safety and developing increasing independence when using iPads in the classroom.

In Art, the children will explore shape and colour by creating their own stencils and using a range of materials to build collages and pictures. Music will focus on singing and performance. The children will explore pitch and graphic notation, linking this learning to our work on Egyptian hieroglyphics. Of course, our Year 2 children will also be learning the songs for their Christmas performance.

Our Religious Education focus will be on Harvest and Christmas. The children will develop their knowledge and understanding about how Harvest festivals are a traditional celebration to give thanks to God for the gifts of the harvest. They will also deepen their understanding of why harvest is celebrated by people of all faiths and world views. Following this, we will be looking at the Christmas story and reflecting upon Christmas as a celebration of God’s presence with us 2000 years ago and now.

PSHE will begin with learning about British Values through electing school councillors and developing our classroom rules. Throughout the term, we will be sharing a range of No Outsiders books, building the children's understanding of difference, kindness and sharing our world. We will also explore road safety, anti-bullying and caring relationships.

English and Maths

In English lessons, Year 2 children will focus on developing greater independence in their writing, using noun phrases and more adventurous vocabulary. Year 3 children will build further on these skills, writing in greater detail and for a wider range of purposes. Across the term, we will write character and setting descriptions, poetry and narratives. The children will apply their phonics knowledge and individual spelling targets while learning about and continuing to develop their cursive handwriting.

In Maths, we will begin by securing the children's understanding of place value and number at their own level before moving on to addition and subtraction. There will be a strong focus on applying mathematical understanding through an increasing range of problem-solving and reasoning activities, ensuring that both Year 2 and Year 3 children are challenged appropriately.

Reading continues to play a fundamental role across all areas of the curriculum. Our reading display is ready to be filled with the many high-quality texts we will be immersed in this term. We will read a wide range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry through our English, guided reading and topic lessons, as well as during our daily class read.

We also have a Spotlight Author who has been chosen for their high-quality texts. The children will have the opportunity to listen to, read and learn more about these fantastic authors. Look out for an update on who our first Spotlight Author will be. Creating a literacy-rich environment will help foster a positive culture of reading within our classroom and promote the children's enjoyment of reading.

Homework

Homework will be set each Friday and will be due in the following Thursday. Please ensure the children's homework books are returned on a Thursday so they can be marked and the children's new homework added. Homework will consist of the following;

Spelling - A personalised spelling list in their books. It will focus on securing year 1 and 2 common exception words before focusing on spelling pattern being taught in each year group. Further information about this can be found in their homework books.

Maths - NumBots should be practised little and often over the course of the week. In Year 2 the expectation is that they do a minimum of 10 minutes across the week and in Year 3, at least three times per week for a minimum of five minutes per session. This will be checked on Friday mornings. Once your child has completed NumBots, they will move onto TT Rockstars. These programmes really help to support their basic skills and speed and recall of number facts which is the basis for success in maths.

Reading - Please ensure your child reads at home at least 4 times per week. For Year 2s, we expect the children to be reading aloud to someone at home and for this to be recorded in their Home – School contact books. In Year 3, the children may read more independently and record their own reading in their diary but please can we ask that you continue to monitor this and sign their diary to confirm. Please also encourage your child to ‘magpie’ a word from their reading that they liked and want to use in their own writing.

If you have any questions or wish to share your child’s out-of-school achievements, please don’t hesitate to contact me through the Home-School book. We love celebrating our children' successes!

Mrs Savage

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