To all our wonderful Highflyer families,

Phew … I think it’s safe to say that this week was a warm one – but equally to send you all our heartfelt thanks for all your kind and hugely generous support. An additional ENORMOUS thank you to the two families who so kindly donated/loaned our classroom a fan for each corner (you know who you are!) as all the children were just terrific – a little bit ‘toasty’ at times but absolute superstars – each and every one of them! Including our impromptu picnic lunch today (Friday) bringing squeals of delights as sandwiches were handed round - tailor-made to our requirements ... and the sun continued to shine ;)! Happy days ...

According to the Met Office, when we return merrily on Monday, for T6 Week 5, this rather lovely but exceptional spell of ‘hot and humid’ weather will be behind us – therefore, with temperatures back to a glorious but, perhaps, more comfortable ‘norm’ we shall all be looking forward to the Whole School photograph on Tuesday morning at 9.30am (30^th) on the main playground. Mrs Greenwood has also asked all staff if they could include a short note in our Class Blog to remind our classes to simply wear either their jade polo shirt with navy bottoms – or a summer dress. Given that Highflyers do not have PE or Forest School on a Tuesday I have reassured her that Year 2 are particularly good at arriving in their regular school uniform – but shall also speak to the children directly about the important of bringing in any change of school (for their clubs after school in a named bag) before the end of the day on Monday afternoon. Your help, and support, would be greatly appreciated – so Highflyers/Nettlebed ‘en masse’ really look the part in the proofs and eventual chosen shot!

In other news, this week, our history topic will be learning about different types of castles throughout Britain and how they have changed to increase their defences. We are hoping to look at their features and also recognise the ‘parts’ of each type of castle – before thinking about putting them into the correct chronological time order. Also, this coming week (and next!) is our Science topic on mini-beasts; therefore, please do not hesitate to drop into school anything ‘mini-beast related; given we will be investigating their habitats and understanding what type of different environments they need to not only survive but thrive.

Forest School continues on Wednesday morning (from 10.00am) and P.E. should be returning to its usual slot on Thursday afternoon as timetabled from 1.30pm-2.30pm – with Sports Day practices now very much on the Year Two radar!

As per last week, for the remainder of this term we will simply be reviewing the phonics taught over the last year - remembering our spelling patterns for differing graphemes that are similar in sounds; therefore, spellings shall again – this week – simply reflect a ‘mix and match’ of revision sound boxes as a chosen selection from across the past year.

In Maths we are starting a new unit - finding out all about position and direction (including – hopefully - remembering our left from our right!); whilst our daily mastering number focus is also to continue to revise our deeper understanding of strategies in terms of calculating and helping problem solve as well.

Even though this week's temperature is not expected to increase to over 30 degrees, we would still be immensely grateful if sun-cream could be applied before school, all the children arrive with a sun-hat and … especially important! … have a full/fresh water bottle with them :)

Wishing you all another great (if not slightly ‘cooler’!) week ahead,

With very best wishes – as always,

Mrs Winters and the HF ‘Team’