2CN have had a wonderfully creative start to the first week of their Arts Fortnight, with a special focus on fantasy maps and expressing imagination through art, geography and design.

We began the week by creating heart maps, a thoughtful and personal activity that encouraged the children to reflect on what brings them happiness. Using watercolours, the children carefully painted their hearts before filling the lines inside with words representing things they love, such as family, friends and school. The results were both beautiful and meaningful, giving everyone a chance to share a little of what matters most to them.

The children then moved on to exploring maps on a larger scale by creating a world map of the continents. Instead of cutting, we ripped the paper to form each land mass, helping the children notice that ripping creates no straight lines, just like real coastlines. This led to great discussions about why maps look the way they do and how natural features are formed.

As our focus shifted to fantasy maps, the children learned how to draw and use symbols, thinking carefully about both physical features (such as mountains, rivers and forests) and human features (like towns, bridges and roads). We talked about where these features might appear on a map and why, encouraging the children to explain their choices and think like real map makers.

To end the week, 2CN began constructing a 3D relief map, using paper and tape to build up the landscape. Next week, we will take this even further by covering the models with Mod Roc to create a hard surface that can be painted and detailed, bringing their fantasy worlds fully to life.

Alongside our art work, the children have also enjoyed learning a new dance with Mrs Fox, showing great enthusiasm and teamwork. In addition, they took part in some cooking with Mrs Elliott in the café, where they learned how to make delicious croutons and cheese straws – a big hit with everyone!

It has been an exciting, busy and creative first week of Arts Fortnight, and we are very much looking forward to seeing how the children’s ideas continue to grow and develop next week.

We were so excited to finish the Autumn term with a trip to the playhouse last week to see Stick Man. We love Julia Donaldson stories and it was great to see how this story was brought to life on stage in the show which starred just three actors. They used instruments, props, costumes and music to retell the story and the children were absolutely mesmerised the whole time. A big thank you to Mrs Stott and Miss Cooke for providing and organising such a great opportunity for the children.

In DT this week, we have been comparing Leeds Bridge and the Howrah Bridge in India, looking at the similarities and differences. We talked about why we need bridges, what the bridges are made out of and why those materials are chosen. The children were then asked to build bridges using just scrap paper, scissors and glue and their bridge needed to be able to hold the weight of a toy car. We had very mixed results so talked about how we could improve and strengthen our bridges when we design and build them next week.

Today it was 2CN’s turn to contribute to our whole-school Advent display in the hall and their special line was the beautiful message from the Angel Gabriel: “Do not be afraid, Mary.” Luke 1:30

We talked about how Mary might have felt when the angel appeared; surprised, curious, maybe even a little worried, and how Gabriel brought a message of peace and reassurance. The children thought about what it means to be calm and brave, especially when something unexpected happens.

After our discussion, the class created wonderful drawings showing the moment Gabriel visited Mary. Some of their artwork will be displayed with the rest of the school’s Advent pieces, reminding us all of the importance of hope, courage, and trust as we journey toward Christmas.

This half term in our music lessons we have been learning all about body percussion. We started by watching a video of an amazing choir who were on America’s Got Talent. They recreated the sound of rain by using different parts of their body to make sounds. For example, they clicked their fingers for quieter rain, tapped their knees as the rain got louder and jumped to represent the sound of thunder. We then composed our own rain piece using body percussion to make monsoon rain inspired by our work on India. The children used notation to easily write down their pieces in pairs before we went to to create one as a whole class. Notation in music is when we use signs or symbols to show a particular sound. We hope you like it!

This week we had a chilly but really fun time doing some outdoor learning linked to our science. We looked at different items outside and sorted them into two groups, dead or have never been alive. We were working with organiser ‘Grow to School’ and also spent time observing whether any of the vegetables that had been planted had grown. We saw fantastic collaboration between the children, ignoring the cold and working really well together.

Odd Sock Day was a joyful way to launch Anti-Bullying Week on Monday, reminding us that our differences make us stronger. As we wear our mismatched socks, we celebrate the idea that everyone is unique and valued and each person brings something special to our community. This ties beautifully with our school’s Christian vision that ‘we are one body of many parts‘. By showing kindness, celebrating individuality, and standing together against bullying we can live out this vision in a colourful and meaningful way.

Welcome to India!

This afternoon, we held our ‘Welcome to India’ event to launch our new topic for this half term ‘Kolkata: The City of Joy’. The children took part in three exciting activities: having beautiful henna designs applied by their teacher, colouring vibrant Rangoli patterns, and tasting a variety of delicious Indian foods.

The food tasting was a particular highlight! Everyone enjoyed trying naan bread, poppadoms, curry sauce, and mango chutney with many children discovering some new flavours. It was a wonderful way to begin our journey into Indian culture and traditions.

This half term, 2CN have been busy creating stunning artwork inspired by the spider weaver! We began by using pastels to bring texture and depth to our web designs then added a soft green colour wash as the background for our webs. The children showed fantastic focus and creativity as they practised their sewing skills, weaving colourful threads to form their webs. To finish we added sparkling sequins to make our creations shimmer, just like dew glistening on a spider’s web. The results are absolutely beautiful and we’re so proud of everyone’s hard work!

This week, Year 2 went on a walk around our local area of Alwoodley. We were looking carefully for human and physical features and comparing what we saw to our visit to Leeds city centre earlier in the half term.

In Alwoodley, we noticed lots of physical features like trees, grass, and open fields. It felt more calm and peaceful, and we could hear birds singing! The human features we spotted included houses, shops, roads, and bus stops. Most of the buildings were smaller and there was more space between them.

When we thought about our trip to Leeds city centre, we remembered how busy and noisy it was. There were tall buildings, big shops, offices, and lots of traffic. Leeds had fewer trees and green spaces, but many more people and vehicles.

We found some similarities too — both places have roads, shops, and people who live or work there. But the differenceswere clear: Alwoodley is quieter and greener, while Leeds is busier and has taller buildings.

We really enjoyed exploring both places and learning how each area is special in its own way!