Welcome to the Junior School Years 1 & 2

Welcome to the Junior School Years 1 & 2

Dear Parents

I have worked at Chesham Prep for 14 years. I have spent most of that time being a teacher in Year 1 but have also taught in Years 2 and 3. This year I have become Head of Years 1 and 2 and I am really enjoying my new role of looking after this wonderful part of the school.

Outline of Years 1 and 2

In Year 1 and 2 we have two classes in each year group. There are up to 20 children in each class with a full-time teaching assistant throughout the day. We are very busy in Year 1 and 2 and head off to lots of specialist lessons including; French, Spanish, Computing, Music, Swimming, PE and Games. Everything else is taught by the class teacher. We follow a creative curriculum and learn about different topics throughout the year. We try to make it as fun and engaging as possible in order to captivate the children’s enthusiasm. For example, we have just introduced a new topic in Year 1 all about the film Encanto. We are looking at stories from South America in our Literacy lessons, learning about all the different animals in Science and have turned our cloakroom into a rainforest as an art project.

Celebrating success

I love teaching this age group because the children make so much progress at this stage. We celebrate the children’s academic achievements with weekly merit certificates in assembly and if a child has gone above and beyond we like to send them to see Mr Beale to receive a Headmaster’s award. But it’s not all about the academics, we are constantly encouraging the children to be kind and caring towards one another and have a special gold book to record these achievements in. The children are always very proud of themselves if they make it into the gold book!

We also love hearing about what the children have been up to outside of school and the children often share medals and certificates with us in assembly. The teachers are also constantly giving out house points to the children. These can be for excellent work, good listening skills, lovely manners; anything that has particularly impressed them. These house points count towards the totals for each house in the school. These are Stevenson, Nightingale, Columbus and Aylward. The children really begin to get a sense of what it’s like to be part of a team when attending House Assemblies, competing in swimming galas and taking part in Founders’ Day celebrations.

Clubs, activities and trips

In Year 1 and 2 the day finishes at half past 3. However, we have a broad range of clubs that the children are welcome to join. From Fencing, to Street Dance, Doodle Club to Mindfulness, we have something for everyone until 4 o’clock. We also provide wrap around care until 6 o’clock, with tea provided, in Late Club.

The children in Year 1 and 2 enjoy lots of special days throughout the year when we might invite specialist companies in to work with the children or take them out on day trips. For example, Year 1 have Castle Day when a company called “History Off The Page” turn the hall into a castle and get the children acting out all of the jobs in a castle. They even have a feast with goblets and entertainment! In Year 2, the children get to visit St Alban’s Cathedral which ties into their Religious Education studies.

Pastoral care

The most important part of our job as teachers is to look after the needs of each individual child. Communication is key and our doors are always open for quick chats in the morning or at the end of the day. You will have your child’s teacher’s email address and we strongly encourage parents to get in touch with any concerns, no matter how small. We are always here to help. Our school saying, “Each for All and All for Each” underpins everything we do here at Chesham Prep, allowing children to thrive in a thoroughly nurturing environment.

Alex Heavey

 

Our nervous son has been moulded into a happy, polite, conscientious and confident young man, what more could we ask for?

A parent

I love coming to school because all of the teachers and pupils are super kind.

Henry - Year 4