Hi, my name is Miss Coyne, and I am the Year 2 Nightingale Class Teacher.

I have spent over 11 years teaching in Early Years and Year 1 and have fallen in love with the creativity and breadth of the curriculum. 

At St. John's, I lead Phonics and Early Reading, and Music, and I am the Team Leader for KS1. 

I have a passion for listening to and playing music as well as competing in sports events. I have represented Ireland twice for different sports; the 100m freestyle event in swimming and Team Twirling at the Baton World Championships!

Other staff working in our class are:

Mrs. Bradshaw - 3rd Teacher and Nightingale Teacher on Fridays

Mrs. Wells - Teaching Assistant

Mrs. Hmar - Teaching Assistant (Monday–Thursday)

Mrs. Bates - Teaching Assistant (Fridays)

Our weekly timetable: 

Important dates for the diary this term for Nightingale Class:

PE - Every Wednesday - Please come to school dressed in the correct PE uniform

Our learning this term:

In term 3, we will be reading the texts 'One Day on our Blue Planet...In the Savannah' and 'Meerkat Mail'.  The children will use their reading comprehension skills to develop their understanding of the text.  The children will be practising retrieving information, making predictions, inferring based on what they have read and asking questions.  The children will collect exciting vocabulary from these texts to plan, write and edit their own work, covering a range of genres including narratives, descriptions, letter writing and a non-chronological report. 

  

 

In Maths, we will focus on recognising coins and notes and understanding the value of money.  The children will add coins and notes together as well as learn how to find change.

Later in the term, we will start our multiplication and division topic where we will be first introduced to the multiplication sign.  The children will make arrays and solve multiplication sentences.  Children need to be confident in counting 2s, 5s and 10s so that they can multiply by skip counting. 

  

Our Geography topic this term is 'Africa'.  The children will gain an understanding of geographical similarities and differences between different places. They will do this by researching and using knowledge of their own surroundings and comparing them to that of another location.  We will learn about the equator and understand that places near the equator are hot all year round, whereas places further away from the equator have colder climates.  In this unit, we will compare Namatala, Mbale, Uganda (Africa) to Canterbury, Kent, UK (Europe) 

                 

                 

                                               

In Science, Year 2 will learn about 'Animals Including Humans'. We will explore the life cycle of animals and humans, gaining insight into why some offspring look vastly different to their adult selves, e.g. the caterpillar growing into a butterfly.  The children will use their knowledge to ask questions and record their findings in flow diagrams and simple tables.  Later in the term, the children will explore ways to keep their bodies fit and healthy and how exercise and nutrition play a big part in that. 

In RE this term, the children will continue to learn about Islam and discover who is a Muslim and what do they believe?  We will begin to understand the significance of objects and places to Muslims by looking at Mosques and the Qur'an.

Learning at home for Nightingale Class: 

Children are expected to read every night for at least 10 minutes.  Reading records should be signed by an adult and brought back into school each day to be checked by a member of staff. Your child will take home 2 books each day – a banded book, and a phonics book.  These will be changed on Mondays and Thursdays.

Spelling Shed and Numbots can be accessed from home using the logins provided on the inside of your child's reading record.  Spelling assignments will be given out each week, which support the Year 2 spelling curriculum.

Spellings will be given out each week and tested on a Monday.  

Be ready for learning! In Nightingale Class, your child will need to have these items in school: 

Key Stage One (Years 1 and 2) 

• Book bag (no rucksacks please) 

• PE kit (to be worn on PE day) 

• Water bottle (no squash or juice) 

• Lunchbox (if not having school meal) 

• Wellington boots (to leave in school) 

• Coat (weather appropriate) 

Please don’t bring other items into school, as we do not have space to store them, and it can cause upset if things are lost or damaged. 

School Uniform Checklist:

Please label ALL items of clothing and shoes clearly with your child’s name. This helps even our younger children to take responsibility for and look after their uniform. 

Highlights of our learning so far this year:

Term 1: Lost and Found.  To launch this term, we went on a treasure hunt.  We had to read clues in search of Miss. Coyne's water bottle!  It was stuck up a tree! 

Term 2: Explorers.  This term we went on many adventures outdoors, building and using nature to be creative.  This history topic let us explore Robert Falcon Scott and his amazing exploration!

  

In Term 2, we also lead and performed our Christmas Nativity 'The Honky Tonky Donkey' for the school and parents.

      

We also designed, made and evaluated our own Christmas decorations!  Look at our amazing running stitch!