Summer Term 2026 – Newsletter 11 – Oaklands Infant School

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to the final half term of the academic year – how quickly the time has flown! It’s hard to believe we are already approaching the end of another busy and successful year.

We have already made a fantastic start to the term with Year 2 enjoying their recent trip to Rushall Farm and Foundation Stage’s visit to Birdworld. The staff and members of the public at both venues spoke highly of our children, commenting on their excellent manners, thoughtful questions and genuine enthusiasm – something we are incredibly proud of. We now look forward to the Year 1 visit to Milestones Museum.

Our Sports Day was another highlight, and we were very fortunate that the weather stayed dry. Thank you to everyone who came along to support the children and help make the afternoon such a success – it was wonderful to see so many families cheering them on.

Today, we say goodbye to our ten feathery friends as the Foundation Stage chicks leave us. The children have loved caring for and learning about them, and we extend a big thank you to the PTA for funding this memorable experience.

As always, this half term is a busy one, with many exciting events ahead. We will begin preparing the children for the next stage of their journey through transition activities, and we look forward to our Year 2 leavers’ play – always a memorable end to their KS1 journey.

With so much excitement, the children can sometimes forget the expectations of the Oaklands Way. If a member of staff speaks with you about your child’s behaviour, we kindly ask for your support in reinforcing our shared values.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support. We are looking forward to a happy, productive and memorable final half term together.

Best wishes,

Miss Davies and Mrs Shrieve

Assistant Headteachers

Character Leaf Award

This term our focus for the school character is Casey

Casey was a tiny conker on the horse chestnut tree. He was worried about the day when he had to fall to the ground. The horse chestnut tree made him a special case which protected and cared for him. On the day he fell it kept him safe.

Casey often says….

· Listen and laugh together.

· Are you okay?

· Look after each other.

· Protect each other.

· Come and play with us!

Children who have received a Casey leaf
(Now on display on the Oak Tree in the hall)

Ash: Sophia D, Leah
Willow: India, Sophie,
Chestnut: Bryce, Ethan
Silver Birch: Evie, Hattie
Beech: Avery, Ottilie
Elm: JJ, Daisy

Parent Representatives

Our next parent representatives meeting will be on Friday 19^th June at 9.15am. We will be discussing the following:

Follow up on reading engagement
How best to deliver our Parent Information evening at the start of the academic year.
Current cost of stationery items and possibility of parents providing their child with a glue stick and whiteboard pen each half term
Celebrations of Learning – having one per term with a more focused approach such as Reading, Maths, Writing.

If you have any comments or suggestions regarding the above, please let your class representative know.

Foundation

This term our topic is Splash! We have started by learning about ponds, we will be moving onto under the sea and finally the fun of pirates and mermaids! Our topic was launched with the arrival of ten eggs and over the past couple of weeks, the children have been delighted by our special visitors – the chicks! They thoroughly enjoyed watching them hatch and grow, sparking many thoughtful questions about life cycles and how living things develop.

The experience also helped the children understand the responsibility of caring for animals, as they learned what the chicks need to stay healthy and safe. It has been a joy to see their curiosity and care throughout this memorable experience.

We will be learning about water and its uses as well as different water habitats. We will be learning about the different animals which live in or around the seaside, ponds and lakes. We will talk about their features and which type of animal they are. Pirates and Mermaids will bring a fun end to the year and we will enjoy lots of stories and dressing up at the end of term (date to follow!). We will also be doing lots of reflecting on our busy but amazing year in Ash and Willow and preparing for the transition to year 1.

Year 1

Toy Story is our topic this half term and we will be looking at toys through history and asking simple questions about the past. Thank you to parents and (great) grandparents for talking with your children about what you played with. It is interesting hearing from the children in their ‘Show & tell’ some history with their own family. This is helping them to ‘Identify and recount some details about the past from pictures, stories and eye witness accounts.’ We look forward learning more on our trip to Milestones Museum next week.

In DT we are designing & making hand puppets using staples to join paper. Finger puppets will be made from felt & sewn together with needle & thread. Any keen sewers would be welcome to help. As scientists we will be looking at everyday materials and their properties and carrying out a simple test. Why not look at everyday things at home and talk about what they are made of and why that material was chosen. We are counting in 2’s, 5’s & 10’s at every opportunity. As we come to the end of the school year in PSHE we will be thinking about Changing Me and the changes that happen to them as they grow up and other changes in their lives. We are learning that changes are OK and that sometimes they will happen whether or not we want them to.

Year 2

Our final topic this year is ‘The Great Outdoors,’ a Science led topic where we will look at different habitats and how animals and plants have adapted to survive. We launched our topic with a visit to Rushall Farm, during which the sun shone and the rain stayed away! We were incredibly fortunate.

In Geography we will be considering both local and international environmental issues and thinking about what we can all do to help. Our Maths lessons this half term will concentrate on fractions as well as recapping previous learning. In English, we will continue developing our ‘I’m a Clever Writer’ skills by focusing on using an apostrophe for possession, editing our work and consolidating previously learned skills.

Finally in Art, we will study the paintings of Henri Rousseau and use them as a stimulus to create our own collage jungle pictures. At the end of term, we will take some time to reflect on what a wonderful time we have had a Oaklands Infant School!

Foundation Birdworld Trip

Today, Ash and Willow headed off for a day of fun to Birdworld. The children and staff were all very excited as they set off on the coach. During the visit the children enjoyed looking at the different birds, admiring the different colours and sizes. A highlight for all was watching the penguins being fed. We enjoyed our picnic lunch which was welcomed by the children who had been asking about lunch since 10am! In the afternoon we visited the owls and flamingos, we especially enjoyed trying to balance on one leg like a flamingo! The children were all well behaved and amazingly the rain stayed away.

Year 2 Trip to Rushall Farm

On Tuesday 2nd June, Year 2 enjoyed a fantastic trip to Rushall Farm as part of their science learning about habitats. Thankfully, we managed to dodge the rain and make the most of a busy and exciting day packed with hands-on learning experiences.

The children took part in a variety of activities including pond dipping, feeding the chickens, creating colour palettes in the forest and enjoying a ride on the tractor and trailer. One of the highlights of the day was visiting the observation bee hive, where the children learned all about pollinators and how honey is made.

We were also lucky enough to meet Wooliam, the orphan sheep, who quickly became a firm favourite with the children! During the visit, the children learned about the farmer’s year and discovered more about where our food comes from, healthy eating, minibeasts, water habitats and life on a working farm.

The staff at Rushall Farm were extremely impressed with Year 2, praising the children for their outstanding behaviour and marvellous manners throughout the visit. We were very proud of how well they represented our school.

A wonderful day was had by all and the trip brought our classroom learning to life in a memorable and exciting way.

Please find more photos on the school website.

Sports Day

Last Friday, we held our Infant School sports day which began in the afternoon after all the children had enjoyed a picnic on the field with a little glimpse of the sunshine. The children participated in a range of multi-sport activities ranging from football skills to tennis skills including balance and agility activities. The afternoon was designed to engage all children and give them opportunities to try different activities, learn new skills and to develop teamwork. We were very fortunate to have some fantastic year 6 sports leaders from the Junior School to support us with the activities who did a great job leading, demonstrating and giving loads of encouragement to the children.

The finale of Sports Day was the running race where children competed against their peers in their class and aimed to run as fast as they could to the finish line, whilst staying in their lane. We had some very fast runners and, on some occasions, it was difficult to decide who pipped through the line first but our trusted year 6 sports captains were there to congratulate them and give them their stickers.

It was a fun day and some children saying what their favourite part was;

“I loved the running races”

“I really enjoyed dribbling with the ball and shooting for the goal”

“ I really liked having a picnic with my mum”

Art Competition

Animate Arts, the organisers of Art Builders are inviting children from primary schools to explore their creativity and create artworks for the Maths Masterpieces School Art Competition 2026. Twelve winning masterpieces will be featured in the official Art Builders Calendar 2027 and the Art Builders online gallery, and an additional top prize hamper of art supplies and goodies will be presented to the winning cover image of the calendar!

THE COMPETITION Young artists are invited to recreate a favourite masterpiece painting in paper collage, using mathematical shapes such as circles, squares, triangles, hexagons…or a mixture of shapes!

To enter the art Competition and find out more information, please click on the link below:

Art Builders Art Competition 2026 | Animate Arts

Maths Competition

The Magic of Maths in Everyday Life

Maths is all around us! Whether we’re counting fruit at snack time, spotting shapes in the playground, or noticing patterns in stories, maths helps us make sense of the world every single day. It isn’t just something we do in lessons—it’s a useful skill we use at home, at school, and everywhere we go

This Summer Term, see if you can spot Maths in the environment, just like some of our fantastic competition entries from our Number Day competition this year.