During the Autumn term, our Year 2 children explore a Vehicle called ‘The Deep’. This Curriculum Vehicle has a focus on the children learning about conservation, pollution and how we can look after our world better. The children will become artists and produce sculptures using recycled materials to reduce the amount of landfill and to raise the awareness of recycling. Through their science work, the children will develop their understanding about plants and animals further from Year 1 and will learn about ocean habitats, food chains and living and non-living. The children will complete investigations to explore their Scientific thinking.

The Vehicle will also involve geographical learning about our world and beyond through work on the seven continents and five oceans, with a look more specifically on ports and harbours and rivers within the local area.  Work during this Vehicle will culminate in an end outcome through which the children litter-pick within the local community.

After Christmas, the children will learn through a Vehicle called ‘Gruesome Germs’ which includes a study of Florence Nightingale. The children will be working towards delivering their own workshop about health and safety – with a specific focus on First Aid and will be supported with this learning through a careers link visit from a nurse who will teach the children how to bandage wounds, make a sling and go through some basic first aid. This Vehicle will focus on changes in modern day medicine and children will use this knowledge to compare modern day medicine to that used during the time of Florence Nightingale. There will be a focus on developments through innovation and discovering during this Curriculum Vehicle.

In Spring 2, children in Year 2 will study the Vehicle ‘London’s Burning’ through which they will build upon their learning about London from Y1 and will learn about London as the capital city of the UK and how this compares to their local area. Through History lessons, the children will complete a study of the types of houses during the time of the Great Fire of London in 1666. During this vehicle, the children will complete a Design and Technology project to design and make model Tudor Houses and will combine these with peers to create a terrace row, just like London. As a part of this vehicle, Year 2 children will look at those careers involved in the fire service and will meet members of the local fire crew to discuss the job that they do and the pathways into this role.

Finally, in the Summer term, our Year 2 children will learn through the Curriculum Vehicle ‘Lets get Growing’. This Vehicle will build upon the Science learning about plants in Year 1 and will look at the job of a horticulturalist and how these interact with chefs as they learn the Science knowledge needed to grow vegetables and herbs used to create their own Pizzas. In Geography, the children will look at different areas in

the world where farming is the main source of food and how landscapes can impact on this. The learning from this vehicle will culminate in two Design and Technology units through which they will develop their chopping and peeling skills and measuring, cutting and sticking skills to design, make and evaluate healthy Pizzas and a cart to transport plants.

• Phonics remains a big part of Year 2. The children will continue to work on the phonics they started in Year 1, aiming to read words by sight without having to sound them out. They will learn further spelling patterns and rules, and begin to apply those in their writing. They will look at the possessive apostrophe, homophones, and near-homophones and suffixes. For more information about our phonics progression, please visit our Phonics page. *please note that our phonics progressions has involved significant catch up sessions. 
• In their English sessions, children will use quality texts to develop their understanding of writing. They will produce extended written outcomes. We encourage the children to explore a wider range of texts and stories. The children will develop their understanding of sentence structure for example, they will begin to look at subordinate clauses. For more information on our English curriculum, visit our Curriculum page. 
• There is a big focus on handwriting with children encouraged to form their letters correctly, learn which letters are to be joined and make letters a consistent size.
• Please view our Reading Spine for Year 2 - In Year 2, the texts in our Reading Spine are used to supplement the children's 'reading diet' and will not all be used as taught texts. Some of the texts will be 'sharing' books that the children would not be able to read independently. 

Mathematics in Year 2 focuses on the 2, 5, and 10 times tables, and they will learn multiplication and division facts for these tables. Children in Year 2 will also learn to add and subtract with two-digit and one-digit numbers.

In fractions, they will find ⅓, ¼, ½, and ¾ of a shape or a quantity of objects. They will study measures, including weight, capacity, and length, and they will learn to tell the time to five minutes. They will also study properties of 2D and 3D shapes, as well as a range of data-handling methods such as bar charts and pictograms.

We employ the ‘mastery’ style of teaching concentrating on breadth of knowledge, and Year 2 are encouraged to use their understanding of the new concepts to solve challenges to deepen their understanding.

If you want to see how Year 2 at Sutton Road are taught to apply different calculation techniques in maths, click here to view videos support guides. 

We teach our wider curriculum through a mix of discreet (stand-alone) sessions and those taught through the curriculum vehicle. For more information on our Curriculum Offer, please visit our Curriculum pages.