Year 2
Stokenham Area Primary School
Year 2 Outline Planning
Autumn Term 2026
Welcome to Year 2! Mrs Cowling and Miss Collier hope you all had a wonderful summer and are very much looking forward to teaching your lovely children this year.
Listed below are the themes for each subject area that we will be following this term, which we hope you find useful.
English
Literacy Tree - Writing Roots
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Autumn 1 Theme : Bravery vs fear |
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Text 1: The Bear Under the Stairs Outcomes: File of fears entry; letter seeking help, advice letter, retelling Main outcome: Information text about bears |
Text 2: The Bear and the Piano Outcomes: Speech bubbles, letters of advice, postcards, writing in role, information poster Main outcome: Own version narrative about bravery |
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Autumn 2 Theme : A twist in the tale |
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Text 1: Wolves Outcomes: Captions, information writing, letters, warning poster, labels Main outcome: Non-chronological leaflet |
Text 2: Me and You Outcomes: Wanted poster, letters, speech bubbles, retellings from another point of view Main outcome: Sequel story |
Phonics/reading/spelling/handwriting
Little Wandle
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Phonics/reading/spelling |
Handwriting |
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There is a wealth of useful information for parents on the Little Wandle website, including video clips demonstrating how we say Phase 5 sounds and guides you and your child may find useful: https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
Maths
NCETM
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Autumn 1 units: |
Autumn 2 units |
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Science
This term the children will be looking at Plant growth and the needs of animals.
In the first half term we will be looking at seeds, bulbs, germination and temperature and the requirements needed for plants to grow.
In the second half term, we will be looking at the requirements of food, water and oxygen as natural resources for animals, including humans to survive. We will be looking at balanced healthy diets, hygiene and exercise and reproduction, showing all animals have offspring that grow into adults.
Geography
Our topic this term is ‘Mini-mappers’. We will be finding focusing on our local area, looking at maps to find location and places, drawing routes between locations, using scale to show size proportionally, drawing sketch maps of routes including features. We will be looking at mapping skills, using and interpreting the four compass points (north, south, east and west) and giving and interpreting basic OS map symbols.
History
This term we will be finding out about ‘Local history’. We will be looking at our local area in particular our school, Stokenham Parish Church, Start Point lighthouse and finding out how our area has changed over time. We will be using primary and secondary sources of information and looking at chronology of events within our local area.
Art
The children will be introduced to the idea that artists are inspired by the world around them. We will explore observational drawing and experimental mark making and think about how they can use composition to create their artwork. We will be combining different drawing media such as wax resist and water colour, graphite, wax crayon and pencil to create Wax Resist Autumn Leaves.
Design Technology
After half term, the children will be looking at Food in particular Salads. We will learn that meat and dairy products come from animals, the principles of a vegetarian and vegan diet and the importance of taste and textures in food. We will learn to prepare and chop a wider range of foods including vegetables, tinned fruit and cheeses. Pupils will make a variety of layered and mixed salads.
Computing
Our topic this term is ‘What is IT? Computing systems and networks – Information technology around us. We will be understanding what IT is how it can help them both at school and beyond. We will explore the benefits of using IT in the wider world and how we can use it in different ways. We will also be looking at how we use IT safely and discuss different rules that will keep them safe.
In the second half of the term, the children will be finding out about digital photography. We will be taking photographs, looking at what makes a good photograph and how lighting and effects can improve photographs and how photographs can be changed by applying different photography composition skills.
RE
Our topic this term is ‘What is the good news Christians believe Jesus brings?
(Gospel). In this unit, pupils will learn about the concept of ‘Gospel’ and the good news of forgiveness, peace and love that Christians believe Jesus brings. Pupils will take time to consider whether Jesus’ good news is only good news for Christians or whether there are things for people from different worldviews to consider.
Music
We will be focusing on finding the pulse, pitch, clapping rhythms, singing in time to the music, listening to voices and instruments and identifying the different instruments we can hear as well as playing instruments along to the music. We will also be improvising, composing and performing our own music based on the songs ‘Hands, Feet, Heart’ and ‘Ho, Ho, Ho’. In the second half of the term we will also be practicing our songs for our Christmas nativity production.
PE
The children will have 2 PE sessions per week, one on a Monday and one on a Friday. We will be focusing on Dodging for the first half of the term. The unit of work will challenge pupils to apply their knowledge of how, where and why to dodge. Pupils will learn the roles of attacking and defending and start to understand when we attack and when we defend while using their dodging skills.
In the second half of the term, the children will be focusing on gymnastics. This unit of work will challenge pupils to explore different ways that they can link movements and balances together. Pupils will apply 'champion gymnastics’ and be able to perform a sequence on apparatus focused on; jumps, rolls and balances.
Forest School
In the second half of the term, we will be doing Forest School sessions with Mrs Moore on Fridays. Forest School learning is play based and child initiated. The children are guided by their own interests and the adults present will support their needs wherever possible. The children experience lots of different activities in Forest School including fire lighting, cooking, den building, badge making, as well as having time to independently explore the woods.
PSHE
This half term we are focusing on ‘Foundations for Wellbeing’. Weekly lessons will focus on: Noticing and naming feelings; Different distractions; Changing thoughts and feelings; Managing unhelpful thoughts; Reactions and responses.
After half term we will focus on online protection with lessons exploring: Watching videos; Sharing pictures; Playing games; Helping to make good viewing choices; Keeping viewing choices safe.
Home learning
We ask you to continue to support your child’s learning by listening to your child read his/her book every night and also recommend that you enjoy reading and discussing a longer, high-quality text to your child, especially if s/he is still developing reading fluency. It is also useful to revise all Phase 5 graphemes/phonemes and to be able to read and spell all of the ‘tricky words’ (see reading diaries for a list).
Each Friday the children will bring home a weekly letter explaining what we will be learning in English and Maths the following week and their spelling list for them to learn ready for a spelling test the following Friday. We aim to have learned the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by the end of the year and will be asking children to revise these at home throughout the year. Occasionally the children will be asked to do some optional home learning for our other curriculum areas, which may include researching a topic or creating posters or artwork linked to our current learning. We always welcome and praise any home learning, whether suggested by us or child-initiated, and display it proudly in our class home learning journal. This may include written recounts of any exciting activities the children have experienced that they want to share with the class.
We hope you find this information useful.
Please do not hesitate to speak to any of us if you have any questions or queries at all.
Kind regards,
Mrs Cowling (Y2 Teacher – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
Miss Collier (Y2 Teacher – Thursday, Friday)
Miss Camp (Part-time Y2 Teaching assistant)