Year 2
Fluency, confidence and curiosity
How we teach in the Early Years band — and why
The developing mind (Piaget)
Late preoperational moving toward concrete operational thought. Learning is anchored in play, story, movement and concrete materials; symbols (letters, numerals) are always tied to things children can see, touch and act out.
Learning together (Vygotsky)
Learning is social and language-rich. A parent/carer works alongside the child as the 'more knowledgeable other'; lessons script that shared talk. Scaffolds are heavy and visible: modelled sentences, counting materials, picture prompts.
Our design commitments
- Short bursts (10–20 minutes) with movement between them
- Play-based and story-based entry points into every concept
- Systematic synthetic phonics and concrete-materials numeracy
- Parent/carer is a co-player and co-reader, with side-notes telling them exactly what to say and notice
Programmed scope
English
Reading fluency, paragraph craft, poetry and traditional tales
Mathematics
Place value to 1,000, multiplication foundations, money
Science
Growth and change, mixing materials, pushes and pulls
Humanities and Social Sciences
Our local community, its past and its connections
Health and Physical Education
Games, teamwork and emotional literacy
The Arts
Performance, pattern and visual storytelling
Technologies
Algorithms as recipes; designing for a user
✍️ Full interactive lessons for Year 2 are being authored to the same standard as our Year 3 exemplar — explore Year 3 to see exactly what every year level will feel like.