Parent Information

Communication is the key to a successful partnership with Huntingdon Academy

We hope this section of the website will include all the information that you require. If there is anything that is not on the website that you would like then please let the school reception know. We always welcome your views and feedback.

All staff are pleased to share their thoughts about the way the children are developing with parents and carers.

We fully encourage parents to take part in everyday school life, wherever possible, as this support and involvement enhances the learning process. If you would like more information, please speak to your child’s class teacher or contact the school office.

We keep parents and carers informed on a regular basis through Class Newsletters, Twitter (@huntingdonlead), Instagram (huntingdonacademy) and daily conversations at the beginning or end of the day. If you wish to arrange a meeting with a class teacher, please speak to them or arrange via our school office.

We inform you about how well your child is doing at school through 3 termly parents’ evenings and an annual report. Parents’ evenings are a great opportunity to gain a clear understanding of your child’s progress and next steps.

All children in Years 1 to 6 have accounts with Times Tables Rockstars and Spelling Shed. Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you do not have the login or password details.

This is a great website that you can sign for as a parent, to access so many free online resources, including free eBooks. Click on ‘Join us’ in the top right hand corner to register.

Cross curricular journeys and learning experiences, for you take your child on! This is organised into days, so take a day at a time.

Edinburgh Zoo have cameras in their enclosures that stream live to the internet. How amazing is that! This is the link to the panda cam but other animals can be found by scrolling down.

Choose a subject area and have a look at the games available.

Online learning (including games, videos and quizzes) for Key Stages 1 and 2.

IXL have separate pages of skills linked to individual Year group.  Pages are then split into skills of which has a practice question for the children to think about.

Facts and fun for our animal lovers!

For all of our creative minds and craft lovers!

What do you want to find out? Facts and fun on this website!

This is a very ‘busy’ website, full of ideas and information. You can choose by the topic or by the subject. You may need to have a search for age appropriate activities or enjoy sharing the facts together.

Free learning packs for parents and teachers.

This is full of activities and games, for all ages.

Online maths and grammar tests for Y5/6 children. These CGP 10-Minute Tests are ideal for SATS practice on the go! All the answers are explained at the end of each test, so it’s easy to spot any areas that need a little extra work.

The BBC have produced a whole host of materials for KS2.  Follow the KS2 link and then select either Maths or English.   Each area usually has an information section for reading, plus an activity and then quiz which is marked online.  Some aspects require a subscription.

A site with both Maths and English based quizzes which are marked as you go along.

A site with a range of information and questions – great for revision purposes!

A revision site based upon the old Key Stage 2 Tests but still contains lots of useful information for both Maths and English.

A site with links to  old style Key Stage 2 Maths Papers, Maths Tutorials as well as Maths Games.  Some of these games are linked to Memory and would therefore help pupils to retain key information.

A site with links to Maths and English revision materials, including worksheets to look at online or to print off and practise with.

These are “old style” Key Stage 2 test papers but are still useful for practise, and in particular, creating discussion around questions and strategies to answer.  View on screen or print off for free.

Click on “For Kids” to access some fun games to practise speed of recall of times tables.

This site has loads of Maths games which help to practise a range of skills.

Loads of Maths games on a range of Mathematical concepts.

A range of English games and activities.

Activities to reinforce and practise a range of spelling rules.

A range of activities and games to practise a range of spelling rules and patterns

For under 2 year old’s, some activities might need more supervision if they like to put everything in their mouths.

Messy Play

For many little ones, the messier the better! Many of these activities will amuse little ones for a short while. If you don’t have a Tuff Spot, you could use large baking trays, washing up bowls, old baby baths, gardening trays, trugs or trays to put messy play in at home.

Shaving Foam– mark making and playing in foam is a lovely sensory experience for children. You can add toy cars, kitchen utensils or plastic cups etc to it to change what they can do. (Please watch younger children- if they are likely to put things in their mouths this will either need close supervision or try a food based one below)

Rainbow Foam– this is so lovely to do!  You need 2 tablespoons of fairy liquid and 1/4 cup of water in a bowl and, for colour, add a few drops of food colouring. Whisk (if you have a mixer it’s less energetic!) until you have stiff peaks and play.  (Please watch younger children- if they are likely to put things in their mouths this will either need close supervision or try a food based one below)

Gloop– simply cornflour and water- children can scoop it and squeeze it to then let go and watch it turn from solid to liquid. We use this in nursery- the children spend a lot of time experimenting with it.

Shampoo Gloop– add shampoo and cornflour to a bowl and watch children explore!

Moon Sand– 8 cups of plain flour, 1 cup of baby or vegetable oil- you can do a lot with this (and put it in a box to keep it afterwards..) you can use it like sand to make sand castles or put lots of kitchen cups, spoons etc with it.

Cooked spaghetti– if you have just a little of this in a tray, children love exploring it and it doesn’t matter if they eat it! Trays with a tin of beans in and spoons/ cups also works well.

Soft Dough– flour, conditioner and food colouring or glitter- another form of play dough.

Bubble Dough– 1 cup of cornflour, ½ cup of washing up liquid, 2 teaspoons of cooking oil. Mix together! It’s a bit like putty.

Clean Mud– 3 cups of bicarbonate of soda 1 cup of water. You can add food colouring to mix it up. If it’s too runny add more bicarb.

Food based exploring trays– you can put all sorts of foods in trays to explore such as cornflakes, jelly, custard, rice pudding, angel delight, oats, ice cubes- obviously dependent on food supply.

Painting-painting is a great sensory play activity, it encourages dexterity in their hands and an understanding of early science with colours mixing and changing. You could paint simply on paper, on large paper (or lots of sheets of paper stuck together on the floor) or on foil either in small pieces or a large roll rolled out.

Cotton wool painting– Using pegs attach cotton wool to the pegs and put some paint in pots ready for children to dip their cotton wool into.

Car mark making– using wheeled vehicles to mark make- Sellotape large sheets of paper to the floor and provide trays of different coloured paint. Encourage the children to wheel the vehicles in the paint and push them over the paper creating different marks.

Printing– paint and anything you can find to use to print- play dough cutters/ potatoes/ cotton reels, string, buttons.

Edible finger paints– Using natural yoghurt and food colouring, mix these together to create edible finger paints.

Puffy Paint– ½ cup of water, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of salt and food colouring. Mix together  and paint- leave to dry overnight.

Water Play– most young children love water play in. You only need a tray or container (see messy play) with some water in with or without bubbles and then add different items each time.

You can alter and change it by what you add-

• Add some safe kitchen utensils (ie slotted spoons, small and big spoons, plastic bowls, cups, jugs, anything with holes in, will provide a fun and clean (if a little wet!) activity.
• Add food colouring to change the water colour
• Add old spray bottles (ensure they are fully clean!) or soap pump bottles. Something I use all the time is the used up squeezy sauce bottles, once washed they are great to fill and add and help strengthen muscles.
• Cloths and babies or toy cars
• Plastic cups and plates
• Plastic bottles and cups and spoons
• Change the feel of the water by adding things such as ice cubes

Talking on telephones– to encourage language, pretend to talk on phones to each-other. If you have an old phone let your little one explore the buttons and the receiver.

Sharing stories– reading stories with your little ones are so important for so many things! There are lots online too with animations linked to them.

Sing Songs– there are lots of wonderful songs out there to sing.. if you aren’t a singer, you can find lots of singing videos online (Barefoot book on You Tube)

Role play– lots of small role play opportunities with dressing up clothes, linked objects such as a shop with a till, food tins and packets and some pretend money. A great chance to practice talking in play!

Toys and puppets– pretend talk with toys and puppets is great for developing language- you can model speech to your child by using them too!

Treasure Hunt-ideas to try-

• Get out a bucket or a toy box and put some toys into it. Close your eyes and go on a “treasure hunt.”
• If you have a sandbox, bury toys in the sand and then go on a treasure hunt!
• As you and your child pull toys out of the box, name them and say something about them. For example, if you pull out a doll…say “doll, I found the little doll!”

Sort it out – a game to help toddlers and young children learn and use new words. Gather together different items from around your home– toys, clothes and food items. Place them into a bag or box.Tell your child/ren that you’ve been having a tidy up, but you need help to sort the items out so they can be put away.Ask your child/ren to pull out an item and then ask, “is it something we eat, or something to play with?” Get them to put items into separate piles, ready for putting away. Why not take the opportunity to chat about the items as you sort them: “yes, you’re right, gloves are clothes, and they are something we wear on our hands when it’s cold!”

Some different activities for different age groups here– https://small-talk.org.uk/

and here- https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

At this age, any activities developing their co-ordination and motor skills help their development whilst being fun too!

Play dough– play dough is always something that children seem to love to play with. It is useful for their fine motor development, exploration and imagination. You can add all sorts to the basic recipe such as herbs, food colouring, smells such as essences or flavouring. You can even add cocoa powder to make play dough mud! This is our basic recipe. You can also add a few drops of glycerine to add shine but it isn’t necessary.

2 cups of plain flour

½  cup of salt

2 tablespoons of oil (vegetable)

2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

1 cup of water (if you use very hot water this tends to melt the salt and so it lasts longer- I boil the kettle and leave for a few minutes before adding. If you are making it with children either use cold or mix the water in and cool before giving to them)

Building Dens– you can build dens with and for your little ones out of so many things! You could use cushions and pillows, sheets and the backs of chairs, clothes horses and pegs… anything that gives a cosy little space for your little one to hide in and explore! You could use the space to read stories too. Mine love dens and torches to explore.

Peg games– pegging pegs is great for fine motor development. Just simple pegs you use to hang up your washing and a few boxes or baskets that they can peg them on and off or mini washing lines between two things also works.

Mark making– children like exploring making marks so any crayons etc and paper or sticks on the ground- anything that makes marks. Chalks can also be attached to toy cars to draw as the cars move.

Throwing– my little boy has always loved throwing.. anything and everything.. so we try and think of things that would work for this inside to keep most of our house intact! We have found the following things work well

• A bin/ tub and some of the plastic ball pit balls to throw
• Different sized boxes to aim at or throw into (You can make it harder by just cutting a hole in boxes rather than having them open)
• Scrunched up newspaper to throw
• Balloon bouncing- blow up some balloons and bounce them to your little one- bouncing them around the room can be great fun!
• Beanbags, if you have any.. you can easily make some if not!
• Targets to throw at – drawn on paper and stuck on the wall or boxes on their end stacked up (and stuck together)

Indoor obstacle course– you could have cushions to jump and roll on, chairs to crawl through, boxes to climb in and out of and tables to climb under. These all help to develop your little one’s physical skills.

Stacking on a plunger– use a plunger and cut up a cardboard roll (ie toilet roll) into rings for stacking onto the plunger. You could also use a kitchen paper towel holder.

Cup stacking– using IKEA style plastic cups, how tall a stack can your child make? They enjoy knocking them over too!

Dropping lentils/beans– have a plastic bottle and drop lentils/ peas into it- great for little ones to try and pick up- make sure this is supervised carefully.

Threading– pasta tubes/ cereal hoops onto uncooked spaghetti (stand the spaghetti up in play dough to allow stacking- make a row of 4 pieces so children can drop the hoops onto them.)

Bubble blowing– blowing bubbles that walking little ones can run to catch and younger babies can reach for, are always a good option and you can make your own bubble solution at home and use things such as string to make bubbles from.

Large bubbles– use 6 cups of water, 1 of fairy liquid and 1 teaspoon of glycerine (if you have it) and then make a circle with a piece of string.. dip and move around to make big bubbles.

Mini sandpit– use a large box and fill it with sand. Add some sand toys (or other things that can be used ie toy cars, combs, kitchen spoons etc) and you have your own mini indoor sandpit that you can pop the lid on and put away when you have finished.

Water painting– a favourite with many of our little ones, a range of paintbrushes- we often use adult decorating paint brushes as they are much thicker and work different muscles, and a pot of water. They can then make marks on any surface- we usually do this one outside on floors, walls etc.

Washing things with bubbles and sponges/cloths- washing toy cars/ washing babies- in an old baby bath/ in a washing up bowl or in large oven trays.