Meet the Team
Class Organisation
For 2025-2026 Key Stage Two will be taught in three classes – Owens, Yousafzai and Turing.
- Mrs Todd and Mrs Jones teach Year 3/4 (Owens)
- Mrs Bradley teaches Year 4/5 (Yousafzai)
- Miss Dickenson teaches Year 5/6 (Turing)
- Mr Gargiulo will teach Year 5/6 on a Friday
- Mrs Lockwood supports with maths in KS2
- Mrs Thompson will cover leadership time for Mrs Bradley and Miss Dickenson on a roughly monthly basis
- Mrs Lockwood covers PPA for each of the three
classes
Communication
Homework and other class information is regularly sent home using ParentPay, which is also how you can get the weekly school newsletter, and all classes hold Parents’ Evenings where you can discuss your child or children’s progress. If you feel there is something you would like to talk to us about (that is not urgent), please make an appointment or speak to us. Please remember that while we endeavour to check our e-mail on a daily basis, this may not always be possible, so please be patient if a response is required – we will deal with it. For issues requiring urgent attention please contact the school office.
Approach to Curriculum
As a school, we take a thematic approach to planning for the new curriculum. In Key Stage Two we have done lots of work on our curriculum to ensure:
- it is sustainable for the new and evolving class structure
- is a curriculum for Dunnington which focuses on the people, places and events most relevant to our pupils whilst identifying and concentrating on potential gaps in their knowledge and cultural experiences
- ensures the progressive acquisition of both substantive and disciplinary knowledge across year groups
We have invested in resources created by Chris Quigley to support us with curriculum planning and we spent a lot of time before the summer and during the summer holidays producing curriculum plans that we are genuinely excited about delivering.
For more detail of our curriculum in Key Stage 2 please take a look at the Curriculum area of our website.
PE
Class PE days are as follows:
- Turing class – Weds/Fri
- Yousafzai class – Weds/Thurs
- Owens class – Weds/Thurs
Please make sure children have the correct PE kit available. A tracksuit and a water bottle is very advisable, and jewellery should not be worn.
Homework
It is intended that the homework will take no more than 30-35 minutes to complete over the week and there will be no expectation for children to take longer than this, if they find it challenging.
- Reading Homework
- Focus on understanding and comprehension, opinions, finding evidence and analysing why the writer has written in a certain way
- Encourage your children to ask about words they don’t understand
- The children will be expected to have a library reading book to read in school every day. If children have a book from home that they want to
continue in school, this is fine - Reading Records (Home and School) will be checked regularly.
- Spellings
- Spellings will be sent home for the half-term and tested every Friday
- Children will be given a set of words that will follow a particular letter pattern or rule
- Some spellings will be generated personalised word lists and sent home as a paper copy on the Monday, to be tested on Friday
- Mental Maths
- Year 3 and 4 will have a mental maths rule to practise, which will be looked at during the week, and tested on a Friday.
- Year 5 and 6 will have arithmetic rules to practise, which will be revised through the week, and tested on a Friday.
- Children are expected to practice on Times Table Rockstars regularly
- Extra Resources
Secondary School Applications for Children in Year 6
Families of children in Year 6 should apply for a secondary school place by the 31st October. Please note that applying early does not give any priority, although to have the best chance of your application being successful you should complete and submit your application by the deadline.
Key Dates for the City of York ‘Secondary Round’ Admissions Process
- September-October 2025 – Secondary School Engagement Opportunities
- 12th September 2025 – Applications open
- 31st October 2025 – Deadline for applications
- 1st March 2026 (or the next working day) – National Offer Day
- 13th April 2026 – Appeal forms to be returned
- April – June 2026 – Admission appeals heard
There are a range of school engagement activities in September and October each year for prospective parents/carers to gain additional information for individual schools with Open Evenings usually held each autumn for prospective pupils, parents and carers to attend and view schools. Each school in York holds their event on a different evening – please do check their websites for details.
You may also need to provide additional information (such as proof of baptism), or complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) if you’re applying to a school which is outside your home area or which is a faith school such as your local Roman Catholic Secondary school.
Check with the school directly if a SIF is required, but always make your school place application to your home Local Authority. For families who live in York, this is the City of York Council. They advise parents and carers to read the Guide for Parents when applying for a school place, as it contains key information on school admissions and you can also find the Guide to School Catchment Areas online. We would advise you to keep checking on the City of York Council Admissions site to keep updated with key dates throughout the year.
Do you live outside the City of York area?
When applying to start secondary school, your application must be made to the local authority in which you live, that you currently pay your council tax to, even if your school of preference is not in that area.