In Year 1, we encourage and support children to develop independence and nurture a positive attitude to learning. Children will experience a range of fun and engaging learning activities.

There are two Year 1 classes, each class is supported by a Teaching Assistant. Every morning children have a literacy and numeracy lesson. Children are also taught phonics 5 times a week, where we continue to follow the successful Read Write Inc programme.

In the afternoons, children are taught History and Geography, Computing. Science, RE and PSHE. They also have weekly music and PE sessions.

We encourage a love of reading and children spend some time each morning developing their fluency. During these sessions, children will read to their teacher or TA.

Letters to parents

Letters that have been circulated to parents are available for you to view and download here.

Times of a school day

See our home page for times of our school day.

Morning routine

Wait with your child in the area outside your child’s classroom. A member of staff will greet your child and assist them once inside. We encourage children to enter the main classroom door independently.

Punctuality

Please click here for our expectations of punctuality with arrival & collection of your child.

Teachers

See the Meet our staff page for details of your teachers and TAs.

PE (Physical Education)

1a do PE Monday and Wednesday and 1t do PE Monday and Friday.

On each of these days, your child can wear their PE kit to school.

Homework

To promote progress, we encourage you to read with your child at least 3 times a week. Please sign their reading diary to indicate you have heard your child read.

Homework will be sent home every Friday and we expect it to be returned by the following Thursday.  Spellings will also be sent home on a Friday. Please practice these spellings at home as children will be tested on these on a Thursday.

Curriculum information

English

  • Autumn: In the Autumn Term, children in year 1 have a focus on handwriting. This is to ensure that letters are formed correctly, are the correct size and sit on the line. Children can then begin to construct sentences which both themselves and adults can read.
  • Spring: In the Spring Term, children begin to generate their own short narratives. A strong focus is still directed towards handwriting alongside the accurate use of capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Children also begin to use ‘and’ in sentences to allow them to create more detailed descriptions. Alongside this, children will be encouraged to use question and exclamation marks in their writing. Children will use non-fiction and fiction texts and explore how to form short narratives.
  • Summer: During the summer term children consolidate their handwriting and sentence skills used in the previous terms. A focus is placed on spelling and children are expected to apply their phonic knowledge consistently to support this. They will consolidate their literacy skills in preparation for year 2.

Maths

Children will follow the White Rose scheme of work, which follows the requirements of the 2014 English National Curriculum.

  • Autumn: In the Autumn Term, children in year 1 will use numbers to 10and learn how to manipulate them in many ways, including number bonds, addition and subtraction. Shape will also be covered during this term
  • Spring: In the Spring Term, children begin to manipulate numbers up to 50 and apply their skills to solve missing number and word problems. Children will also begin to explore length and height as well as mass and volume.
  • Summer: During the summer term children will explore ways to multiply and divide. We also cover fractions, time, money and position. In the summer term, children will work with numbers up to 100, consolidating the skills learned in the autumn and spring.

Number bonds will also be practiced alongside the above units. Children will also learn to count in 2s, 5s and 10s.

For more information about the strands please click the National Curriculum link at the bottom of this page.

Topics

To see the topics covered in the other subjects by each year group (including Enrichment, Exhibition, Science, Geography, History, Art, DT, Computing, PSHE, RE, Languages & Music), go to Our Curriculum page.

Other Information

Children can bring a bottle of water each day (no juice please) and can refill them in school when required. Please clearly label the water bottles.

We are happy to talk to you however first thing in the morning is not always the best time to catch us. We are always available after school – let us know and we will arrange an appointment.

We encourage children to be responsible for their own possessions. We ask that all items of clothing are clearly labelled with your child’s name to support them in doing this.


The national curriculum

Key stage 1 and 2
(Gov.uk – Childcare and parenting)


National curriculum in England

primary curriculum (key stages 1 and 2)


Oxford Owl

Parent guide to Read Write Inc. Phonics


Oxford Owl (YouTube video)

Phonics: How to pronounce pure sounds


Oxford Owl (YouTube video)

Phonics: How to blend sounds to read words


White Rose Maths

Parent resources | Maths workbooks