Welcome to Year 1

Year 1 Team:

Miss Southarn - Class Teacher

Mrs Illingworth - Class Teacher

Mrs Stothard- Learning Support Assistant

Summer Term 2026

We can't believe we have already reached the Summer term! We have many engaging and exciting topics ahead! Read on for more information...

English

In Year 1, we explore a variety of fiction texts, non-fiction texts and poetry.  We will incorporate drama to immerse children in story-telling and role-play to enable them to become familiar with the characters and story plots.  Children will orally retell stories and share descriptions verbally to prepare them for writing. They will record their ideas using their phonics knowledge to identify sounds to write words and formulate sentences that include capital letters, full stops and finger spaces.  We are starting to use adjectives to extend our ideas and the conjunction 'and' to join sentences.  Please find a summary of the Year 1 English curriculum:

Reading

Children read three times a week in small guided reading groups taught by an adult within school.  Children are regularly assessed and given a reading book that supports the phonics phase they are currently working at. Children must return their books on a Thursday.  Children will bring home their new phonics reading book every Friday.  We encourage children to read with a grown up at least three times a week and we ask that children's diaries are signed each time they have been heard read. The diaries will be stamped by a member of staff each time they are returned. For every twenty reads, the children receive a certificate, a gold coin, and a prize. Below are some useful references for questions to ask children as they read. 

Children will also bring home a shared reading book each week chosen from the school library.  This book  should be read with your child as it may contain some words that your child is unable to decode and read independently.   

Reminder: All books need to be back in school on a Thursday to be changed.

Phonics

We follow the Little Wandle Phonics Scheme and children have daily phonics lessons.  Phonics is extremely important part of a child's learning as it enables them to develop and become fluent, independent readers as they move up school.  In the Summer Term, Children in Year 1 will undertake the Phonics Screening Check.  This is a short statutory assessment that assesses a child's ability to decode and read real and nonsense words.  

Maths

In Maths, children will be building on their skills learnt in previous terms.  We start the term learning about multiplication and division.  They will be using a variety of concrete and pictorial resources to support their understanding of multiplication and division, representing their understanding in lots of different ways.  Below is a breakdown of the Year 1 Maths topics for each term: ​

Science

Our Science topic this term is Plants.   Children will be working scientifically to identify and name a variety of different plants.  They will be using key scientific language to describe and label their parts. We will consider similarities and differences between different plants and trees and work scientifically to observe changes over time.  We will be comparing deciduous and evergreen trees and observing these in the school area. We will represent our findings in different ways, including graphs and tables.  Below is the Year 1 Science overview:

History and Geography

 

Our topic this term is Castle Adventures.

In Geography, we will name and locate the four countries of the United Kingdom and their capital cities.  We will be learning about the features of castles.  In Summer 2, we will be going on a school trip to Kenilworth Castle to observe some of these features.  

In History, we will be learning about King Charles III and where he lives.  We will be learning about the history of castles, including castles local to where we live.  We will be learning about Queen Elizabeth I and her association with Kenilworth Castle.  We will also be learning about people that lived and worked in castles and the kind of jobs that were expected of them.  Below is a summary of our history and geography topics: 

RE

This term, children will be focusing on worldwide views across different religions and, in particular, how they share and celebrate their beliefs.  We will be discussing the similarities and differences between religions and how they celebrate their beliefs in different ways. Below is the Year 1 RE curriculum.

PSHE

This term, children will be thinking about 'Belonging to a family'. We will be thinking about the word 'family' and what it means to us.  We will be thinking about how it feels to be part of a family and who is a part of our family.  We will also be thinking about different friendships and how it feels to be a 'good friend'.  We will be discussing what qualities a good friend may have.  In Summer 2, we move on to talking about lifecycles, body changes and coping with different changes.  We will be learning the main differences between female and male bodies using the correct terminology.  Below is a summary of the PSHE curriculum for Year 1: ​

PE and Forest School

PE shall be taught on a Wednesday afternoon - children should  come into school in their PE Kit wearing suitable trainers.  Please see the school uniform policy for acceptable PE clothes.  There will be no forest school this term.