Welcome to Year 1

Year 1 Team:

Miss Southarn - Class Teacher

Mrs Illingworth - Class Teacher

Mrs Stothard- Learning Support Assistant

Autumn Term 2025

We start our exciting learning adventure in Year 1! This term will mainly be about getting to know each other and the routines that Year 1 brings.  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 exposing children to a wide variety of narratives and rich vocabulary texts.  This term, we will be describing the troll in The Three Billy Goat's Gruff, reading Through My Window and describing what we can see through our own window.  Re-writing the story of Whatever Next! Finally, we be reading Beegu and writing instructions for how to be a good friend.  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 captions.  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 focusing on Place Value (within 10) recapping and building on the knowledge and skills previously learnt in EYFS.  They will be using a variety of concrete and pictorial resources to support their understanding eventually moving on to more abstract concepts.  This is really important as it supports the development of 'number sense' and counting fluency.   Below is a breakdown of the Year 1 Maths topics for each term.

Science

Our Science topic this term is Materials.   Children will be working scientifically to identify and name a variety of different materials.  They will be using key scientific language to describe the materials and their properties. We will consider similarities and differences between different materials and work scientifically to carry out investigations and experiments. 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 My Town, My School

In Geography, we will name and locate the four countries of the United Kingdom and their capitals cities.  We will be looking at our school and identifying what we might find inside and outside our school.  We will be using maps to locate different parts of our school and going on a  walk to identify human features in our local area.  

In History, we will be learning about the history of our school and what changes that have taken place over time.  We will be comparing our school in the past to how it is now.  Below is an overview of the Year 1 History and Geography topics for the year:

RE

This term, children will be focusing on world wide views across different religions and in particular how the choices and actions we make can impact our views of the world.  We will be considering how the choices and actions of others have impacted the world around us and comparing the viewpoints of different religions.  Which ones align with our own views of the world and how can our own choices make a positive impact on the world around us?  Below is the Year 1 RE curriculum.

PSHE

This term, children will be thinking about 'Being Me in my World'. We will be thinking about how it feels to be part of class and the rights and responsibilities that we have.  How does it make us feel when someone is proud of us and what rewards might there be when we have been successful. We will be developing our own learning charter to help us get the most out of our PSHE lessons as we go through Year 1.  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.