WELCOME TO Y1
Mrs Pimbley, Miss Clayton, Miss Barker, Mrs Owen, Mrs Joughin and Mrs Parry
WELCOME TO Y1
• Please feel free to have a look around our classrooms
following the meeting. We will also be around if anyone has
any questions.
• Please can you ensure that all items of uniform and PE kit
are clearly named.
• Children need to bring in a named water bottle daily that is
taken home each night to be cleaned.
• Snack and milk are provided at afternoon break. Therefore
children do not need to bring in any snack of their own.
DAYS TO REMEMBER
• Y1P have PE on a Monday and a Tuesday, Y1C have PE on a Tuesday and a
Friday, Y1B have PE on a Monday and a Thursday. Please make sure children
have taken earrings out before coming to school, and the correct PE kit is in
school each week. We will send PE kits home for a freshen up each halfterm.
• Reading books can be changed every Tuesday and Friday. Your children’s
books will only be changed if there is a comment to say they have read
them at home.
• Homework will be sent out on a Friday to be returned by the following Friday.
• Spellings will be set each week on a Monday and tested the following
Monday.
• Celebration assembly will take place on a Friday afternoon at 2.45pm in the
small hall.
PE & HOMEWORK
• If for any reason your child is unable to take
part in PE or complete their homework they will
need to bring in a note from home that has
been signed by an adult.
NEW CURRICULUM-ENGLISH
• In Y1 we will teach English everyday. The children will work through a range
of objectives and activities taken from the new English curriculum.
• As part of the new curriculum children will be taught through a text that is
age appropriate and challenging.
• The new curriculum places a greater emphasis on children’s spoken English
and encourages drama activities to be used on a regular basis.
• Spelling, punctuation and grammar work is included in our daily phonics and
English lessons.
• We teach the children cursive letter formation. Any help you can give them
with this at home is greatly appreciated.
• We will be running an Early English workshop in school if anyone would like to
join us.
READING
• Your child has been given a school reading book. This must be taken home
every night and brought into school every day. Your child should be aiming
to read for10 minutes each night.
• Reading Rainbow.
• Their school reading record book should be signed by an adult to say they
have read and feedback any difficulties or concerns within the week. They
are allowed and encouraged to read other books of their own at home and
these may also be noted in their reading record.
• The wider the variety of reading material they experience, the better.
READING
• Guided reading happens everyday, each child will read with an adult
once per week.
• Other activities during guided reading may include reading activities
linked to a book they have read with an adult in school,
comprehension tasks, individual reading or a spelling/ handwriting
challenge.
• We would be grateful if any volunteers could come in and listen to the
children read (we provide tea and the occasional chocolate bar!).
Please speak to class teachers.
PHONICS
• Phonics sessions take place daily and the children are split in to small
groups that are specifically tailored to their level of phonic
development.
• A phonics screening check takes place in June and assesses your
child’s phonic knowledge. Currently the test consists of a mixture of 40
real and nonsense words and the pass rate this year was 32. Results
will be sent home after the test. Please could you help your child at
home by playing games using real and nonsense words containing
the different sounds listed in you pack. Children are expected to
reach the end of phase 5 by the end of year 1.
SPELLINGS
• Every Monday, your child will bring home a list of 5 spellings to learn.
These are to be practised at home, ready for a spelling test the
following Monday. Our spelling sheet uses the ‘Read, Cover, Write,
Check’ method which we feel is effective!
• They will probably require some adult help with this, to check they
understand the meaning of the word as well as the spelling. An older
brother or sister could maybe help here.
NEW CURRICULUM-MATHEMATICS
• In Y1 we will teach Maths every day, this session will teach objectives
taken from the new curriculum.
• Topics will be taught in a practical and fun way and time will be given
for children to apply their knowledge independently through follow up
problem solving activities later in the week.
LEARNING WALLS
• Learning walls will be used as part of English,
Reading and Mathematics to display helpful
learning hooks for the children.
• Learning walls allow children to refer back to what
they need to include in their work.
• They are also an interactive area that the children
can take ownership of.
NEW CURRICULUM –COMPUTING
ICT
• Children will be taught from the new ICT curriculum
once per week.
• Children will have the opportunity to use the new ICT
suite and facilities, laptops and iPads as part of their
weekly timetable and Learning Challenge new
curriculum.
Y1 LEARNING CHALLENGE TOPICS
Where do Why can’t Where do, Why is the Would the
the leaves a Meerkat and did the Wii more
Beatles
go in
live in the wheels on
fun than have won X
winter?
North Pole? the bus go? Grandma
Factor?
Hundertwasser
Van GoghColour
and
Warhol
Seasons
mixing
Grandad’s
old toys?
Matisse
Why were
Christopher
Columbus
and Neil
Armstrong
very brave
people?
Giacometti
LEARNING CHALLENGE CURRICULUM
• In previous years the children have accessed foundation
subjects such as history, geography and art as part of PLT
(personalised learning time). This will now be called the ‘learning
challenge curriculum’. In year 1 a lot of this work will be
practical and we still have areas of continuous provision as in
Reception e.g. painting area, construction, role-play.
• Children will be able to personalise their learning around a given
context for learning.
• Each context for learning will be introduced with a ‘WOW
moment’ that will inspire and engage the children’s interests to
learn more.
• Here are the topics we will be learning about in Y1:
THE NEST AT
NEWTON
Nurture Group
A nurture group is a small class of six to eight children which acts as a kind of bridge between
home and school. It offers additional help for pupils within a small, structured ‘home like’
classroom. We incorporate curriculum activities although the majority of the learning is social,
emotional, behavioural aspects of learning.
FINALLY
We appreciate all the help you can give. We hope we can work
together to make Year 1 a successful and enjoyable experience for
your child.
Teachers will be around on their classroom door each morning for any
short messages that you want to pass on. If you wish to make an
appointment after school to speak to your child’s class teacher please
do so via the office, we are always happy to discuss any of your
concerns or queries that you may have.
Mrs Pimbley, Miss Clayton and Miss Barker