HIGH LANE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Tel: 01663 762378
Fax: 01663 763380
Andrew Lane, High Lane,
Stockport, Cheshire SK6 8JQ
Headteacher Mrs Judith Morris BEd(Hons) MSc
Web: www.highlane.stockport.sch.uk
Email: headteacher@highlane.stockport.sch.uk
HIGH LANE PRIMARY SCHOOL
January 2016
Year 1
Dear Parents/Carers
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year! I’m really excited about this new term and
I hope you are too. Here is a bit of information about what this term will include.
Maths
The maths this term will continue as last term with a daily maths lesson, which includes mental
work, written recording and problem solving activities. The areas we will be covering include
ordering and comparing numbers; counting; addition and subtraction; pattern; money; measure;
shape; time; halves and quarters; and division by sharing.
Please continue to practise number bonds with your children as this will reinforce learning in
school to develop quick recall of number facts and to build confidence.
Language and Literacy
The focus this term is on children becoming independent writers, writing from their own
experience and checking through their own work making sure that they are using the skills we are
learning to make their work the best it can be. We will start by looking at writing simple recounts of
recent events, moving onto creative writing and finally exploring different types of information
texts. Work done in the Autumn Term will be extended by introducing more detailed sentence
work and looking at the structure of different narrative texts.
The handwriting focus will be to write in a cursive style ensuring that the formation of all letters is
accurate and that each letter is of a consistent height. As the children continue to learn and
practise the formation of all letters in the alphabet and they will now be expected to transfer this
into their written work. To ensure that your child uses the correct letter formation in their
homework activities as well as their classwork, please continue to use the cursive handwriting
sheet which shows the letter formation and height in accordance with the High Lane Primary
School Handwriting Policy to help the children to write each letter accurately.
Reading this term will continue as last term with both group and individual reading sessions. The
home-reader books will be sent out on Tuesday and Friday and must be returned on Monday and
Thursday. Spellings associated with the sounds we are covering in phonics will be sent home on
Wednesdays in the homework logs. Children will be tested on their spellings the following week.
Phonics
All the letters and sounds that your child has been working on over the Autumn Term will be
reinforced this term through both reading and spelling. We are now working on Phase 4 and 5 of
the Letters and Sounds programme. The main challenge in this phase is to help children to blend
and segment words with adjacent consonants e.g. truck, help. These adjacent consonant
phonemes can both be heard when you say the word which makes them different from a digraph
where there are two letters that make just one sound. Children with speech and language
difficulties can find Phase 4 very tricky. If children struggle to hear all the sounds in a word
encourage them to think about the movements that their mouths are making. Looking in mirrors
can help with this.
I will be using the interactive resources on the website Phonics Play to support work in class and
again it will help consolidate your child’s learning by letting them use the resources at home. I
have received great feedback from the parents that have used and subscribed to the site. I feel
the site is great at informing parents about how I deliver and teach phonics, the terminology I use
and how I structure my teaching sessions. It is not necessary to subscribe, there are plenty of
free resources but I would just like to say thank you for all the positive feedback and support for
the way phonics is being incorporated into Year One.
Science & Topic
The first half term our topic will be ‘We are Master Builders’ incorporating the scientific study of
different materials and their properties. Thank you for your providing items for our investigation
area, the children are really enjoying the area of the classroom and I feel it is really developing
their investigation and enquiry skills. The children have really enjoyed creating ‘Cloud Cuckoo
Land’ in our investigation area and are becoming resilient learners when trying different building
methods, as well as having lots of fun!
Homework
The homework grid will continue to go home on a Wednesday to be returned on a Monday.
Thank you to those parents who add a comment to the work; the comments are very informative
and help me decide how to support you child in class. Homework is always linked to classwork so
that it allows your child to practise learnt work, but also gives you an indication of what they are
learning at school. As with the last two terms the homework can be completed at your own pace,
but ideally must all be completed by the last Monday of the half term. Please tick completed tasks
off with green good ticks, even the ICT related tasks.
General
 P.E. days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Please make sure your child’s P.E. kit is
in school and that any long hair is tied back on these days or a spare bobble is provided.
 Please ensure a warm outdoor PE kit with trainers is brought in on Fridays as we always try
to complete this session outside. These kits can be taken home every weekend if needed.
 It will be very helpful for your child to learn to write their surname as well as their first name.
Please encourage your child to do this often.
 Please ensure that children can zip their coats up as some children do not wear them as
they find them to ‘tricky’ to zip up.
As always, if you would like more details of what we are doing, or you have any queries about
your child’s work, please make an appointment to come in and see me. The classroom is always
open for children to invite their parents in to come and see their work, as you have probably
gathered we like showing off in Year One!
Thank you again for all your support. Your positive feedback has made a massive impact and
your offers of help and support really do mean a lot.
Yours sincerely
M Wyche
Class Teacher