Year 1

Welcome to Year 1 The children have had a great start to the year! Staff in Year 1: Miss Hackney and Mrs Rawes. Mrs Bradley, Mrs Loydall, Mrs McBain, Mrs Deitch and Mrs Dunkley.

A step on from Reception – a typical lesson All children will be participate in a whole class teaching session led by the Teacher. Some children will then take part in focus groups either with the Teacher or Teaching Assistant, whilst other children can choose from a range of activities determined by the teacher. Independent tasks are carefully planned so that the children are all working to the same objective. There will be times when children all complete set tasks at the same time.

The Creative Curriculum! Topic based teaching. School visits and outings. Blocked termly topics. Literacy lessons teach core skills through other topics. Maths is taught discretely but where possible is linked to the topic.

Phonics The children have a 20 minutes phonics lesson every day. We follow the ‘Letters and Sounds’ document – children in Year 1 work through ‘Phase 5’. Phonics homework- we will provide the graphemes learnt during the week. The children will be assessed regularly throughout the year and will take part in a statutory phonics test at the end of the year.

Reading Books Children read twice a week – guided reading and individual reading. Children will be issued with new books each week when they have read with a member of staff individually. They may or may not be changed on the same day each week. Please remember to write a short comment in your child’s reading diary after hearing him/her read or the books will not be changed.

Building Learning Power As a whole school we are working to make the children more independent in their learning. We are using a system called Building Learning Power which encourages the children to adopt and use certain skills and behaviours to help them learn.

Building Learning Power Resilience Resourcefulness Reciprocity Reflectiveness

P.E. Please ensure that your child has a P.E. kit in school at all times – t-shirt, shorts and pumps. These should be kept in a small drawstring type bag, not in a rucksack as we do not have room to store these inside the classroom. Where possible, P.E. will be taught outside, so your child will also need jogging bottoms and a jumper as part of their PE kit.

P.E. If children have pierced ears they need to be able to remove their earings for P.E., or these should be removed before the start of the school day. As a general rule if children are well enough to be in school they are well enough to do P.E.

Ability Groups The children are taught within their class but grouped by ability. Within these groups children are set work appropriate to their ability level. This enables all children to have their needs best met. There will be opportunities for children to work in mixed ability groups where appropriate. Children may change groups throughout the year.

Feedback The children’s progress will be discussed with them at regular intervals through marking and verbal feedback. We talk to the children about their personal targets.

Homework Reading books. Phonics homework. After half term homework will be sent home on a Friday to be returned by the following Thursday. Homework will cover a wide range of subjects including Literacy and Maths and the children will be given a certain degree of choice.

Rewards and sanctions Stickers will be used to mark when the children have completed a piece of work well. When the children produce a piece of work that exceeds expectations they will show Mr Dewes and receive a Head Teachers award in assembly. Good behaviour is expected all of the time and this has been made clear to the children. Inappropriate behaviour will be discouraged by the use of thinking time at break times.

Intervention Mrs Barnes (SENCO). Mrs Maguire (Intervention Co-ordinator). You will be informed if your child is receiving any additional support within school. ELS

Taking Care Teaching children how to stay safe. There is never anything so bad that you can not talk about it. Recognising the feelings of the body when you feel unsafe. A network of people. Naming parts of the body.

Keep in touch! Please come and see us if you have any concerns about your child. Important messages in the mornings can be passed on through the teaching assistants. After school is the best time to speak to the teachers. If anyone would like to volunteer time to help out in school please talk to your class teacher. Thank you for your support this year!

Any questions?