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 half- term. 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 the leaves go in winter? Van Gogh- Seasons Why can’t a Meerkat live in the North Pole? Colour mixing Where do, and did the wheels on the bus go? Hundertwasser Why is the Wii more fun than Grandma and Grandad’s old toys? Matisse Would the Beatles have won X Factor? Warhol 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