Welcome to Year 1!

Teacher Name: Miss. Gates

Teaching Assistant(s): Mrs Thompson

A very warm welcome to our Year 1 class page! We are so excited for the year ahead and all the learning, exploring and growing that will take place.

Year 1 is a very special year as the children continue to develop their independence, confidence and curiosity. We will learn together through practical activities, group work and independent learning, as well as lots of opportunities to talk, explore and have fun.

We look forward to working closely with you throughout the year and celebrating all of the children's achievements!

Class Routines:

Labelling belongings - Please label all clothing and personal belongings, including coats, jumpers, cardigans, PE kits and bags.

PE - Our PE days are Tuesday and Wednesday. 
Please ensure your PE jumpers and cardigans are labelled clearly to help identify them.

Water bottles - Please also bring a reusable water bottle every day to keep you hydrated. This can be refilled in class throughout the day.

Home Readers - Please remember to bring your child’s home reader into school each day. Home readers will be changed on a Friday each week.

If a home reader is lost or damaged, a £5 charge letter will be issued.

Homework:

Homework for Year 1:

-Reading books are given out on a Friday and expected back on the following Friday. 
-Oxford Owl and Read Write Inc Home Reader
-Read Write Inc (QR codes are sent home to practise our sounds and speedy reading)

 

Our Learning this Term:

English
This term, we will be diving into the magical story of Old Bear. We will explore the adventures within the story and use these as inspiration to develop our writing and create our own recount of the events.

Maths
We will begin by building on the skills we developed in Reception, making sure we are confident with our numbers and counting. We will explore numbers to 100, discovering patterns, counting forwards and backwards, and finding different ways to represent numbers.

Science
This term, we’re going on an animal adventure! We will explore lots of different animals, discovering what makes them special and how we can sort them into different groups. We will also learn about humans as animals, exploring our bodies, our senses and what we need to stay healthy and survive. Through observation and investigation, we will discover more about the amazing world of animals, including ourselves!

History
This term, we’ll be travelling back in time to discover what toys were like in the past! Inspired by our story Old Bear, we will explore and compare toys from the past and present, discovering how they have changed over time. We’ll investigate old toys, what they were made from and how they were played with, and think about what toys can tell us about children’s lives in the past.

PSHE
This year, we will be learning lots about ourselves, our feelings and our friendships. We will use Zones of Regulation to help us understand our emotions and explore different ways we can manage them.
Through My Happy Mind, we will continue to develop our confidence, resilience and understanding of what helps us to feel happy and healthy, while learning how to build positive relationships with others.

 

Key Dates:

School photographs: 17^th September 2026

Half-term: 26^th October – 30^th October 2026

Return to school – 2^nd November 2026

Useful Links:

Oxford Owl - https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/login?active-tab=students

Maths games - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/5-7-years/counting

Phonics games - https://www.topmarks.co.uk/english-games/5-7-years/letters-and-sounds

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources