Welcome to Year 1!
Hello and welcome to Year 1! We are really looking forward to getting to know our new children and families and have already had a fantastic start to the year. This letter contains some key information about Year 1 routines and expectations to help you support and encourage your child at home and so you know what is going on while they are in school. The Year 1 curriculum builds on the experiences that the children have had in Reception and develops a more formal style of learning alongside the continuous provision which the children are used to. This year we are embracing a more enquiry based learning approach that uses even more continuous provision with the aim of making the transition into year one easier for the children. We hope the new challenges of Year One ensure your child remains motivated and enthused and makes good progress towards the end of year expectations.
The Year One team
Mrs Allen – class teacher Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
Mrs Kindon – class teacher Thursday and Friday
Mrs Marsh – teaching assistant every morning
Mrs Ashiq-teaching assistant Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons
Mrs Farthing teaches music with Mrs Ashiq on a Friday afternoon
Mr Jackson – teaches PE on a Monday afternoon
Mrs Ashiq – Midday supervisor
Reading
Please try to read with your child at least 3 times a week. Your child should bring their reading book to school every day. They will read to an adult in school once a week and have their book changed. We encourage children to read their books at least twice to build on fluency and secure word recognition.
Phonics
Children will have daily phonics lessons where they will learn the different sounds that make words. They will blend them together to read real words and ‘alien’ words. We will send home notes with the sounds we have covered that week in lessons so you have them to keep practising. This will build up to the end of year 1 phonics screening test the children will do in June 2020.
Home learning
Spelling lists will be given out on a Friday along with an activity/game sheet on the reverse. Please log on to Spelling Shed to practise these words using an ipad. The spelling test will be done the following Friday in the yellow spelling books. Please don’t practise the spellings in this book – it is for the test only. Once it has been marked we will send the yellow book back home so you can see how your child has done. Please ensure it is returned to school on the Monday.
Maths homework is set on Doodle Maths. There are 5 questions set every day.
Passwords for both these programmes will be sent home shortly.
PE
Mr Jackson teaches the children PE. Children need an indoor kit (T-shirt, shorts, pumps) in a PE bag. For the first autumn half term children also need an outdoor PE kit. After that PE will be indoors until further notice.
Our Autumn planning overview is on the website. Please look at this to see other ideas for home activities in other subjects.
We are sure the children will settle quickly and have an amazing year with us. If you have anything you need to discuss with us, please make an appointment and we will be happy to meet with you.
Thank you
Mrs Allen and Mrs Kindon