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Year 1

Welcome to Year 1

Welcome to class 1! Our teacher is Miss Kyriacous who loves making our lessons as creative, exciting, and as engaging as possible.  Her favourite things are finding new places to explore, frogs and chocolate, although she doesn’t like the rain and cold very much, and is very scared of spiders!

Working alongside Miss Kyriacous is Mrs Martin, Mrs Blott, Miss Hindle, Miss Sheehan and Miss Veness.  They enjoy working in Year 1 as the children make you smile in many ways and they get excited over little things. Smiles are contagious, positive and infectious and seeing the children’s faces when they do something they didn’t think they could do is amazing!

Trips etc

In Year 1 we plan local trips in response to our class topics and the children’s interests. Past trips have included Knebworth Park, Standalone Farm, R.S.P.B. Rye Meads, Farm to Fork, Shuttleworth, going to the cinema, going to the theatre to watch the pantomime, visiting a farm and Airbus. We also have many visitors to the class including Zoolabs, Stevenage Dog Watch, Alice’s Tea Party, as well as parents and family members who have told us about their jobs, trained us in first aid and brought in babies or pets for us to meet.

Curriculum

We have an exciting year planned for Year 1 children.  Our topics this year are; local heros, animals and their habitats, friendships and families and so much more!

Year 1 have P.E. every Thursday and Friday.  Children will need suitable P.E. kit for both indoors and outsideLong hair should be tied back and earrings removed.

We use the ‘Letter and Sounds’ and phonics schemes and Collins Big Cat, Oxford Reading Tree and Pearson Bug Club reading schemes. We will look at stories with familiar settings, non-fiction reports, diary writing, letters and poetry based on the senses.

Every morning starts with EMW (early morning work). EMW is incredibly important because it helps you to revise key concepts from your learning and gives you the chance to practise your arithmetic, reading and writing skills every day.  This is why arriving to school on time is so important. It equals 225 minutes a week of revision and feedback time which we have found to really help children make accelerated progress.

General Information and Expectations

8.50 is the time your child should be in school every day.  Early morning work is very important and planned, often individually; please ensure your child is on time.  Children in Reception to Year 6 finish at 3.20pm.

Year 1 Home Learning

It is vitally important that the children read aloud regularly at home.  Children in Year 1 should read with an adult at least 5 times every week for at least 5-10 minutes a day.  Please remember to sign your child’s reading record.   

Children should learn their number bonds  using ‘Hit the Button’ (https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button) at least 5 times a week. 

We will set spelling homework on Spelling Shed every Wednesday.  They will be tested the following Wednesday and then set new spellings.

Uniform

Uniform should be clearly labelled with your child’s name.  Please check the labels regularly as they can fade in the wash.

Book bags should be clearly labelled and in school every day along with your child’s reading record and reading book.  Backpacks are not needed and we do not have the space for them.

For further information on the uniform please visit our School Uniform Page

Get Involved!

We are very keen to maintain open communication with you.  If there is anything you would like to talk to us about please catch us after school or make an appointment in advance.

There are numerous opportunities for you to join in with the life of the school in the following ways:

  • Volunteering in School – please contact the school office for more details
  • Accompanying school trips
  • Class assemblies
  • Sports day and sports competitions
  • Whole school events such as our Decoration Day and our annual coffee morning

Thank you for your support. We look forward to a successful year!

For further information on our curriculum please see Our Curriculum Page  and our  Curriculum Maps Page

Educational Links

Time Table Rock Stars: https://ttrockstars.com
Sam Learning: https://www.samlearning.com/
BBC Bite Size: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/primary
Oxford Owl: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/
Language Angels https://www.languageangels.com/schools/