Year 1

🌟 Welcome to Year 1 🌟

✨ Where curiosity grows, imaginations thrive, and every child is valued. ✨

👋 Meet the Year 1 Team 👋

We have 2 classes, which are called 1P and 1M.

👩‍🏫 Class Teachers: 1M- Miss Martin 1P- Miss Stoker KS1 leader/cover- Miss James
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Supported by our ETA- Mrs Fox

We also work closely with our SEND and pastoral teams to make sure all children feel safe, supported and celebrated every day.

👋 Welcome to Year 1 at St Thomas Primary School!

We would like to give a warm welcome to all of our families, new and returning. We are so excited to share this special part of your child’s journey with you. In Year one, children begin a more formal approach to their learning. Our class teachers have a sound knowledge of what the children have learnt in Reception and we work hard to support transition into Year one. We create a happy, calm and inspiring space where children are encouraged to develop independence and resilience. They continue to explore, ask questions and grow in confidence. We will share with you what your child will be learning in Year One on this page. We ensure all children feel valued, safe and successful as they begin their journey in Key Stage One.
We look forward to working closely with you this year.

Miss Martin, Miss Pickard and Miss James💫

🕰️ Our Daily Routine

Here’s what a typical day looks like in Year 1:

8:40 Welcome and Morning Jobs
8:50 Register
9:00 Assembly (Mon/Weds/Fri)
9:30 Phonics (ELS Scheme)
10:00 English
10:45 Break & Snack
11:10 Maths (White Rose Scheme)
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Story Time
1:00 Foundation Subjects (Art, Science, History & more!
3:10 Home Time

🧠 Our Curriculum: Learning Through Wonder

The St Thomas curriculum is packed with hands-on and exciting half termly topics.

This half term, we begin a new project, which is called School Days. This project teaches children about their own school and locality, both today and in the past. They compare schooling in the Victorian era to their experiences today. We will plan a Victorian school day where children can experience school life of the past. We will also be inviting a visitor to school to talk about how it has changed from the past.

In Science, the children will learn about wild and garden plants by exploring the local environment. They identify and describe the basic parts of plants and observe how they change over time. They will be planting their own beans and observing them grow. They will have the opportunity to investigate parts of plants, observe changes over time and carry out simple tests.

In Design and Technology, our project is called, ‘Chop, Slice and Mash.’ This project teaches children about sources of food and the preparatory skills of peeling, tearing, slicing, chopping, mashing and grating. They use this knowledge and techniques to design and make a supermarket sandwich according to specific design criteria.

In Art, our project is called, ‘Street View.’ This project teaches children about artwork depicting streets and buildings and focuses on the work of the American pop artist, James Rizzi. They create a 3-D mural based on Rizzi's work.

In English, we have chosen texts that compliment what the children are learning in the foundation subjects. We begin with the traditional story, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’ The children will listen to the story and act it out. They will sequence the story using time connectives and draw a story mountain. They will then write a simple narrative of the story. We will focus on writing sentences using a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop. They will be encouraged to re-read their sentences to check that they make sense and to use adjectives in their writing.

We will then be looking at instructions to make a healthy salad and a sandwich. The children will learn the features of instructions and how to follow a simple recipe. They will learn that instructions use bossy verbs such as ‘put, chop, cut.’ They will make their own healthy snack following the instructions and then use this experience to write their own.

The children begin learning about mass and volume. In this unit, the children are introduced to mass for the first time. Children will use balance scales to compare the weight and mass of objects. They then use non standard units, such as cubes to measure the mass of an object.

They then will be learning about multiplication and division; counting objects in groups of 2s, 10s and 5s; introducing the language of multiplication e.g., equal groups.

We will continue daily maths fluency sessions where children consolidate learning counting in 2s, 5s and 10s, odd and even numbers and number bonds to 20

In Religious Education, the children will be learning about believing and belonging. In this unit pupils will learn about what it means to belong to a community, including a religious community. They will learn what they might see in a religious building, and what people do when they go there. They will begin to understand that there are similarities and differences between places of worship, within and between faith communities. They will learn that places of worship are sacred places for the people who go there.

PE this half term will be every Monday afternoon. Children must wear a PE kit to school on these days.

Library books continue to be changed every Wednesday. Please ensure that your child returns their book each week so that they can be issued with a new one.

🏡 Home Activities to Support Our Learning

We upload activities onto Seesaw on a regular basis, which is our online learning platform. Please log in regularly to check for activities that support your child’s learning at home.

Reading at home

Children in Year One have a phonics screening check in the summer term. This is a mandatory, short assessment to see if they can decode words using their phonics knowledge. This test checks their ability to read real and alien words (nonsense) to assess their ability to blend sounds together in words. Please find further information below;

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/phonics-screening-check-information-for-parents

Therefore, we cannot stress enough the importance of reading at home with your child. We actively encourage children to read, read and read again to support their fluency and confidence. We want children to be able to read their book fluently; this means without stopping, hesitation or relying on sounding out. The only way children can improve is by regular practise. We really need your support at home to encourage your child to read their book at least four times a week. Please consider reading in short bursts, little and often if your child finds it overwhelming to read in one sitting. Also consider reading at different times of the day e.g., whilst eating breakfast, sat in the car on the way to school, at bedtime and on a weekend. Create a positive approach to reading by praising their effort and helping them to sound words out and recognise the harder to read and spell words. Please click the button below to access supporting materials.

We also upload the white rose maths videos that demonstrate what and how your child is learning at school. There are follow up tasks for your child to complete at home. These are really useful for you to know and understand how your child is being taught at school.

Children in year one need to be able to count aloud in ones to 100; count aloud in 2s, 5s and 10s. They need to recognise odd and even numbers up to 20; They also need to be able to recall number bonds to 20. Again, regular practice at home will really support their progress.

Home activities to support our learning

English- Narrative and Instructions

Share traditional stories with your child e.g., Jack and the Beanstalk, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood.
Talk about what happens in the story and encourage use time connectives such as first, next, then, after, finally.
Invite your child to draw a simple story map of the story.
Look at simple recipes with your child e.g. how to make a sandwich.
Read the instructions together and look at the features e.g. numbers, bossy verbs.
Follow a set of instructions to make a healthy snack.
Write a set of simple sentences using a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop.

Maths-

Practice counting aloud in 2s, 5s and 10s.
Count aloud to 50, whispering even numbers and shouting odd numbers.
Practice number bonds to 10 and 20 e.g. what numbers make 10 and what numbers make 20. Look at the patterns.
Compare the weight and mass of different objects around your home. Remind children that the heaviest object goes down and the lightest goes up.

History- School Days

DT- Chop, Slice and Mash

Can you make a healthy salad at home?
Learn about how we use different tools to prepare foods
e.g., peeling, tearing, slicing, chopping and mashing.

Science – Plant Parts

Can you go on a walk and look for the following plants growing in gardens or woodland areas?
Go on a leaf hunt and find as many different leaves as you can. Can you sort them into the different types of leaf e.g. simple, palmate, compound, lobed and need-like.
Can you find different parts of a leaf?

Plant some seeds and bulbs with your child and talk about what they need to grow. Discuss the best place for them to grow.
Compare bulbs and seeds and talk about the differences between them.
Why not grow some tomato plants or some other plants that you can eat?

Don’t forget to log into your child’s seesaw account to access lots of activities that will support their learning at home!

🧰 Extra Support & SEND

We are proud to be an inclusive and nurturing school. In Year 1, we:

Use visuals, sensory breaks, and personalised timetables
Follow targets and the Kirklees Graduated Approach
Run interventions like Lego Therapy, Extra reading and Phonics.
Have close links with external agencies.

If your child needs extra support, we’ll work with you every step of the way.

🎒 What to Bring Each Day

✅ Bookbag- Please remember to bring your book bag every day and check that they have their reading book and record. Please do not put your child’s water bottle into their book bag to avoid leakages damaging reading books.

Children visit the school library on a Wednesday afternoon. Please ensure your child returns their book weekly

✅ Water bottle
✅ Coat (we go outside rain or shine!)
✅ Reading book & record
✅ PE is on a Monday afternoon. Children must wear their PE kit on this day

💬 Communication

We use Seesaw to share updates and photos. You can also reach us via the school office or email. We’re always happy to help!

❤️ A Place to Belong

In Year 1, we believe in:
✅ Being Ready, Respectful and Safe
✅ Celebrating our differences
✅ Helping children find their voice
✅ Growing confidence through creativity and kindness