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 the children will learn about what life was like in the Victorian Era. They will learn that era is named after Queen Victoria. They will watch videos and look at photographs to learn about the past. We will be having a Victorian day at school, where children will come dressed in olden day clothes. The children will get to experience what school life was like in the past.

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 will be sharing the story, ‘Monkey Puzzle,’ by Julia Donaldson as this links brilliantly with our science project. The children will be learning that a ‘puzzle’ or a ‘riddle’ is a type of poem. They will be learning to identify adjectives used in the story to describe the animals. They will also be using the sentence starters, ‘I have,’ and ‘I can,’ to write their own riddles.

We will then be spending time at the end of term to consolidate our handwriting skills and sentence work in preparation for Year two.

The children begin this half term learning about place value up to one hundred. They practise counting to 100, building on their knowledge of place value to 50 from the Spring term. Children explore oral counting of numbers 50 to 100, both forwards and backwards. They will learn place value of numbers to 100 and complete missing number lines, one more /one less and comparing numbers. They then learn about length and height, mass and volume

In Religious Education, the children continue to learn 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.

Science – Animal Parts

This project teaches children about animals, including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and invertebrates. They identify and describe their common structures, diets, and how animals should be cared for.

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- Poetry and narratives

Practice forming letters correctly.
Talk about what happens in the story and encourage use time connectives such as first, next, then, after, finally.
Write a set of simple sentences using a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop.

Maths-

Maths-
Practice counting aloud in 2s, 5s and 10s.
Count aloud to 100.
Find one more and one less than numbers up to 100.
Understand what each digit in a two-digit number represents e.g., 52 is 5 tons and 2 ones.

History- School Days

Use Google or other search engines to find out about what life was like in the Victorian Era.
Use a chalkboard at chalk at home to practice writing your letters just as children in the Victorian era did!
A timeline is a line that has important events on it in chronological order. Create a timeline of your life. Think about the important things that have happened and when, such as being born, starting school and moving year groups.

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