Year 1 (Emerald Class)
Welcome to Year 1. This page provides you with everything you will need to know about life in Emerald Class. We hope you will find it useful, but if you have any further questions then please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Year 1 team.
Staff
- Class teacher: Mrs K Harvey
- Teaching Assistant: Ms K Charge
- Apprentice Teaching Assistant: Miss T Pereira
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Transition
We aim to make the transition between Reception and Year 1 a smooth one. By the time your child enters Year One in September they would have had many chances to meet their new teachers and have spent time in their new classes. Children will also have visited their new classroom through some shared activity afternoons between EYFS and Key Stage 1 classes.
To start with, our timetable closely mirrors the EYFS structure with plenty of opportunities for continuous provision. Throughout the year, we gradually reduce the amount of Plan, Do, Review (child-initiated time) to prepare the children for a more formal style of education.
Curriculum
Children in Year 1 follow the National Curriculum, which sets out the objectives for all of the subjects. The key areas in the curriculum are as follows: Maths, English, Science, PE, Computing, History, Geography, Religious Education, PSHE, Art and Design and Music.
Reading
Children will be expected to bring their book bags into school every day. We believe that reading is an extremely important skill and ask that you support us at home by reading at least four times a week with your child and recording it in the communication book, with a comment and signature.
We use the Collins banded reading scheme Big Cat Phonics, which follows the 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised' phonics scheme. These books are levelled so that children can progress through the books in levels of difficulty, reading deliberately patterned, simple, repetitive grammatical structures helps children to achieve early success. Children will receive a new phonics book every Friday, matched to their current ability, and sounds that have been taught. This is in line with the latest reading guidance and adheres strictly to advice from Little Wandle and will be referred to as their reading practice book. We strongly encourage you to ask your child to read this book at least three times with you at home during the week. These individual reads could mirror the reading practice at school which concentrate on decoding (sounding out and blending), prosody (reading with expression) and comprehension (understanding). These all count as individual reads and should be written in your child’s contact book. This repeated reading will help your child develop the level of fluency required to comprehend the texts they are reading. These independent reading practice books will be changed on Fridays and contact books will continue to be checked daily.
Your child will also be able to bring home a sharing book on Tuesdays and Fridays. This will be a book of their choosing based on their interests, from either the school or class library. Your child will not be able to read this on their own and have chosen this book for you to read and enjoy together. Please ensure books are sent back to school in your child's folder on these days, with a record of reading in their communication book, so that staff are able to provide new books.
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Spellings
Alongside reading at least four times a week, your child will also have spelling books sent home with them every Friday, which must be returned the following Friday. Please help your child to practise and learn these spellings; they will be tested every Friday at school. Please find below the Year 1 spelling rules.
Home learning
A home learning task will be set on EdShed weekly, and should be completed by the following Wednesday. Your child's login can be found in their home learning book- ask your child's class teacher if you have any difficulties accessing the sites. Children will also be provided with termly wider curriculum tasks in their home learning book, which are optional additional tasks. Completed topic home learning tasks will be recognised and celebrated in class and may be shown in school assemblies.
Other activities:
- Please see the English and Maths pages for additional resources and websites. An explanation of the terminology used in English or Grammar questions can be found here: Terminology Table.
Behaviour and Rewards
Our Behaviour Regulation Policy exists to strengthen and support the Christian identity of our school, reaffirms our vision and our associated values of perseverance, ambition, respect and kindness and celebrates the central role that each child has to play in their school community.
The school has four rules, produced by our School Council, which centre on our school values:
These are:
✓ Perseverance: Keep trying.
✓ Ambition: Always be your best and aim high.
✓ Respect: Respect everyone and everything.
✓ Kindness: Show good manners and be polite.
We encourage, reward and support our children to show these rules and values through:
- Use of a Recognition board in every classroom to make the hard work of our pupils visible
- Weekly ‘Hot Chocolate with the Head’ for children who consistently show our school values.
- Weekly Shine awards to recognise exceptional effort.
- Termly Headteacher Values awards.
- Values stickers
- Postcards home
More information can be found in our Behaviour Policy.
Equipment
Every child should have the following named equipment at school:
- Water bottle
- Book bag
- Change of underwear
- Suitable coat with hood
PE
Children will have a PE session every week and will need to wear their PE kits into school on their PE day. Details of which items are required for PE can be found in our Uniform Policy. Information on your child’s PE day is sent out at the start of the academic year.
School Day
The school gate opens at 8.30am. Children arriving will go straight into class to begin well-being welcome activities. Please ensure your child is in school by 8.45am, after which point the school gate will be closed and your child will be marked as 'late' in the register.
School finishes at 3.10pm and children should be picked up by the gate. Please line up at the pencil gate so that the teacher ensures children go with the correct adult and that there is an opportunity for a verbal handover if required. Please contact the school office if you are running late or somebody different needs to collect your child. Teachers are not responsible for your child after this time.
Morning snack
Children in Key Stage 1 will receive a piece of fruit for morning break. If you would like your child to receive milk, this will need to be ordered and paid for- please see the school office for details.
Lunch
Lunch time is from 12-1pm. In key stage 1 children are currently entitled to a free hot meal. They will be asked to state whether they are having a school dinner or a packed lunch every morning. If your child is bringing a packed lunch then the box or bag will need to be clearly labelled with your child’s name and class. Packed lunches should be healthy in content, with no chocolate, sweets or fizzy drinks.
