Welcome to Year 1

Class Teacher - Miss Sausby

 

Teaching Assistant - Mrs Wildin

 

 

Autumn 1

 

 

RE

We have been enjoying our first branch in Religious Education, entitled Creation and Covenant. We have listened to the Creation story and placed the events of creation in order - by making paper chains. We have also responded to the Our Father prayer by creating items out of play dough to share what the prayer shows about God's nature. 

  

We enjoyed taking time to reflect on our learning through worship, using bubble prayers to send our thanks to God for His Creation.

 

Music

In music lessons, we have been exploring the use of dynamics in a piece of music inspired by the Great Fire of London. First, we listened to the piece of music, sharing our ideas about the dynamics from what they had heard. Then, we used our voices and instruments to practise changing dynamics in a piece. 

    

 

History

In History this half-term we have been learning about the Great Fire of London. We began our learning with a sensory hook, where Miss Sausby read a story retelling how the fire started, while we listened to a crackling fire and passed round bread to smell. We learnt how the fire spread and firefighting techniques of the time period. As part of our learning, we investigated sources – such as the diary of Samuel Pepys – and discussed how the fire brought about changes. 

          

         

We have really enjoyed being creative in this topic. We have just straws to create art by blowing paint, just like how the wind spread the fire. We built our own models of London at the time, with wooden houses standing closely together. We even built our own fire engine!

Maths

This half term in Year 1, we have been focusing on place value within 10. We have explored how numbers can be made. We have compared numbers using less than, greater than and equal to. One of our favourite activities was using Numicon to investigate different ways of making 10. 

          

Autumn 2

 

Writing

In Writing, we have been developing our understanding of sentence structure by practising writing dictated sentences. We are also focusing on our letter formation and taking care with our handwriting. As you can see, we have been working very hard and we are very proud of the progress we are making in our writing!

     

 

Anti-Bullying Week

We marked Anti-Bullying Week by celebrating what makes us all unique. On 10th November, wore our odd socks with pride. During Anti-Bullying Week, we participated in an online workshop all about kindness and how our actions can make a difference. We also designed our own superheroes to show how we can use our ‘Power for Good’ every day. We were proud to share our ideas and think about the positive impact we can have on others.

Remembrance Day

As part of our Remembrance learning, Year 1 painted Remembrance Day poppy pebbles. We painted beautiful poppies on our pebbles while learning about why we wear poppies.

          

We then placed our pebbles as a focal point for our morning worship on 11th November - as an act of respect and to remember those who help keep us safe.

 

Science

In Science, we have been investigating everyday materials. We have explored and observed a range of materials and described what they feel and look like. We have also explored our classroom and identified objects made from these materials. We have enjoyed developing our scientific vocabulary and learning more about the world around us.

             

We also conducted our own experiment investigating the best material to use for an umbrella.

               

Computing 

In our Computing lessons, we have been learning about technology around us. To begin, we discussed common examples of technology and identified technology in our classroom. We then learnt how to use this technology, by learning how to turn on a computer. Over the half term, we will be developing our confidence in using this technology by focussing on mouse skills, typing skills and knowledge of how to use this responsibly.

               

 

Key Stage 1 Nativity

Year 1 and Year 2 loved getting dressed up in costumes to retell the story of the birth of Jesus.

        

We performed this special story to our parents and families in the church.

 

Spring 1

 

Writing

Recently in Year 1, we have been enjoying our writing model text based on The Little Red Hen. We have enjoyed acting out our story with actions at the start of each lesson, using our story map. We have also been writing dictated sentences based on this text, focussing on letter formation and punctuation choices. In provision time, we have also loved retelling the story using story spoons and ordering the events of the story.

        

 

Science

This half term, we are learning all about plants in science. So far, we have identified what a plant is and sorted objects into plant and 'not plants'.  We have also drawn and labelled diagrams to show the parts of a plant. In provision time, we have painted pictures of plants, made flowers out of play dough, investigated plants using magnifying glasses and planted our own plants. We cannot wait to watch them grow!

          

          

 

Maths

This half term, we enjoyed our 'Numbots Day' where we dressed up as robots and enjoyed lots of maths-related activities. We enjoyed increasing our fluency by playing Numbots on the iPads. We used shapes to create our own robots and played lots of maths games. We even iced our own biscuits to look like the Numberblocks!

        

    

    

As you can see, everyone had an amazing day filled with memorable, engaging learning!

 

Dance

This half term, we have been enjoying our dance lessons with Miss Wells. We have created shapes of snowflakes and sequenced these shapes to create a short dance performance. We also enjoyed using the ribbons as part of our dance. 

          

         

Spring 2

World Book Day 2026

We love reading in Year 1! So, it was no surprise that we really enjoyed World Book Day. We loved coming to school in our costumes and having a day filled with book-related activities. We decorated our classroom door, made Gruffalo biscuits and visited the other classrooms in Key Stage 1 for lots of fun, book-based tasks. In the days leading up to World Book Day, we made story jars at home to show our favourite books. 

            

             

As you can see, we had an amazing day!

 

Geography

As part of our geography topic, we have been exploring our school grounds. We enjoyed identifying human and physical features on our school grounds and using the iPads to take photos of these features.

           

                   

We also enjoyed investigating these features by gathering data about which feature was Year 1's favourite. Finally, we made our own 'messy maps' to show an aerial view of our school.

 

School Library Visit

This half term, we were visited by our local library. We took part in an interactive story-telling session, filled with songs, puppets and lots of smiles from the children!

               

Science Week 2026

As part of week, we conducted an investigation based on this year's theme: Curiosity: What's your question? Our question was 'What is the best material for a boat?' and we designed, made and tested boats to see which material would carry the most bears. We gathered our results in a results table and decided that plastic was the most effective material for making a waterproof, floating boat.

       

         

Year 1 Lent assembly

Throughout Lent, each class retold part of the biblical account of Jesus' final weeks. Year 1 retold the burial in the tomb. We retold how Jesus' body was laid in the tomb and a large stone was placed in the entrance. We sang songs and read a prayer to reflect on this significant event. 

             

We enjoyed performing our assembly to the rest of the school and our parents.

 

The Big Lent Walk and Lent Dance

On the final day of this half term, Year 1 had a wonderful day taking part in the CAFOD Big Lent Walk. During this walk, we visited individual Stations of the Cross created by each class, which thoughtfully retold the events of Jesus’ final weeks. This helped us to reflect on the meaning of Lent. In the afternoon, we joined the rest of the school for a special dance performance to commemorate the events of Lent, celebrating together through music and movement.

              

Summer 1

Computing

Recently in Year 1, we have been learning how to use Code-and-Go Mice to program robots with simple directions. We worked together to give our robots commands such as forward, backward, left and right to help them reach different places. We practised our problem-solving skills by predicting what would happen, testing our ideas and fixing mistakes when our robots went the wrong way. We have enjoyed exploring early coding skills through fun teamwork and hands-on activities.

          

    

Maths

In Maths, we have been learning about fractions and exploring how to find one half. We used cakes, donuts and biscuits to help us understand that a half is a whole split into two equal parts. We practised sharing shapes fairly and talked about how both parts must be the same size to make a half. We enjoyed using practical resources to build our confidence and understanding of fractions.