Year 1
Welcome to Year 1
Year 1 is the time where children are nurtured and given the opportunity to spark their love of learning. Through more structured learning, and our exciting curriculum, children can develop their understanding of the world, and be inspired, laying the foundations for a positive and happy time at school.
Staff In Year 1
Year 1 Class Teacher - Miss Hunt
Year 1 Teaching Assistant - Miss Rose, Mrs Cheng, Mrs Kaur and Ms Williams-Reid
Learning In Year 1
Click here to view the Year 1 Curriculum Map
Click here to view the Year 1 Spring Curriculum Map
Click here to view the Year 1 Spring Timetable.
Year 1 Class Blog
Autumn 2
Year 1 had a particularly busy half term! We felt very festive after we went to see a performance of The Night before Christmas at the arts depot, it was very funny and it put us in the festive mood! We also took learning all our songs for the nativity very seriously, and enjoyed putting on a show as stars! We can’t wait to do more singing as the year goes on.
We learned all about monarchs in history, from William the Conqueror to Charles III and found it very interesting to learn about the different responsibilities these kings have. We learned all about stone keep castles, and designed our own castles that would help protect us from enemy armies. Then we found out about the Battle of Hastings, studying the Bayeux tapestry to learn how William the Conqueror became King of England.
We tackled a few different topics in maths, one of them being ordinal numbers! We put this into practice by creating different line orders and checking who was behind us to know our position in the lines.
In science we had a lot of fun exploring all about different animals, including amphibians and reptiles. But the best part was discovering all about what our different senses can do! We undertook experiments to test our sense of touch, taste and sight – seeing if we could figure out what an object was just from touching it (the shaving foam was very strange to touch when we couldn’t see it!)
Our English book Halibut Jackson also kept us very busy! It is a story about a young boy who loves to blend in wherever he goes, so makes himself amazing outfits to camouflage into his surroundings. We roleplayed as Halibut to try and think about how he was feeling, and wrote setting descriptions and poems inspired by the story.
We enjoyed autumn term so much but we are definitely looking forward to warmer weather and even more brand new topics to explore!
Autumn 1
Year 1 have had a fantastic and very busy start to the year! We have taken advantage of the last of the summer weather a lot, taking a lot of our learning outdoors.
In art, we learnt about sculptor Anthony Goldsworthy, who is inspired by and uses natural resources to create sculptures. This led us to create our own pieces of art, first foraging around the school for twigs, acorns, leaves and flowers to create mandala patterns. We then used these mandalas as inspiration for our own sculptures, which we made out of clay!
We also spent a lot of time outdoors during geography this half term as our project was all about the seasons, weather and locations within the United Kingdom. We took to the playground to investigate any signs of the season we were in, collecting golden and orange leaves which told us that we were definitely in Autumn! Next we wanted to learn how to use compasses, so took them outside to try and find North, which allowed us to plot all the other directions in the playground as well.
In science we have been investigating different kinds of plants, learning what different parts of plants do to keep trees and flowers alive. This led us to become curious about roots, which we learnt are the key part in extracting the nutrients from the soil to promote growth in different plants. To look at this in more detail, we took apart different plants, picking away the soil to learn about how far the roots can stretch into the soil. It was so interesting to see how long they were!
Finally, we have been learning to play the glockenspiels in music! Our song ‘Hey you!’ has a very strong pulse, which we learnt is what you call the beat of the music. We then found the note C on our glockenspiels, and played the pulse alongside the music. Miss Hunt said we were incredibly musical!
We are already looking forward to next half term, especially the Nativity in December and getting to continue to explore brand new subjects.
Parent Information
Forest School
Every Wednesday for the first half of the Summer term, Year 1 spend time at Forest School in Highgate Woods. The ethos of Forest School allows children the time and space to develop skills, interests and understanding through practical, hands-on experiences. It also allows teachers to step back and observe the children in order to then encourage and inspire individuals to achieve.
The children will be taking part in all sorts of activities that are linked to parts of our curriculum such as Geography or Science and they include: games; storytelling; natural art activities; exploring, nature watching and bug hunting; climbing, rolling; practical woodland skills (e.g. willow weaving); building dens; time to be quiet, reflect or talk.
