Hello and welcome to Year 1's page where we will be sharing news, achievements and information about what we have been learning in school. 

The year 1 team: 

Year 1S

Miss Sale (Teacher) 

Miss Harrison

Ms Cahill

Miss Janiak

Year 1C

Mrs Clifford (Teacher)

Mrs Quinn

Ms Wright

Our year 1 day is a busy one, jam packed with lots of exciting learning to support your children as they start their KS1 journey. If you have any questions or need any guidance, please email us 

year1sale@gmail.com

Phonics is a HUGE part of the Year 1 curriculum. Children across the country are tested at the end of the year on their ability to segment and blend words. At St Thomas of Canterbury, we have chosen to follow the accredited 'Letters and Sounds' in order to teach Phonics, high frequency and common exception words (tricky words) and early reading. The 'Letters and Sounds' programme is split into 6 phases: 

Phase 1 is introduced in Nursery

Phase 2 and 3 are introduced in Reception

Phase 4 and 5 are introduced in Year 1 

Phase 6 is introduced in Year 2

In year 1 your child will be taught phonics every day. Alongside the teaching of phonics, every child will be provided with daily opportunities to apply their phonic knowledge and skills in reading, English and spelling lessons.

Here is a document which you might find helpful if you would like to support your child with their phonics:

How can I help my child in Year 1?

Carry on reading! 

Reading at home with your child is so important. It helps them to develop their learning in lots of areas. At the moment, your child will receive two new books on Friday to be returned the following Wednesday. You may not always have time to read the whole book (we understand home life is busy) but just a few pages a day can increase their confidence and get them into the routine of practising and applying their phonic knowledge. Sometimes parents say 'my child wanted to read a book from home'. As long as they are reading, that’s fantastic! Most children this age really love to read both new and familiar stories. Don't forget to read stories to your child as well!

Did you know? 

During Autumn 1, we read one of Julia Donaldson's fantastic books, Zog. We all loved the story, which inspired our writing for the half term. We have been trying really hard to form our letters correctly and apply the phonics we know to our writing. Our best piece of writing was definitely the Missing posters we wrote when Princess Pearl told us that Zog had gone missing! 

In topic maths we have been looking at 2D shapes. Here are the children exploring shape in different ways.

In Autumn 1, we have been learning about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole and our role play area was magically transformed into a hospital. 

We learnt about the lives of the two nurses and how different hospitals were in the past - we looked at the conditions in the hospitals, how they were changed by these women and  the kinds of medicines and treatments used by 'The Lady of the Lamp' and 'Mother Seacole'. Take a look at our Knowledge Organiser to see what we have learnt in this topic. 

In Science, the Year 1 children have been learning about the human body including body parts and the 5 senses. After half term, we will be looking at other animals and we may have some surprise visitors to school!

We've also been looking at the seasons, in particular autumn. Keep your eye out for the signs of autumn you will see around school and in the local area!

On Friday 9th October, we celebrated "Hello Yellow" day! 

Check out our class photos below.