Welcome to Year 1!
Y1 Curriculum Information
September 2025
Welcome to Year 1.
We are about to embark on wonderful year, and we have lots of fun learning planned. The termly forecast gives you more detail about the learning which will take place within our topic which this term is based around Animals around the World.
PE
PE is on a Tuesday – Children can come into school in their PE kits. Appropriate school PE kit must be worn and labelled. As winter draws near, the weather will begin to turn cold and wet, so please ensure your child has jogging bottoms, jumpers, gloves and light waterproof jackets, as learning will take place outside as much as possible.
Tapestry
As you may be aware, we have decided to continue to use Tapestry in Year 1. With many of our lessons being ‘hands-on’ and using practical resources, we felt that tapestry would support us by not only sharing photos but linking the children’s learning to the Year 1 curriculum objectives too. Please feel free to give the posts a ‘like’ or ‘comment’ as well as sharing with your child as it can be a lovely way to share learning at school. Additionally, you are more than welcome to also add and post on tapestry if there is any home learning that you would like to share with us.
Challenges
Over the summer, we were busy setting up our classroom to create an engaging and stimulating environment for our children. We're thrilled to share that we’ve ensured the classroom retains access to continuous provision, featuring a role play area, a cosy reading corner, a maths area, phonics resources, a small word area, and much more!
While the adults are busy working with groups during lesson time, the other children are encouraged to explore the wider classroom and its resources. This approach not only fosters their independence but also allows them to utilise the skills we are teaching them during their own learning experiences.
One of the new initiatives we’re excited about is our ‘Challenges!’ These will focus on various areas of learning—such as Maths, Phonics, Science, and beyond. Each challenge is designed to broaden your child’s knowledge and help them apply the skills they are acquiring in real-world contexts. By engaging in these challenges, we aim to empower the children to take ownership of their learning journey while having lots of fun along the way!
Activity Area
We have been very fortunate to be able to share the space between YrR and Yr1 this year, so that the class will have the chance to access ‘creative’ areas such as: play doh, junk modelling, painting etc on a regular basis. All of which are key to fine motor skills, imagination, creativity, fun and exploration.
Drawing Club
We will continue to teach English skills via ‘Drawing Club’ during the first term. Mrs Allen used this in Reception so it is something that the class are all familiar with and it uses books, vocabulary and drawing to enable the children to go on an adventure with their imagination all while using their English skills.
Little Wandle
Like in Reception, we will be following Little Wandle for our phonics and reading sessions.
Homework
Reading
The children are constantly engaged with reading throughout our curriculum, in our daily phonics and Drawing Club lessons as well as 3 times a week in small group reading sessions. However, to really help them progress and to support their enjoyment of reading, they should be reading at home most nights. Each child has completed a Little Wandle review assessment (based on Reception coverage) and have been allocated the level of books they should be reading linked to their phonological awareness and retainment. These Little Wandle books will be read during our group sessions during the week and will come home for you to read again and they will be changed once a week. When children are repeatedly exposed to the same text, it not only builds their confidence but also aids in developing their long-term memory. This process helps to get those words ‘stuck’ in their minds, allowing them to access them quicker and quicker each time they read. To support your child’s progress, please feel free to record any comments in their Reading Record, which will accompany their Little Wandle books. Your observations are invaluable in helping us track their development and encourage their love for reading! We know it is hard to fit everything in, but reading offers valuable models for sentence structure, fuels their imagination, improves their knowledge of the world and also offers them some much needed calm time.
Spellings
Spellings will be shared at the start of each week via Tapestry and will include tricky words as well as words with the ‘sounds’ we are learning that week. We will be learning these in class, including using them to support our handwriting practise. There will be no formal test, but it is vital that you take some time to look at these at home. Be creative with learning – writing out in chalk, repeating in the car, using pens in the baths – any way to engage them. Always check your child understands the meaning of their spellings as this will help to broaden their vocabulary.
Mental Maths
Year 1 children have a big focus on number facts and their fluency with adding and subtracting. We will be working on these key areas alongside the other Maths objectives in our daily Maths lessons. Each lesson will start with 5 key questions for them to complete to get warmed up such as: count to 10, show me 5, which number is missing etc. The children also have ‘Numbots’ logins in their Reading Record books. This website is a great way to practise and embed their number facts, so please try to set aside a few minutes a day to practise. If a screen is not your ideal way, please use cards or worksheets/booklets to support them. These key facts will help your child become more efficient and fluent within the lessons and as they progress through into the next year and beyond.
So far, we have had a super start to the year and we are excited with the learning planned. We want all the children to be happy in school, so if you have any worries or concerns, please catch us on the gate to talk or to arrange a time to chat or if that isn’t convenient, email the office who will pass it onto us.
Many thanks,
Miss Janisch and Mrs Graver
Useful Links
A website we use for number fluency - pupil log ins can be found in their reading records (or please ask a member of staff for help if needed).
Little Wandle Information for Parents
A website with videos and information to help parents support their child's phonics learning.
Topmarks
A website with a variety of games to help children learn.
Maths Games
Maths activities specifically for children in Year 1.
Phonics Play
Practise your phonics with these free games. Can you sort the 'rubbish' words from the 'treasure'?
Year 1 Phonics Screening Check
Department for Education's page for parents wishing to find out more about the Year 1 phonics screening check