Year 1

"Language opens doors..." (Oxford Language Report 2018)

Our key values underpin all we do at Seymour Park; Respect, Care and Grow

Our children follow the nationally agreed curriculum with an emphasis on it being rich, broad, and balanced. Teachers plan lessons to ensure they are well-sequenced and build on prior learning. We want all our children to know more, remember more, and in turn be able to do more. Our Community is an important member of the school family. 

Children are ‘hooked’ into their learning through high-quality books, which form the basis of our topics. In Year 1 we build on the principles of the EYFS and encourage and promote child-led learning in continuous areas of provision, as well as whole class teaching. 

Phonics and Early Reading skills are an integral part of our curriculum and these are developed through daily whole class phonic sessions, following the Little Wandle Letters & Sounds Revised program. Mathematics is taught following the White Rose Mastery approach which uses a range of models and images to support their learning. 

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams" (Roald Dahl)

Year 1 Team 

Class Teachers: Mrs Rodgers & Mrs Spellman (1RS), Miss Bawa (1B), Miss Sohail (1S) 

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Haughton (1RS), Mrs Nagdee & Mrs Sajid (1B), Miss McGuinness (1S)

PPA Cover Teachers: Mrs Spellman (1B/1S), Mr Eckersley (1B/1S) Mrs Spellman/Mrs Rodgers (1RS)

Key Information

PE Days: 

Throughout the year, PE will take place both indoors and outdoors. Children should come to school in appropriate PE kit on their PE day and will wear it throughout the day.

They will need to wear a Red PE T-Shirt, black jogging bottoms/leggings/shorts, pumps/trainers and their school jumper/cardigan.

Book Bags:

Your child needs a small book bag, preferably a school one as they fit perfectly in their trays. Due to limited space in the cloakrooms there is no space for big bags.

Please make sure that your child brings their book bag to school every day, including their school reading book and yellow reading record. We ask that children do not carry water bottles in bags with school books please - this is to avoid ruined books. Thank you.

Reading:

We make reading a priority in school and follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised phonics scheme. As part of their phonics learning in school, children will take part in Reading Practise sessions three times per week, where they will read in a group, with an adult. The focus of each session will be as follows:

- Session One: Decoding - In this session, children will spend time identifying sounds, being introduced to new vocabulary and blending the new words, to become more familiar with them.

- Session Two: Prosody - In this session, the focus is on reading more fluently (as the children will be familiar with the words from session one) and learning how to add expression to their reading.

- Session Three: Comprehension - In this session, the focus is on reading the book fluently and being able to demonstrate understanding of the content by answering a variety of questions and taking part in discussions about the book.

After taking part in all 3 sessions of Reading Practise, children will then bring that same book home to continue with the skills they've developed in school. They will keep this book until the following week.

When you listen to your child read, encourage them to use their skills to read unknown words by "sounding out" and blending.  Discuss the front cover and make predictions before you begin reading.  Encourage questions during the reading to check understanding.  Enjoy "book talk" together after the story.  Please leave a comment in the yellow reading record book as this really helps us to monitor your child's progress in their reading.  Please bring the reading books and yellow reading record to school everyday.

As well as the reading practise book that your child will bring home, they will also bring a 'sharing book' from the school library.  This is a book that they have selected themselves for you to read to them and share. They are not expected to be able to read this book. Share the story, talk about the pictures and help to develop that love of reading.

LS-Parent-handout-Year-1-Sep-23-1-1.pdf

Here is a link to the Little Wandle website which has some more information and useful videos.

https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/

Phonics-Parent-Workshop-Sept-2024-2.pdf