We hope you have all had a great time over the summer and that you are now looking forward to the exciting new school year ahead! We know that, as we enter this year, you might have many questions – we are happy to answer any questions that you have and thank you in advance for your support. We are looking forward to getting to know you and working together to ensure that we have a very happy and productive year. Our aim is that every child in Year 1 is confident, motivated to learn and able to enjoy school life to the full. We hope that you all enjoy the new experiences and challenges that Year 1 has to offer.
Transition from Reception to Year 1
Our aim is to ensure that every child experiences a smooth transition from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Key Stage 1. The Year 1 curriculum builds upon and extends the experiences that children have had in Reception and we continue to value the experiences play offers. Learning through play will continue and the children will gradually be eased into more formal learning as the term goes on so that they remain motivated, enthused and eager learners. Please don’t hesitate to speak to us if you have any questions or queries.
Reading
Our goal is to create confident, fluent, independent readers. We prioritise reading at Latchmere School and have very carefully chosen the texts your child will study this term. We focus on word reading to develop fluency and encourage the whole class to join in through strategies such as choral reading (the whole class read together) and echo reading (the teacher models the reading and the class echo back). We also have the Latchmere Reading skills. These are based on comprehension skills such as retrieval, inference, summarising, making links, prediction and vocabulary.
Get to Know You meeting
Our ‘Get To Know You’ meeting will now be held on Tuesday 17th September 2024 at 2.30pm, and gives you an opportunity to meet the Year 1 team, be given information about class routines, the curriculum, teaching strategies and the school year. You will also be given the chance to ask the teachers questions.
In Year 1, our main topic for this half term is ‘Senses’ and the second half term’s topic is ‘Toys’. We have lots of exciting lessons and activities planned and look forward to sharing our learning with you. We will be studying books including:
We will be continuing to embed the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds phonics programme. This involves daily teaching of phonics and up to three reading sessions per week for every child focussing on decoding, prosody and comprehension.
Please see the phonics page on the website for further information.
Maths
Our curriculum is based on the White Rose Maths programme. This research-based initiative ensures that the skills and concepts children taught are fully embedded before moving on. The children are taught strategies such as bar modelling and have plenty of opportunities to use ‘manipulatives’ such as counters and dienes all the way through the school.
This term we will be focusing on place value within 10, addition and subtraction within 10, geometry (shape), and place value within 20.
Children in Year 1 also use the Numbots program to help embed the core maths skills of subitising, number bonds, addition and subtraction.
Curriculum Highlights
This term, in Geography we will be learning about where we live and taking part in a guided walk of the local area. This will provide the children with an opportunity to identify some of the human and physical features we have learnt about in class. We will be developing fundamental skills like skipping, jumping, and balancing whilst also growing our teamwork skills in PE, to focus on developing key skills in this subject. In Science, we will be identifying parts of the body and looking at our senses. Our topic in history will be Toys, where the children will make comparisons between old fashioned and modern toys.
You can find out more information about the autumn term learning by looking at the overviews and programmes of study on the website.
We will have an opportunity to expand on this information further in the 'Get to Know You' meeting. We look forward to working closely with you to ensure that your child’s year is a very happy and successful one.
Thank you in advance for all of your support
Ms Davison Ms Lavender Miss Edwards
(Year group lead) (Purple Class) (BlueClass)
Key dates
Painshill Park trip
10 May - Purple and Turquoise classes
13 May - Indigo and Blue classes
Updates and reminders
Beginning and End of Day Arrangements
All children should arrive in school between 8.40am-8.50am ready for the start of the school day. Please say goodbye to your child in the playground and encourage them to come to the classroom doors independently. This is important to help keep the doorway clear and also to develop increasing independence. If you have any queries for your child’s class teacher, please feel free to arrange a meeting for after school.
Our school gates will be opened shortly before 3.20 pm. If you have arranged for your child to be collected by another adult, please write this in the class book (which can be found on the class notice board) and sign it.
Class Notice Boards
Each class has its own notice board for messages. If you wish to post a notice please first show it to the class teacher.
Class Representatives
Parents who volunteer to be class reps form such an important link between the teachers and parents of each class. Please decide between your class and let your child’s teacher know your class representatives. We would like two reps per class.
Snacks
Children are able to bring in a healthy snack for morning playtime, fruit or vegetables only. Please label their snack. Each class offers a daily selection of fruit and vegetables but please note our supply can be limited on the first and last weeks of term.
Water bottles and bags
Children may bring water to school each day in a plastic bottle with a spill-proof top. Please remember to put your child’s name on the bottle, which should be brought home at the end of each day to be washed and refilled.
Every child needs a named bag. If there are any letters to go home these will usually be put into their book bags so please check regularly. Please ensure your child’s bag fits in their locker, if they have one.
School Uniform
Please ensure that everything that your child brings to school is labelled including: your child’s school uniform, P.E kit, water bottle, snack pots, hats, gloves, scarves and coats. It is especially important to label your child’s jumper as this is the most commonly lost item. Labelling in biro is fine.
P.E. Kit
We are now asking for children to come to school in their P.E kit on P.E days. We ask that children are dressed appropriately for the weather – we would appreciate it if children could wear long sleeves and long trousers (preferably in navy, grey or black). They will need their usual coat and their school bag on these days.
P.E. is taught twice a week in Year 1. One lesson is with Mr Ayres and one with the class teacher. Children wear their PE kits to school on these days.
Purple class – Mondays and Tuesdays
Blue class - Mondays and Tuesdays
Medication
Please ensure that the office has up-to-date information regarding medication for children to be administered at school.
Contact Address and Telephone Numbers
If you have moved recently or changed your home or mobile telephone number, please let the office staff know. It is important that we can contact you quickly if your child is unwell.
Parent helpers and DBS Clearance
We really appreciate the support that parent helpers can offer in school. As you can appreciate, we are only able to ask parents who have an up-to-date DBS form. Please speak to the office if you need to apply for clearance or if you are unsure whether your DBS form is up to date. Thank you.