Year 1 Teacher: Mr Gutkowski
Teaching Assistant: Mrs Hay
Year 1 is an amazing year of investigating, exploring, learning and having fun together!
It feels like a big step moving up to Year 1 from Reception but we ensure a smooth transition with Mr G coming to read stories throughout the summer term in the Reception classroom, as well as ‘move up’ morning, where the children get a taster of Year 1 life in the Year 1 classroom.
In Year 1 we strengthen the strong foundations we have been building in Reception. Our classroom includes a variety of continuous provision areas, such as construction, small world, role play, maths, writing, creative and investigation. In Year 1, the provision is enhanced with challenges, providing opportunities to consolidate learning and secure knowledge as well as build children’s understanding further. Our time in provision is structured so that children will spend half of the time working on adult-led activities and the other half on child led learning.
All adults working in Year 1 support the children (and the parents!) as they move into their next step of learning. Throughout the year the children are encouraged to try their best, develop and show greater independence and resilience, as they grow in confidence and self-esteem.
As Year 1s, this is will be the first year of the National Curriculum and like all year groups, Year 1 has government statutory schemes of learning to follow. Morning sessions concentrate on English, Maths, Reading and Phonics. We have a whole class daily phonics lesson, as well as handwriting and Reading Practice three times a week. We also enjoy a daily Maths session as a whole class, as well as a daily story/vocabulary/language time together. Afternoon sessions cover the remainder of the curriculum subjects (Science, History, Geography, Computing, RE, PSHE, P.E, Music, Art and DT) and are taught through engaging topics such as ‘Toys’ and ‘Amazing Me’.
