Year 1

For more detail on our curriculum, long-term plans and what we teach each term, please visit our curriculum page.

We came into school wearing red. We learnt about the end of World War I and why we wear poppies. 

Our first topic is:

How can I Build the best me?

Welcome to Year 1

Dear Parents and Carers,

We warmly welcome you and your child to Year One.  We have an exciting year of learning ahead planned and hope that parents and carers are fully involved.

All the staff at Park View Primary School endeavour to provide an atmosphere which will allow all children the maximum opportunity to learn in a safe, secure and happy environment.

We have planned many interesting and exciting projects for the forth coming year, including ‘How Can I Build the Best Me?’, which is our first project.  We have talked lots about classroom and school expectations.  You will see a big difference in the provision for Year One children as they move through the school year.  We have continued the continuous provision (similar to Year R) and as the children grow and mature this will change to more formal teaching and whole class learning.

We believe that communication between home and school is crucial.  If you have any concerns or wish to share something sensitive with us, we are happy to find time and space to do this.  Please do not hesitate to catch us before or after school for a quick chat (following the social distancing rules), call the office on 01256 322616 or email adminoffice@parkviewprimary.hants.sch.uk.

Homework Expectations

Due to Covid, we will be creating class libraries for reading books. Children will be allowed to choose and take home a book from their class library for home reading. We encourage children to read 4 times a week for 10 minutes. Younger children will need to spend more time reading aloud. Parents are expected to sign the reading record to show their child has read.

Alongside reading books, children will have access to online reading activities and games on our new learning platform being launched in the next few weeks. As part of our catch-up curriculum, weekly reading tasks will be set for your child to complete at home. There will be an expectation to complete these tasks and time in school will be made available for children who have limited access to technology.

We believe that a skill which will set them up for life is reading and so we ask that you read with your child as often as possible.  This can be in the form of your child reading their school book to you, reading something from home or you reading to them and discussing what has happened in a story or non-fiction text.  In Key Stage One, we have a reading initiative.  Each of these last a term.  They will receive a new one at the beginning of each new term.  If they complete the reading initiative before the end of a term, they will receive a new book to keep.  They can choose this from a special selection from Mrs Hollyman’s office.  The first reading initiative is called Reading Fairytale and will be in their reading diary.  Each time they read (or are involved in a book activity) they can colour one of the dots.  When they reach the final dot for that character, they can show an adult in school to receive a certificate in our Friday assembly.  We like to make reading fun for our children and help them to become familiar with the texts they read.  We ask that children read their books at least two times before changing them so as they know the book well and can develop fluent reading (which is needed for good comprehension).

As with the reading and as part of our catch-up curriculum, an online learning platform will be used to set weekly homework tasks for Maths. Again, there is an expectation that this homework will be completed. Shortly, you will receive details for how to log in to the online platforms.

Phonics is taught twice daily and spellings will be sent home weekly.  Initially, our spellings consist of letter families.  We use the letter names as much as possible as this is always the same.  For example, a letter ‘a’ has a name but its sound could be different as in cat, baby, swan, banana, zebra, ball.

PE Kit

The children will change for PE in school and so will need a named PE kit in a named bag.  It is expected that the children will be in full PE kit (burgundy t-shirt, black shorts and well fitted plimsolls). They may wear black or grey joggers and a black or grey sweatshirt or their school jumper over their PE kit if it is cold.

Year 1 will be taught PE on a Tuesday and a Thursday.

If you have any other queries or concerns about your child, please do get in touch.

Best wishes

Year 1 Team

(Mrs Fay, Miss Etherington, Miss Cousins, Mrs Harper and Mrs Walker)