Class Teachers: Jo McGahon, Sophia Papworth, Meghan Grove
Welcome
Welcome to Year 1 the starting point for ‘Key Stage One’.
Year 1 Teaching Team
| Year Group Leader | Jo McGahon |
| Class Teachers | Jo McGahon (Badger Class) |
| Sophia Papworth (Squirrel Class ) | |
| Meghan Grove (Dormouse Class) | |
| Kirsty Potter (Continuous Learning) | |
| Higher Level Teaching Assistant | Niki Georgiou |
| Teaching Assistant Support | Dexter Bush |
| Sheena Patel | |
| Silvia Quisbert | |
| Louise Colley |
Curriculum / Learning
Our Learning
In Year 1 the children begin to follow the National Curriculum, where they will participate as a whole class during lessons, moving away from solely small group work. Subjects are planned around a theme or topic in line with our creative curriculum. We aim to offer a curriculum that is broad and balanced which promotes the spiritual, moral, social, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at Rhodes Avenue School. We aspire for children to be constantly learning, developing into strong, resilient, capable, confident and self-assured pupils. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge (see below) around which we will develop exciting stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupil knowledge, understanding and skills.
Our teaching of British Values and the school’s own core values supports our pupils to develop empathy, consideration, kindness and mutual respect for different cultures, societies and religions. Our School Values for this academic year are: Helping others (Autumn 1), Friendship (Autumn 2), Patience (Spring 1), Courage (Spring 2), Ambition (Summer 1) and Sharing (Summer 2).
Home Learning
View the latest Home Learning post by clicking the link below.
Termly Class Letter to Parents and Carers
The National Curriculum
English
Throughout the year in English we encourage the children to explore different genres of writing including narrative, character descriptions, information texts, recounts, instructional 
writing, lists, poems, non-fiction captions/labels and speech bubbles. We also use creative role play and encourage the children to actively participate in speaking and listening during carpet sessions and show and tell activities.
Phonic work continues daily and children read in their reading group once a week when books will be sent home to share. The school follows Ruth Miskin’s scheme – ‘Discover, Read, Write Inc’., for more information use the link below.
Mathematics
In Mathematics we explore counting to and across 100 forwards and backwards beginning with 0 or 1. Reading and writing numbers to 100 in numerals. Identifying one more and one less of a given number. Understanding mathematical vocabulary including language related to dates, days of the week, weeks months and years. Measuring using standard and non-standard forms of measurement, including length, weight and capacity. Basic addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. We encourage the children to solve problems in a practical, fun and ‘hands-on’ way.
Calculation Strategies for Parents and Carers
Science
In Science we will be investigating ‘Seasonal Changes’, ‘Animals including Humans’, ‘Everyday Materials’ and ‘Plants’. Where possible we will be linking our learning to our topic work, and encouraging the children to think critically.
Foundation Subjects
Each topic is introduced to the children through an exciting ‘Topic launch’. Our topics always link with our work across the Foundation Subjects curriculum to engage and enthuse the children. Our Topics this year are:
In Computing we will use a range of computer programs to consolidate our mouse control and continue to develop typing and navigational skills using the keyboard. Coding is a large part of the ICT curriculum and we will explore this in different ways including programmable toys called ‘Bee Bots.’ We will also be using ipads for a range of activities including stop motion short forms and photographs towards the end of the year.
History will be taught through our topics. We will be looking at significant people from history and changes within living memory. The children are encouraged to think of people from history who have been inspirational, and those that they are interested to find more information about.
In P.Ed. the children will be covering gymnastic skills, dance, games and ball skills. It is important that children have a warm P.E. kit for the outdoor sessions, including footwear, and that kits are in school everyday. Please also ensure that all items are labelled to avoid lost property.
Art and Design and Technology will be based around our topic work and will include opportunities to design and make items. We will also explore our creativity using a range of mediums to produce artwork. We will link our exploration into famous artists to our literacy work, and through to our topic work on significant people from history.
Music will continue to be linked to our class and topic work, with emphasis on learning relevant songs and exploring musical instruments. Infant choir will start in the Spring Term; all children are encouraged to attend if they wish to.
In SMSC (Spiritual Moral Social Cultural Education) we explore the children’s understanding, knowledge and skills in the four social and emotional aspects of learning; empathy, self awareness, social skills and motivation. Through ‘Philosophy for Children’ (P4C) we encourage children to develop an understanding of philosophical concepts.
The Topics we are Teaching this Year
For a more in-depth outline of the Year 1 curriculum please refer to our curriculum overview.
The Skills we are Teaching this Year
Skills matrix
The School Day
Children will be collected from the playground by their class teacher at 8:55 am. Registration is at 9:00 am . At the end of the day children can be collected from outside their classrooms. If it is raining please wait in the KS1 corridor and children will be collected from the inner classroom door.
