This is an exciting and marvellous year in the life of Holly Hill for your child as they enter Key Stage One and begin a new phase in their learning journey.

Lots of fun things happen in Year One. The children are offered a wide range of learning opportunities both in and outside of school.

In phonics this year, the children will begin by recapping and revising all the sounds they have learned in Reception and then from Christmas they will be taught the Basics 5 from the Supersonic Phonic Friends scheme. This will include alternative spellings and pronunciations ready for the phonics screening which is compulsory at the end of Year 1.

In English this year, the children will be working hard to apply the phonics they have learned to write extended sentences using conjunctions to join two ideas. They will also be learning to use suffixes including ‘ing’, ‘er’, and ‘est’ as well as the prefix ‘un’. The children will be encouraged to try to develop their writing by using a range of exciting adjectives also.

In Maths this year, the children will be learning to partition 2 digit numbers in to tens and ones, add and subtract 2 digit numbers, know their number bonds to 10 and then by the of the year number bonds to 20, count in 2s, 5s and 10s, know the value of different coins and be able to name 2D and 3D shapes and describe some of their properties.

Our topics this year are:

Who am I?

Courageous Advocates

Aspirations

These topics are new and exciting for everyone not just the children. We will be having a bigger focus on learning about our local community and thinking of ways we can help, support and get more involved. We will also be learning about significant people from the UK and around the world who have achieved amazing things.

So far we have 2 exciting trips planned; The pantomime with the rest of Key Stage 1 and we will be going to the Sealife Centre as part of our topic when we will be learning about the world around us.

Fir Class Staff team includes:

Mrs Smith, Mrs Blaber and Miss Wyatt.

Homework – Spellings and Reading:

Spellings will go out every Friday to be practised ready for a spelling test the following Friday.

Reading books will be changed every Tuesday and Thursday.

It is very important that your child has their book-bag containing their reading book and diary in school on these days otherwise their book will not be changed and so they will not be completing their homework.

PE

Fir Class has PE on Tuesday. Please make sure your child has the appropriate kit in school. This should include; black shorts, white t-shirt and black pumps. This does not need to be washed every week and will be sent home every half term for washing so please make sure it is returned ready to start at the beginning of each new half term.

Children taking part in clubs will also need to send in a ‘club kit’ which should be separate to the school PE kit. Your child will change into this before club and come home in it after club. This will then need to come back in the following week for your child’s club throughout the term.

PLEASE make sure all your child’s uniform is named including; trousers, t-shirts, shoes and jumpers. Also a reminder that your child’s book bag is part of the school uniform and so should be in school every day. This also need to be named and if your child could have just one key ring, if required, on their bag that would be great.