Year 1 / Blwyddyn 1
Welcome to Year 1 / Croeso i Flwyddyn 1
All you have to do is try. Spread your wings and you will fly
Be a rainbow in somebody else's cloud
The Year 1 Team
The Class Teachers are:
1BN: Mrs Vicky Burgin (Tuesday, Wednesday) & Mrs Louise Nessbert (Monday, Thursday & Friday)
1D: Mrs Nerys Davies (Monday-Friday).
Our Teaching Assistants are:
Miss Aoife Cremin (Monday to Friday), Mrs Karen Mingay (Monday to Wednesday) & Mrs Bella Llewellyn (Thursday to Friday)
Times / Amserau
The Year 1 morning drop off starts at 8:45 and finishes at 8:55 when our school day starts. If you arrive later than 8.55, to ensure the safety of your child, please take them to the main foyer to be dropped off as there will be no-one on the lower playground to meet them.
Our day finishes at 3.25 and you collect your child from the lower playground.
Snacks and Lunch / Byrbrydau a Chinio
Your child will need a packed lunch or you can order a school lunch via ParentPay. Please ensure you complete your child's lunch order before 8am each day. School lunches are free for all primary school pupils.
Every day, they will need to bring a bottle of water and a piece of fruit (or veg) for their snack. It would be helpful for your child if their snack is in a separate pot/bag, so that they know what to eat during the morning break.
If they bring small fruit such as grapes or cherry tomatoes, for their safety, please can these be chopped in half.
Due to there being children with allergies across the school, please also remember that there are to be NO NUTS brought into school. This includes any foods that contain nuts such as peanut butter, Nutella / chocolate spreads, cereal bars etc.
What and how we learn / Beth a sut yr ydym yn dysgu
Year 1 Learning Projects
Autumn 1 - Memory Box
Autumn 2 - Moon Zoom
Spring Term - Rio de Vida
Summer Term - The Enchanted Woodland
Personal Equipment
Everything that your child needs will be provided for them, so please ensure that they do not bring any personal items to school.
It would assist us greatly in school if you could ensure that your child's name is clearly marked on all items of clothing, especially cardigans, jumpers, coats, bags, lunch boxes and drink bottles.
Homework
Once we have re-assessed the most suitable book level/band for your child, reading books will be sent home. We will also then be able to assign books to their Bug Club online library.
Outdoor Learning
Year 1's Outdoor Learning day will be on a Tuesday. Please can you send your child into school with a pair of wellies, or you can send in a pair to keep on their pegs.
The Curriculum in Year 1
The Curriculum consists of What Matters Statements which are found within these Six Areas of Learning
Languages, Literacy and Communication (which aims to support learning across the whole curriculum and to enable learners to gain knowledge and skills in Welsh, English and international languages as well as in literature)
For each Learning Project, we have key texts to inspire each writing journey.
We teach phonics in groups each week, following the Letters and Sounds programme.
Handwriting is taught weekly using the Penpals scheme.
Welsh is taught through daily Helpwr Heddiw sessions, in which the teacher chooses a helper to assist with Welsh games, vocabulary and commands for that day. If parents would like to join their children in practising Welsh at home, please see below for some links which we hope will be helpful: https://learnwelsh.cymru https://www.s4c.cymru/en/dysgu-cymraeg/#
Apps:
Say Something in Welsh
Duolingo
Maths and Numeracy
In Year One, maths is taught practically using a range of physical resources e.g. Diennes, Numicon, 10s frames, multi-link, counting items etc. to develop their visual and pictorial learning skills.
‘Maths Mole’ helps develop mathematical application and reasoning skills.
In class, we work on Big Maths CLIC and Learn-its each week.
Science and Technology This area draws on the disciplines of biology, chemistry, computer science, design and technology, and physics to enhance learners’ knowledge and understanding of the world.
These are carefully planned within a broad and balanced curriculum.
We teach science through all our Learning Projects, for example, during Memory Box we look at human growth/life cycles; Moon Zoom focusses on naming and describing materials & sources of light; through Rio de Vida we compare Wales and Brazil. The Enchanted Woodland explores local plants and animal habitats.
We use digital technology through all our learning projects alongside discrete digital/IT lessons, for example, in Moon Zoom Chatterpix is used to record sentences based on the book Beegu
Health & Wellbeing
Heath and wellbeing is at the heart of all learning. To support the health and wellbeing of the children, we teach weekly Jigsaw lessons.
Weekly PE lessons: PE will be taught every Tuesday.
There is an area in classrooms for the children to freely access calming resources.
Outdoor Learning takes place with Mrs Thomas in which pupils explore and enjoy the school grounds, learning about nature and its flora and fauna.
Year 1 has a large outdoor learning area which children have access to during the day as a part of our daily provision.
Year 1 children run a minimum of 2 laps on our running track daily.
Expressive Arts (this spans five disciplines: art, dance, drama, film and digital media and music)
Throughout the year, children have the opportunity to study different artists within each Learning Project e.g. the Brazilian artist Romero Britto during Rio de Vida, and Andy Goldsworthy & James Brunt during Enchanted Woodland. They explore different artistic techniques through a variety of different media.
Dance and music is taught through each Learning Project. For example, in Moon Zoom, children create space sounds and learn to move to them; for Rio De Vida they learn about (and perform) Brazilian music, including learning to Samba!
Year 1 pupils enjoy role-play throughout each learning project as the re-enact scenes from stories like Beegu and The Gruffalo and imagine and illustrate how characters are feeling
Humanities (this Area encompasses geography; history; religion, values and ethics; business studies and social studies)
Geography is taught through Learning Projects like Rio de Vida, during which we learn about Brazil & Brazilian culture, Wales & Welsh culture and make comparisons between the countries. During the Enchanted Woodland we study our local area and visit Roath Park.
History is taught through Learning Projects like Memory Box. We start by looking at the passing of time in children's lives comparing what they could do as a baby and what they can do now. Then we study and compare toys from the past and present.
We learn about different religious celebrations and how they are celebrated and ‘special books’ and ‘special places’.
Physical Education / Ymarfer Corff
Every week, Year 1 will have a PE lesson, either outside or in the hall on a Tuesday.
On their PE day, please can your child come to school wearing their PE kit, so that they don't have to change in school. A navy T-shirt, navy blue shorts and trainers are required. Navy t-shirts may be purchased from YC Sports. During colder weather, tracksuits or other warm clothing may be worn.
Learning Areas / Mannau Dysgu
The Year 1 Classrooms are located in the left hand corridor as you walk down from the main office.
1BN is the first classroom in the corridor. We have our learning area where we do focussed teaching and interventions. The next classroom is 1D and at the bottom end of the corridor is a second learning area.
The small hall (opposite the main office) is used for lunches, assemblies & PE lessons as well as some of Letters and Sounds group work.
We have outdoor learning on Tuesdays taken by Mrs Naomi Thomas during PPA. Learners are given the opportunities to explore and discover various aspects of their natural environment outside. The outdoor activities planned often link to their indoor learning projects.
We do many activities that involve being out exploring the wider school grounds e.g. collecting natural items, drawing maps etc.
Trips: we visit parts of our local area, including Roath Park, and also Mountain View Ranch near Caerphilly for our Enchanted Woodland learning project.
Communication and helping your child at home / Cyfathrebu a helpu eich plentyn
Year 1 use the platform Seesaw as a tool for home school communication as well as setting homework and recording their digital learning journeys in school.
We will send out any announcements and reminders using the messaging part of Seesaw.
Parents & Carers can also use the messaging part of Seesaw to communicate with class teachers.
Staff greet the children every morning at the top of the steps (small playground) and dismiss them here at the end of the day. Parents have an opportunity to speak to staff then and can also send messages via Seesaw or Lakeside School email. Please be mindful that teachers may not see messages during the teaching day, so please telephone the office for urgent messages.
Homework
Once we have re-assessed the most suitable book level/band for your child, reading books will be sent home. We will also then be able to assign books to their Bug Club online library.
Homework will be set every week, using Seesaw, whereby teachers can set homework digitally for children to complete on a device at home, which can then be sent back for the teacher to respond to.
Please make sure that you only complete the work in the homework folder, not the class folder.
The class folder contains work that they will complete in school and it is uploaded for you to look at.
When we mark the work, we use A for achieved, PA for partly achieved and MS for more support / work needed.
Reading folders go home every Friday with a reading book inside and need to be returned every Wednesday.
Sharing with Parents/Carers
Year 1 hold a Curriculum Meeting at the start of the year (September)
There will be Parent sharing sessions through the year for which parents are invited into school to see what the children have been learning in their most recent Learning Project.
Parent consultations take place twice a year - in October and March
Many thanks for your continued support,
Mrs Vicky Burgin, Mrs Louise Nessbert, Mrs Nerys Davies and the Year 1 Team