Year 1 Blog

Welcome back to Yardley Primary School! It has been wonderful to introduce pupils and their families to Year One and we look forward to getting to know you all. Parental support is something we value and truly appreciate, especially at this crucial stage in your child’s learning and development.  This overview will give you an insight into what your child is learning at school and will tell you how you can support your child to reach their full potential. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – revisiting the Phase 2 to Phase 4 sounds and their applications.

• Phonics – Exploring a wide range of texts and texts suitable for independent early reading. 

• Learning and sequencing events in familiar stories.

• Use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces)

• Handwriting — correct letter formation and pride in presentation.

Reading planners will be issued to each child, very soon. Pupils are heard read at least once a week, by the class teacher, on a 1:1 basis. They also have ample opportunities to read throughout the school day.  We expect you to hear your child read every day, as this is essential for their progress. 

Maths

We will begin by looking at Place Value (within 10) and Geometry. We will be:

• Counting forwards and backwards

• Reading, writing and ordering numbers in digits up to 10.

• Comparing groups of objects and using mathematical language to explain

• Learning the value of numbers up to 10 through counting a variety of different objects.

• Number bonds within 10.

• Recognising number patterns and using comparative language like; more, fewer, greater than and less/fewer than.

• Addition and subtraction within 10.

• To recognise 2D and 3D shapes.

We also appreciate your support at home here, too. Maths is often best taught at home incidentally when applied to real-world situations. Putting number songs on often can also help. 

Science

Our first Science topic is all about 'Our Bodies'. We will be learning about:

• Identifying and labelling the human body

• Naming the five senses and distinguishing which part of the body it is associated with.

Seasonal Change. We will be learning about:

• The four seasons and the months of the year (Autumn/ start of winter)

• Changes in weather and weather symbols 

• Scientific skills such as observation and grouping

Foundation Subjects 

Our Foundation subjects cover; History, Geography, Art, and Design and Technology. 

This term we will be learning about; Drawing – make your mark and History

The children will be able to: 

• Create different types of lines

• Experiment with a variety of drawing media to create different types of lines

• Know that there are different ways of drawing lines, and that they feel different to make, and that they look different

• Develop an understanding of personal chronology and learn more about their history.

• Explore how we remember events.

• Find out what childhood was like for our parents and grandparents.

• Compare childhood now with childhood in the past.

• Identify that some things change and some things stay the same.

Computing

This term we will be learning about Digital Safety, Texts and Graphics, and publishing.

• Pupils will become familiar with the computer and how to interact appropriately with digital technology.

• Pupils will be learning how to ‘log-on’ and navigate appropriate school computer programs. 

• Pupils will begin to develop their keyboard and typing skills.

P.E./Sports: 

This half-term, pupils will be dancing the Haka and playing a range of team games to build their communication and teamwork skills. 

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.  Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

This half term we will be focussing on the theme of fairness, being just and kindness, through which we will be reinforcing our School Values. The children will be looking at the religion of Christianity and the celebrations that occur within each of the denominations.

Learning at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The latest 'Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Wow! What a fantastic year it has been in 1D! It has been a pleasure to get to know you all and I feel privileged to be a part of your learning journey. You have all worked incredibly hard this year, taking on new challenges with resilience, determination and enthusiasm. 

In our English lessons, we have been consolidating our skills and applying them to range of writing tasks. We have written an information text on rock pools, wrote a very exciting letter to our new Year 2 teacher and for our last piece of writing, we wrote our very own narrative. This was 1D’s favourite and it was a pleasure to see their creativity shine through their story writing. Improving our oral language, has been a massive part of our English lessons too, as has our reading. The children are becoming increasingly articulate with their speaking, and are developing fluency with their reading. Keep up the good work 1D!

In our Maths lessons, we have been deepening and developing a range of mathematical skills. We have been focussing mainly on place value, time, money, and have recapped our learning on shape. We have also been working on the early stages of multiplication by counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. We have also learned lots of songs and rhymes to help us remember the days of the week and the months of the year. 

In Science, we have been learning about my favourite season, summer! We have also revised our past topics to see how much information the children were able to retain. We created some mini investigations to develop our ability to notice and predict. We completed some floating and sinking investigations and even created a water wheel! The children loved it!

In Art, we experimented with different media and mark-making tools and techniques. For our final piece of artwork, we completed an observational drawing which required our attention to detail and our ability to use the tools with great accuracy and precision. The children did amazingly well!

In Geography, we travelled all the way to Shanghai in China! We used an atlas to locate the seven continents of the world, particularly Asia and Europe. We then looked at physical and human features found in our local area, and then in China. We made comparisons and explored the reasons why. Our favourite was the Chinese food tasting lesson. We tried Chinese noodles, rice and spring rolls! The noodles were a class favourite!

1D, you have been AMAZING this year! You were an absolute pleasure to teach and I wish you all the best in Year 2. Continue to strive to be the best that you can be, and you will succeed! Miss Hanif is so lucky to have you in her class next year.

Enjoy the summer holidays with your wonderful family! Stay safe and take care.

Love from, Miss David. 

What a brilliant year we have had, I am so proud of the progress you have all made this year. 

In Maths, we have been looking at a range of different skills and getting even better at them. We have really enjoyed developing our understanding of place value, time and money. We have learnt to count in steps of 2, 5 and 10. We recognised the value of different coins and notes. We used lots of songs to help us remember the days of the week and months of the year.

This half term in English, we have been using all of our different skills to carry out a range of tasks. Our favourite was when we wrote a postcard to a character from Frozen. We also wrote a wonderful information text on rock pools. For our last piece of writing, we wrote our own narrative. We have worked on our comprehension skills and reading fluency.

In Science, we have been learning even more about summer. We revised past topics and developed our working scientifically skills. We used our senses to describe what we could see, hear… at the seaside etc. We planned some mini investigations and developed our predictions. We carried out investigations, including testing different materials on floating and sinking. 

In Art, we looked at how different lines could enhance a piece of art work. We looked at new artists, including: Bridget Riley and Zaria Forman. We experimented with different media and even had a go mark making in our sketch books. For our final piece, we developed our observational drawings.

In Geography, we travelled all the way to Shanghai. We used an atlas to locate the seven continents of the world, including Asia and Europe. We then looked at physical and human features around our local area on our Local Area Walk and then in China. We wrote a postcard about them. We then compared our local area to Shanghai. 

We have had an amazing year and know you will have another great year in Year 2.

What a fantastic year we have had in Year 1! I am so proud of every single one of you and it is truly amazing to see how far you have all come. Your behaviour and positive attitude has really shone this year. You have shown super resilience at all times and your determination and enthusiasm will be missed. I hope you take these characteristics with you to your next class as you will continue to flourish.

In Maths, we have been looking at a range of different skills and getting even better at them. We have really enjoyed developing our understanding of place value, time and money. We have tried really hard to count in steps of 2, 5 and 10. We recognised the value of different coins and notes. We used lots of songs to help us remember the days of the week and months of the year. 

This half term in English, we have been using all of our different skills to carry out a range of tasks. Our favourite was when we wrote a postcard to a character from Frozen. We had to write about our summer holiday and experiences. We also wrote a wonderful information text on rock pools. We wrote a very exciting letter to our new year 2 teacher. For our last piece of writing, we wrote our own narrative. Your comprehension skills this term and your reading fluency have been amazing too. 

In Science, we have been learning even more about summer. We revised past topics and developed our working scientifically skills. We used our senses to describe what we could see, hear… at the seaside etc. We planned some mini investigations and developed our predictions. We carried out investigations, including testing different materials on floating and sinking. We even created a water wheel – how exciting! 

In Art, we looked at how different lines could enhance a piece of art work. We looked at new artists, including: Bridget Riley and Zaria Forman. We experimented with different media and even had a go mark making in our sketch books. For our final piece, we developed our observational drawings. 

In Geography, we travelled all the way to Shanghai. We used an atlas to locate the seven continents of the world, including Asia and Europe. We then looked at physical and human features around our local area and then in China. We wrote a postcard about them. We then compared our local area to Shanghai. We really enjoyed tasting Chinese food – how yummy!

Well done 1S! You have had a great year and I have enjoyed working with you all. I hope you all have a great summer holiday and I look forward to seeing you in Year 2. Keep up the amazing and hard work and as I always say – SMASH IT!

Over and out, Mr Shah!

Wow! What a year we have had in 1WF. We have worked really hard and enjoyed our learning. We are so proud of every single one of you and we wish you the best in Year 2. We are sure you will take all you have learnt in Year 1, building upon it to be the best you can be.

In Maths, We have been looking at a variety of different subject areas including, place value, time, shape and money. We have used practical equipment to support our learning and help us when answering difficult problems. 

In English, we wrote a post card, a letter and a narrative. We developed our comprehension skills and understanding of a text. We questioned, predicted and clarified greater vocabulary, using this to enhance our writing.

In Science, we consolidated our learning of the Year 1 topics. We revisited senses discussing how our senses help us and the animal kingdom. We carried out investigations testing floating and sinking objects and trying to make boats float using a variety of different materials and shapes.

Well done 1WF for all your accomplishments this year. We have enjoyed working with you all. We hope you have a great summer and look forward to what you can produce in Year 2. Have a lovely break, you deserve it.

Welcome back to our final term in Year 1. We have 7 more weeks together and so many exciting things left to learn and do. We hope you’ve had a lovely holiday. We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills, Phonics practise and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – recapping all of our Phonics sounds from Phase 2 to Phase 5 in preparation for the Phonics test in June.

• Exploring a range of texts, including picture books to develop those writing skills ready for being in year 2. We will start by writing a very exciting postcard to Elsa from Frozen. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing. Practising writing in sentences.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 100.

• Learning about money. 

• Learning about time. 

• Counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. 

• Position and direction – left, right, forwards and backwards. 

• Developing our reasoning skills. 

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons (focusing more on summer). 

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Working scientifically by completing some more scientific investigations involving materials. 

Geography 

Our Local Area – In Geography we will be going on a local area walk and understanding how our environment is different to other people around the world. We will be focusing on Shanghai and comparing life there to our life here.

Art

In Art we will be exploring how to use drawing to create different lines. We will get the opportunity to use lots of different materials and work towards creating our own masterpiece!

Computing

Text and Graphics – pupils will be making their own short story and adding short animations using 2publish. 

P.E./Sports

This terms topics will be Basketball and Team Building. We will also have a sports day to look forward to!

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.  Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will continue to be looking at joy and happiness, sharing, telling the truth, valuing and judging others and our hopes and dreams. 

Learning at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 2 Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

What a lot we still have left to get through! Let’s hope the sun is shining all the way to the end of the year.

What a great half-term we had in 1D!

We have worked so hard to work as a team, your effort was rewarded when you received your 50-point sticker treat. Well done for working so hard, you deserve it.

This term we have had so many memorable experiences: 

• We explored deciduous and evergreen trees in Science, another way of observing seasonal changes. Humpty Dumpty needed our assistance so we investigated which material he should make a jacket out of to protect him if he fell off the wall again. This was a fun afternoon!

• The adventures we had with Baby Bear from ‘Whatever Next!’ and Naughty Bus really inspired us to write our own narratives in English. 

• Mr. Jones made some hot chocolate for us to enjoy in Forest School and we had the chance to toast a yummy marshmallow on the fire. 

• Mrs. Job’s Mommy came and showed us her marbles and the games she played with them and her brother when she was our age, along with visiting Cannock Toy Museum for History. 

• But our greatest achievement must be designing and making our very own hand puppet. For some of us it was the very first time we had done any sewing. A proud moment for all.

During P.E. sessions we learned how to dribble and shoot a football with accuracy and transferred this skill to hockey. It was tricky at first to grip the hockey stick correctly but we showed determination and achieved this well. 

In Maths we counted in different amounts to support us when multiplying and dividing and finding fraction of a quantity. Some of the work has been challenging so we have had to develop our resilience, but we did it!

I would like to say a big THANK YOU to 1D for including me in your class this half term. I have enjoyed working with you all.

Happy holidays and see you next term.

I say this every half term, but it really has been another fantastic one in 1Q. The children have worked so hard and achieved great results in their progress across every subject.

In Maths we have covered measurement, including mass, capacity and length. We have also looked at arrays and sharing for multiplication and division, ending up with position and direction.

In Englishwe have covered story telling with a big focus on ‘The Naughty Bus’ by Jan Oke. I am sure you will have heard of his many adventures! We also looked at ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy., in which we created some great new characters for the adventure to continue.

In Science we have looked at weather, signs of Spring, plants and pets. Our favourite part was making collage trees for each of the four seasons.

In History, we have looked at Toys and how they have changed over the years. Mrs Sankey came to visit us with some of her childhood toys and we compared them to our own, which we bought in and shared with our friends. This last week will see us visiting the Toy Museum at Cannock Chase, we are all very excited!

We have of course, had regular forest school sessions as well as music, RE and PSHE.

We cannot wait to return for our final half term together.

I can’t believe we are nearly at the end of the year and your time in 1S! You have continued to amaze me with your brilliance, determination and enthusiasm for your learning. I am really proud of every single one of you. We have earned some more rewards on you chart and we are nearly at 100. 

In Maths, we looked at division and multiplication, fractions and have now moved on to position and direction. You understand how to: share an amount equally, find a half and a quarter of an amount and identify different arrays. You have developed your reasoning skills and I am really impressed with your ability to explain your answers. 

In English, we read a number of stories, including: Whatever Next? and Naughty Bus. Using these two texts, we wrote some adventure narratives and they were amazing! You used describing words to describe the characters and even some new conjunctions. Your writing can be seen on Twitter. Your Phonics and reading fluency is amazing too. 

In Science, we have been planned a number of investigations based on everyday materials. We performed a simple test on which materials were the best at keeping Humpty Dumpty safe. We looked at plants this term and went on a number of walks around the school to identify different plants and trees. We grew our own sunflowers and watched them grow. 

In History, we looked at how toys have changed over the past. We looked at toys from over 100 years ago and how they are different or similar in the present. Mrs Brennan bought in her own childhood teddy and even her nans from 80 years ago. We even had Mrs Sankey talk about her favourite childhood toys. We brought in toys from home to share and looked at different timelines. We even evaluated, designed and made our own puppets in Design and Technology. 

Super-duper work and positive behaviour 1S! You have continued to impress me with your hard work and I have enjoyed watching you all blossom. I hope you all have a well-deserved break and I look forward to seeing you soon. I can’t believe we will be in the final term. 

Over and out, Mr Shah!

The end of another busy half term has arrived! We have crammed so much into the last few weeks that you are definitely in need of a rest. We also said goodbye to Mrs Wilson and welcomed Mr Jones into our classroom. 

In Maths we have looked at counting in different amounts and fractions. Some of the work has been really challenging and we have had to develop our resilience when facing problems. 

 In English we have been on lots of fun and exciting adventures with the Naughty Bus. Keep a look out for him children he may still be lurking about somewhere ready to cause mischief. We have also developed our writing skills and written longer stories.

In Science we have worked on lots of different scientific investigations including keeping Humpty Dumpty safe using different materials, floating and sinking and exploring the different parts of plants. We really enjoyed using magnifying glasses to get a close up view of them.

In P.E we have developed our football and hockey skills, learning how to control a ball and develop our team work when building up to playing a competitive game.

In History we learnt about the evolution of toys in the last 100 years, comparing them to toys we play with now. We also had the pleasure of visiting the Cannock Toy Museum and experiencing a very funny Punch and Judy show! 

Wow, we really need a week off to enjoy the sunshine! 

See you in Summer 2

Mrs Farmer/Mr Jones/Mrs Allen

Welcome back. We hope you’ve had a lovely holiday. We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills, Phonics practice and hearing them read regularly.

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – recapping all of our Phonics sounds from Phase 2 to Phase 5 in preparation for the Phonics test in June.

• Exploring a range of texts including information texts, instructions, recounts and narrative, beginning with ‘Whatever Next’ by Jill Murphy.

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing. Practising writing in sentences.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 100.

• Looking at mass and volume in measurement.

• Multiplication and division to include counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s as well as doubling and looking at equal amounts and arrays.

• Fraction – ½ and ¼ of a shape, object or quantity.

• Position and direction.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons, with a focus on summer.

• Animal groupings including carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

• Parts of a plant/tree.

• Materials, their uses and how we can group them.

• The Five Senses.

History

Toys – past and present and how they have changed over time, their similarities and differences. We will be thinking about how our toys differ to those that our grandparents would have played with.

Computing

Word Processing and use of Microsoft Word.

P.E./Sports

This terms topics will be Football and Hockey.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.  Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be looking at joy and happiness, sharing, telling the truth, valuing and judging others and our hopes and dreams.

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

What an enjoyable half term we have had 1D.  I feel honoured to have got to know you all this half term.  Thank you for making me feel so welcome in your classroom.

In English, we have read a selection of fiction and poetry books. In poetry we linked it to maths and our Numbers Day. The children used their imaginations to create their very own counting rhymes poems. On World Book Day it was lovey to see so many different characters from the children’s favourite stories.  We have also continued to work hard in phonics and using our phonics knowledge to read both real and alien words whilst learning so many alternative sounds.

In maths, we have worked hard on our knowledge of numbers within 50 using a range of concrete apparatus including Numicon, base ten, counters and cubes to help us understand the value of numbers. We have worked on counting in ones, grouping tens to make numbers up to 50, estimating numbers on a number line up to 50 and partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have also made direct comparison when comparing lengths and heights and have measured objects using non-standard units of measure.  In the last week of term we have measured and compared mass, volume and capacity which has been fun.

In Science we have finished our seasonal work on winter and have now moved onto spring. We have been busy looking for early signs of spring. We have spotted daffodils, buds forming on trees whilst watching the birds busily fluttering around whilst preparing their nests. Continue you to look out for these during the Easter Holidays. We have enjoyed looking at the parts of a plant and planting our very our seeds for the classroom.

In art we have looked at Arcimboldo and identified the many fruits and vegetables used in his work. We have explored the use of line, shape and colour whilst drawing our favourite piece of Arcimboldo’s portraits. After viewing Arcimboldo’s Librarian image, we were inspired to create our own art work in this style.

Our D&T topic saw us explore different ways to prepare a range of fruit and vegetables including cutting, grating and peeling. We were able to tingle our taste buds by designing and making our very own fruit salads. There were so many delicious fruit combinations. We were thrilled to see so many parents join us for our parent workshop. Parents and children alike loved completing the activities on offer including observational drawings and a healthy eating game.

Our focus in computing has been digital creativity. Using ‘2 design and Make’ on Purple Mash we have been able to select and change the colour required on a net, used the fill button to colour with ease, have been able to alter the net, and learnt how to alter the thickness of the painting brush all whilst continuing to open and save files. 

Have a well-earned rest 1D, happy Easter!

What a busy half term we have had so far!

1Q have been looking at Arcimboldo in Art and Food in Design and Technology, we hope you all enjoyed our Parent Workshop, it was good to see so many faces!

In Maths we have looked at one more, one less, place value, number bonds to 20, counting and measure. We have also been learning some counting songs as a year group, which has been great fun.

In English we have looked at instructions and story writing. We also had a great time writing our own number poems, which involved mermaids, frogs, fairies and cars to name a few!

In Science we have been looking at weather and created our own rain gauges which we check regularly. We have also carried out some really exciting experiments, including absorbency which included choosing material for a dog’s bed. We have also looked at plants and planted our own sunflowers.

In PE we have covered Athletics and Curling and have really improved our skills.

In Computing we  have created pictures and designed 3D nets.

We are looking forward to another busy term in Summer.

What an amazing end to the term! Your creativity has been seen immensely and your determination has really shone through. I am extremely proud of every single one of you as your progress this year is evident in your work and your positive attitude. You have earned 60 reward stickers due to your positive behaviour and let’s continue to earn more and try to reach 100. 

In Maths, we looked at place value, addition and subtraction and measures. We really enjoyed our learning on measures as we used practical apparatus to gain an understanding of length and mass. We used cubes to measure length and even got the balancing scales out to measure which object was heavier or lighter. We have learnt our numbers up to 50. We have even used the number line to add and subtract. 

In English, we applied a range of skills in our lessons to write an amazing setting description and a character description based on our mums. We even extended our sentences with conjunctions. We have enjoyed our Reciprocal Reading and Phonics lessons. 

In Science, we have been learning about plants. We learnt lots of interesting facts about the features by labelling a plant. We even planted our own sunflower seed to watch the plant grow. 

In Art, we looked at the artist, Arcimboldo and how he used a range of objects in his portraits. We completed observational drawings based on his work. In D.T, we started our new topic, ‘Fruits and Vegetables’. We really enjoyed: peeling, cutting and grating a carrot. We looked at making healthy choices. 

Our class assembly on the Gunpowder Plot was AMAZING too!

Super-duper work and behaviour 3S! You have continued to impress me with your hard work and I have enjoyed watching you all blossom. I hope you all have a well-deserved break and I look forward to seeing you soon. I can’t believe we will be in the summer term. 

Over and out, Mr Shah!

What a busy half-term we have had, 1WF!

In English, we have read a selection of fiction and poetry books. In poetry we linked it to maths and our Numbers Day. The children used their imaginations to create their very own counting rhymes poems.  Our trip to the library was a real treat! We couldn’t believe our eyes as to how many books there were to choose from. The children enjoyed sharing some of these with friends whilst taking in the surroundings of South Yardley Library. Please do not forget to join our local library if you haven’t already done so to be able to enjoy the many wonderful books they have to offer. Our love of books shone through on World Book Day. It was lovey to see so many different characters from the children’s favourite stories.  We have also continued to work hard in phonics and using our phonics knowledge to read both real and alien words whilst learning so many alternative sounds.

In Maths, we have worked hard on our knowledge of numbers within 50 using a range of concrete apparatus including Numicon, base ten, counters and cubes to help us understand the value of numbers. We have worked on counting in ones, grouping tens to make numbers up to 50, estimating numbers on a number line up to 50 and partitioning numbers into tens and ones. We have also made direct comparison when comparing lengths and heights and have measured objects using non-standard units of measure. We especially loved using the cubes to measure our footprint before comparing it to our friends.  We have continued to really worked our maths brains hard this half term.

In Science we have finished our seasonal work on winter and have now moved onto spring. We have been busy looking for early signs of spring. We have spotted daffodils, buds forming on trees whilst watching the birds busily fluttering around whilst preparing their nests. We have enjoyed looking at the parts of a plant and planting our very our seed. We look forward to seeing the progress of the seedlings that will be coming home with the children in the coming days. Don’t forget to post your updates of them on our Twitter page!

In Art we have looked at Arcimboldo and identified the many fruits and vegetables used in his work. We have explored the use of line, shape and colour whilst drawing our favourite piece of Arcimboldo’s portraits. After viewing Arcimboldo’s Librarian image, we were inspired to create our own art work in this style. We had many wonderful ideas including nurses designed from medical equipment, a sports person created using a variety of PE equipment and a banker from money.

Our D&T topic saw us explore different ways to prepare a range of fruit and vegetables including cutting, grating and peeling. We were able to tingle our taste buds by designing and making our very own fruit kebab. There were so many delicious fruit combinations. What would you have on yours? We were thrilled to see so many parents join us for our parent workshop. Parents and children alike loved completing the activities on offer including observational drawings and a healthy eating game.

Our focus in Computing has been digital creativity. Using ‘2 design and Make’ on Purple Mash we have been able to select and change the colour required on a net, used the fill button to colour with ease, have been able to alter the net, and learnt how to alter the thickness of the painting brush all whilst continuing to open and save files. 

Welcome back. We hope you’ve had a lovely holiday. We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – learning alternate sounds for letters and digraphs. E.G - C saying S in some words – circle.

• Exploring a range of texts including information texts, instructions, recounts and narrative. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing. Practising writing in sentences.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Learning to recognise place value in numbers up to 50 by reading, writing and counting using range of counting equipment and Numicon.

• Grouping, partitioning and counting numbers up to 50.

• Comparing length and height.

• Measuring length using objects.

• Comparing mass, volume and capacity. 

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Parts of a plant/tree.

• Planting and watching seeds growing.

Foundation subjects

We will be completing an art topic based around the work of the artist ‘Arcimboldo’.

In Design and Technology we will be looking at Fruit and Vegetables. We would to invite you to a parent workshop based around this topic on Tuesday 14th March at 2pm. 

Computing

This term we will be learning how to find information safely on the computer.

P.E./Sports:

This term's topics will be curling and athletics.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.  Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Parents Evening

If you haven't booked an appointment already, we would like to invite you to attend our Parents Evenings, taking place on the following dates:

• Wednesday 8th March 3.40pm - 6.50pm

• Thursday 9th March 3.40pm - 5.30pm

Click here for further information and to book.

Class Assemblies

Our class assemblies are all taking place this half term. They all begin at 2.45pm on the following dates.

• 1Q – Thursday 16th March

• 1S – Tuesday 21st March

• 1WF – Wednesday 22nd March 

• 1D – Wednesday 15th March 

Thank you - Year 1

Wow! What a busy half term we have had in 1D! 

For our English lessons, we have been writing instructions. Instructions on how to get dressed, how to wash our hands, and more excitingly, how to make pancakes! We have also discussed the structure of a range of stories and sequenced large parts of it too! 

We have added reciprocal reading and guided reading into our timetable this term, which has helped us look at stories in greater depth and within smaller groups. 

In our phonics (ELS) lessons, we have been learning some alternative phase 4 sounds. This has helped the children become even more incredible at their reading and writing. I have been really impressed with their reading especially so please continue to read at home.

In Maths, we have been learning about place value, and addition and subtraction within 20. We have learnt number bonds to 20, looked at number stories and problem solving scenarios. We always use concrete apparatus to help us, tens frames, number lines and use lots of number songs to help us embed our learning. They are so much fun!

  In our Science lessons, we have been looking at Seasonal change. We have been noticing the many changes that winter brings, talked about what we need to wear in Winter, looked at how many hours of daylight there are, made a rain gauge and monitored the rainfall over a period of time, and we made comparisons to other seasons. 

We have also looked at animal including humans and their structures. 

In PE, we have learnt how to play tennis, and cricket. This has enable the children to improve their hand-eye co-ordination, their catching and batting skills, as well as teamwork, co-operation and turn-taking. Good job 1D! I know you particularly enjoyed your Tennis lessons.

In our Geography lessons, we have been learning about the United Kingdom. We know that the United Kingdom is made up of four countries and can name them, we know the capital cities, can name some landmarks, know about physical and human features, and we can create maps too! 

Well it’s been a busy, but fun term and I know you have enjoyed it immensely (I have too!).

Enjoy the school holidays and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday 27th February 2023!

Parents, thank you for your on-going support and feedback. 

Stay safe everyone!

Miss David and Mrs Jones

What a busy half term we have had so far!

1Q have been looking at The UK in Geography and we have looked at the 4 countries of the UK and their capital and major cities. We have looked at landmarks and can now class human and physical features.

In Maths we have looked at numbers to 20, we have used a number of ways to use the number line as well as concrete apparatus to solve word and number problems in addition and subtraction. We have also been learning our number bonds to 20 and practising our counting songs, which has been great fun.

In English we have looked at instructions and story writing. We have looked at a range of stories and looked at their sequence and structure. We have added reciprocal reading into our timetable, which has helped us to look at our stories in more depth. We have covered the stage 4 alternative sounds in phonics, which is helping us in our independent reading and writing.

In Science we have been looking at weather and created our own rain gauges which we check regularly. We have also looked at animal including humans and their structures.

In PE we have covered cricket and tennis, we have really improved our skills.

We are looking forward to another busy half term in Spring 2.

I can’t believe we are half way through the year and what a term it has been! I have been really impressed with how you have embedded our school values into your learning and this has shown in the progress you have made. Your enthusiasm and positive behaviour earned you two class rewards and you must keep this up.  

In Maths, we learnt all about place value to 20 and addition and subtraction to 20. We looked at finding 1 more and 1 less to a number up to 20. We found number bonds to 20 and you could even tell me how many ones and tens there are in a number up to 20. You have started to learn about the bar model and have used lots of exciting provisions to support your learning. 

In English, we wrote instructions on how to get Froggy dressed; we even sequenced the story after our Reciprocal reading session. You wrote more instructions on how to wash your hands and used lots of vocabulary. We have learnt some new alternative sounds in Phonics and have continued to impress with your fluency and blending. 

In Science, we have been learning about animals, including humans. We have identified and named a variety of common animals that are birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. We recapped our learning on identifying and naming a variety of common animals that are carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. We described and compared the structure of a variety of common animals. Finally, we identified, named labelled the basic parts of the human body with each sense. We also looked at winter this half-term as part of our learning on seasonal changes. 

In our Foundation subjects, we looked at where in the world we live through our Geography topic. We looked at the United Kingdom and used the atlases, globes to spot the countries and capital cities. We looked at physical and human features. 

Super-duper work and behaviour 1S! I am really excited to what spring 2 brings. I hope you all have a well-deserved break and I look forward to seeing you in spring 2. 

Over and out, Mr Shah!

What a busy half-term we have had, 1WF!

In English, we have read a selection of fiction texts including the traditional tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Froggy Gets Dressed, I Don’t Want to Brush my Teeth and Mr Wolf’s Pancakes. We have also focused on non-fictions texts to link in with our science seasonal work all about winter. We have continued to learn how to sequence events in stories, located information and have written character descriptions as well as learning how to write a set of instructions.  We have continued to make sure that our sentences have capital letters, finger spaces and full stops whilst working hard to ensure that we spell our harder to read and spell words correctly too.

Whilst in Phonics, we have to continued to learn our Phase 5 sounds with alternative spelling patterns with the use of our phonics scheme. We are trying hard to identify and read our known sounds within both real and alien words. 

In Maths, we have worked hard on our knowledge of numbers within 20 using a range of concrete apparatus including Numicon, base ten, counters and cubes to help us understand the value of numbers 10 to 20. We have worked on finding 1 more and l less within 20, familiarised ourselves with number lines and where numbers are placed whilst also ordering and comparing two numbers to 20. Within our addition and subtraction work we have been adding ones to add, finding and making number bonds to 20, recalling doubles and learning all about near doubles, using ones to subtract and subtracting by counting back. We have really worked our maths brains hard this half term.

In Science we have continued to look at the seasons focusing on winter and the changes we observe, animals that hibernate, types of weather we would expect to have and how we as humans adapt to the drop in temperature.  We enjoyed making our class rain gauge and placing it in our playground area to see how much rain fell around our school over a period of one week. To consolidate our learning about animals including humans we enjoyed our junk modelling afternoon where we made our very own animal. There was a wonderful selection of animals and insects from butterflies and tigers to crocodiles and spiders. 

We started our UK topic and have had a great time travelling around Great Britain and exploring the four countries. We have been busy learning the capital cities and the many famous man-made and natural landmarks that each city has to offer. We have thoroughly enjoyed learning a song about the UK. It really did help us to create our own playdough shaped Great Britain whilst successfully labelling the countries and cities. 

Our focus in computing has been about keeping us safe online and using the safe search button when searching the internet for both information and images. During Safer Internet day we had fun whilst learning the importance of staying safe online and knowing who we can talk to when things upset us. We have also learnt all about algorithms and the need for a set of clear and precise instructions to ensure that they can be followed without any errors. 

Well done 1WF. We are so proud of all of you for your work this half-term. Have a wonderful half term break.

Mrs Farmer and Mrs Wilson

Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a relaxing Christmas break .We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – completing Phase 4 Alternative sounds and reviewing Phase 5 sounds and their applications.

• Exploring a range of texts including instructions, performance poetry and narrative. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing.

• Handwriting — correct letter formation and sizing for both upper and lower case letters

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Place value within 20.

• Addition and subtraction within 20.

• Recapping the part, part whole model and bar model to support our understanding of addition within 20

• Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10)

• Solving addition problems

• Subtracting by taking away / crossing off to find out how many are left.

• Subtracting using a number line

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Identifying and naming a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock.

• Describing the simple physical features of a variety of everyday materials, including transparent, soft, hard, flexible

Foundation subjects

Our foundation topic this half term is The UK.

In Geography we will be learning about:

• The UK and it’s location on the globe

• The 4 UK capital cities and their features

Computing

This term we will be recapping our school computing rules that we discussed during the first half of the autumn term and reviewing digital safety. We will be beginning our Digital Creativity Unit which covers To Design and Make on Purple Mash as well as using Microsoft Paint.

P.E./Sports

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.  Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be developing their cricket and tennis skills.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Thank you

Year 1 

We have had such an amazing term in 1D! The children have demonstrated such resilience, determination and great teamwork. I am very proud of all your achievements so far, so keep up the good work!

In Maths, we have been learning addition, subtraction and shape. We have been learning how to add and subtract numbers within 10 using a variety of methods and apparatus. We have been recording our learning using number sentences, number stories, part-whole models, a tens frame and bar models. The children are becoming increasingly confident and are ready to move on to numbers beyond 10 next term. 

In English, the children have been writing with increasing confidence and independence. They are remembering to use capital letters, finger spaces and either a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark at the end of their sentences. We have regular handwriting session too which helps ensure the children present their work beautifully (which they are). We have used many stories like; Leaf Man, Stick Man, and Beauty and the Beast as a stimulus to encourage writing. We wrote an adventure story about Leaf Man using the words, First, Next and Finally, and we also wrote a recount of Beauty and the Beast, after our trip to the Theatre. 

In Science, we have continued to learn about and explore seasonal change. We have explored the ever-changing weather conditions, discovered which animals are getting ready to hibernate and we monitored the weather over a period of time. In Science, we have also looked at materials, described its properties and discovered what it is made from. 

In our Foundation Subject (Design and Technology), we have been learning about Mechanisms. We designed our own Christmas card, we made our own Christmas card which had a moving mechanism that can slide or rotate, and we even evaluated our work. The children enjoyed this immensely and did a really good job!

In Computing, we have been learning to log on and access Purple Mash. We have been typing up sentences and learning how to create capital letters, spaces between words and a full stop at the end, using the keyboard. 

In P.E, we have demonstrated some fantastic Gymnastics and Bowling skills. We had so much fun!

I hope you enjoy the Christmas holidays and spend some wonderful time with your family. I look forward to seeing you all in 2023!

Parents, thank you for your continued support.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Miss David & Mrs Jones

Welcome to 1Q’s end of Autumn Term blog. We have been busy bees this half term and the children have all progressed really well.

In Maths we have been looking at place value to 10 as well as addition and subtraction within 10. We have been learning our number bonds (including to 10) and have enjoyed Farmer Pete helping us learn these! We have practised all of our skills using the part, part, whole model and bar models. These have helped us to find fact families and solve missing number problems.

In English we have been practising writing our sentences and where possible, extending them using the conjunction ‘and’. We have been working on our handwriting and spelling as well as using finger spaces, capital letters and full stops.

In ELS we have completed our phase 5 phonics and reviewed all of our letter sounds. We have enjoyed our new ELS books this term and hope you have at home too.

In Science we have looked at Autumn as party of our seasonal change topic, we have studied materials and their properties and also animals including pets and how to care for them.

In D&T we have produced cards for our families using sliders, levers and rotating parts. We hope you like them!

In Computing we have practised our logging on, typing and drawing skills using Purple Mash.

In PE we have practised our gymnastic and bowling skills, which we had great fun doing.

We hope you have a lovely Christmas break and look forward to seeing you all again in the new Spring Term.

What an amazing end to the term! Your resilience and determination to do well has really shone and you should all be proud of your achievements so far. The progress you have made during autumn is wonderful to witness and you must keep it up now. You have earned 40 reward stickers due to your positive behaviour and let’s continue to earn more. 

In Maths, we were focused on addition, subtraction and shape. We have used our learning in Maths to write number sentences and are very confident to do so. We are able to use the symbols (add, take away and equal to) independently. We have used the tens frame and the counters to support us with the questions throughout. We even applied the method to word problems and even some reasoning questions. 

In English, we have continued to flourish and write more independently. At the start of the term, we focused on the text: Leaf Man and wrote our own adventure story using: First, Next and Finally. We designed our own Leaf Man and thought of different places they could visit. We watched Beauty and the Beast and did a recount of our trip. We even based our writing assessment on the classic tale. We have smashed it!

In Science, we have continued to learn about seasonal changes and properties of materials. We recorded and observed changes in the weather and used this to create a bar chart as a class. We looked at different properties of materials and then grouped them and described them. 

In or Foundation subjects, we looked at Environmental Art and made a portrait using conkers, acorns, twigs and other natural resources. In our History topic, we looked at the Gunpowder Plot. Finally, in our Design and Technology topic, we designed, made and then evaluated our festive cards with moving mechanism, such as a: slider or lever. 

Super-duper work and behaviour 1S! You have continued to impress me with your hard work and I have enjoyed watching you all blossom. I hope you all have a great festive holiday and I look forward to seeing you in January. 

Over and out, Mr Shah!

"What a busy end to the autumn term for 1WF.It has been fantastic to see everyone working incredibly hard throughout their transition from Reception into Year 1.

In Maths, we have been working on addition and subtraction within 10 through looking at parts and wholes and recognising fact families. We began to identify and recall our number bonds to 10 and have enjoyed have enjoyed learning the number bus song to help us. Remember to keep singing lots of number songs at home as it can really help with your counting!

In English, we have read a selection of stories including Funnybones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg, Leaf Man by Lois Ahlen and Stick Man by Julia Donaldson. We have continued to learn how to sequence events in stories and have been focusing on predicting what might happen next in a story.  We have been working hard on our sentences using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Whilst in Phonics, we continued to learn alternative sounds.

During Science this half term, we have continued to look at seasonal change focusing on autumn and have observed the many changes around us including the weather. We were able to observe temperatures across the seasons and used data loggers to record our findings. We have also been looking at naming and grouping everyday materials whilst also being able to describe each of their properties.

In our foundation subjects, we have completed our topic on Environmental Art and have explored the use of line, shape and colour in drawing. We have also experimented with natural materials to create our own natural person. We have thoroughly enjoyed exploring and evaluating a range of existing greeting card products and then designing and making our very own cards incorporating sliders and leavers. What an amazing job we did too! 

Amongst all of this we were still able to enjoy a trip to The Old Rep theatre in Birmingham to watch Beauty and the Beast. What an absolute treat! We are now very much looking forward to Christmas and spending time with our families.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas break, whatever you do. Make sure you come back refreshed in the New Year as we have lots more exciting topics coming up in 2023! 

Welcome back! We hope you’ve had a relaxing half term break .We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – completing Phase 4 Clusters and starting Phase 5 sounds and their applications.

• Exploring a range of texts including instructions, performance poetry and narrative. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing.

• Handwriting — correct letter formation and sizing for both upper and lower case letters

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Addition and subtraction within 10.

• Introducing the part, part whole model to support our understanding of addition within 10

• Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10)

• Solving addition problems

• Subtracting by taking away / crossing off to find out how many are left.

• Subtracting using a number line

• Adding and subtracting 1 or 2 to a given number.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Identifying and naming a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock.

• Describing the simple physical features of a variety of everyday materials, including transparent, soft, hard, flexible

Foundation subjects

Our first foundation topic is Environmental Art and then we will move on to D&T.

In Art we will be learning about:

• Learning about who Andy Goldsworthy and exploring the use of line, shape and colour in drawing 

• Creating artwork in the style of Andy Goldsworthy by experimenting with a range of natural materials.

In D&T we will be learning about:

• How to make a simple mechanism move with sliders and levers

• How to use a range of materials and components, including construction materials, components to measure, mark out, cut and join and combine to create a slider or leaver.

Computing

This term we will be learning how to log onto the computers whilst ensuring that we adhere to our school computing rules that we discussed during the first half of the autumn term. We will be introduced to Purple Mash and begin to complete 2do activities set by our class teachers.

P.E./Sports: Football and Gymnastics

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so school sweatshirts/cardigans should be worn over P.E. t-shirts. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

If your child wears earrings there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, teachers are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be developing their gymnastics and bowling skills.

P.E. Kit reminder

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils in Years 1-6 should come to school in their P.E. kit.

Indoor and outdoor P.E. lessons (during warm weather):

• Plain white t-shirt.

• Plain black/grey shorts (or leggings if required).

• Black pumps/plimsoles (slip-on or velcro) or appropriate trainers (suitable for sport, not fashion trainers).

Outdoor P.E. lessons (during cold weather):

• Plain white t-shirt.

• Plain black/grey tracksuit bottoms (normal fit, not 'flared') or leggings.

• School sweatshirts/cardigans to be worn over P.E. t-shirt.

The following items are not appropriate:

• Football (or other sports) kits or tops.

• Hoodies or non-school sweatshirts.

• Coloured t-shirts or t-shirts with slogans or pictures on.

• Coloured shorts or shorts with patterns or pictures on.

ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

R.E./P.H.S.E.

In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Autumn 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Christmas Fayre

Yardley Fundraisers (our PTFA) are pleased to announce that our Christmas Fayre will return this year!  It will take place on Friday 2nd December 2022, 4.30pm-7.00pm.

Please visit our Christmas Fayre page here for full details of the event, including:

• Details of what to expect at our fayre

• Details of our ‘Bring a Donation’ non-uniform day

• Raffle and tombola donations

• Information for people interested in having a stall

Year 1 will be there with a stall, we hope to see you there too!

Thank you

Year 1 

Firstly, I would like to say a massive well done! You have all settled in to Year 1, beautifully. You have an established routine, you know exactly where everything is and, more importantly, you are happy!

I have been really impressed with how well your listening skills have progressed this term. We have been working really hard on improving our listening skills and already, I can see a massive difference. Well done 1D!

In our English lessons, we have read many stories including; Foggy Foggy Forest, Mixed and The Gruffalo. We have used these stories as a prompt to encourage lots of writing, creativity and, of course, a love of reading. The children have thoroughly enjoyed these stories and I do hope they have been sharing their learning with you at home. I have been really impressed with all their writing so far. We are currently working on correct letter formation and any additional support given at home, will be much appreciated.

Maths this term, has been all about Place Value. We can now confidently work with numbers within 10. We can name them, order them, compare them using correct mathematical language. We can say which is one more and one less than any given number, and we can say whether a number is greater than, fewer than, or equal to any given number. Place value is a core skill in Maths and without it, a solid foundation would not be established. Please continue to support your child with this at home.

In Science, we have been learning about seasonal changes and animals (including humans). We spent the first couple of weeks talking about the season: Summer. We discussed what they noticed about it, talked about what they did over the summer holidays and discussed what people traditionally do and wear during the summer months. 

Then we moved on to talking about animals (including humans). We sorted animals into groups and different categories based on what they eat, where they live and their characteristics. The children were really enthused by the lessons and were eager to learn more.

For our Foundation lessons, this term, we have been learning how to be a fantastic artist and a great historian. In our Art lessons we have been using paint to learn how to tint (by adding white paint), shade (by adding black paint) and mix two primary colours together to make a secondary colour. The children have absolutely loved it!

In History, we have been learning about the famous ‘Gunpowder Plot’. The big question was ‘Why do we celebrate Bonfire night?’ The children have really enjoyed learning about this past event and I hope they have been sharing their learning with you at home. We have also learnt a song about the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ and I am sure they will sing it to you, if you request it!

I hope you enjoy a well-deserved break 1D! Get plenty of rest and come back ready for another term of fun and practical learning. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.

Parents, thank you for your continued support. You have been great too!

Miss David & Mrs Jones

Wow! What a fantastic start 1Q have made to the Year. We have had a busy, fun-packed half term of learning.

We have been working really hard on Place Value to 10 in Maths, including use of new vocabulary such as greater than, less than and equal to. We can compare numbers and amounts and will use this valuable knowledge when we move onto manipulating larger amounts.

In English we have looked at a range of texts including Elmer, The Foggy Foggy Forest and Mixed. We have written sentences and focused on using capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Our hand writing is looking great!

In Phonics we have recapped our old sounds and are now learning 4 new graphemes each week with ELS. We are using these skills in our reading and writing.

In Art we have looked at colour mixing, which amazed us and was so much fun and we are now learning about The Gunpowder Plot in History. We have performed the Haka in PE and honed our Activity Skills. We have also had some great outdoor fun in Forest School.

We cannot wait for next half term for more fun and learning!

What a fantastic start to the year we have had in Year 1! I am so proud of every single one of you and it is truly amazing to see how far you have all come this half term. You have all settled into 1S really well and your behaviour and positive attitude has really shone.  

I have been really impressed with your listening skills as this is something we have really worked hard on during this term. It can be quite daunting starting a new year group with a new teacher but you have all coped really brilliantly. 

In Math's, we have been looking at developing our skills in place value. We have found it a challenge but we haven’t given up and have shown super resilience at all times. We can count to 10 and in any order too. We have looked at 1 more and 1 less than using the gator symbols and have really enjoyed getting all the practical apparatus out to support our learning. We must continue to revise place value as it is a very important skill. 

This half term in English, we have read stories, including: Foggy Foggy Forest, Mixed and The Gruffalo. Based on these stories, we have done activities, including roleplay, drawing our favourite characters, matching rhyming words and then producing some AMAZING sentences. We are so impressed so far!  We have even learnt some new sounds in our Phonics lessons too. 

In Science, we have been learning about seasonal changes and animals, including humans. We looked at the changes in summer and then had a go at the matching activity. In our other Science topic, we grouped animals and even looked at their eating habits. We are so fascinated. 

In our Foundation curriculum, we looked at colour mixing in Art and the Gunpowder plot in History. We really enjoyed learning about the primary and secondary colours and why we celebrate Bonfire night.  

Well done 1S! You have had a great start to the year and I have enjoyed getting to know you all. I hope you all have a great half term holiday and I look forward to seeing you soon. 

Over and out, Mr Shah!

What a busy start to Year 1 for 1WF. We are very proud of you and have enjoyed seeing all of your enthusiasm and positive attitudes when settling in to a new year group with two new teachers and all the new routines that it has bought.

In Maths, we have extremely busy sorting and counting objects, recognising number words and counting on from a given number. We have also used concrete apparatus to help us find 1 more and 1 less than a given number. We have also compared groups of objects and have begun to identify greater than, less than and equal to. Remember, to keep singing lots of number songs at home as it can really help with your counting both forwards and backwards!

In English, we have read a large selection of stories including What Makes Me a Me, The Foggy Foggy Forest, A Quiet Night In and Mixed which linked in perfectly with our Art topic. We have been focusing on writing sentences using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Whilst in Phonics, we have been recapping Phase 2 and 3 sounds and have now begun Phase 5 sounds.

During Science this half term, we have been looking at seasonal change from Summer to Autumn and have observed the changes around us. We have also been looking at animals, including humans and have learnt a lot about our bodies and how wonderful our senses really are! We have also been busy grouping animals and discovering if they are a carnivore, herbivore or an omnivore.

In art we have had great fun experimenting with paint finding out about the primary colours and how these can be mixed to create secondary colours. Our exploration didn’t stop there as we also found out how to make different shades and tints by adding black and white to a colour. We were impressed by our findings! 

In history, we have learning all about the difference between things that happened in the past and present through the story of the gunpowder plot. We were fascinated on how the plotters gained access and how Guy Fawkes was arrested and taken to the Tower of London.

Well done 1WF! You have had a busy start to the year and we have enjoyed getting to know you all. We wish you all a wonderful break and make sure you come back refreshed as we have lots more exciting topics coming up next half term. 

Welcome back to Yardley Primary School! It has been wonderful to introduce pupils and their families to Year One and we look forward to getting to know you all.

Parental support is something we value and truly appreciate, especially at this crucial stage in your child’s learning and development.  This overview will give you an insight into what your child is learning at school and will tell you how you can support your child to reach their full potential. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – revisiting the Phase 2 to Phase 4 sounds and their applications.

• Phonics – Exploring a wide range of texts and texts suitable for independent early reading. 

• Learning and sequencing events in familiar stories.

• Use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces)

• Handwriting — correct letter formation and pride in presentation.

Reading planners will be issued to each child, very soon. Pupils are heard read at least once a week, by the class teacher, on a 1:1 basis. They also have ample opportunities to read throughout the school day.  We expect you to hear your child read every day, as this is essential for their progress. 

Maths

We will begin by looking at Place Value (within 10) and Geometry.

We will be:

• Counting forwards and backwards

• Reading, writing and ordering numbers in digits up to 10.

• Comparing groups of objects and using mathematical language to explain

• Learning the value of numbers up to 10 through counting a variety of different objects.

• Number bonds within 10.

• Recognising number patterns and using comparative language like; more, fewer, greater than and less/fewer than.

• Addition and subtraction within 10.

• To recognise 2D and 3D shapes.

We also appreciate your support at home here, too. Maths is often best taught at home incidentally when applied to real-world situations. Putting number songs on often can also help. 

Science

Our first Science topic is Seasonal Change. We will be learning about:

• The four seasons and the months of the year (Autumn/ start of winter)

• Changes in weather and weather symbols 

• Scientific skills such as observation and grouping

Foundation Subjects 

Our Foundation subjects cover; History, Geography, Art, and Design and Technology. 

This term we will be learning about; Colour mixing, The Gunpowder Plot, Environmental Art.

The children will be able to tell us:

• How pupils identify as individuals 

• How pupils recognise themselves as different from others

• How pupils can recognise themselves as different from people in the past 

• The pupils’ own histories and changes within their lifetimes

• Different art techniques such as collaging and learning about the different art styles of artists such as Matisse

Computing

This term we will be learning about Digital Safety, Texts and Graphics, and publishing.

• Pupils will become familiar with the computer and how to interact appropriately with digital technology.

• Pupils will be learning how to ‘log-on’ and navigate appropriate school computer programs. 

• Pupils will begin to develop their keyboard and typing skills.

P.E./Sports: Haka

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so school sweatshirts/cardigans should be worn over P.E. t-shirts. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

If your child wears earrings there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, teachers are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be dancing the Haka and playing a range of team games to build their communication and teamwork skills. 

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about understanding ourselves and our friendships. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Autumn 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

The pupils have had a wonderful end this half term to their Year 1 experience. 

Pupils have made a lot of progress and have had a lot of fun. Pupils this year have largely learned to read fluently, write in clear sentences, learn basic number skills as well as many other skills.

In English, we have enjoyed topics on The Seaside and Pirates. Pupils have enjoyed developing narratives and have written some superb descriptive work. 

The start of the half term saw Year 1 pupils complete their Phonics Screening Check. You will have had your child’s results within their school report. All pupils tried their hardest and those that didn’t meet the threshold of 32 will have an opportunity to try again next year.

In Maths, we have enjoyed a lot of time learning through play and enjoying the benefits of outdoor learning. Pupils have learned about fractions, measurement, time, as well as revisiting basic number skills. 

In our Foundation subjects, pupils have enjoyed an Art topic on Arcimboldo and a Geography topic all about travel. In our Geography topic ‘Places People Go’ the class loved role-playing the airport experience and then learning all about African villages later on.

Thank you, parents, for your attendance at our Sports Day this year. The pupils really felt supported and you helped to make it such a success. The children learned lots about competing in large events, taking part and teamwork. 

Also, pupil reports have been e-mailed out recently. Each report is carefully written and considered and so your feedback is greatly appreciated. There are feedback forms with each report.

Next year, your child will be in 2H, Miss Hanif’s class, and we finish the year continuing to have fun and preparing for Year 2. Have a super Summer holiday!

Here we are at the end of the school year! I can't believe that Summer is here and you will all be in Year 2 with Mr Wearing after the holiday.

We have had a busy term in 1R. We have all completed our Phonics Test and are busy using our Phonic skills to improve our reading. We have been learning about the seaside and have created some seaside poems and information fact files about rockpools.

In Maths we have practised addition, subtraction, simple multiplication and division, position and direction.

We have enjoyed our YPC topics about the artist Archimboldo and The Places People Go where we have learned about the continent of Africa and compared the village of Mugaurameno in Zambia to Yardley.

In P.E. we enjoyed our first Sports Day at Yardley Primary School and have also learned some hockey skills.

In Science we have looked at our environment in Summer and investigated mini beasts.

I have had a wonderful year with you all and have really enjoyed watching you all grow in confidence and independence.

I know you will all have a wonderful time in Year 2 and that you will make Mr Wearing so proud to be your teacher.

Have a lovely summer.

Hello everyone, it has been a fantastic final half term in 1Q. We have had so much fun with our learning.

In Maths, we have covered a range of skills for measurement, position and direction as well as recapping our number bonds and addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. We have made the most of our outdoor learning sessions to experiment with equipment during this lovely weather.

In English, we have read a range of stories and sequenced events as well as focussing on character descriptions. We have worked on fact files to show our knowledge of rock pools that we have studied in Science and English.

In Science we have had fun learning about rock pools as well as bees on our Science Day. We have also had some caterpillars in class which we are hoping will become butterflies before we break up!

In YPC we have looked at Archimboldo and his style of Art and finally we have studied Africa. We had a fantastic day going on Safari, eating wraps and rice, playing drums and dancing to African music and making animal masks. We enjoyed our flight there and back after going through airport security with our passports and flight tickets.

In PE we have covered Athletics and Hockey and all really enjoyed our Sports Day.

1Q are looking forward to becoming 2M, what a brilliant year we have had!

What a busy half term we have had to finish our year together. The weather has definitely warmed up and has provided us with so many opportunities to get outside to enjoy our learning opportunities.

In English we have written our own seaside stories. We spent a long time looking at what things we may experience at the seaside and experiencing sand between our toes, walking over rocks and paddling in the sea. We then researched rock pools and wrote our own fact files on them. We rounded off our year with becoming pirates and writing character descriptions of our pirate personalities.

In Maths we have looked at fractions of both shapes and amounts. We used lots of different methods like sorting objects into groups and folding paper shapes to understand how to create fractions. We have also been working with time and learning to recognise o’clock and half past times again. We had a lot of fun playing time games to consolidate our knowledge. We have spent lots of time taking our maths activities outside to practise all of the areas we have covered so far this year.

In our Science lessons, we have continued to learn about Seasonal Change, looking at the changes between spring and summer. We found out why it is important to stay safe in the sun and why it isn’t safe to look directly at the sun. We identified and named a variety of common mini beasts and then grouped them according to their characteristics. We also revisited our five senses and made links to our English work about the seaside. We thought about what we might hear, see, feel, taste and smell at the seaside. We used videos and stories as well as our own personal experiences to describe these. We then had a fantastic time creating our very own rock pools after completing lots of research on the types of sea creatures you would find in and around them. To end the term, we took part in a Science day all about Darwin’s Orchids’ who was also well-known for his research into plants and insects and pollination. The children had great fun creating their bee finger puppet before visiting the cheesy puff ‘pollen’.

In YPC, we began the half term by looking at the work of the artist, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, and tried to recreate his work in our own style. As part of our Places People Go topic, we travelled to Africa by plane. We had such an amazing time going to the ‘airport’ and travelling through the different areas before embarking on our flight and touring Africa. We have compared a village in Africa to our local area and thought about how their lives are different to ours.

In computing, we have had fun with Beebots in class. We have had to programme the robots to take simple routes and navigate around a route. We had to be really clear with our instructions as we learnt that robots don’t have a brain so they can’t think for themselves.

We have had such an amazing year and crammed so much in. We couldn’t be prouder of what you have achieved this year and how you have dealt with the different challenges that have faced you. We hope that you have the most wonderful summer and we look forward to seeing all of your smiling faces again in September when you become 2H. We shall miss you!

Mrs Farmer/Mrs Wilson/Mrs Allen

We’ve so far had a super start to the Summer term in Year 1. This week we’ve celebrated the Queen’s Jubilee in style and settled back into our lessons. This overview should help you to better understand what your child is learning at school. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – revisiting the Phase 3, 4 and 5 sounds and their applications.

• Phonics – Exploring a wide range of texts and texts suitable for independent early reading. 

• Planning and writing a series of stories and poetry.

• Revising the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces, question and exclamation marks)

• Handwriting — correct letter formation with a non-cursive style, as per recent school policy.

Pupils are heard reading on a 1:1 basis each week and reading with your child yourself is every day is extremely helpful for their progress. 

Maths

We will begin by looking largely at number work. We will be learning about:

• Place value and understanding two-digit numbers

• Consolidating common number bonds (including those to 20)  

• Improving number sense e.g. recognising number patterns and gaining a deeper understanding of number within 10 

• Revising the four operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division 

• Pupils will be consolidating their counting  by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s 

We also appreciate your support at home here, too. Maths is often best taught at home incidentally when applied to real-world situations. Putting number songs on often can also help. 

Science

Our first Science topic is revising Seasonal Change. We will also be learning about:

• Animals including humans

• Minibeasts and habitats

• Scientific skills such as observation and grouping

YPC

Our first YPC topic will be Art based. We will be learning about:

• The artist Arcimboldo and his use of fruit and vegetables in Art

We’ll then be moving on to our Geography topic in which we’ll be:

• Comparing where we live in Yardley to a village in Africa.

Computing

This term we will be learning about programming. 

• Pupils will become familiar with the concept of algorithms and programming.

• Pupils will be learning about robots and their application to our daily lives.  

• Pupils will continue to develop their keyboard and typing skills.

P.E./Sports: 

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that on hot days pupils have sun cream applied to their faces and arms before they get to school and they are provided with sunglasses and a cap.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be learning about various Athletic skills such as throwing, relay and jumping. Later in the half-term, pupils will be learning how to play hockey and apply these skills in team games.  

This half-term pupils will have the opportunity to take part in Sports Day. All pupils will take part in a carousel of activities across the morning on Monday 27th June, starting at 9.30am.  Please check your emails as a letter about this will be arriving your way shortly.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about understanding ourselves and our friendships. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values.  

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Thank you 

Year 1 

It has been a wonderful half-term in 1H and the pupils are working hard continuing to enjoy being in school each day. Pupils are really beginning to apply themselves and show the progress they’ve made up this point. 

In English and Phonics, pupils have been continuing to develop their understanding of sentence structures and write for a range of purposes. We’ve been reading many books together and the pupils are really enjoying the new Oxford reading books which I’m sure you are by now familiar with at home. 

On returning from half-term, pupils will be sitting the statutory Phonics screening so continuing to read and support with reading at home is essential. 

Here is a link to the pure sounds to support your child at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCI2mu7URBc

In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of multiplication and division. We’ve recently begin to understand ‘time’ so now is also a good time to have discussions around times of the day, when events happen in the day and reading clock faces.

In other subjects, we have been exploring the U.K by looking at maps and getting excited by the capital cities of the four countries. Pupils have had the opportunity also to revisit sketching skills to draw some excellent images of Birmingham landmarks. In D.T. we are finding out about preparing food. Pupils have enjoyed using simple kitchen tools and are ready to begin helping you in the kitchen, too. 

Remember to follow us on Twitter to see each week what the class are up to in their classroom and to receive any other useful updates. Also, please remember PE days are Monday and Friday and earrings should be taken out or covered and hair tied up. 

Secure velcro shoes also help with forest school days too as pupils are responsible for putting their shoes on and off several times during the morning. 

Keep an eye on your e-mails for upcoming events, such as the family jubilee party on the first week back. Have a very lovely break and we’ll see you again for Summer 2.

I say this every half term, but it really has been another fantastic one in 1Q. The children have worked so hard and achieved great results in their progress across every subject.

In Maths we have covered measurement, including mass, capacity and length. We have also looked at arrays and sharing for multiplication and division, ending up with learning how to tell the time to the hour and half past.

In England we have covered story telling with a big focus on ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson, in which we created some great new characters for the adventure to continue.

In Science we have looked at weather, signs of Spring, plants and pets. Our favourite part was creating our own animal in junk modelling and labelling its main features.

In YPC we have looked at the UK and its capital cities as well as where we live. We even explored the area around our school using Google Earth. We have also started our new topic ‘Preparing fruit and vegetables’ in which we have sliced, grated and peeled using the correct techniques and tools and prepared our own fruit salads.

We have of course, had regular forest school sessions as well as music, RE and PSHE.

We cannot wait to return for our final half term together.

Here we are at the end of another half term. Time seems to be going by so quickly!

We have been very busy in 1R.

In English we have been practising our sentence writing using capital letters and full stops. We wrote an exciting sequel to the story Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and have learned about different sentence types including questions and statements.

In Maths we have been sharing and grouping amounts, doubling and halving and learning how to tell the time to the hour and half past on an analogue clock.

In Science we have carried out experiments to find out which materials will float and sink, and have found out all about pets and how to keep them healthy.

Our YPC topics have been The United Kingdom, where we have learned about the 4 countries, their capital cities and some of their famous landmarks. We have also begun our topic, Fruit and Vegetables, and have enjoyed tasting a variety of these then designing and making our own fruit salad to eat.

We have completed our Team Games topic in P.E. and have begun a new topic, Athletics.

We are still working hard learning our Phonics ready for the National Phonics Assessment in June. Please keep practising at home.

I hope you have a relaxing week and will return to school on June 6th refreshed and ready for another exciting term in 1R.

We have been busy bees this action packed half term in 1WF. The weather is getting warmer and the pupils are in high spirits ready for the half term break.

In English we have looked at a huge selection of Julia Donaldson stories, focusing our attention on Room on The Broom. We were inspired by the authors fantastic imagination and her truly magnificent broom so decided to create an alternative ending of our own including a new character. We have also been researching about Queen Elizabeth II and her upcoming Platinum Jubilee and compiling our own fact files about her including her love of horses.

In Maths we have looked at partitioning two-digit numbers into tens and ones, doubling numbers to 10, finding odd and even numbers up to 100 and have begun to carry out multiplication through number stories then arrays. We have also been working with time and learning to recognise o’clock and half past times. We had a lot of fun playing time games to consolidate our knowledge.

In Science we have recalled our prior knowledge on parts and functions of a plant. We showed true teamwork whilst completing work to display our knowledge of the different plant parts and their functions. We have also consolidated our work on materials by going on a material hunt in and around the school to both name an object and what it was made from. We had had lots of fun whilst predicting and investigating which objects / materials would float or sink. We have revisited our work on Animals including humans and thought about what would make a good pet. We discussed and recorded what a pet needs including where it would prefer to sleep, food it may like to eat and what we should do if it were to become unwell. We then had a fantastic time creating our own animals from junk modelling materials.

In YPC, as part of our UK topic, we have named the capital city of each country and have located famous landmarks including Snowdon and Edinburgh Castle. We have also looked at human and physical features of each country. We wrote a postcard after our virtual visit to Scotland and got creative and sketched famous London Landmarks including the Queen Elizabeth Clock Tower and The London Eye.

In computing, we have become digitally creative when using purple mash. We designed houses and cars using a variety of tools including thickness of paint brush, filling in shapes and adding in shapes and line. We also used Microsoft Paint and have made comparisons about the different types of tools whilst labelling our work.

We cannot wait for next term to begin.  Have a well-deserved break and we will see you when we return to school!

Welcome back. We hope you’ve had a lovely holiday. We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – recapping all of our Phonics sounds from Phase 2 to Phase 5 in preparation for the Phonics test in June.

• Exploring a range of texts including information texts, instructions, recounts and narrative, beginning with ‘Room on the Broom’ by Julia Donaldson. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing. Practising writing in sentences.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 100.

• Learning to recognise place value in numbers up to 100 by reading, writing and counting using range of counting equipment and Numicon.

• Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10 and 20)

• Continue practising counting in twos, fives and tens.

• Telling the time on an analogue clock to the hour and half past and sequencing events in chronological order.

• Learning to solve one-step problems using multiplication and division using concrete apparatus, pictorial representations and arrays to support.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons, with a focus on summer.

• Animal groupings including carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

• Parts of a plant/tree.

• Planting and watching seeds growing.

YPC

The UK

• Naming, locating and identifying the four countries and Capital Cities of the UK.

Places People Go

• Looking at where we are in the world and destinations around the world.

Computing

This half term we will be looking at coding and programming Beebots, as well as Digital Creativity.

P.E./Sports

This terms topics will be Team Games and Athletics.

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about being fair and just in everything we do. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been recently well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

We are nearing the end of another wonderful term in 1H. The weather is getting better and pupils are in high spirits ready for the Easter break. The class have made a lot of progress and continue to enjoying playing and learning each day. 

A highlight of the half-term was our visit to the Cannock Toy Museum. The pupils were thrilled to play with the old toys, learn of days gone by and relive the nostalgia of a classic seaside attraction: Punch and Judy! 

In English, the class really enjoyed reading ‘Naughty Bus’. Acting out Naughty Bus’s adventures through the beans and pasta was a real treat! The writing produced afterwards was superb! 

In Maths, the class have recently been looking at measurement and enjoyed learning about non-standard units. We made handspan templates and measured lots of things around the classroom.

In Science, we’ve enjoyed exploring materials, Animals and Spring. During Y.P.C. we’ve begun to explore the four countries of the United Kingdom. The class especially liked drinking Irn-Bru and dancing the Highland Fling when learning all about Scotland! 

Remember to follow us on Twitter to see each week what the class are up to in their classroom and to receive any other useful updates. Also, please remember PE days are Monday and Friday and earrings should be taken out or covered and hair tied up. 

Secure velcro shoes also help with forest school days too as pupils are responsible for putting their shoes on and off several times during the morning. 

Have a very lovely break and we’ll see you again in the Summer Term.

We are at the end of another busy term in 1R. 

We have been working hard on our reading and Phonics this term and have been revising all the Phase 3 and 5 sounds as well as learning some new alternate graphemes.

We have been practicing our blending skills and using them to read unknown words in texts.

In English we have written recounts of our visit to the Toy Museum and have enjoyed writing short stories about the exploits of Naughty Bus!

In Maths we have learned about measures including weight, length, capacity and volume.

We have also been practicing our addition and subtraction skills.

In Science we have been grouping animals according to their diet and finding out about spring in our local environment.

In YPC, we have found out about toys in the past and had the opportunity to explore and play with old toys on our trip.

We have started our new topic, The UK, and we will continue this next term.

In PE we have learned some Tennis and Tri Golf skills.

We have been finding out about and creating algorithms in Computing.

We have worked really hard, as you can see, and are ready for a well earned break to refresh ourselves for the summer term!

Thank you for all your support. Please continue to read with your child over the break and I look forward to seeing you all on April 25th.

We have had another action packed half term in 1Q. We really have been busy bees.

In English we have looked at a number of stories, our favourite being ‘The Naughty Bus’. The bus has inspired us in our writing, we have been creating new adventures for this very busy bus! He escaped and went around the school, wreaking havoc everywhere he went. 

In Maths we have looked at measure, including mass, capacity and volume and length. We have also been working with money and learning to recognise British coins and their value. We had a lot of fun playing shops and other games to consolidate our knowledge.

In Science we have looked at Spring and noted the changes in trees and noted the flowers that have appeared in our school grounds. We have also been keeping an eye on the weather and were very excited by the arrival of some snow last week!

In YPC we have completed our topic on Toys, our trip to Cannock Chase Toy Museum being the culmination of our learning and a great fun day out. We are now learning about the UK and it’s four countries including their capital cities.

In Computing we have been searching the CBeebies website and pasting pictures into our Word documents. We are now working on algorithms and have had fun making jam sandwiches using our instructions – and eating them!

In PE we have played Trigolf and Tennis and were rewarded with an extra lesson of fun games from our reward chart stars.

We cannot wait for next term to begin. Enjoy the Easter break!

Well done 1WF. What a brilliant and busy half term we have had.  

In English we have continued to read a selection of stories including the traditional story of Cinderella and Jack and the Beanstalk and stories including The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Naughty Bus. We have also continued to write a variety of genres including a recount about our wonderful trip to Cannock Chase Toy Museum, writing a letter to the Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk and narratives. We have really enjoyed using our imagination and have taken the Naughty Bus on further adventures through pasta, jelly and a spider’s web.  

During Maths lessons, we have learned about money. We have learnt about the different size, colour and value of the coins and have used our number skills to order them according to their value. We began to use coins to pay for amounts and were able to use of knowledge of counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s to help us. Next, we explored length and have compared longer and shorter objects by direct comparison before using non-standard units of measurement (cubes) to record their length. To end the term we have been using balance scales to weigh objects. It was a lot of fun to explore and find objects that were heavier and lighter. We really enjoyed being able to extend and consolidate our learning out into the outdoor area now we are having warmer weather. 

In Science we started off by revisiting and recalling our learning about animals including humans. We were able to group the animals by what they eat and whether they are a carnivore, herbivore or omnivore. Then, we moved on to plants where we learned about the different parts of a flowering plant. We have begun to understand the important job that each part plays in its growth and reproduction. We enjoyed planting our own seeds both in class and with Mr Jones during our Forest School sessions. We hope you are taking great care of them and we look forward to you sharing any photos of your plants changes and growth. 

In YPC, we created some fantastic moving pictures art work for pictures based on the traditional story Cinderella. We created levers to make different parts of the picture move. Cannock Chase Toy Museum was an amazing trip and it really consolidated our topic about toys.  We learnt so much during the about how toys have changed over time. We have also studied the work by Paul Klee focusing on his use of shape and colour. The children enjoyed creating their own printing in the style of Paul Klee using toys. We had some fantastic final pieces. This week we have started our new topic all about the UK and we are keen to learn more about the physical and human features in each of the four countries.  

Well done for continuing to be such wonderful learners 1WF. Have a great break and we look forward to seeing you all when you return to school! 

Welcome back.  We hope you’ve had a lovely holiday.   We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – learning alternate sounds for letters and digraphs. E.G - C saying S in some words – circle.

• Exploring a range of texts including information texts, instructions, ecounts and narrative. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing. Practising writing in sentences.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 100.

• Learning to recognise place value in numbers up to 100 by reading, writing and counting using range of counting equipment and Numicon.

• Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10 and 20)

• Continue practising counting in twos, fives and tens.

• Using common measures to find length, weight, height and capacity.

• Recognising and using coins and notes.

• Using coins to buy items and make amounts.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Animal groupings including carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

• Parts of a plant/tree.

• Planting and watching seeds growing.

YPC

Toys:

• Old and new toys.

• Designing and making moving toys and pictures.

We will be visiting The Museum of Cannock Chase to explore this topic further.

Computing

This term we will be learning how to find information safely on the computer.

P.E./Sports: 

This terms topics will be tennis and tri-golf.

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about being fair and just in everything we do. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

We will also be finding out about the Christian celebration of Easter.

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been recently well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Video Parents Evening

If you haven't booked an appointment already, we would like to invite you to attend our Video Parents Evenings, taking place on the following dates:

• Tuesday 15th March 3.40pm - 5.40pm

• Wednesday 16th March 3.40pm - 6.20pm

Visit our Video Parents Evening page here to find out more and to book. 

If you have already booked an appointment, please test that your device will work for your appointment.  Click here to see how to test your appointment.

Thank you - Year 1

Hello, welcome to our regular blog. Pupils in 1H have had a successful half-term and continue to thrive, demonstrating the YPS values of Aspiration, Inspiration and Teamwork.

In English and Reading, we have seen success with pupil results in Phonics assessments being high and engagement in reading for pleasure up, too. Pupils clearly enjoy our new Phonics scheme and it is wonderful to see pupils (and parents) becoming familiar with the Oxford reading books that we are currently using. When writing, we have been creating instruction texts, number poems and short narratives based on picture books we’ve been enjoying in class.

In Maths, we have been revisiting number sense, addition and subtraction. We also spent some time exploring both 2-D and 3-D shapes. In Science, we have been continuing to dive into Seasonal Change, where we have been doing some exciting class and environmental investigations. We have also been looking once again at Materials. 

In Y.P.C and other subjects, we have been exploring toys and we have recently began creating our own toys as part of a D.T. topic. In P.E. pupils have enjoyed learning new Gymnastics skills and how to play Cricket. 

Reminders: 

- P.E. days for 1H are Monday and Friday.  

- Forest School days are alternate Fridays (including this Friday, the 18th)

- Please try to send your child in for Forest School wearing sensible clothing, including footwear that they can put on and off themselves.  

- Follow 1H on Twitter to see what we’re up to and get updates (link via the School website or search Class 1H) 

- Our visit to the Toy Museum is nearing. Check that you have consented for your child to attend via ParentPay or by phoning the school office. 

Have a super half-term break!

What a busy half term we have had so far!

1Q have been looking at toys in YPC and we have compared old and new toys as well as grouping different toys in different ways. We also bought our favourite toy in to school.

In Maths we have looked at one more, one less, place value, number bonds to 10, counting and 2D and 3D shapes. We have also been learning some counting songs as a year group, which has been great fun.

In English we have looked at instructions and story writing. We also had a great time writing our own number poems, which involved mermaids, frogs, fairies and cars to name a few!

In Science we have been looking at weather and created our own rain gauges which we check regularly. We have also carried out some really exciting experiments, including absorbency which included counting and a wet desk!

In PE we have covered cricket and bowling, we have really improved our skills.

We are looking forward to another busy half term in Spring 2.

What a busy half-term we have had, 1WF!

In English, we have read a selection of fiction and non-fictions texts including Kippers Toybox, Whatever Next, winter and One Ted Falls out of bed. We have continued to learn how to sequence events in stories, identified patterns and rhyme, located information and have written character descriptions and alternative story endings.  We have continued to make sure that our sentences have capital letters, finger spaces and full stops whilst working hard to ensure that we spell our sight words correctly too.

Whilst in Phonics, we have continued to learn our Phase 5 sounds with alternative spelling patterns with the use of our new phonics scheme. We are trying hard to identify and read our known sounds within both real and alien words. 

We have been as equally busy in Maths this half term recognising, naming and describing 2 D and 3D shapes, continuing to find 1 more and 1 less than a given number and recalling doubles with the help of a song taught to us by Mrs Grange in our singing assemblies.

We have worked on our place value using Numicon, counters and tens frames and then introducing base ten to identify how many tens and ones in a given number and we have revisited addition but this time we have used the part whole model and concrete apparatus to support our learning. 

We had lots of fun on ‘Numbers day’ and were able to use of mathematical knowledge whilst completing each of the activities. 

In Science we have continued to look at the seasons focusing on winter and the changes we observe, animals that hibernate, types of weather we would expect to have and how we as humans adapt to the drop in temperature.  We enjoyed making our class rain gauge and placing it in our forest school area to see how much rain fell around our school over a period of weeks.

We have revisited our materials work from the autumn term, recapping on the types of materials and their properties, conducting experiments to find out the most suitable material for teddy’s raincoat whilst ensuring that we carried out a fair test.

We started our YPC Toys topic with our toy entry point day. We enjoyed bringing our favourite toy into school and talking about it to our friends. We then sketched our toy and wrote a sentence to describe it and why it was our favourite toy. We have looked at the idea that some toys like, teddy bears, cars and dolls have been around for a very long time but they have evolved over the last hundred years. We used our science knowledge to identify what toys are made from both then and now.

Here we are at the end of another half term! Time goes by so quickly!

In 1R we have been been working hard to improve our independence in all areas, it's so important that we can do things for ourselves without having to rely on an adult!

In Phonics we have started our new scheme of work and it has been wonderful to see how quickly the children have taken to it. Their Phonic skills are really improving. Keep practicing reading at home as this is really beneficial to your children!

In English we have been writing stories and learning how to write instructions. In Maths we are still practicing writing numbers to 100 and our addition and subtraction skills. We have also been learning our doubles to 20 and our number bonds to 10.

We have enjoyed learning about materials and their properties in Science and have been conducting some investigations into which materials are best for different jobs.

Our YPC topic on Toys is still ongoing and we are looking forward to our trip to the Toy Museum next term.

In PE we have learned some bowling and cricket skills.

As you can see we are ready for a well earned rest ready for more learning next term.

Have a lovely break.

Welcome back and Happy New Year to you all.

 We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday. We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – completing Phase 5 sounds and their applications.

• Exploring a range of texts including information texts, instructions, performance poetry and narrative. 

• Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing.

• Handwriting — practising using the correct letter formation.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 100.

• Learning to recognise place value in numbers up to 100 by reading, writing and counting using range of counting equipment and Numicon.

• Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10 and 20)

• Recognising number patterns and counting one more and one less 

• Continue practising counting in twos, fives and tens.

• 2D and 3D shape recognition.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Observing changes across the four seasons.

• Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

• Describing the simple physical features of a variety of everyday materials, including transparent, soft, hard, flexible

• Animals and plants in the local environment, including deciduous and evergreen trees.

YPC

Our first YPC topic is Matisse and then we will move on to Toys. We will be learning about:

Matisse

• Matisse’s use of collage to create pictures and patterns.

Toys

• Old and new toys.

Computing

This term we will be learning about algorithms.

P.E./Sports: 

This terms topics will be bowling and cricket.

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about being fair and just in everything we do. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required.

Do check our Learning Hub as it has been recently well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Thank you 

Year 1 

What a busy end to the autumn term for 1Q! 

In English, we have read a selection of stories including Froggy Gets Dressed, Stick Man and Ten Tired Teachers. We have continued to learn how to sequence events in stories and have been focusing on writing instructions.  We have been working hard on our sentences using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Whilst in Phonics, we have completed Phase 4 clusters and have now begun Phase 5.

In Maths, we have continued to read and write numbers in digits up to 20, have been practising our addition and subtraction whilst using a variety of methods and to support us in our work. We began to identify and recall our number bonds to 10 and have enjoyed learning the number bus song to help us. Remember to keep singing lots of number songs at home as it can really help with your counting!

In YPC, we started the half term with Dream Big week where we learnt all about the inspirational people Katie Stagliano, Frida Kahlo, Amelia Earhart and Stevie Wonder.

We have also completed our topic on Colour and have enjoyed learning about Dressing up. We have thoroughly enjoyed exploring and evaluating a range of existing hat products and then designing and making our very own hats. During 

During Science this half term, we have been looking at seasonal change from autumn to winter and have observed the changes around us. We have also been looking at naming and grouping everyday materials whilst also being able to describe each of their properties.

Amongst all of this we were still able to enjoy an author visit from Ross Montgomery, find out about Diwali bonfire night and visit the Old Rep Theatre to watch Alice in Wonderland. What an absolute treat! We are now very much looking forward to Christmas and spending time with our families.

We have all worked so hard that we are ready for a well-earned break. We hope you have a lovely holiday and we look forward to welcoming you back in January.

What a busy end to the autumn term for 1WF.It has been fantastic to see everyone working incredibly hard throughout their transition from Reception into Year 1. 

In Maths, we have continued to read and write numbers in digits up to 20, have been practising our addition and subtraction whilst using a variety of methods and to support us in our work. We began to identify and recall our number bonds to 10 and have enjoyed learning the number bus song to help us. Remember to keep singing lots of number songs at home as it can really help with your counting!

In English, we have read a selection of stories including Froggy Gets Dressed, Stick Man and Ten Tired Teachers. We have continued to learn how to sequence events in stories and have been focusing on writing instructions.  We have been working hard on our sentences using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops. Whilst in Phonics, we have completed Phase 4 clusters and have now begun Phase 5.

During Science this half term, we have been looking at seasonal change from autumn to winter and have observed the changes around us. We have also been looking at naming and grouping everyday materials whilst also being able to describe each of their properties.

In YPC, we have completed our topic on Colour and have enjoyed learning about Dressing up. We have thoroughly enjoyed exploring and evaluating a range of existing hat products and then designing and making our very own hats. What an amazing job we did too! During Dream Big week we learnt all about the inspirational people Katie Stagliano, Frida Kahlo, Amelia Earhart and Stevie Wonder. 

Amongst all of this we were still able to enjoy an author visit from Ross Montgomery, find out about Diwali bonfire night and visit the Old Rep Theatre to watch Alice in Wonderland. What an absolute treat! We are now very much looking forward to Christmas and spending time with our families.

We wish you all a wonderful Christmas break, whatever you do. Make sure you come back refreshed in the New Year as we have lots more exciting topics coming up in 2022! 

It’s been a very busy term in 1R. Everyone has been trying so hard.

We have been working really hard to practise all our Phase 3 and 4 sounds in Phonics and are now learning Phase 5 sounds. We have also been practising blending these sounds to make words so that we can enjoy lots of lovely books!

In English we have been writing sentences with a capital letter and a full stop and have enjoyed writing instructions. We wrote recounts about our wonderful trip to the theatre to see Alice in Wonderland.

In Maths we have started to add and subtract numbers within 30 and have been learning our number bonds to 10.

We have learned about a variety of everyday materials and their properties in Science as well as watching the changing seasons in our local environment.

In YPC we have been colour mixing to make different shades and tints and have enjoyed designing and making a party hat in our topic, Dressing Up.

In PE we have learned some football skills and have created gymnastic sequences with jumps, balances and rolls.

We are all ready now for a well - deserved break to enjoy the festive season.

See you all in January.

It has been a fantastic term in 1H and the pupils continue to enjoy learning and playing each day.

It has been a delight to see pupils transition so nicely from EYFS into Year 1 and make so much progress already. 

It is wonderful to see pupils beginning to enjoy reading books independently and show confidence in their Maths abilities. 

In English and Phonics we’ve been enjoying many different books together and using the creative ideas within to inspire our own reading and writing adventures. The class are largely focused on reading and applying Phase 4 to 5 sounds and writing simply structured sentences.

In Maths, we have been recently building upon our understanding on numbers 0-20 and growing in confidence with addition and subtraction. 

In other subjects, we have been exploring materials and observing the seasonal change from Autumn to Winter in Science. We have also been exploring clothing, especially hats, in D.T. In P.E. the class have enjoyed learning football and gymnastics skills. 

This half term the class have also particularly enjoyed visits from the Life Caravan, famous authors and a memorable trip to the theatre! Hopefully the pupils will remember these experiences for a long time. 

Remember to follow us on Twitter to see each week what the class are up to in their classroom and to receive any other useful updates. Also, please remember PE days are Monday and Friday and earrings should be taken out or covered and hair tied up. 

Secure velcro shoes also help with forest school days too as pupils are responsible for putting their shoes on and off several times during the morning. 

Have a very lovely break and we’ll see you again in the New Year.

Welcome back! 

We hope you’ve had a relaxing half term break .We really appreciate any parental support that can be given at home through helping your child with basic number skills and hearing them read regularly. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

        Phonics – completing Phase 4 Clusters and starting Phase 5 sounds and their applications.

        Exploring a range of texts including instructions, performance poetry and narrative. 

        Continuing with the use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces) within our writing.

        Handwriting — correct letter formation and cursive script.

Maths

In our Maths lessons we will be working on the following areas:

        Consolidation of reading and writing numbers in digits up to 20.

        Learning to recognise place value in numbers beyond 20 by reading, writing and counting using range of counting equipment and Numicon.

        Recognising and recalling number bonds (including those to 10)

        Recognising number patterns and counting one more and one less 

        Continue practising counting in twos, fives and tens.

Science

In our Science lessons we will be working on the following areas:

        Observing changes across the four seasons.

        Observing and describing weather associated with the seasons.

        Identifying and naming a variety of everyday materials, including wood, plastic, glass, metal, water and rock.

        Describing the simple physical features of a variety of everyday materials, including transparent, soft, hard, flexible

YPC

Our first YPC topic is Environmental Art and then we will move on to Dressing Up. We will be learning about:

Environmental Art -

        Learning about Andy Goldsworthy.

        Creating artwork in the style of Andy Goldsworthy.

Dressing Up

        Exploring the history of clothes

        Designing and making a hat.

Computing

This term we will be learning about Digital Safety. The children will learn:

        What being online may look like, the different feelings we can experience online and how to identify adults who can help.

        How passwords are used to protect information, accounts and devices.

P.E./Sports: Football and Gymnastics

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be developing their football and gymnastic skills.

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about being modest and listening to others and expressing joy. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values. 

Work at Home

The ‘Autumn 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

Please let us know if a paper copy is required. Do check our Learning Hub as it has been recently well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Thank you 

Year 1 

1H have had a super start to the new school year. The class have settled in very nicely and are transitioning well from their time in EYFS.

The pupils have been busy working hard and playing to learn all sorts of things. 

We’ve been reading many, many books together and learning to say and write clear sentences. When reading, we’ve been enjoying our Phonics lessons, moving from Phase 3 sounds to Phase 4 blends.

In Maths, we’ve been doing lots of exciting counting work and developing our understanding of addition.

In our other subjects, we’ve been using Purple Mash on the computers, learning about animals and mixing colours to develop our art skills. 

 A real highlight for this half term was Spanish day. The class showed off their flamenco skills (which you can see on Twitter for Class 1H) and answered the register be saying Hola!

When we return it will be Dream Big week and we will be learning about several inspirational people from history and the modern day. 

Please remember that PE days are Monday and Friday and pupils are to arrive in their PE kit, with earrings out or covered. Please remember also that Forest School is every other Friday. 

Have a super break, everybody. We’ll be seeing you all again soon. 1H

We have had a very busy first term in 1R!

It seems such a long time ago that we all started our Year 1 journey together and we have learned so much in just a few weeks.

We have been busy practicing our Phonics Phase 3 sounds and are now working on Phase 4. We are working hard to learn our sight words so that we can become fluent readers.

We are still practicing using capital letters and full stops when we are writing sentences.

In Maths we have been counting in 1s, 2s, 5s and 10s and have begun some addition work.

We have been finding out about our senses in Science and have started some work about animals.

In YPC we have been mixing colours to make tints and shades.

We have also been enjoying PE, Forest School and Computing.

We have all worked so hard and are looking forward to a well deserved break, ready to learn more next term!

What a busy start to Year 1 for 1WF. We are very proud of you and have enjoyed seeing all of your enthusiasm and positive attitudes when settling in to a new year group with two new teachers and all the new routines that it has bought.

In Maths, we have been reading and writing numbers in digits up to 20, practising our counting skills using a variety of apparatus and have begun working on addition. We have learnt our + and = signs and how to write and use them. Remember to keep singing lots of number songs at home as it can really help with your counting!

In English, we have read a large selection of stories including What Makes Me a Me, The Foggy Foggy Forest, A Quiet Night In and Funnybones. We have learnt to sequence events in stories and have been focusing on writing sentences using capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.  Whilst in Phonics, we have been recapping Phase 2 and 3 sounds and have now begun Phase 4 clusters.

During Science this half term, we have been looking at seasonal change from Summer to Autumn and have observed the changes around us. We have also been looking at animals, including humans and have learnt a lot about our bodies and how wonderful our senses really are! We have also been busy grouping animals and discovering if they are a carnivore, herbivore or an omnivore.

In YPC, we have learnt All About Me and identified what makes us unique as individuals, whilst also making comparisons from people in the past. We have also had great fun experimenting with paint finding out about the primary colours and how these can be mixed to create secondary colours. Our exploration didn’t stop there as we also found out how to make different shades and tints by adding black and white to a colour. We were impressed by our findings!

Well done 1WF! You have had a busy start to the year and we have enjoyed getting to know you all. We wish you all a wonderful break and make sure you come back refreshed as we have lots more exciting topics coming up next half term. 

Autumn Fun

It has been an amazing start to Year 1 for 1Q. We have had so much fun and there is still lots more to come.

We have been practising our counting skills in Maths and have begun working on addition. We have learnt our + and = signs and how to write and use them. We will be moving on to our number bonds and counting in 2's next.

In English we have looked at a range of stories, including Funny Bones, Super Pea, The Foggy Foggy Forest and A Quiet Night In, to name a few. We have begun writing in sentences and are wizards with rhyming words!

In Science, we have been looking at animals including humans and have learnt a lot about our bodies, naming body parts and bones! We also have grouped animals as well as looking at pets and eve made our own rabbits and learnt how to care for them.

In YPC we have learnt about colour mixing and have spent a lot of time experimenting with paint colours. You will have seen our beautiful art work coming home.

We cannot wait for Autumn 2 and all the fun and learning it will bring!

It’s been wonderful to welcome back pupils and their families to Year One. We truly appreciate the support from parents at this crucial stage with the pupils’ early reading, writing and maths work. This overview should help you to better understand what your child is learning at school. 

This half term we will be learning about:

English

In our English lessons we will be working on the following areas:

• Phonics – revisiting the Phase 2 and Phase 3 sounds and their applications.

• Phonics – Exploring a wide range of texts and texts suitable for independent early reading. 

• Learning and sequencing events in familiar stories.

• Use of basic punctuation (capital letters, full stops, finger spaces)

• Handwriting — correct letter formation and cursive script

Reading planners will have been issued to each child. Pupils are heard reading on a 1:1 basis each week and reading with your child yourself is every day is extremely helpful for their progress. 

Maths

We will begin by looking largely at number work. We will be learning about:

• Reading and writing numbers in digits up to 20.

• Learning the value of numbers up to 10 through counting objects and Numicon equipment.

• Consolidating common number bonds (including those to 10)  

• Recognising number patterns and counting one more and one less 

• Pupils will be beginning to count by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s as an introduction to times tables.

We also appreciate your support at home here, too. Maths is often best taught at home incidentally when applied to real-world situations. Putting number songs on often can also help. 

Science

Our first Science topic is Seasonal Change. We will be learning about:

• The four seasons and the months

• Changes in weather and weather symbols 

• Scientific skills such as observation and grouping

YPC

Our YPC topic is All About Me. We will be learning about:

• How pupils identify as individuals 

• How pupils recognise themselves as different from others

• How pupils can recognise themselves as different from people in the past 

• The pupils’ own histories and changes within their lifetimes

• Different art techniques such as collaging and learning about the different art styles of artists such as Matisse

Computing

This term we will be learning about Word Processing. 

• Pupils will become familiar with the computer and how to interact appropriately with digital technology.

• Pupils will be learning how to ‘log-on’ and navigate appropriate school computer programs. 

• Pupils will begin to develop their keyboard and typing skills.

P.E./Sports: Haka

On the days of P.E. lessons or Sports Clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit or clothing appropriate for P.E. instead of their school uniform. Where possible, we will be conducting P.E. lessons outside so a hoodie/jacket and joggers are recommended. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too. 

If your child wears earrings there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, teachers are not able to.

This half-term, pupils will be dancing the Haka and playing a range of team games to build their communication and teamwork skills. 

R.E./P.H.S.E.

We will be learning about understanding ourselves and our friendships. In our R.E. lessons, we will be linking these topics to common religious values as well as our Yardley school values.  

Work at Home

The ‘Autumn 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download from the school website soon. Please let us know if a paper copy is required. Do check the pupil areas of the school website as it has been recently well-stocked with plenty of resources to support your child at home. 

Thank you 

Year 1 

Well, what can I say… what a year it has been!

It has been a very unusual end to a year but your maturity has shone through and you have impressed me with how well you have all adapted to the sudden changes we have had.

Although I have been working remotely, Miss Dodson, Mrs Hodgkiss and Miss Williams have been keeping my updated with what 1M have been up to this half term.

In Maths, we had a strong focus on money. We were able to recognise coins, combine coins to make amount and even looked at finding change. In English, we focused on the seaside, writing poems and stories about our made up adventures. We conducted some super experiments in Science. We used materials to make a crash mat for Humpty Dumpty and looks at melting too. In our YPC topic we looked at a small African village and thought about how it was different to where we were in Yardley.

I would like to say, once again, it has been a pleasure teaching each and every one in 1M this year and I will really miss them next year. However, I know they will have such a wonderful time in 2H with Miss Hanif!

Make sure you all enjoy your well-deserved Summer Holiday!

Wow, what a busy end to the year we have had in 1R!

In our Maths lessons we have had lots of fun learning about money. We looked at recognising the different coins, adding two amounts together to find a total and working out which coins were needed to pay. We have also been busy practising all we have learnt this year including adding and subtracting using both concrete apparatus and number lines, fractions of a shape and multiplication and division.

In English, we also completed a seaside narrative by focusing on our five senses to explore a range of different scenarios including seagulls stealing our chips! Our seaside focus continued within our poetry lessons. We focused on what makes a good poetry performance before writing our own seaside poems. We have also written a diary entry based on our visual stimulus Baboon on the Moon. We observed Baboon's day and observed his emotions and feelings to ensure that we recorded this in our written work.

In our Science lessons, we have continued to learn about Seasonal Change, looking at the changes between spring and summer. We have also had lots of fun working scientifically to carry out our own investigations into what makes the best crash mat for Humpty Dumpty. We changed the variables by testing a range of materials for Humpty to land on.

In YPC we were able to head off on our flight to Spain. We enjoyed role playing checking in for our flight, experiencing handing in our baggage and being seated on an aircraft ready for take-off.  We have also used our Geography skills to identify hot and cold places and comparing locations by looking at differences and similarities in the UK and non-European countries. Finally, we used our art skills to recreate a piece of art work in the style of Matisse.

We’ve had an amazing journey in year one – we are really proud of all of the hard work and achievements 1R. We hope you enjoy your well-deserved summer holidays and we wish you all good luck for Year 2 in September!

Hello - It has surely been a very busy, and unusual, end to the year in 1H.

We began very positively indeed and Miss Marshall and I were happy to see so many pupils ready to return and learn. We were joined in the classroom for some time by a fantastic student teacher, Miss Jones. This gave the pupils opportunity to respond to another adult in the classroom and was undoubtedly good for their development at school. The pupils really enjoyed their time with Miss Jones and certainly began to miss her when she left.   

Over this half term pupils have enjoyed a variety of topics and learnt a lot. In Maths, pupils learnt to recognise coins and even role-played shops to spend their ‘money’. In English, pupils wrote seaside poems and stories. It’s fantastic to see the jump in writing quality now at the end of the year. In Science, pupils particularly enjoyed an experiment in which they found out which material would work best as a crash mat for when Humpty Dumpty falls off his wall. They loved that one! In YPC, pupils really enjoyed discovering the culture of African villages and comparing it to the day-to-day life of ourselves here in Yardley.

Also, well done to those pupils who have engaged with home learning while we’ve unfortunately been self-isolating these last two weeks. It’s been lovely to see you’ve been producing some excellent work while at home during school time. We return to school tomorrow – Friday 16th.

Tomorrow we’ll have both Forest School and PE so please dress appropriately as always. Slip-on / Velcro shoes are really appreciated and please put plasters over your child’s earrings and tie up their hair.

Reports – Have you read your child’s report yet? What did you think? If you don’t think you’ve yet received it, check your e-mail inbox (or junk/clutter boxes) as all reports are now e-mailed to parents. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Finally, despite the many interruptions over the year, whether it be working from home or even the frequent rearrangement of tables and chairs in classrooms, 1H, and Year 1 as a whole, have done their best. The pupils have done all that can be asked of them and, for that, I am very proud.  

Be sure to rest and enjoy the holiday ready for when your child will return to school and be in 2M.

Find us on Twitter @Mr_Hodgkinson and @MissMurphyYPS

Wow, what a busy end to the academic year!

In our Maths lessons we have had lots of fun learning about money. We looked at recognising the different coins, adding two amounts together to find a total and working out which coins were needed to pay. This was bought to life with our own shop where we could buy and sell lots of different things. The children loved taking on the role of the shop keeper! We have been busy practising all we have learnt this year including adding and subtracting using both concrete apparatus and number lines, fractions of a shape and multiplication.

In English, we also completed a seaside narrative by focusing on our five senses to explore a range of different scenarios including seagulls stealing our chips! Our seaside focus continued within our poetry lessons. We focused on what makes a good poetry performance before writing our own seaside poems. We have also written a diary entry based on our visual stimulus Baboon on the Moon. We observed Baboons day and observed his emotions and feelings to ensure that we recorded this in our written work.

In our Science lessons, we have continued to learn about Seasonal Change, looking at the changes between spring and summer. We have also had lots of fun working scientifically to carry out our own investigations into what makes the best crash mat for Humpty Dumpty and how to free dragon’s friends from the ice. We changed the variables by testing a range of materials and thinking of ways to melt the ice.

in YPC after our unfortunate last minute cancellation, we were able to head off on our flight to Spain. We enjoyed role playing checking in for our flight, experiencing handing in our baggage and being seated on an aircraft ready for take-off.  We have also used our geography skills to identify hot and cold places and comparing locations by looking at differences and similarities in the UK and non-European countries. Finally, we used our art skills to recreate a piece of art work in the style of Matisse.

We’ve had an amazing journey in year one – we are really proud of all of the hard work and achievements 1WF. We hope you enjoy your well-deserved summer holidays and we wish you all good luck for Year 2 in September!