Welcome back to school and the Autumn term in Key Stage One. We hope that the Summer break has helped you all recharge ready for our action packed summer!
Mrs Skelding and Mrs Golding will lead this year and they will be supported by Mrs Stanley and Miss Bailes.
The Turtles class will have Forest school sessions every Monday for the first half term. Their PE day will be on a Friday . These PE sessions will be outdoor weather permitting and mean that you will need to provide your child with suitable clothing and footwear on these days.
During the second part of the term, after the October break, Turtles class will have PE on both Mondays and Fridays. Please ensure that they have suitable outdoor clothing for forest schools which includes long sleeved T shirts and outdoor waterproof coats and footwear.
The books of the month for Turtles class this term will be...
September
October
November
December
This year we have Mrs Blackburn leading the Gorillas class. The Gorillas class will have their PE day on a Monday and a Friday this year. These PE sessions will be outdoor, weather permitting and mean that you will need to provide your child with suitable clothing and footwear on these days. On Fridays the session will be with our table tennis champion Pete, from ping pong 4 U and he will be continuing to deliver table tennis session until the end of October half term.
The books of the month this term will be...
September
October
November
December
The Giraffes class will be led by Mrs Groves again this year and they will have Forest school sessions every Monday for the first half term. Their PE day will be on a Friday . These PE sessions will be outdoor weather permitting and mean that you will need to provide your child with suitable clothing and footwear on these days.
The books of the month for this term will be...
September
October
November
December
In History this half term we will be answering the big question "How did London change after the Great Fore of London?" We we be learning all about how houses were built in the past and why that led to the fire being so destructive. We will explore the dates and facts surrounding the Great Fire by looking at what a historical source is and how historians use them. We will be using this event to learn all about chronology, living and beyond living memory and how we can order events on a time line.
How you can help at home...
Talk to your children about the way your houses and streets are set out, so that they can make comparisons with the wooden overcrowded streets of London. Use the terms living memory and beyond living memory when talking about events that have happened in the past.
This term our Geography learning all aimed at answering the big question "What is this place like?" by looking closely at the areas we live in and how people can change thier local environment. We will be making simple maps and learning about map keys. we will also begin to learn the compass directions and use directional language, maps and aerial photographs to explore our local area.
How you can help at home...
Talk to your child about local landmarks you pass on your way to school or when you are out and about. allow them to look at where you live using google maps on their devices and try to port what these landmarks might look like from above.
In our English writing lessons we will strengthening our bodies using the kinetic letters handwriting scheme to help us write neatly and for longer and will be putting these writing skills to use through a variety of genres.
We will be learning to write a diary entry with our book "king of the classroom", learn how to write descriptive sentences through our book "Vlad and the great fire of London" and learning to retell the traditional tale "Cinderella" after a visit to see the panto as inspiration.
Reading is something that we at St Botolph's are incredibly passionate about. We can not stress enough how important it is that children are fluent and literate readers as early as possible to ensure that they can access all areas of learning.
In Year 1 this is a very important year for your child as they master the art of early reading. You will notice your child will begin to speed up the rate of the sounds they are learning and therefore the speed with which they read. Mrs Skelding and Mrs Groves will be holding further information sessions throughout the year to support you in helping your child flourish as a reader this year.
Please remember that we have the statutory Phonics screening test in Year 1 also, which will be held in June in the week commencing Monday 9th June this year. Please keep this date in mind and ensure that any planned holidays do not occur during this very important week for the Year 1 children.
It is essential that the children bring their books to school everyday as we try to find as much time as we can to hear children read throughout the day. This practice, in addition to the work you are doing at home is essential to the development of the children's speed and fluency in reading.
Now that we have many children that are reading fluently, some children will be completing the Read Write Inc program. This will mean they will access the Accelerated Reader programme and choose their own reading book for their reading level. This means they are moving into the Spelling Punctuation and Grammar group (SPAG for short). The earlier in the year that our children begin to access this, the stronger their reading and comprehension will be at the end of Year 2. So, even if your child is reading well and beginning to show signs of success and leaving the Read Write Inc program, it is essential that they still read regularly at home.
How you can help at home...
Please support your child's reading journey by recording home reading in your child's reading record, to help us keep a track of how they are doing at home.
In our school we follow the White Rose scheme of learning to plan and deliver our maths lessons. This scheme allows children to experience a wide range of strategies to use across the different operations and pushes the children towards mastering the subject by allowing children to use what they know about number relationships and patterns in different ways, helping them solve problems.
In Year 1 we will begin by recapping the things we know about the number system to ten and begin to use and work with numbers to 20 in different ways.
In year 2 we will be focussing on the rapid recall of number facts including the 2, 5 and 10 times tables as well as mastering the art of counting in 3's.
How you can help at home...
In school we answer ten simple arithmetic questions each morning. Why not make this a part of your learning at home too?
Our RE lessons this term will focus on the big question "What do Christians beleive \God is like?" in Year 1 and in year 2 we will focus on the big question of creation by answering the question "who made the world?"
Our core Christian value for the first half term will be Friendship. We will explore this theme in our daily worship sessions as well as learning about British values and protected characteristics through our in class worships.
Our Science work this term will be learning all about Materials through the big question "would paper make a good window?" We will be learning to identify a variety of materials, look closely at their properties and work scientifically to experiment with their uses and ways that they can be changed to fit a purpose.
In our Art lessons we will be exploring drawing and illustrating in our "tell us a story" topic where we will look closely at the artwork of illustrators and focus on the designs and sketches of Quentin Blake
In DT we will be learning about structures as we design a chair for baby bear that focusses on strength and stability.
In Music we will be learning about timbre and structure through some "African call and response" songs and in the second part of the term we will look at pulse and rhythm in our "all about me" music topic.
PE this half term will focus on the fundamental movement skills we need to flourish at PE and as athletes. As we move into the Christmas term we will then begin to learn about pathways, counts and actions through Dance.
Our PE kit is a plain white t shirt with plain navy or black bottoms. These can be leggings, shorts, skorts or track suit bottoms. Please ensure that children remove any earrings, have their hair tied up if it is collar length and have both an indoor and outdoor kit with appropriate footwear with them as PE will be outdoors as the weather permits.
In computing the children will be learning all about the technology that is all around us and how computers are used with a mouse or trackpad. we will be thinking about where the information we post online goes and how we create our own digital footprint.
In the second half of the term children will be learning more about algorithms and how these sets of instructions can be input, debugged and decomposed.
Our internet safety focus will be keeping ourselves safe online through the work in antubullying
Finally, Thankyou for your continued support in helping the academy in trying to achieve it's attendance target of 97%. Every school day counts and we have such an exciting curriculum planned it is important that your child does not miss out.
You will all by now have been given the parental expectations around attendance and have seen the policy that the academy follows on holidays in term time. In each case where there is a request for a holiday under the clause of exceptional circumstances, the Head Of School will follow the Academy and Trust policy. Please note that the Head of Schools decision is final and there is not appeals process for holidays in term time.
The thresholds for these expectations around holidays and the process for fining has been set by the government and we would strongly advise you to fully understand the potential financial implications you will face should you choose to take a holiday during school time.
Please also remember that we follow the Wakefield policy on healthy school life and your child must have only water, no flavoured waters or fizzy drinks in water bottles.
We are looking forward to another fantastic term and can not thank you enough for all of your support and help in getting our children off to a flying start this year.
Yours in learning
Mrs Groves and the KS1 team