Welcome to Year One!

We’re delighted to have you with us as we begin this exciting new chapter in your child’s learning journey. Year 1 is a special and important stage—it marks the start of Key Stage 1 and brings with it lots of opportunities for growth, discovery, and joy.

Throughout the year, we’ll embark on many engaging learning experiences together, helping children deepen their understanding of the world around them and build on the strong foundations developed in Reception.

One key milestone this year is the Phonics Screening Check, which takes place in June. You can support your child by listening to them read their book-bag books regularly and by watching the weekly phonics videos shared on Class Dojo. These small, consistent efforts at home make a big difference.

Please keep an eye on Class Dojo for regular updates about what we’re learning in class, as well as photos and messages about the fun, hands-on activities we’re enjoying.

We’re so excited to work in partnership with you this year—here’s to a fantastic start to Year 1!

Warm regards,

Miss McHale, Miss Phillips & Miss Darbyshire 

Reading in Year 1

In Year 1, your child will bring home two types of books each week:

• A banded book matched to their phonics level to help develop decoding skills

• A phonics book.

Reading with your child regularly at home plays a vital role in their phonetic development. Even just a few minutes a day can make a big difference in building their confidence and fluency.

Phonics Screening Check

During the summer term, Year 1 children will take part in the Phonics Screening Check. This national check assesses how well children can apply their phonics skills to read a range of real and pseudo (nonsense) words.

To support your child, we’ll continue to provide phonics activities in school and share weekly phonics videos and additional resources on Class Dojo. Continued reading practice at home is especially important—your encouragement and support make a huge impact!

Homework

Each Friday, your child will bring home their homework book, which includes:

• A weekly spelling list on the front cover to practise throughout the week

• Activities designed to reinforce classroom learning

Spelling tests will take place each Friday. Please return completed homework by the following Wednesday so that we can celebrate and review your child’s efforts together.

Understanding Our Local Area – Geography in Year 1

This half term in Geography, our topic is “Our Local Area”, where children will be learning all about the place they live. This unit is part of the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and focuses on helping children understand the world around them by exploring their own community.

Through this topic, children will begin to recognise the similarities and differences between places, and learn to describe both natural features (like parks, trees, and rivers) and man-made features (like shops, houses, and schools). They'll also be introduced to some basic geographical vocabulary to help them describe what they see.

Here’s an overview of what your child will be learning over the coming weeks:

Lesson 1: Where do we go to school, and what is it like there?

We’ll start by learning how to use maps to find places.
Children will learn that:

• Maps help us find where we are or where we’re going

• Maps use pictures and symbols to show different things

• A map key tells us what those symbols mean

Lesson 2: What is it like to live in our local area?

We’ll explore the area around our homes and school.
Children will learn that:

• Our local area means the area close to where we live

• A route is the path we take to get from one place to another

• Different places have different features—some quiet, some busy, some natural, some built

Lesson 3: What is special about our local area?

We’ll think about what makes our local area unique.
Children will learn that:

• Our local area is different from other places

• There are special landmarks we can recognise

• Landmarks can be old or new, and tell us something about the history of our area

Lesson 4: Where do people live and work in our local area?

We’ll look at homes and jobs in our community.
Children will learn that:

• People live in different types of homes (e.g., flats, houses, bungalows)

• People in our local area do different jobs

• These jobs help our community work and grow

Lesson 5: Can we map our local area?

Children will create their own simple maps using symbols.
They’ll recap that:

• Maps help us understand where places are

• Maps use symbols and a key to show important places

• We can use maps to show what’s near and far from our school

Lesson 6: What would we change about our local area?

To end the unit, children will share their own ideas.
They’ll think about:

• What they like about their local area

• What they might dislike

• What they would change or improve to make it even better in the future

This unit is all about building children's awareness of the world around them and helping them feel a sense of belonging and pride in their community.

As always, thank you for your continued support. Chatting with your child about where you live, going on walks, and looking at simple maps together are great ways to support their learning at home!