Year 1 2020 - 2021

Ms Hines

Mrs Doyle

Welcome to Year 1
On behalf of Mrs Doyle and myself, we welcome you to Year One. I am sure there are many questions you may have, and hopefully I will try to answer most of them without bombarding you with too much information. If your question remains unanswered, please ask one of us.

Daily Routine
Please enter and leave the classroom using the outside door. This is for safety reasons so that we can see, especially at home-time, who is collecting the children.

Please remember it is very important that school has up to date contact numbers for emergencies and we are informed in advance if there is a change of who is collecting your child. This will help to avoid unnecessary upset to your child.

Snacks
Fruit is available free at playtime; and milk is available to purchase if you choose to do so. Your child can bring a healthy snack to school e.g. fruit, water, breadsticks, raisins, carrots, cheese etc. We are a healthy school, and fizzy drinks, chocolates, crisps and sweets are not allowed.

Library
Every week, your child will bring home a book from the school library. This is a book for you to share with your child and return to school by the next library session which is every Friday.

PE
Your child will need a white T-shirt and black or navy shorts for PE. These can be purchased from the school office. All clothing must be labelled and put in a PE bag which can be left on their classroom peg. For outdoor PE please ensure your child has suitable footwear. Children can wear black or navy jogging bottoms during the Winter months.

Although we have set times for PE; indoors on Thursday and outdoors on Friday; on occasion we may have to change these sessions so please ensure PE kits are available on Monday and kept in school for the week.

Reading books
We will send a reading book, a reading record and phonemes/words home with your child. Please record your child’s reading progress. Try to listen to your child read everyday, ask your child questions about what they have read and practise reading and learning the phonemes/words in the centre pages of the reading records. Please remember that we are trying to encourage a love of reading and not a race through the reading scheme. Your child will be listened to read individually at least once a week, when, depending on their progress their book may be changed. Pupils will have many other varieties of reading opportunities in class.

Homework
An optional homework pack of Maths, English and other useful activities will be given out at the beginning of the school year. Read the letter enclosed in the homework pack for information about how to use it. This work does not have to be returned to school.

Spellings and mental Maths homework will be given out on a Tuesday for a tests the following Tuesday.

Your child will occasionally be asked to learn: poems, songs, prayers, readings for Mass/school play, counting in various sequences, number bonds, times tables etc.

If you ever feel that your child could do more homework than that given; they can learn to read, spell and write high frequency words.

We wish your child and yourself a happy experience in Year One this year. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask us.