Happy September and Welcome to Year 1!

This year in Year 1 you will have Miss Ali and Mrs Thomas to provide a positive learning journey for your child. We hope you are as ready and excited as we are!

Year 1 is an exciting year in which your child will continue to flourish in becoming independent, curious and frivolous learners!  In Year 1, we continue to build on the very strong foundation they have built thus far in phonics, Maths , Literacy as well as their understanding of world. To start of the year, our topic is going to be ‘ Magnificent Manchester’ in which we will explore the city and area we live in. As we are faith school, the theme of ‘Families’ will be running alongside the topic to provide a wholesome, well-rounded curriculum to support and nurture your child.   

The importance of reading in Year 1:

• Reading is a large part of your child journey in Year 1 as they will be utilising their phonics skills to read books. The act of reading will build their knowledge and meanings of words which will support their early writing and language development.
• Your child will continue to be taught phonics daily using The Letter and Sounds scheme paired with the Jolly Phonics actions.
• In Year 1, your child will read everyday in school as part of our pledge to support your child to read. Furthermore, your child will receive a book on a weekly basis based on their reading ability and will read to an adult in school to consolidate and progress their skills.

*** Your child is allowed to change their book as they read it unless you have had specific guidance from the teacher***

• Moreover, we ask that parents read with your child everyday for at least 10 minutes to support their reading journey and to document this in their reading record- this will be given to you at the start of the year.
• In addition to the reading book, in which they will bring home every week, you will have a login to an online platform filled with digital books that I will assign your child to read at home. This is an additional task but I recommend that you access this to support your child ‘s progress in reading at home.

Website: Bug Club: ActiveLearn: Login (activelearnprimary.co.uk)

 Important Notices:

• Year 1 must arrive at school by 9:05am to start the day and the school day will end at 3:05pm.
• Your child MUST bring in their reading book bags containing their books and reading records EVERYDAY.
• At Our Lady’s RC Primary School, we provide fantastic opportunities for developing skills, honing in on interest and hobbies through our enrichment clubs which happen after school. If you would like your child to join a club, please speak to Miss Ali to provide you with more information.
• We do provide snacks at breaks time but if you wish, your child can bring in their own snack. However, you can only bring in healthy snacks such as fruits, breadsticks, carrots and cheese etc. Any sweets, chocolate, fizzy drinks etc, will be not allowed in school.
• Please ensure that your child wears a full PE kit every Monday as they will be participating in PE lessons.

Reminders:

• Please provide your child with a name labelled water bottle for use through the day.
• Please remember to write your child’s name on any clothing/shows to prevent them from getting lost or mistakenly taken.
• If you wish for your child to have Milk during break times then please contact the office,
• If you wish for your child to attend breakfast/afterschool club then please contact the office.

Homework:

• Your child will be given a pack of Maths , English and other useful activities at the start of the year to do at home. Please read the letter enclosed on the pack for more guidance and information.
• Your child will be given a weekly handout of activities that your child can do at home to further support the learning they are doing at school.

If there is information you need, a concern you may have or good news you would like to share, please contact Miss Ali.

Finally, we are looking forward to having a magical year filled with memories, friendships and adventures with a great class!

Best wishes,

Miss Ali

These websites will help us with our work throughout the year.
Computer Circus
Mewan - Primary Place
Sumdog
Multiplication.com
BBC Bitesize (KS1)
BBC Schools
Crickweb (KS1)
Woodlands Junior
Woodlands Junior (KS1)
Primary Games
ICT Games
Primary Safe Search