Shillington and Stondon Federation

Year 1 - Puffins

Welcome to Year 1 and Puffins Class

Our Year One team is made up of Mrs Read (Mon-Thurs) and Mrs Foxall (Fri). We are also very lucky to have the additional support in class from Mrs Hollowell. We work really hard in all of our learning and enjoy and celebrate our achievements with each other. We learn that it’s ok to make mistakes and that we should always keep trying. We have the same 3 rules throughout the school which makes it easy for us to follow. They are: ‘Keep safe’, ‘Use your values’ and ‘Be the best that you can be’. We learn about and practise these rules every day.

Mrs Foxall

Year 1 Teacher on Friday

Our Daily Routine

In Year 1, we begin the year continuing the practices of Early Years to deliver the Year 1 curriculum. This is to ease transition and make it as seamless as possible. As the year progresses, we slowly introduce more table learning and less continuous provision so that by the end of the year, they will be ready to transition into Year 2. We use our outdoor space as an extension to our learning environment as much as we can. Phonics and Maths currently take place in the morning, and everything else in the afternoons. Formal learning sessions are punctuated with continuous, enhanced and linked provision where learning can be extended in a variety of ways. We even enjoy regular French sessions as we believe learning a language from a young age can be beneficial to other subjects and skillsets!

Key skills are important

Our daily teaching of the core subjects build on children’s skills throughout the year and they are also applied in a cross curricular approach. For instance, we are now using English learning objectives in all of the subjects as English skills are transferrable across all subjects. Maths skills are used in many subjects too. We encourage children to read daily at home and to practise their phonics and number bonds.

We believe in the power of a Growth mindset

In the class we celebrate making mistakes as the children know that mistakes are the key to success. If children get stuck they use their Growth mindset to try and solve the issue and not give up. A key phase we use in school is I can’t do it…yet! Children learn the importance of perseverance and determination. We try hard to develop resilient children.

Our Year Ahead

Year 1 have phonics screening towards the end of May where they are tested to check their reading skills with real and made up words. Please follow the link for a practise sheet: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/ attachment_data/file/809990/2019_phonics_practice_sheet

How we keep our bodies and mind fit and healthy

Year 1s are very active and any opportunity we have, we will use to jump around and dance. We have 2 hours of PE a week, and to keep our mind healthy we also use mindfulness activities in Art and in PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economics) lessons. Given the current national pandemic, we keep our classroom well ventilated and have established a robust routine of hand washing and cleaning. In Key Stage 2, children are encouraged to bring in a healthy snack to have at break time this could be fruit, vegetables, rice cakes and we are all encouraged to drink plenty of water throughout the day.