Welcome to Year 1

On behalf of the team, I would like to welcome you to Year 1.  Your child is now in Key Stage 1 and will learn through the National Curriculum for the next two years before moving into Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6). I am the KS1 Assistant Head and overall in charge of Key Stage 1 so please pop and say hello when you see me out in the playground in the morning. Miss Walls, Miss Wiseman and our teaching assistants are so excited to be teaching you this year at Middleton St Mary's! We know that you will love Year 1!

Each day, children will have a Phonics, English, Maths and topic lesson and they will record in their own workbooks. Children will be given a reading book and reading diary for their book bag which they must return to school every day. 

Your child will also have PE lessons in Year 1 so they will need to come in their kit on PE days. 

Each child will belong to the same house throughout their time at Middleton St Mary's. Our houses are named after saints and children earn house points for their learning. Each half term, the house with the most points is reward with a popcorn and DVD afternoon. Our houses are:

St Andrew - Blue

St George - Red

St Patrick - Green

St David - Yellow

Presentation and learning is crucial as we move through the school. In Year 1, we really focus on the early stages and mechanics of writing in everything we do through developing our coordination and focusing on accurate letter formation. Each year group has a set of non-negotiables.  Non-negotiables are the things that your child MUST be able to do independently before the end of school year without having to be reminded. We want to try to encourage these every time your child works (and at home with reading and learning tasks) but do not worry if your child cannot yet do these things. These are the expectations for the whole year.  Let's work on these together!

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you are concerned about your child's learning or would like to know how to support your child at home more and help them to progress further. We do hold Parents' Pupil Progress Meetings three times a year (October, February, July) to invite you in to look at your child's work and discuss their learning and attitude to learning with their class teachers, but if you need to speak in between, please do not hesitate to get in touch via the school office. 

Mrs S Marston, KS1 Lead and Assistant Head

In writing our non-negotiables are: 

Our fish investigation

In Autumn, Jane Goodhall sent us a letter asking us to become scientists and answer the question - are fish vertebrates or invertebrates. We cut open a fish as a class and found the backbone. It is a vertebrate! The children then had their own fish to cut open. We had lots of fun! Tomorrow we are writing a letter back to Jane Goodhall.

Bird feeders

We love learning outdoors in Year 1! In Autumn, we made bird feeders to feed the birds that visit the school grounds over the winter months.