A good school will make the transition into Year 1 a smooth one. The children will still be learning through play, but the day may be a little more structured than it was in Reception, and they may have to sit at a table for a little longer than they are used to, but they will still also be learning in a variety of ways. At Kidzworld, our Year 1 curriculum is designed to keep our young children interested and engaged in their learning and to ensure the continuation and progression from our Early Years program. Our aim is for children to enjoy their time at school and to develop knowledge, understanding and values to reach their full potential in all academic and social areas of school life. Our broad and balanced English National curriculum, adapted to the local setting, ensures continuity and progression for your child, and is enhanced with specialist teaching, language lessons, theme weeks, trips, and workshops. The curriculum includes subject areas such as English Language, Mathematics, Science, PSHE (Physical/Social/Health/Emotional) Geography, History, Arts and Crafts, Music, Physical Education and Topic/Theme. Phonics is a big part of Year 1. Your child will continue to expand on their knowledge of phonics and will surprise you with just how quickly they develop their reading. They will do 20 minutes of phonics learning each day, just like they did in Reception. These are fun, pacy sessions which involve games and tasks. They will learn tricky words, spelling rules and how to sound out and blend to help them with their reading and writing. They will be encouraged to ‘have a go’ at spelling when writing independently, by phonetically sounding out words. Their teacher may well ask them to ‘write it like its sounds’ and, as the weeks go by, they will learn the correct sounds to replace those guesses. In Language and Literacy, we aim to provide a rich and stimulating environment in which children find interest and pleasure in communicating in English. They are offered many experiences to develop their interest in reading with fluency, accuracy, understanding and enjoyment. The development of handwriting skills forms an important part of Language and Literacy. Your child will be learning through different topics this year, which makes lessons relevant and exciting. They will learn English through all sorts of wonderful stories, and they will also act out stories that may be familiar to you at home. They will plan and write their own wonderful creative stories, design posters and leaflets. They will learn to write in sentences and to use exciting language — all while improving their handwriting. Mathematics lessons this year tend to be enjoyable, with plenty of hands-on activities. Your Year 1 child will count with objects and work in groups to explore shapes and pattern. Now that they are using numbers over twenty, they will learn to use a one hundred square to help with their adding and subtracting. Number bonds will also be reinforced. They will learn to count forwards, backwards, in 2s, 5s, 10s, 20s, and they will double and halve. They will do math’s inside and outdoors and because we work in a very cross-curricular way in Year 1, he/she will be talking about mathematics during other subjects, for example, while measuring ingredients for cooking (DT), drawing tables to record experiments in science or drawing maps in geography. Beyond literacy and numeracy In Mathematics and Science, we aim to develop a knowledge and understanding of the role of these subjects in everyday life. Children are encouraged to relate their Mathematics and Science work to other areas of the curriculum and the skills and attitudes acquired are important components of cross-curricular topic work. Our highly qualified Year1 teachers involve you in your child’s learning wherever possible and offer workshops so parents can use ways to support learning at home. There are a wide range of topics covered in Year 1, and your child will undoubtedly have their personal favorites. Some of the Year 1 activities include: • experiments (science) product design (DT) • experiments (science) product design (DT) • learning the history of things (history) and about the local area we live in (geography) • dancing, playing games and using gym apparatus (PE) • painting, drawing and more creative processes (art) We also develop their social skills and empathy for each other during circle times. Year 1 is an important year for your child’s increasing independence and responsibility.