Holly, Lime and Pear Classes

Year One is an amazing year of new experiences and fun where our children start on their national curriculum learning journey which continues throughout their time at Northgate Primary and beyond. We feed their curiosity to create their nature love of learning and begin to build their confidence and resilience so they can start to work more independently by the end of the year. Throughout the year we have daily phonics lessons to support the children to read and write and daily mental maths lessons. We encourage children to practise their reading at home using their 'storyteller voice' and in maths the children can access Numbots at home and build their own virtual robot. 

We are very lucky to have a large Year 1 outside space that the children use as both part of their formal learning and creative play. As well as this, we have a trim trail which was carefully designed to support year 1 motor skill development and run round the magic mile track daily.

The Year One Team 

Our fabulous children in Year 1

This year’s topics:

Autumn term – “Long Ago and Far Away - Beegu''
Spring term – “A World Of Our Own - Our Local Environment''
Summer term – “Exploring The Unknown - The Deep Unknown of the sea”

Helping your child at home

We encourage all children to read their phonics book to an adult 5 times a week. Please ensure you sign your child’s 'monkey book' each time you read.

Sharing stories with your child is as important as them reading to you, so don't forget to read books to your child as well. It is not only a great way to spend time together, but it will support your child to become familiar with new words and develop their own story language. Reading to your child gives them the opportunity to listen to a story that they aren't yet able to read to themselves.  You can also read recipes together when baking, road signs and signs in shops. Remember, by being a part of the local library in Crawley you can borrow LOTS of books for free!

Helping your child to learn to read and spell 'red words' (which are the Year 1 and 2 common exception words) is a great way to support them with their reading and writing. Practising their handwriting, using the correct pencil grip, is also a great way to support them. The common exception words can be found using the homework link below. 

Maths is everywhere so don't feel you have to do 'formal maths' with your child. Using their numbots app can help them to practise and consolidate their numberbonds to 20. Reading numbers together (door numbers, number plates or on tv) all helps to make children familiar with number. Counting toys, sequencing colours of cars, measuring ingredients- these are ale examples of 'every day maths' and can be lots of fun. 

• Homework

Forest school days:

Year 1 visit the forest school on Fridays during the Spring Term. Please ensure they have the correct forest school clothing with them. 

PE days:

Year 1 PE days change each term. Please look on dojo (or your termly overview) for details of days. 

Please come to school dressed for PE on these days.

Click below to visit our Uniform page for more information about sports and PE kit.

• Uniform

If your child wears earrings, it is easier to remove them before school on these days. Children will be asked to take out their own earrings for PE. If they are unable to do so, they must be covered with micro-porous tape during PE.

Water bottles

All children are encouraged to bring a water bottle to school each day to drink regularly in their classroom and maintain good hydration. Please ensure your child’s name is written clearly on their bottle.

Mid-morning snack

A piece of fruit or vegetable is available daily for children to help themselves at mid-morning break. Parents have the option of ordering a small carton of milk.

Click below for more information about fruit and milk.

• Fruit and Milk

Lunch

A healthy and nutritious lunch will help to boost your child’s energy levels for learning throughout the afternoon. We encourage all our children to eat a hot meal each day, particularly since they are provided free for pupils in Year 1. However, if you choose to provide a packed lunch for your child, please remember that Northgate is a ‘nut-free’ school.