Catton Grove Primary School
Year One
Welcome
In Year 1, we strive for a safe and exciting learning environment. We know that Year 1 is a considerable year for transition as the children will have moved from Foundation Stage into Key Stage 1.
To help this change be as smooth as possible, we will encourage a free-flow learning environment alongside more formal teaching to support their transition into Year 1. As the year progresses, we will slowly introduce a more structured format of learning when your child is ready.
Please find our Year group Curriculum Overview at the bottom of the page.
Maths
In Maths, we use daily Maths Meetings to give the children the opportunity everyday to practise key mathematical learning. We rehearse the days of the week, months of the year and counting forwards and backwards to name just a few. We will build on this as the year continues.
These Maths Meetings will give your child a solid foundation of mathematical knowledge to build on throughout their school journey. Alongside maths lessons, like in English, we give our children access to independent maths learning where they can apply their knowledge and skills.
Phonics
Year 1 is an important year for phonics. We will continue to teach your child how to read by sounding out words and blending them together. We follow the ‘Catton Grove Phonics Programme’, which has been designed to help your child to recognise sounds and learn them off by heart.
At the end of the year, every child will have the opportunity to show off what they have learnt with what is known as a Phonic Check which is a requirement for all Year 1 children.
Reading & Writing
A love of reading is something that we encourage throughout the school but we intend to build on your child's interest in reading and their fluency through our guided reading sessions. The children will learn how to read along with a text and develop stamina and expression as they read.
We often refer to Year 1 as ‘the year of the sentence’! This is because one of our main focuses is to ensure that, by the end of Year 1, your child is able to write sentences that contain a capital letter, finger spaces and a full stop.
We will teach your child to write for a variety of reasons from creative story writing to writing factual, non-fiction texts through the use of the ‘Talk 4 Writing’ scheme. This scheme allows children to learn a text and memorise it (imitate), change parts of the text (innovate) and then re-write their own version (invent).
This programme allows our children to take ownership of their writing and learning, giving them an enormous sense of achievement.
Alongside this, your child will have access to writing materials so that they can write freely during independent learning time.
Core Values
At Catton Grove Primary School, we have eleven Core Values that underpin our curriculum and ethos throughout the entire school. The children learn a new Core Value each month and we celebrate children for demonstrating that value.
By the end of the academic year, the children will understand and appreciate each Core Value and be able to see these qualities in themselves and others.