Teaching Team: Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Mrs Chavush and Mrs Bullen

willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome to Willow Class! The Year 1 team are looking forward to working with your child.  This term the Willow Class adults will be Mrs Pring, Mrs Tompsett, Mrs Packham, Mrs Chavush, Mrs Bullen and Mrs Chadwick.

This first term is very much about settling the children into the routines and expectations of Year 1. Learning will take place during short adult-led lessons and followed up in a range of activities where the children work more independently on a task. Our main topic for the term is ‘Me and My Surroundings’. Details of each week’s learning can be found on the Willow Class Blog on the school website and this is updated each Monday.

As part of English and Communication we will be learning about basic sentence structures, including using a full stop at the end of each sentence, using finger spaces between words, where to use capital letters or lower-case letters and how to correctly form letters. We will be writing using different genres, including describing a story setting and writing instructions. Initially we will be focusing on the book ‘The Artist’ by Ed Vere, before moving on to use other picture books to guide our learning.

As a school we follow the Twinkl Phonics programme and initially we will be revisiting some of the letter sounds that the children have already learnt to consolidate their knowledge. We will then move on to learning new letter sounds.

In our Time and Place lessons we will be learning about our immediate surroundings, including some of the physical and human features of Tunbridge Wells and how things have changed over time. We will also be keeping a weather chart and answering questions about the weather and seasons.

In our Science lessons we will be learning about everyday materials and their physical properties and we will be observing seasonal changes as we move into Autumn and Winter. We will also be identifying and naming parts of the human body and saying which part of the body is associated with each sense.

In our Design and the Arts lessons, we will be looking at how different artists (such as Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Vincent Van Gogh and Rembrandt) represent themselves in self-portraits. We will be drawing and painting our own self-portraits. We will also be looking at pictures of some of Antony Gormley’s sculptures and making our own clay models of people. As part of our learning, we will also be mixing primary coloured poster paints to create secondary colours.

In Maths this term we will be learning about Place Value for numbers up to 10, including reading and writing numerals and number words. We will also be learning about Addition and Subtraction (up to 10) and 2D and 3D Shapes and some of their properties. 

In our RE lessons we will be learning about Christianity and the concepts of God: What do Christians believe God is like? (Term 1) and Incarnation: Why does Christmas matter to Christians? (Term 2).

In our Sport, Exercise and Health lessons we will be learning about invasion games and developing our ball skills, including sending and receiving a ball.

In our Computing lessons we will be learning about the technology around us and how to use technology safely. We will also be learning how to use digital drawing and painting.

Just a few reminders:

PE Kit

This term PE will be on a Tuesday afternoon and Thursday morning.  PE Kits should include a house T-shirt, shorts and plimsolls or trainers. Long tracksuit-type trousers are useful in the winter months for outside PE. Ideally your child’s PE kit should be in school every day. Long hair needs to be tied back for PE so please ensure your child wears a hairband to school. Ideally earrings should not be worn on PE days or will need to be removed prior to the PE lesson. If your child is unable to remove their own earrings, please provide some microporous tape so the earrings can be covered. Please ensure that your child’s belongings are labelled with their name.

Water Bottles

Please make sure your child brings a labelled water bottle to school every day. We kindly ask that bottles are filled with water only rather than juices or squash. Please do speak to us if this is an issue.

Drop off and Collection Arrangements                                                                                

Children should arrive at school between 8:30am and 8:45am and go into school via the Willow Class outside area. If you arrive after 8:45am, please send your child via the main entrance/office so that we are aware they have arrived and can make sure their lunch choice is recorded.                                                                           

At the end of the school day (3:15pm), an adult will be in the Willow Class outside area and the children will need to identify who is picking them up. The playground can become quite congested so please move away from the outside gate once you have collected your child. If someone else is collecting your child after school, please tell a staff member in the morning or telephone the school office if arrangements change during the day.

Toys and Games

In order to help us avoid any unnecessary distractions from our learning and stay safe, we kindly request that toys and games from home are not brought into school.

If you have any concerns or queries, please contact us via the class email address: willow@st-barnabas.kent.sch.uk. 

Many thanks,

Mrs Pring and the Willow Class Team