Year 1 – Willow Class

Inspiring Excellence. Empowering Every Child.

WELCOME TO YEAR 1

A warm welcome to Year 1. This page gives families a clear overview of the adults who support the class, our shared values, the daily timetable and the ambitious curriculum children will experience during 2026-2027. We want every child to feel known, included and excited to learn, while developing the knowledge, fluency and independence needed for the next stage of education.

Our class team

Our values in action

Our values shape how we learn, work and treat one another every day:

• Excellence: trying our best and taking pride in improvement.
• Empathy: listening, understanding and showing care.
• Equality: ensuring everyone belongs and can participate.
• Creativity: thinking imaginatively and exploring possibilities.
• Integrity: being honest, responsible and fair.

Our daily timetable

What we learn in Year 1

The curriculum is broad, carefully sequenced and ambitious. Teachers activate prior knowledge, explain and model new learning, explicitly teach vocabulary, check understanding and provide deliberate practice so that pupils know more, remember more and apply their learning with increasing independence.

English: reading, writing and oracy

Writing focus: Phonics, spacing and sentence punctuation. Across the year, pupils work towards a clear sequence of simple sentences. Talk Before You Write helps pupils think, talk, rehearse, improve, write and reflect before and during composition.

Core writing texts for 2026-2027:

• Lost and Found
• Nibbles: The Book Monster
• The Lion Inside
• The Curious Case of the Missing Mammoth
• Toys in Space
• Goldilocks and Just the One Bear

Reading is prioritised every day. In Reception and Key Stage 1, systematic Read Write Inc. Phonics supports accurate decoding and fluency. Daily story time and rich classroom talk build vocabulary, knowledge and reading for pleasure.

Mathematics

In Year 1, pupils build fluent number facts, place value, calculation, measure, geometry and early reasoning. Teaching uses small steps, clear representations, precise vocabulary, guided practice, retrieval and same-day support so gaps are addressed quickly without lowering ambition.

Science

• Seasonal changes
• Everyday materials
• Sensitive bodies
• Comparing animals
• Introduction to plants
• Science through stories

Pupils ask questions, observe, measure, classify, record, analyse and explain with increasing independence. Practical work always has a clear scientific purpose.

Geography

• What is it like here?
• What is the weather like in the UK?
• What is it like to live in Shanghai?

Pupils develop locational and place knowledge, mapping, fieldwork and geographical enquiry, with meaningful links to Longlands, Market Drayton and the wider world.

History

• How am I making history?
• How have toys changed?
• How have explorers changed the world?

Pupils build chronology and use evidence to explore change, cause, consequence, similarity, difference and significance. Local history links make learning tangible.

Religious Education and Worldviews

• Creation
• Christian beliefs about God
• Jewish life: God, Torah and Shabbat
• Care for the world
• Belonging and welcome
• Christian Gospel: love and care

Pupils make sense of beliefs, understand how beliefs influence people and make thoughtful connections between religious and non-religious worldviews.

Art and Design

• Exploring line and shape
• Paint and brush control
• Paper play
• Woven wonders

Children generate ideas, develop practical techniques, learn about artists and designers, and evaluate and refine their work.

Design and Technology

• Matching slider game
• Stable structures
• Simple stitches
• Smoothies
• Wheels and axles

Pupils research, design, make and evaluate purposeful products, drawing on structures, mechanisms, textiles, cooking and nutrition, electrical systems and digital design as appropriate.

PSHE and Health Education

Managing emotions; families, friendship and respect; healthy habits; hazards, roads and trusted adults; respectful online behaviour.

Speaking, listening and oracy

Pupils learn to speak audibly in complete sentences, retell in sequence, ask and answer questions and rehearse a sentence before writing. Every child is expected to think, rehearse and contribute through routines such as Turn and Talk, Wait Time, Cold Call and choral response.

Working with families

• Read with your child regularly and talk about unfamiliar vocabulary.
• Ask your child to explain what they are learning and how it connects to earlier learning.
• Support regular attendance, punctuality and readiness to learn.
• Check school communications for current texts, visits, homework and class events.
• Speak with the class teacher if you would like to discuss learning, support or wellbeing.

Curriculum note: class learning may be adapted in response to assessment, while preserving the intended year-group ambition and statutory entitlement.