Year One 2025 - 2026

September 2025

Dear parents & carers,

WELCOME TO YEAR ONE!!!

A very warm welcome to Year 1. We are so pleased to have you with us as we continue this important stage of your child’s learning journey. Building on the foundations laid in Reception, this year is all about growth, independence, and deepening understanding.

This year, our Religious Education (RE) learning will follow the “Lighting the Path” scheme. Through this programme, children will explore stories, traditions, and values that help them understand themselves and the world around them. They will reflect on key themes such as kindness, respect, gratitude, and responsibility, and learn how these guide their actions and choices. The aim is to help each child discover their own “light” and take their next steps with confidence and compassion.

In the classroom, children will be encouraged to grow in curiosity, confidence, and independence. Our learning environment is safe, welcoming, and supportive, where every child is valued and inspired to do their best.

We greatly value the partnership between home and school and encourage open communication throughout the year. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to share anything about your child.

Year 1 also brings a gentle transition into more structured learning, while still maintaining a creative and engaging environment. We will support every child to develop their confidence, curiosity, and love of learning as they grow.

Ms. Ibrahim and I are absolutely delighted to be teaching your beautiful children this year!! They have settled in excellently and are eager and willing to learn!!

We will be sending your child home with a reading pack containing a phonics reading book and a ‘bookbag’ book to enjoy alongside it (They will also choose a reading book from our class library for you to read to them at home). Reading is a NON-NEGOTIABLE. We use these books for our daily English lessons and the children will have them for as long as it takes for us to complete the work assigned to these books during the week. Please take the time to read with your child every day as this will be the key to their success in reading and writing. Also read other books/stories to them for enjoyment from maybe the library or the internet etc. When you read with them ask them questions about the story because their understanding of what is happening is crucial to their development and progression. It’s not about just being able to read the words. It’s about reading with understanding. Make their reading experience enriching by making it as fun as possible. Be creative! You may want to make something together based upon the story and bring it in to show us!! Every time you read with your child please sign and write a comment in their reading record. This will be the evidence of how often your child is reading at home. I will be checking reading records regularly. Like I said it is a non-negotiable.

Your child’s written homework will be to write a few sentences based upon vocabulary in some of our other subjects and Maths homework will be to learn their 2, 5 and 10 times tables by heart by the end of the year (This involves counting in 2’s, 5’s and 10’s). Once they can count in 2’s they can come to me for a reward before they learn the other times tables. However homework is non-compulsory. Your children work very hard at school and the last thing I want is for this to be a laborious chore for them. Learning should be fun, not a chore!

In Year 1 we have a V.I.P (Very Important Person) daily. This is where your child receives extra special treatment for the day and gets to sit in our lovely V.I.P. chair! Let them tell you all about it!

Here is a little information about the school day.

PE is on Fridays. Please could you ensure that your child brings in their full P.E. kit on that day.
Reading Packs are to be brought to school EVERY DAY!
Please look after the books we send home and don’t lose them. They are very expensive and we use them daily in our lessons.
Ensure that your child is on the school playground for 8.55am when the bell goes. We need to quickly register them in time to begin our morning sessions at 9.10am.
If your child is having school meals and you pre-order this could you discuss with your child which meal option he/she would like when you are making your choices. Very often parents choose for their children and they don’t like what has been chosen for them. Your children work very hard all morning and look forward to eating something they like at lunchtime!
A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who have sent your child into school with a water bottle. If you haven’t yet sent one in PLEASE could you do so. It means that they have access to their own drink at breaktimes and are not constantly coming into the classroom.

As always, we value the strong partnership between home and school and encourage open communication throughout the year. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to share something about your child.

We are looking forward to a wonderful year of progress, discovery, and achievement together.

Kindest regards,

Maria Hackman – Year 1 teacher

Sacdiyah Ibrahim – Year 1 teaching assistant

Useful Websites

These websites will help us with our work throughout the year.