Welcome to Year 1
Teacher: Mrs Patel and Mr Murrin
Support Staff: Miss Kevin, Mrs Stalham
We hope that all of the children and families had a fantastic summer! We are excited to get to know you and share our exciting learning with you.
As the children begin Year 1, we will be working to ensure each child has a smooth transition, with the support they may each individually need.
I hope that the information below will answer some of the questions you might have regarding changes now that the children have moved into Key Stage One.
The Year 1 Team
We are very lucky to have an incredible team of adults supporting Year 1 this year.
Mr Murrin who will teach Year 1 every Monday.
Mrs Patel who will teach Year 1 from Tuesday - Friday.
Miss Kevin will be in class every day, supporting the children with their learning and pastoral needs.
Mrs Cato will teach Year 1 every Wednesday afternoon during teacher planning time.
And, of course our wonderful children and parents!
Daily Resources
Each day, children will need to bring in a:
- named water bottle
- weather appropriate coat
- reading folder
- school bag, big enough to neatly hold an A4 sized homework folder and reading folder
Please ensure all resources, uniform and PE kits are named.
Transition
At Monksmead, we value the importance of play and ensure children have pockets of time in the day, where they can learn through their play. Year 1 children are given opportunities to imagine, create and explore. We call this Discovery Time.
At the start of the academic year, our main aim is to ensure a smooth transition from Reception to Key Stage 1. Phonics, English and Maths take place daily, with our foundation subjects gradually introduced into the timetable.
As part of our transition process, we are supporting the children in becoming independent learners. We focus on understanding routines, as well as how learning can happen at tables. After the whole class has accessed the main teaching component in Maths and English, the adults will call groups to complete their related learning task at their table.
The remainder of the class will engage in Discovery time until their group is called over. To make this fair, we ensure each group has a turn at completing their task first.
Curriculum
To see what the children will be learning in all of the different subjects across the year, please see the curriculum document on the website.
*Outdoor Learning
Year 1, have a lovely, outdoor learning classroom and we use this space regularly. The children can access this during most weathers. In turn, a suitable outdoor coat is necessary.
*PE
PE lessons will take place every Monday and Thursday.
Children should come to school wearing their PE kits on these days.
Through our wetter months, PE will primarily take place in the hall. However, weather permitting we may use the outdoor spaces too.
With this in mind, we would suggest that your child has a tracksuit, especially on those colder days.
*Reading
Please listen to your children read every day or as often as possible.
It really helps if you record that your child has read in their reading record. When a reading record has been signed 4 times in a week, you child will receive a merit.
In school, an adult will read individually, with every child, once a week.
Please ensure reading books are in book bags every day.
*Homework
Each child has an orange homework folder. We will send out homework every Thursday. Please return the completed tasks on a Monday morning.
We will link all homework to learning in class and key areas of development. Most weeks, the work will be either Maths or English based, with a focus on number, handwriting and spelling. All homework is set in addition to home reading.
We are encouraging children to take pride in the presentation of their work and I appreciate your support with this.
School lunch
Universal free meals still apply in Key Stage 1 and we offer a variety of tasty choices. Please speak with your child about the different lunch choices. Children can choose between a packed lunch from home, or a lovely, warm, school dinner. They will select their options during morning registration.
Fruit snack and Milk
The children have access to fresh fruit and vegetables at break times.
If your child wishes to have Milk at break time, this must be ordered online.
Change of playground
The class will now be joining Year 2 on the Key Stage 1 playground.
Key Stage 1 take turns to use the climbing equipment. Year 1’s allocated days are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Friday is a shared day.
In addition to the equipment, we also offer a variety of activities, which the children can choose from. These include construction toys, colouring, reading books and ball games.
On slightly wet days, we still encourage the children to spend time in the fresh air. During extreme weather conditions, the children will play in their classroom.
Stationery/Equipment
The school will provide all stationery/equipment that the children need in lessons. If children can bring in their own colouring pens and pencils if they wish to. These must stay, tucked away, in school bags until the teachers say it is ok to use them. Please support children in learning how to keep their equipment safe.
Donations/Voluntary Contributions
Donations are always welcome and are always, very much appreciated!
As the year progresses, we may add items onto our Amazon wish-list – so please keep checking. Glue sticks and coloured pens are items we seem to go through quickly.
There might also be times throughout the year, where we may request a small voluntary contribution towards extra resources that the school cannot provide, such as for food technology lessons and trips.
This will be rare and only if I feel that it would enhance the overall learning experience for the children.
Please know, the Year 1 team is always on hand to help.
Whatever the question, please catch us for a chat at the end of the day or call in to book a meeting.
We truly want every child to have the best school experience and in working together, we can make that happen.
Thank you,
Mrs Patel & the Year 1 Team
Phonics and Reading
At Monksmead School we have adpoted a new synthetic phoncis scheme called ELS. ELS has a clear progression of reading books that are phonetically decodable. Books have been carefully aligned so that they specifically match what children have been learning in class. Children in Reception and Year 1 will bring home a phonetically decodable book, linked to their learning, each Friday. With ELS, there is a daily phonics lesson where the teacher teaches a new sound, or reviews sounds learned earlier in the week. This is shown to the class on the whiteboard. Children learn the letters that represent the sounds. They are then asked to read words and sentences with the new sounds in. Children will also practise writing the letters that represent the sounds.
Children learn to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sounds they represent. Pronounce the sounds as you would say them within a word. It is important to ensure that you (or the children) don’t add ‘uh’ onto the end, so for ‘m’ say ‘mm’ not ‘muh’ and for ‘l’ say ‘ull’ not ‘luh’. The below video gives you all 44 sounds in English.
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Please click on the links below to see the sounds the children learn as part of ELS.
| Phase 2 sounds | Phase 3 sounds | Phase 5 sounds |
To support their love of reading, children will also be encouraged to choose a 'sharing book' - this is a book that may or may not be fully decodable but can be enjoyed with parents and family members as a book to read together.
Science Knowledge Organisers - Autumn 2025
Knowledge organisers for the individual topic area.
