Year 1 is the first year of Key Stage 1. Your child will now start learning through the National Curriculum. This builds on the learning the children have completed in the Foundation Stage and allows for a natural transition in learning.

For the first part of the autumn term, the children will make a gradual transition from Child Initiated Learning (play based learning as in their Reception class) to a more formal and structured day. Your child will still continue to learn their phonics and reading skills through Read, Write, Inc and will continue to have daily writing and maths lessons. The children will also learn other areas of the National Curriculum through a topic based approach. This allows the children to have an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens.

The National Curriculum is a set of subjects and standards used by Primary schools so that children learn the same things; it covers what subjects are taught and the standards children should reach in each subject. For more information on the National Curriculum please visit the Gov.uk website.

The school has due regard to the national curriculum at all times throughout the academic year for KS1 pupils and ensures every pupil has access to the following core subjects:

• English
• Maths
• Science

We also ensure pupils are taught the following foundation subjects:

• Art and design
• Computing
• Design and technology
• Geography
• History
• Music
• Physical Education
• Relationships and Health Education

PSHE and RE

Our curriculum includes PSHE lessons  and RE lessons where topics such as, e.g. raising awareness of different cultures / faiths / religions / customs or anti-bullying, can be addressed.

The school follows: ‘Jigsaw‘ for PSHE and ‘The Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education 2017-2022’.

All provisions made regarding PSHE and RE lessons will be made in line with the school’s PSHE Policy and RE Policy which can be accessed on the Policies page.

Phonics Screening

In the summer term of year 1 your child will take their ‘phonics screening check’ which is a statutory Government initiative. During the phonics screening check the children are asked to read (decode) 40 words. Most of these words are ‘real’ words but some are ‘pseudo’ words; or as we call them ‘alien’ words. The phonics screening check is delivered by a familiar adult within the school.

More information about our curriculum can be found on the Curriculum Overview page.