Welcome back!

This term we will be introducing ‘Gem Power’, our whole school approach to building resilience, focus, teamwork and independence when learning. 

We are also going to focus on our whole school learning skills and highlight where we can find these in our learning:

• Show resilience
• Can work in teams
• Communicate effectively
• Always show curiosity
• Are ready to learn
• Make connections
• Show creativity
• Take responsibility
• Can be independent learners

We will also be introducing our Reading Rewards, where the children can earn free books for being amazing readers. The initial target is 30 reads. Hopefully we can give out some free books by the end of term!

Now the children have entered Key Stage 1, their learning will be based on the National Curriculum. This means that they will be explicitly learning subjects such as History, Science and Geography. We will be discussing what these are with the children, understanding why we learn them and the concepts for each subject.

Our History topic this term is ‘How am I making History? We will be exploring our personal history, introducing historical phrases and concepts and investigating the childhood of one of our older school members. Our key questions are:

• What is my history?
• How can I find out more about myself?
• How are special events remembered?
• What was it like for children in the past?
• What have I learnt about childhood in the past?
• How am I making history?

In Science we will be exploring ‘Seasonal Changes’. We will be naming and ordering the four seasons, the weather associated with each season and how the length of the day changes throughout the year. Our lessons will focus on:

• Wonderful weather
• Seasonal activities
• How do trees change?
• Daylight hours
• Observing over time
• Weather reports

We will also be exploring the Seasons in English using the text ‘Seasons’ by Hannah Pang. We will use this text to inspire us to write fact files and develop our understanding of non-fiction books.

In our other English learning this term, we will also be exploring how we are all special and unique. We will be using the text ‘Super Me’ to develop our understanding of fiction books and using this to write simple sentences. We will also explore Black History month using the text ‘Coming to England’ by Floella Benjamin. We will explore the History of the author, their journey to England and then write descriptive sentences.

In Maths we will be developing our understanding of place value, including identifying one more/less, counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and using the language of more/less/equal. We will also be exploring the properties of 2D and 3D shapes.

In RE we will be exploring the question ‘Was it always easy for Jesus to show friendship?’.

Our PE learning this term will focus on team building games outside where we will be developing our Gross and Fine Motor skills, communication and teamwork. The children will also be learning Gymnastic skills with our PE specialists on Tuesday afternoons.

We will be introducing ‘Interland’ to the children in our Computing learning this term. This programme of learning develops the children’s understanding of safety when using technology. The children will also be exploring coding.

Although MFL is not taught in KS1, we will be introducing our children to some French words and phrases, such as ‘bonjour’ and ‘au revoir’.