WELCOME TO YEAR 1 2023- 2024
When the school year starts in September many Year 1 children have only just had their fifth birthday, so it is important that the transition from Year R to Year 1 allows them the opportunity to continue learning through play and first hand experience.
We continue to provide many of the opportunities they will already have experienced in Year R, including opportunities for role-play and using the outside area around the Year 1 classrooms. Maths, phonics and reading activities daily continue to provide the stepping stones for the children’s learning and the wider curriculum is taught through topic based activities where appropriate. We use the National Curriculum to support our planning and include a wide range of opportunities to develop the children’s independent learning.
Much of the wider curriculum, including writing, is taught in small groups, while the children use a Self Directed Play board to structure their own learning by choosing from a range of activities, including creative, construction, role play, ICT or imaginative, small world play. As the year progresses children will naturally spend longer on their recorded and curriculum based work and less time playing freely. They become more independent and confident learners and always seem to enjoy all the new experiences that they are able to access in Year 1.
