WELCOME TO YEAR 1

Beech Class - Miss Dwyer

Chestnut Class - Mrs Jackson

Our topic this term is "Near, Far and Where We Are". 

Important information

Homework:

Alongside daily reading and Bug Club (see link below) we will ask you to complete a weekly workout from your CGP Mental Workout Maths books. In addition to this, we would also like you to complete a weekly workout in the English CGP workbooks. This will be handed out on a Friday and should be returned for Wednesday for marking. 

Click here for tutorial videos for support with accessing Bug Club Phonics and reading.

PE:
Beech and Chestnut class have PE on a Monday.

Children need to bring their PE kit (including trainers) in a bag, to get changed into at school. The PE kit consists of:

• black shorts or jogging bottoms
• a red t-shirt 
• a pair of plimsolls or trainers

Please ensure your child has no earrings in and that long hair is tied back on this day.

Swimming:

Beech class have swimming on a Thursday afternoon.

Chestnut class have swimming on a Tuesday afternoon.

Children need to have a swimsuit or swimming trunks and a towel. Goggles are optional. All children MUST have a swimming hat. Hats are available to purchase from the office for £1.50.

Please ensure your child's name is on all items of clothing.

Meet the Teacher - September

Please find attached the Meet the Teacher presention which took place in school on Friday 5th September. Thank you to all those who were able to attend - we hope you find this useful!

Phonics and Reading in Year 1

At Downderry Primary School we follow the My Letters and Sounds systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme, validated by the DFE and aligned to the DFE Letters and Sounds guidance.

 Click here to access My Letters and Sounds downloadable resources including phoneme mats, audio of enunciation of letter sounds, formation practice sheets and many other resources that support the programme.

Please find below the presentation that was shared during the Year 1 Phonics Workshop. You will also find some useful links to websites to support with phonics and reading at home.

Thank you all for attending this year's workshop - we had an incredible turn out! 

Year 1 enjoyed a wonderful day out to the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill where they learnt about different plants and their uses in medicine, food and even furniture! 

In DT, a T-Rex requested our help to design and make him an extendable arm grabber. The T-Rex has short arms and needed a grabber to help him hunt, eat and defend himself. We made the grabbers from recycle cardboard.

For Black History Week 2025 we focused our learning on the Beckenham Legend Floella Benjamin. We learnt about her life and how she felt when she arrived to the UK as a child from Trinidad.

Throughout the week we read the story about Floella's journey to the Uk. We spoke about the journey of other people from the Caribbean during Windrush. We listened to some famous reggae songs which were influenced by UK culture. In PE we learnt how to dance to the beat of his music and Miss Phillips brought in her Steel Pan and played a reggae song to the whole of Key Stage 1.

After reading the story, 'The Kissing Hand' we made our own jam sandwiches and cut them out in the shape of a heart. We loved the story and had lot of fun making and eating our sandwiches!