KS1 News
What has been happening in year 1 and year 2?
Year 1
We hope you all had a wonderful and restful half-term break! It’s lovely to see everyone back, full of smiles and ready for another exciting half of the term. This week, we’ve enjoyed catching up with friends, sharing holiday news, and settling back into our classroom routines. The children have made a fantastic start, and we're all looking forward to lots of fun activities, new topics, and continued hard work as we move towards the end of the term.
In English this week, Year 1 has been continuing to explore the beautiful story The Storm Whale by Benji Davies. The children have been working hard to describe characters and settings using a range of adjectives and to extend their ideas with conjunctions. They are starting to plan their next piece of writing, where they will be retelling the story. We have been so impressed with their ambitious vocabulary and the wonderful sentences they have created. Their writing is really coming to life!
This week, Year 1 has been developing their understanding of number bonds within 10, working systematically to find all the possible combinations. Using part-whole models, counters and cubes, the learning has been very hands on. The children have also been learning how to use bar models to represent numbers and show their thinking clearly. This important work is helping to build strong foundations for addition and number problem-solving, and they are showing great focus and perseverance in their learning.
Our new history topic this half term is The Victorians. The children will be learning all about what life was like for children in the past and comparing it to their own lives today. Everyone is especially excited for our Victorian School Day on Monday. This will be a wonderful chance to step back in time and experience a school day just like children did over 100 years ago! In science, Year 1 is learning about animals and their different features. The children have been exploring how animals can be grouped and compared based on their habitats and diets, and they are beginning to understand how each animal is suited to where it lives. Their curiosity and enthusiasm have been fantastic!
The Hidden Figures workshop was a brilliant experience for the children to learn about inspiring individuals from history, who achieved amazing things despite facing challenges and unfairness.
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Keywords: conjunction, and, adjectives, part whole models, bar models, addition, systematic, number bonds, Christianity, religion, fruit, vegetable, healthy, Victorian, timeline, past, present, compare and contrast, birds, fish, habitats, features. Sounds: a-e, i-e, o-e, u-e |
Keywords: time conjunctions, addition problems, more than, subtraction, evaluate, taste, chalk board, gruel, horse drawn carriage, church, worship, alter, cross, lectern, pulpit, seating, font, stained glass windows, pets, survey, pictogram Sounds: aw, are, ur, er |
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Messages: Recycling Donations Reminder We love seeing students take part in our recycling and creative reuse projects—thank you for all the wonderful materials you’ve been sending in! As a quick reminder, please take a moment to look through any recycling or items before they are brought to school. This helps ensure that everything sent in is school-appropriate and safe for classroom use. Dates:
Year 2 The children have had a brilliant first half term in Year 2 and have already learnt so much! We’ve loved getting to know each and every child and seeing them progress across all aspects of school life. They have worked hard to round off our Autumn 1 learning by making comparisons in geography and creating beautiful Orla Kiely-inspired wallpaper designs in Art. Thank you, families, for your continued support. Over the last week, the children have settled back into school life really well. Throughout October, we had many thoughtful discussions around Black History Month. We read inspiring stories by Black authors such as Benjamin Zephaniah and learned about influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr. This was supported by a Hidden Figures workshop during our first week back. The children discovered key Black British figures from across the decades — from the mysterious Ivory Bangle Lady to Olive Morris — and gained lots of new knowledge about these iconic heroes. In maths, we have been exploring addition and have begun to introduce subtraction. The children have used counters and partitioning to find number bonds that help them reach the next or previous multiple of ten. It has been fantastic to see them practising their number facts to solve a wide range of addition and subtraction problems. In English, we completed our writing unit by creating diary entries written by Traction Man as he completed one of his missions. The children mastered writing in the past tense using the -ed suffix and included exciting adverbs of time to show the chronology of events in the adventure. In science, the children have been learning about food chains and the transfer of energy between animals. We focused particularly on woodland environments, exploring local food chains such as: grass → rabbit → fox This learning has continued into the half-term as we delve deeper into different habitats. This week, we explored urban habitats, discovering the living things that share our local area. In geography, the children have learned lots of exciting information about Belfast and London. They made comparisons between the two capital cities, identifying similarities and differences — such as the types of landmarks — and recognising that both cities have airports, public transport systems, and parliament buildings. We have also begun our new history topic, where we are investigating Significant Figures, starting with Mary Seacole. The children have been learning about her life, the journeys she made, and the challenges she faced.
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