Welcome to 1A!
What a fantastic week we’ve had in 1A! The children have settled very well into their new classroom and we are all getting to know each other. I am very impressed at how quickly the children have adapted to their new environment and routines.
We have practised some of our sounds in phonics and practised our handwriting. We’ve written our full names every day this week using a whiteboard pen! We are going to do this every morning when we come into school.
It is also important that we strengthen our fingers, so we’ve done some ‘dough disco’ to practise our fine motor skills.
In Maths, we’ve been counting all the way to 10 (forwards and backwards). We’ve also been practising writing our numbers the right way around in books. Today, we worked together to identify and order numicon from 1-10.
All of the children have been super brave and resilient this week. We’ve talked about our emotions, what makes us happy and how we can recognise emotions in others.
In PE we played a co-ordination game called ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and cone’. We even had fun balancing the cone on our head and walking from one end of the playground to the other without dropping it!
Well done 1A for a brilliant start to the year. I can’t wait to see what the year brings.
Topic – Exploring Our Green and Pleasant Land
This half term, Year 5/6 have begun an exciting new Geography topic. We’ve been diving into the natural beauty that surrounds us – both near and far – and learning how these precious places are protected and why they matter.
To kick things off, the children explored the many benefits of National Parks across the UK, from protecting wildlife and habitats to encouraging outdoor adventures and boosting our wellbeing. We’ve been amazed by the variety of landscapes and the work being done to preserve them.
Bringing the learning closer to home, the class have also been identifying green spaces within Leeds and our local area, thinking about how these spots provide a place to relax, play, and connect with nature – even in a busy city.
It’s been a brilliant start to the topic, and the children have shown real curiosity and enthusiasm. We can’t wait to continue our journey, learning more about how we can protect and appreciate the green spaces around us!
Help at Home: Ask your child about their new topic vocabulary.
Happy Holidays
We say it every year, but we can’t quite believe it’s already the end of term!
Thank you for all of your kind words, cards and gifts this week. We hope that you all have a great Summer holiday and we’ll look forward to seeing some of you in Nursery in September and some of you, next door in Reception! We’d also like to say good bye to those children that are moving to other schools – we hope that you love your new school and make lots of new friends
Don’t forget Nursery opens for our returning children on Monday 08 September 9 -12 ( please follow the information in your transition letter)
Have a fantastic summer holiday.
Nursery team
1A-Beach Party Fun!
We have had the most amazing day! Playing is what we do best. A HUGE, heartfelt THANKYOU to ‘Mr Whippy Leeds’ for treating ALL of KS1 to an ice cream or lolly of their choice! (The teachers enjoyed their treat too!)
The photos will speak louder than words…
11 July 2025
Our whole-school homework this week is:
Reading: please make sure your child is reading on a daily basis.
Number Fact Fluency: Use Numbots or Times Table Rock Stars in regular short bursts.
Pupil health Questionnaire
I can share my views about health.
We’re proud to be a happy and healthy school.
Each year, we ask you to complete a short health questionnaire. Your views can help us to become even happier and healthier.
Parents/carers: please complete a survey with your child, to find out their views on some of our key health issues at school, and comment at the end.
You can find the link to the survey using the QR code below.
Or you can click on this link .
Please submit before Thursday 17 July 2025.
The Snail and the Whale
The Snail and The Whale
We’ve been reading The Snail and The Whale, another book by one of our favourite authors, Julia Donaldson
We’ve been retelling the story in our own words and writing special blackboard messages, just like the snail trail messages in the story!
The book had some fantastic adventurous words to describe landscapes and actions. Our word of the week was humongous. We discussed the meaning of lots of other words too.
Can your child tell you what each of these words mean? They could use the images to remind them.
Transition
On Wednesday, the Reception children had a wonderful visit to their new Year 1 classroom. It was a delightful experience for the children as they met their new teacher and explored their future learning environment.
The children were excited and engaged, participating in fun activities to make them feel welcome and at ease. This visit was a positive step in helping the children transition smoothly into Year 1. They left with big smiles and lots of enthusiasm!
Phonics
Summer 2 week 5 has focused on root word ending in: –er, –est.
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers.
This week’s poem is Sliced Bread
Nell Bank
On Thursday, we set off on our trip to Nell Bank. We began by listening to a story about Pete who liked to be TIDY but maybe a little bit too much.
We worked together safely to clear up a big mess! During this activity, we explored ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and discussed what would happen to litter if it was left.
Afterwards, the children had the opportunity to go on a mini-beast hunt to help Pete find lots of worms. Following this, it was time to help Pete make a new home in the woods. One of their favourite parts of the day (outside of lunch, of course) was the water play area.
Living and Learning: Stereotypes
This week, we had some fantastic discussions about stereotypes, especially those linked to gender.
We explored how everyone should be free to follow their interests and dreams, whether that’s being a builder, a dancer, a scientist, or a footballer, no matter who they are.
This links to our learning about British Values, especially individual liberty (the right to make our own choices) and mutual respect (treating everyone fairly). It also connects to the Protected Characteristics.
Our classes agreed that we should celebrate differences and challenge unfair labels. We’re proud to support equality and kindness and believe that anyone can achieve great things when they are encouraged and included!
Transport
We continued our interest in transport this week using the ramps inside. The children used ramps and tubes to see how far their cars could go. We used a number track to check which car went the furthest, first to 5 and then to 10.
We learnt how to fold paper to create our own paper aeroplanes. It was quite difficult but we kept trying and were really pleased that we did. Outside we tested out our planes from various places. We wondered if they would go further if we set them off from the top of the slide?
Outside this week we practised our throwing, we aimed for some number on a target with the bean bags. We recorded our scores with tally marks on paper.
We used team work skills and our fiddly fingers to create some bridges, balancing the lolly sticks on the paper cups. We then tried to balance small figures on top. It was really tricky but we got better at it each time we tried.
Help at home
This weeks maths focus has been talking about our daily activities and using words to describe when things happen such day, night, morning or afternoon. We looked at our daily routines and tried to sequence the events. Try to use some of this language at home, too. What happens in your house in the morning? What do you do as part of your bedtime routine? What comes first, next, last? What day is it today? Do you go to Nursery tomorrow?
Reminders
- Our Nursery registration closes at 9.10am. Please ensure that you arrive to Nursery between 9-9.10am to allow us to begin our learning activities on time. Thank you.
- Please send your child with a rain coat to Nursery everyday; the weather is very changeable at the moment.
- We have lots of water bottles that don’t have children’s names on – remember to check that your child’s hasn’t worn off. You may also want to check cardigans and jumpers, too.
- Please ensure that your child’s sun cream is in their group basket if you would like it applying at lunchtime.
Seaside Poems
This week, we’ve explored differences and similarities between cities and the seaside.
Literacy
We’ve been reading Seaside Poems– collected by Jill Bennett. We used the poems to explore features of coastal environments- the seaside.
Later in the week, we were introduced to our word of the week: city.
We sorted pictures of cities and the seaside.
We revisited the name of the city we live in and some features that Leeds has, that makes it a city.
In our writing, we also compared the environments of the city and seaside. We wrote about what we would see in each.
Maths
We have deepened our understanding of numbers up to ten by engaging in various activities:
- Combining two parts to form a whole number
- Dividing numbers into two equal groups
- Exploring doubles and non-doubles to understand odd and even numbers
Phonics
This week, we’ve continued to focus on phase 4 words with long vowel sounds.
In provision, we’ve been reading words on boats and matching them to the correct picture.
Art; Watercolour landscapes
We’ve been painting coastal landscapes, using famous existing paintings as our inspiration!
Poetry Picnic
Each week we will be learning a new poem. We will recite this poem each day. By saying the poem out loud, we can focus on the sounds and rhythm of each word or line. We talk to the children about how this can help us become better readers. This week’s poem is called Thunderstorm.
Science
We tested whether foil boats float by constructing them and setting them gently on water. Then we loaded them with counters or toy cars to see how much weight they could support before sinking.
Check out our other learning…
Reminders and Dates
Monday 16 June, 6.00-6.30pm- Zoom: Reception to Year 1 information meeting. This remote meeting is an opportunity for you to meet the Year 1 teachers and to find out a little more about Key Stage 1.
Wednesday 18 June- Class photos.
Wednesday 2 July, 10.00-11.30am- Meet your new teacher. Your child will visit their new teacher this morning.
Thursday 3 July- Class trip to Nell Bank.
Friday 4 July, 3.15-4.15pm- Rec/KS1 FOSP summer disco.
Tues 8/ Thurs 10 July, 8.35am or 3.15pm- Learning journey drop-in.
Friday 11 July, 9.15-10.30am- Sports Day.
Swimming
Rainbow- 25 June, 9 July
Sunshine- 18 June, 2 July
1A’s target treat
We have been working hard on following the target ‘standing smartly in the line with a silent voice’ and we have earned the last healthy pizza topping on our chart. Well done 1A! As a reward for all of our efforts we watched an episode of Bluey today.
Our next target is ‘to be ready at carpet time.’