Welcome to Belle Vue's Year 1 Page!
Welcome back to Summer term! The children had an excellent spring term in year one and we did lots of lovely learning across the curriculum. We have been really proud of them all and what they have achieved and we are really looking forward to all the exciting things we have coming up this term. As always if you would like to discuss anything about your child’s learning journey then please do not hesitate to speak with either Mrs Prosser or Miss Watson after school or you can arrange a phone call or meeting via the info@belle-vue.dudley.sch.uk

Mrs Prosser
1P Teacher
Art Lead
Miss Watson
1W Teacher


Mrs Harris
Year One Teaching Assistant
(Currently on maternity leave)
Miss Fennell
Year One Teaching Assistant
Mrs Malpass
Year One Teaching Assistant
Important messages
PE
1P - Tuesdays and Thursdays
1W - Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Please make sure children have PE kits in school and come to school with plasters already over earing or earings are taken out.
Reading books changed
Thursdays for both classes
Please make sure children bring both monster phonics and book to share books into school to be changed we can not sent new books home unless old ones are returned.
Safety
Please can we ask that parents not come into the clockroom for morning drop off and make sure that the door way is kept clear for children to come into school safely.
At the end of the day when picking up please can you wait on the year 1/2 playground not at the top of the steps so that we can see each adult clearly before letting the children go.
Thank you for your continued support
Dates for your diary - Summer Term 1
Monday 28th April Term Starts
Tuesday 29th April Parents’ Evening 4:00pm-7:00pm
Thursday 1st May Parents’ Evening 4:00pm-7:00pm
Monday 5th May Bank Holiday
Thursday 8th May Festival- themed KS1 and KS2 Discos
Monday 12th May to Friday 16th May Year 6 KS2 SATs Week
Monday 19th May DT Week
Monday 26th May-Friday 30th May 2025 Half Term
Reading: Children will be participating in various elements of reading within the year 1 curriculum, to support their decoding children will have daily phonics. To promote fluency, expression and comprehension children will have 3 adult led reading sessions with their weekly monster phonics book. They will also have 4 lessons over a two week period looking closely at a variety of book genres. We also enjoy a lot of reading for pleasure this includes a variety of class novels.
Writing: As we move into Summer term children will continue to build their writing skills. We will keep improving our handwriting to build a level of automaticity with letter formation, so that children can focus more on spelling accuracy and sentence structure. We continue to build spelling knowledge by applying our taught sounds and spelling rules in phonics and putting these words into sentences. We will also be writing more independently, coming up with our own sentences to build narratives!
Maths: During the Summer term children will learn how to count in 2s, 5s and 10s and recognise / make equal groups. This is building foundations for learning to multiply and divide. They will also be introduced to fractions (halves and quarters), positional and directional language and ordinal numbers. Children will continue developing their place value knowledge, learning about numbers up to 100. Towards the end of Year 1, children will begin to recognise coins and notes to count money. Finally, they will learn to tell the time (o'clock and half past). Throughout the term, children will have weekly arithmetic sessions to continue strengthening their understanding of addition and subtraction of numbers within 20.
Science:
In the first half of Summer term, Year 1 will learn about the key parts of a plant including the roots, stem, leaves and flower. They will investigate how seeds germinate, using a fast-growing seed such as cress. They will find out the conditions that seeds are unlikely to grow in, such as in the darkness or without moisture. Children will learn about deciduous and evergreen trees and will understand the differences between these two types of trees. They will link their knowledge from Seasons and Weather to the leaves of deciduous trees falling in autumn. Finally, pupils will look at the parts of plants that we eat. They will look at common fruit and vegetables and identify which part of the plant we eat.
In the second half of Summer term, Year 1 will be introduced to every day materials and their properties. Children will learn to distinguish everyday objects from the material they are made from, recognising everyday materials such as wood, plastic, glass, metal and rock. They will become familiar with key vocabulary used to describe everyday materials, such as soft, hard, flexible, strong, opaque and transparent, comparing and grouping materials based on their properties. Pupils will begin to understand that scientists and engineers study the properties of materials before making decisions. They will study the engineer John Dunlop, of Dunlop Tyres, who invented the inflatable rubber tyre.
Geography:
In the first half of summer term, Year 1 will build on their understanding of spatial sense (their immediate and local area) and the UK, zooming out to encompass the seven continents and five oceans of the world. Children will use globes and will begin to understand that a globe is a 3D model of our Earth showing continents and oceans. They will learn to recognise the north and south poles and the equator and will begin to understand what geographic location can tell us about climate. Throughout this term children will be forming an understanding that the world is a diverse place, and continents can host many different landscapes and living things.
Art:
In the first half of Summer term, Year 1 will learn about 'Children in Art' and explore paintings of children that give us information about the past. Children will consider the hidden messages that The Graham Children by Hogarth conveys, as well as investigating how the painting shows the difference of the lives of the Graham children in comparison to their own. Copying small sections of the painting allows children to consider how to work from close observation, planning where lines and colours should go, colour-matching and using watercolours with different sized brushes.
In the second half of Summer term, Year 1 will be introduced to 3D art. Children are likely to be aware of sculpture through statues they have seen in public spaces. They will explore how sculptors can use different materials to make sculptures. Over the term, children will learn about the process of making a sculpture, using the work of Gormley and Hepworth to explore making models for larger sculptures, casting and applying colour to sculptures. To investigate this process themselves they create sculptures in clay and plaster. The unit finishes by returning to the concept of style, where children will create their own elongated Giacometti-like figures using pipe-cleaners and foil.
History
In the second half of summer term, Year 1 will be introduced to historically significant events that highlight the development of British democracy, including the introduction of the Bill of Rights and the introduction of the first Prime Minister: Robert Walpole. Children will also learn about what Parliament and the Prime Minister do today. This includes looking at changes in living memory, such as the change in government/Prime Minister/local MP. Through role play, children will experience what it is like to vote, and how all the votes are counted and the person who has the most votes wins. Throughout the term, children will be encouraged to ask questions and use the important key vocabulary taught.
Computing
During summer term, Year One will be learning about Pictograms. Children will explore how data can be represented in picture format, contributing to class pictograms. They will then use a pictogram independently to record results of an experiment.
Children will also learn about the use of technology outside school. Children will discuss where technology is used in the local community, thinking about what they have seen and used. They will learn how to stay safe when using technology outside school.
PE
Music
During summer term, Year 1 will be exploring sounds, thinking about how music is made up of the following:
- high and low sounds
- long and short sounds
- loud and quiet sounds
Children will explore these sounds and create their own melodies.
Religious Education
In the first half of Summer term, Year 1 will be introduced to Judaism. Children will learn about Judaism through the study of special people, special text, special places and special times.
PHSE
In the first half of summer term, Year 1 will learn about the people who keep us safe. Children will learn:
• that people have different roles in the community to help them (and others) keep safe - the jobs they do and how they help people
• who can help them in different places and situations; how to attract someone’s attention or ask for help; what to say
• how to respond safely to adults they don’t know
• what to do if they feel unsafe or worried for themselves or others; and the importance of keeping on asking for support until they are heard
• how to get help if there is an accident and someone is hurt, including how to dial 999 in an emergency and what to say
In the second half of summer term, Year 1 will learn about how we can look after each other and the world. Children will learn:
• how kind and unkind behaviour can affect others; how to be polite and courteous; how to play and work co-operatively
• the responsibilities they have in and out of the classroom
• how people and animals need to be looked after and cared for
• what can harm the local and global environment; how they and others can help care for it
• how people grow and change and how people’s needs change as they grow from young to old
• how to manage change when moving to a new class/year group

Homework
In Year One, children should be reading to an adult a minimum of 3 times a week. We will be sending home a Monster phonics book home and a book to share. These will be swopped on a Thursday each week.
We will be learning the Year 1 High Frequency Words and Common exception words so learning these at home as well will be a huge advantage.
We will also send home an activity sheet for phonics that will focus on what they have learnt that week. Please can these be completed in pencil and handed in to the class teacher when completed.
Practising number and letter formation on letterjoin (log on code below) https://www.letterjoin.co.uk/index.html
Regular visits to numbots (passwords can be retrieved from teachers) https://play.numbots.com/?#/account/school-login/3596 to increase fluency in maths

