Year 1
What will my child be learning this half term?
Friday 24th October 2025: Week 8
This week, we had an amazing time visiting Year 6! They welcomed us to try out their buzzer games, which helped us practise our fine motor skills in a super fun way. We pressed buttons, solved puzzles, and worked together to complete challenges. Everyone was smiling and laughing! It was such a brilliant experience! Thank you, Year 6, for making us feel so grown-up and letting us join in your exciting activities!
Friday 17th October 2025: Week 7
This week, we visited Rooksbury Mill as part of our longitudinal study on seasonal change. We explored the natural environment and noticed signs of autumn, like fallen leaves, cooler temperatures, and changes in plant life. We talked about how the landscape looked different from summer and made predictions about what we might see in winter. It was a brilliant opportunity to observe nature closely and build our understanding of how the seasons affect the world around us.
Friday 10th October 2025: Week 6
This week in Year 1, we explored weather patterns in Geography and painted our own weather symbols to use as props when we become weather presenters next week! In English, we began our new learning journey with the book Tree, which teaches us all about the seasons. We used VR headsets to experience spring, summer, autumn and winter, then visited each classroom transformed into a different season for a fun, multisensory adventure.
Friday 3rd October 2025: Week 5
In Year 1 this week, we have been busy mathematicians! We have been developing our understanding of number bonds to 10, and exploring place value using tens and ones, working with numbers up to 20. In Geography, we have been learning to identify physical and human features of the seaside. We discussed elements such as cliffs, beaches, harbours, and lighthouses, and used this knowledge to create detailed drawings of coastal scenes.
Friday 26th September 2025: Week 4
This week in Year 1, we had our Harvest Assembly and we learnt all about Harvest Festival. This linked beautifully with our Religious Education learning journey where we are exploring the mental state verb ‘thanking’. We also continued our English learning and wrote some lovely sentences all about Red and the wolf! In Maths, we have been learning about place value and how many tens and ones there are in a number.
Friday 19th September 2025: Week 3
This week in English we started our new learning journey all about Red Riding Hood. We went on a walk through the woods to discover different clues from the story. We found a cape, a basket and fierce wolf! Next, we had so much fun exploring the text and joining in with predictable phrases.
Friday 12th September 2025: Week 2
This week, in Phonics, we recapped the sounds we already know to help us grow into confident readers. In Art & Design, we explored different types of lines and created beautiful chalk drawings on the pavement outside our classroom. In Maths, we’ve been working practically with a range of resources to represent numbers in different ways. It’s been a fun, creative, hands-on week full of learning and smiles!
Friday 5th September 2025: Week 1
What a fantastic first day back we’ve had! It was such a joy to welcome all the children and hear their wonderful stories about summer adventures. Today, we embraced the outdoors by creating beautiful pieces of natural art, explored the important topic of allergies, and enjoyed some mindful colouring. In the afternoon, we played team games that helped build friendships, followed by some discovery time. We are so proud of how confidently and enthusiastically everyone started the new school year. We can’t wait to dive into our learning journey starting Monday!
Have a look at what the Year 1 children got up to last academic year (2024-2025) ...
Friday 18th July 2025: Week 7
This week, everybody has worked super hard to finish their learning ready for Year 2. In English, we have written our own narratives about astronaut Tim Peake and in Maths, we have worked together to use directional language. Towards the end of the week, we spent time playing and having fun with our friends before finishing for the summer holidays. Thank you to everybody for your generous cards, gifts and kind messages – we have loved getting to know all of your children this year and wish them the very best of luck in Year 2!
Friday 11th July 2025: Week 6
This week, we have had a fantastic week celebrating Arts Week! Across the week, we have learnt about the artist Matt Willey and his project ‘For the Good of the Hive’. This inspired us to create our own bee swarm through sketching and painting. We also spent time listening to ‘The Flight of the Bumblebee’ and responding to this piece of music by creating our own bee dances.
Friday 4th July 2025: Week 5
In Year 1 this week, we have been doing lots of hands on activities to bring our learning to life. In History, we used the federation’s VR headsets to experience what it would have been like to land on the moon – we were very excited to travel in a rocket! In Design and Technology, we followed our plans carefully to create our own puppets inspired by the text ‘The Adventures of Beekle’. We also visited Rooksbury Mill as part of our longitudinal study to see how this area has changed now that it is summer.
Friday 27th June 2025: Week 4
On Monday, we were very excited to hear that we had received a letter from astronaut Tim Peake! He sent us a non-fiction text called ‘The Skies Above my Eyes’ which we used to uncover all of the things that he would have seen on his journey to space. We loved lying down outside and imagining these things in the skies above us. This week, we have also enjoyed welcoming the Year R children into our classrooms to show them what life is like in Year 1.
Friday 20th June 2025: Week 3
We were very excited this week to hear that OpenBox Theatre Company were visiting us. Through drama and acting, we learnt about Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins’ journey to the moon in 1969. We explored how they prepared for their journey, how they travelled safely and what they did upon reaching the moon. We loved lying down and pretending to blast off into space!
Friday 13th June 2025: Week 2
This week, we have been making the most of the warm weather by taking our learning outside. In Mathematics, we explored volume and capacity using jugs, cups and water. In Physical Education, we have been busy preparing for Sports Day – we are super excited!
Friday 6th June 2025: Week 1
In Science this week, we have continued learning about plants. We are currently finding out the similarities and differences between deciduous and evergreen trees. This week, we took part in leaf rubbing to explore the differences between a variety of deciduous trees.
Friday 23rd May 2025: Week 5
This week, we had great fun finishing our final clay pieces inspired by Kazuhito Kawai. We explored different techniques to shape the clay and, once dry, enjoyed painting them. Our aim was to inspire Year R to become artists too, so we proudly showcased our work to them in the Year 1 outdoor area. They loved it!
Friday 16th May 2025: Week 4
This week, we had great fun continuing to explore Scratch Jr. on the iPads. We made changes to what our sprite was doing and explained why we made those changes. In Geography, we also applied our knowledge from last week’s lesson on Ordnance Survey symbols and created a map of Andover using some of the symbols.
Friday 9th May 2025: Week 3
This week in Year 1 we have been learning to add one- and two-digit numbers in Maths. We looked for patterns and solved missing number problems. In Physical Education, we have been thinking about striking and fielding, and we have been practising our overarm throwing technique.
Friday 2nd May 2025: Week 2
This week we once again walked to Rooksbury Mill for our longitudinal study, looking for signs of spring. We had a lovely time – and what perfect weather for it! In Religious Education, we had a vicar visit us to talk about what makes something special. In Science, we went outdoors and created a diagram of a tree using natural resources.
Friday 25th April 2025: Week 1
We have had a lovely first week back after the Easter break! We kicked off the week exploring clay in Art and Design. We found out that we are going to be making clay ice creams to inspire Year R to be artists. We also discovered that we are learning about plants in Science. This week, we identified different parts of a plant and cut up some flowers, organising them into different piles depending on which part they were.
Friday 4th April 2025: Week 6
This week was production week! Our Year 1 children have been eagerly waiting to perform our production of ‘Rockpool’ to their friends and family which they did with great courage, energy and enthusiasm. We are so proud of all of the children for their hard work – they really did shine!
Friday 28th March 2025: Week 5
In Year 1 this week, we have been busy practising our production of ‘Rock Pool’. We have worked incredibly hard to sing collaboratively, remember our lines and project our voices. We cannot wait to show our grown ups next week!
Friday 21st March 2025: Week 4
During our English lessons this week, we have been exploring how to use question marks to enquire and exclamation marks for effect. We are continuing to use the book ‘The Blue Footed Booby’ by Rob Biddolph as our text driver – since reading this, we have grown increasingly concerned about the whereabouts of Barbara (the red-footed booby)! As a result of this, we spent time writing letters to our local bakery to warn them that Barbara is on the loose – we managed to use both question and exclamation marks in our writing.
Friday 14th March 2025: Week 3
This week, we visited the Army Flying Museum in Middle Wallop as part of our History learning. We discussed how planes would not be here if it wasn’t for the Wright Brothers and explored how planes have changed since their work in 1903. During the day, we flew paper planes from the museum’s raised platform; learnt how to marshal a plane; sat in different types of aircraft and explored the museum with our friends. What a brilliant day!
Friday 7th March 2024: Week 2
This week, we celebrated World Book Day and our love of reading! We came to school dressed as our favourite book characters and enjoyed sharing stories with our friends in Year 3. During the afternoon, we explored the wordless picture book ‘The Last Zookeeper’ by Aaron Becker before creating our own alternative ending to this story.
Friday 28th February 2025: Week 1
What a busy week we have had! In English, we spent time exploring the text ‘The Lighthouse Keeper’s Lunch’ by Ronda and David Armitage. This inspired us to make our own healthy sandwiches for Mr Grinling (the lighthouse keeper) – we took lots of pictures which we are going to use to write some instructions for Mrs Grinling using commands and time related vocabulary. Our sandwiches were very tasty!
Friday 14th February 2025: Week 6
This week we have been working super hard on our narratives all about Goldy the gecko’s latest adventure! We worked so hard to make sure we used lots of our new writing skills in our narratives and we are so proud of ourselves. This afternoon we were able to share our work with Year 2 and hear them share their writing too!
Friday 7th February 2025: Week 5
This week has been anti-bullying week and we have had so much fun learning about how we, as Balksbury citizens, can support anti-bullying. We read a story called ‘We Are All Wonders’ and explored empathy, difference and kindness. On Friday, we drew a picture of ourselves inside a balloon and wrote why we were a wonder. We will be displaying these in our Year 1 shared area for all to see! You can see some of our thoughts in the pictures below. #choosekind
Friday 31st January 2025: Week 4
This week in Science we went to the school pond as part of our learning all about fish. We even spotted some goldfish hiding from the cold! In PE, we have been developing our balance and control as part of our gymnastics and we have been working on tensing our muscles to hold different shapes.
Friday 24th January 2025: Week 3
This week, we have been working super hard to write a letter to recount our exciting adventure with a whale in the school pool! In Geography, we have been learning all about the United Kingdom and this week we worked together to find the 4 capital cities on a map.
Friday 17th January 2025: Week 2
Year 1 have had a very exciting week this week! On Monday, we were shocked to discover a whale had been found in our school pool over the weekend so of course we had to investigate! We also had a lovely time on our walk to Rooksbury Mill where we observed seasonal changes from autumn to winter. In Art and Design, we have been exploring painting and the difference between primary and secondary colours.
Friday 10th January 2025: Week 1
We have had a fabulous week back at school and have settled into 2025 so well! We have been practising our gymnastics skills where we took part in lots of different activities to get us moving our bodies in different ways. In Maths, we have been extending our place value knowledge to include numbers to 50. In Religious Education, we discussed memories that were precious to us and created a memory tree.
Friday 20th December 2024: Week 7
This week we have enjoyed so many different fun activities. We had our school disco, where we danced to so many groovy tunes! We watched a Christmas movie and pretended to eat popcorn. In Science, we learned about transparent and opaque materials and decided which material would be best for a pair of curtains. We hope everyone has a happy holiday!
Friday 13th December 2024: Week 6
This week we have all been working hard on our time-related vocabulary in Maths. We have been learning about sequencing events and what ‘yesterday’, ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’ mean. We have also been using the vocabulary ‘first’, ‘next’, ‘after’, ‘then’ and ‘finally’. We have all worked very hard and are very proud of ourselves.
Friday 6th December 2024: Week 5
This week in Year 1 we have been learning about what prediction means. We have been reading the book ‘Tidy’ by Emily Gravett and making predictions for what we think Pete the Badger will do at different parts of the story. We have loved drawing our predictions, saying them and then writing them down.
Friday 29th November 2024: Week 4
In Maths this week, we have been learning about halves and quarters. We have been splitting pictures of fruit and shapes into two equal parts and four equal parts. In History we brought in our favourite toy from home and compared our toys with our friends’. We also looked at some photos of Andover from the 1960s! We loved comparing what the Chantry Centre looked like in the 60s to what it looks like now.
Friday 22nd November 2024: Week 3
We had a lovely time this week tasting different fruits and vegetables and choosing five for our smoothies. We even cut them up ready for blending! We also had a blast on our tree planting trip. Despite the snow, wind and icy breeze we managed to plant lots of varieties of trees, such as oak. We also finished our learning journey in English and got to publish our final writes. We are so proud of how hard we worked.
Friday 15th November 2024: Week 2
This week in Year 1 we went on a journey to the junior school hall for RE. Our journey was really difficult because we really struggled to find a path to the hall that was open. However, it was worth it because our journey’s end was a disco! In PE, we looked at the cha cha cha and watched some dances. We even had a go at some of the moves ourselves.
Friday 8th November 2024: Week 1
We have really gotten stuck in with the learning in our first week back after half term! In English, we had a video message from Lizzi Boyd, the author of the book Flashlight asking us for some help. Using our imaginations, we also explored a forest at night-time with torches! In Maths, we have begun learning our number bonds to 10 and have loved working collaboratively to figure them out.
Friday 25th October 2024: Week 8
This week, we’ve had an exciting time diving into stories and exploring the great outdoors! During Guided Reading, we loved retelling the story of Home Bird Hoot, bringing the characters to life together. Our recent trip to Rooksbury Mill was a real highlight – we searched for all the signs of autumn, spotting colourful leaves and even a few friendly creatures along the way! Learning has been so much fun this half term, and we can’t wait for more adventures.
Friday 18th October 2024: Week 7
This week in Year 1, we completed our final artwork in Art and Design, using purposeful lines to create fantastic drawings. In English, we focused on using capital letters to punctuate sentences correctly. In Geography, we explored the effects of weather, while in Science, we investigated our sense of smell, describing a variety of scents in different ways.
Friday 11th October 2024: Week 6
This week we had the opportunity to use the virtual reality headsets to transport ourselves into the different seasons. The classrooms were also set up to represent each season and we loved exploring! For Science we investigated our sense of touch and grouped items into categories.
Friday 4th October 2024: Week 5
This week we kicked things off with our annual federated harvest assembly at the junior school. In Science, we put our taste buds to the test, sampling foods – the lemons were a huge hit! Finally, in Religious Education, we dived into the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot, and learned about the special Sukkah shelters. We ended by building our own mini Sukkahs.
Friday 27th September 2024: Week 4
Wow! What an exciting week! In Art and Design, we explored the concept of tone, practising how to create different light and dark effects in our drawings. In Guided Reading, we compared a Norwegian fairy tale with an English one, diving into the magical worlds of each story. For Free Reading Friday, some of us cozied up with stories around a pretend campfire, sparking our imaginations as we read together.
Friday 20th September 2024: Week 3
This week in Year 1 has been full of exciting learning experiences! We’ve been revisiting the sounds ‘ai’, ‘ee’, ‘igh’, ‘oa’, ‘oo’, ‘ar’, ‘or’, ‘ur’, ‘ow’, ‘oi’, ‘ear’, ‘air’, and ‘er’, building our phonics skills each day. Starting next week, we will begin sharing the sounds, words, and tricky words we’ve been learning as part of our homework.
Friday 13th September 2024: Week 2
This week in Year 1, we kicked off our Art and Design lessons by exploring and drawing various types of lines. In English, we celebrated completing our first learning journey, where the children wrote their own simple sentences. We also had our first Physical Education lessons, which introduced teamwork and fundamental skills.
Friday 6th September 2024: Week 1
We’ve had an incredible first week back in Year 1! The children have already begun writing words and phrases in English and have been enthusiastically building number lines in Maths. In our shared area, we’ve created a beautiful collaborative display, inspired by the Little People, Big Dreams book series. Next week, we’re excited to dive into Art and Design, where we will begin exploring the world of line drawing. We can’t wait to see artistic skills blossom!
