Year One Curriculum NewsletterAutumn 2025
Joy Excellence Service
"Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them."
Psalm 126:5-6
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
We begin the term by thinking how we can live out our school’s mission statement, “Joy, Excellence and Service” before learning about our class saint, St. Joseph, the worker. Throughout the term we will be covering two branches, Creation and Covenant, Prophecy and Promise. Our first branch focusses on the Creation story and how this can help us to grow closer to God and begin to know Him, when we spend time in His creation. We will also explore how we can be good stewards and show care and love for our world. In the second branch, we will begin to recognise that the Christmas story reveals God’s love by sending Jesus his Son. We will share and sequence accounts from the Annunciation through to the visit of the shepherds.
RSHE
In our module, "Let the children come", we will be sharing the Gospel story of Jesus welcoming the children to Him . The children will learn how they are created and loved by God, that we are unique and are able to love, serve and give thanks to God in different ways. After half term, we will learn how much God loves us, initially through the parable of the Prodigal Son. We will discuss how we are all part of God’s family and the importance of saying sorry to mend and strengthenfriendships.
ENGLISH
Our focus texts this term will be "The Egg Box Dragon” by Richard Adams and “Traction Man is here” by Mini Grey. The children will be developing their writing skills by composing labels, phrases and sentences verbally before using their phonic knowledge to sound out and spell individual words. The writing will be linked to our focus texts and will give us an opportunity to expand our imaginations, as well as write for different purposes. This half term, our focus is on descriptive writing and creating a list of instructions.
In phonics, we will be learning to recognise Phase 5 graphemes and then using this knowledge to decode new words. The children will continue to develop their ability to segment and blend words “in their heads” and to re-read decodable texts with increasing fluency and expression.
MATHS
This term, we will start by consolidating and deepening our knowledge of number and place value to 10. We will be exploring number order and patterns, as well as learning about inequality signs. Then, we will move onto addition and subtraction, using different strategies to find answers. Throughout the term, the children will have the opportunity to solve simple problems and develop their mental maths skills and knowledge. Towards the end of term, the children will complete a geometry unit exploring basic 2D and 3D shapes and their properties.
SCIENCE
Our science topic this term is "Animals including Humans".
Our initial studies will focus on humans, in particular naming body parts, the five senses and then discussing their purposes. The children will be exploring and learning about the world around them using their senses. They will be challenged to make predictions and offer simple explanations for investigations we undertake.
Later this term, we will be observing, classifying, and investigating different kinds of animals and identifying similarities and differences between them.
GEOGRAPHY
In our geography module, “Where in the World is Staines?”, we will be exploring what a map is and its different uses. The children will use a variety of mapping media, including atlases, globes, online or digital mapping media, as well as aerial images to identify major physical and human features of our school grounds, Staines and the wider area. They will apply this knowledge to complete simple fieldwork challenges around the outdoor areas and to construct or draw their own maps of imagined and real places. ln addition, we will develop our knowledge of the location of the UK and begin to learn the names of the four countries that are part of it.
ART/DT
Our focus this term in art is sculpture. We will be looking at sculptures by artists such as Ai Weiwei and Andy Goldsworthy, describing what we notice and admire. We will make simple sculptures of our own from natural materials.
In DT, we will be completing a unit of work about structures. The children will study different freestanding structures and begin to find out about the simple working characteristics of their materials and components. The children will work towards designing and creating a stable structure using a range of materials and construction skills. Throughout the process, the children will be encouraged to use appropriate technical language to describe and evaluate their work.
MUSIC
In music, we will be listening to different genres of music and describing what we like about them, as well as identifying instruments we can hear. In music lessons and hymn practice, we will develop and extend our repertoire of songs, as well as our ability to sing and perform as part of a group. In addition, we will be exploring, copying and repeating various pulses and rhythms, using body percussion and selected musical instruments.
P.E.
Initially, in our indoor PE sessions, we will be following a dance module, where the children will work on making different shapes and creating sequences of movements to music.
After half term, we will move onto a series of gymnastic lessons where we will work on balance and jumps. In our outdoor PE sessions, the children will continue to improve their athletic skills, before moving on to a new module where they will learn the early skills of orienteering, as well as other outdoor challenge activities.
COMPUTING
In the autumn term, we will be exploring what a stop motion animation is and how it works. We will be learning what a flip book is and how to make a simple one ourselves.
After half term, we will learn what a simple algorithm is and then follow simple steps to make a character ‘walk’ and ‘turn’ to reach a given destination.
This learning will be underpinned by regular teaching of online safety and who to turn to if something unwanted appears on the screen.
