Welcome to
Year 1 – Spruce Class
Autumn letter 2026
Welcome back! We hope you have had a great summer. It was really lovely to see all of the children before the summer holidays for our transition day and talk about what an amazing year Y1 is going to be. We have some exciting topics coming up this year!
English, Phonics and Maths will be taught every morning and foundation subjects and Science will be taught in the afternoon – all of these subjects will be taught through a play-based curriculum. We want our learning environment to look like play and feel like play, whilst being underpinned by knowledge, planning and rigour. Our classroom will be set up to develop skills alongside the National Curriculum through topic-based play activities in designated areas. We believe play provides opportunities for children to experience learning in a meaningful and purposeful way.
Our Autumn topic is titled ‘On our doorstep’. Autumn 1 is geography based, which includes learning about the weather and our local area. Autumn 2 is history based and we will learn about the history of the local area. We will also look at local artists, William Heaton Cooper and Stuart Wilkie. In English we are going to enjoy many of Roald Dahl’s revolting rhymes during our whole school Roald Dahl week. We will then continue our learning based on traditional fairy tales such as The Enormous Turnip and The Jolly Postman. Our Maths focus will be embedding the basics such as number bonds and subitising and we will be building on the Maths skills learnt in reception.
This year we are very lucky to be supported full time by Miss Taylor who will work in the classroom and with small intervention groups. Mrs. Thompson will teach the class Monday-Wednesday am and Mrs. Jones will teach Wednesday pm-Friday.
P.E. will be on Wednesday and Thursday most weeks; however, this may be subject to change so please ensure your child’s P.E. kit is in school at all times. P.E. kits should consist of blue or black shorts, white T-shirt, Velcro trainers, spare socks and, when the weather gets colder and wetter, tracksuit bottoms, fleece and coat. Children need trainers as opposed to pumps as we aim to be outside for P.E. as much as the weather will allow. Please ensure all items of clothing are clearly named. Long hair must be tied back and all jewellery removed for P.E. If earrings cannot be removed, they must be covered with tape, which needs to be provided please.
On Friday afternoons, we are going to be taking part in our outdoor learning sessions, ‘Forest Friday’. This will be part of our science curriculum and will be a similar format to the Welly Wednesday sessions the children took part in last year. Therefore, please ensure children have wellies and waterproofs in school every Friday to ensure we can go out in all weathers.
We ask that you continue to listen to your child read, out loud, at home as often as possible – ideally daily. This is so important to increase their fluency and to foster their love of reading. Please ensure every time you listen to your child you record this in their yellow reading records. We will continue to send the children home with reading books to suit their ability and we will change books on Wednesdays.
Class updates and pictures of all the fun we get up to will be communicated via Dojo, all parents should have access but please let us know if you cannot access the class account.
Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns or queries, via the school office.
We look forward to working with you and your children this year.
Mrs Thompson, Mrs. Jones and Miss Taylor
