Year 1: What We Are Learning!

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

This week in Maths, we have been learning how to compare numbers that have the same number of tens. We have been looking carefully at the ones digits to decide which number is greater than, less than, or equal to another. The children have been using place value knowledge, practical resources, and mathematical symbols (<, >, =) to explain and justify their thinking. 

This week in Literacy, pupils wrote their own version of The Snail and the Whale. Using the story as an inspiration they created imaginative new adventures thinking carefully about their characters and settings. The children worked hard to use descriptive language, capital letters and full stops to make their writing engaging and clear. We were all impressed with their creativity and wonderful ideas they brought to life!

This week in Geography, pupils became weather presenters! Working collaboratively in small groups, they explored the different types of weather experienced across the UK before creating and presenting their own weather forecast report. It was wonderful to see their teamwork, creativity and enthusiasm shine through!

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work! 

Year 1; Certificates: Friday 10th July 2026

 

Well done to all the children that have received certificates this week!

Walnut

E for Excellence: Eden

Star Writer:Daniel

Resilience: Musa

ReflectivenessMamadou

Beech

E for Excellence: Prisha

Star Writer: Ariana

Apricot

E for Excellence: Emem

Star Writer:Renae

Reciprocity:Leighton

Reflectiveness: Rayan

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Resilience - These children have demonstrated perseverance, managed distractions, noticed patterns and been absorbed in their tasks.

 

Reciprocity - These children have shown interdependence, collaborated effectively, listened to others, displayed empathy and have imitated effective ideas and methods from others. 

Reflectiveness - These pupils have planned carefully, revised ideas, identified key features and can talk about their learning. 

Resourcefulness - These pupils have been curious about their learning, made links between ideas, shown imagination, reasoned methodically and capitalised on resources. 

Rowan Class - Forest school

 

Rowan class had their final forest school session this morning. We did a carousel and the children moved around all the activities. We used the sun as our fire as it melted chocolate. Then the children selected fruit and a marshmallow to dip in the chocolate. There were drinks with ice to help us cool down and some time to explore (in the shade) with activities. Then we did some maypole dancing and made own own mini maypoles to take home. We finished off with some water fun using the tarp and shaking the water on top to create a shower. It has been a fun few weeks, well done everyone

Walnut Class Forest School 03/07/26

 This week was Walnut Class’s final Forest School session of Year 1, so we celebrated with ice-cold drinks and delicious s’mores cooked over the fire.

We began by talking about how to stay safe around the fire. The children remembered lots of our safety rules, including sitting in the respect position, staying a safe distance from the fire, and tying back long hair. We also recapped the three things needed to make a fire: air (oxygen), wood (fuel), and heat. 🔥

After safely putting out the fire, we learned about the elder tree and how its flowers and berries have traditionally been used to help with colds and coughs. We then enjoyed the story ‘Elio the Elder’ about an elder tree that helps a poorly little bird. 

To finish, the children used small pieces of elder to make colourful “fireworks” by removing the soft pith and pushing in strips of crêpe paper.

It has been a pleasure getting to know your children over the past ten Forest School sessions. I hope they have enjoyed their Forest School experience as much as I have enjoyed sharing it with them. 

Year 1: What We Are Learning!

 

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

In RE this week, Year 1 have been learning about how Muslims pray and the importance of a prayer. They have explored the special items Muslims use, including prayer mats and subhah (prayer) beads, and learned about the importance of Makkah. The children also discovered that Muslims pray five times a day and learned about wudu, the washing ritual carried out before prayer. They have enjoyed developing their understanding of another faith and showing respect for different beliefs and traditions. 

This week, Year 1 had a wonderful hands-on learning experience as we explored how plants grow by planting our own tomato plants. The children learned that tomatoes grow from seeds and discovered what plants need to survive, including sunlight, water, air, and healthy soil.Each child carefully planted a tomato seedling and discussed how to look after it so that it can grow strong and healthy. We also talked about where our food comes from and the important role that farmers and gardeners play in growing the food we eat. The children thoroughly enjoyed getting their hands dirty and were excited to become young gardeners! We look forward to watching our tomato plants grow over the coming weeks and observing the changes together.

This week, Year 1 had to design a fruit product, choosing between a fruit salad, kebab, or cocktail. The children wrote a 3 step preparation plan and then brought their ideas to life by creating annotated  drawings explaining their ingredient choices. Through this delicious project, they are mastering the ability to intentionally design, plan, and communicate a product from concept to creation! 

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work! 

Year 1; Certificates: Friday 3rd July 2026

 

Well done to all the children that have received certificates this week!

Walnut

E for Excellence: Jamal

Star Writer:Layla

Reflectiveness:Zakariya 

Beech

E for Excellence: Amirah

Star Writer: Cornelius

Apricot

E for Excellence: Tiwa

Star Writer: Kameron

Resilience: Kamari

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Resilience - These children have demonstrated perseverance, managed distractions, noticed patterns and been absorbed in their tasks.

 

Reciprocity - These children have shown interdependence, collaborated effectively, listened to others, displayed empathy and have imitated effective ideas and methods from others. 

Reflectiveness - These pupils have planned carefully, revised ideas, identified key features and can talk about their learning. 

Resourcefulness - These pupils have been curious about their learning, made links between ideas, shown imagination, reasoned methodically and capitalised on resources. 

Year 2 Certificates - 3.7.26

 

Well done to all the children that have received certificates this week!

Mulberry 

 E for Excellence: Abdullah

Star Writer: Luca

Reflectiveness: Rushika 

Resourcefulness: Alice

Resilience:Archie 

Reciprocity: Robert

Pine

E for Excellence: Amelia

Star Writer: Jack 

Reflectiveness: Lillian

Resourcefulness: Almir

Resilience: Elizabeth

Reciprocity: Billie

Rowan

E for Excellence: Zach

Star Writer: Oscar

Reflectiveness: David and Abshara 

Resourcefulness: Zaviyar

Resilience: Sriyan

Reciprocity:Surabhi

Teacher Happy: Emir 

.

Resilience - These children have demonstrated perseverance, managed distractions, noticed patterns and been absorbed in their tasks.

 

Reciprocity - These children have shown interdependence, collaborated effectively, listened to others, displayed empathy and have imitated effective ideas and methods from others. 

Reflectiveness - These pupils have planned carefully, revised ideas, identified key features and can talk about their learning. 

Resourcefulness - These pupils have been curious about their learning, made links between ideas, shown imagination, reasoned methodically and capitalised on resources. 

Year 2 - Learning blog

 

This term, the children have been learning all about statistics. They have practised creating tally charts and block diagrams, and they’ve been challenged to work out the difference between results — a great way to strengthen their addition and subtraction skills.

This week’s lesson was especially exciting: the children used Smarties to collect real data. They investigated how many of each colour were in their tubes and compared the ratio of colours. It quickly became clear that Smarties are not packaged with equal amounts of each colour, which led to lots of discussion and curiosity. Using real objects made the learning hands‑on, meaningful, and fun.

Despite the warm sunshine making the classroom feel a little hot and uncomfortable, Year 2 have shown fantastic effort and enthusiasm. We are very proud of how hard they are working.

Rowan Class:

Mulberry Class:

Pine Class:

Here is a fun Mini Movie to watch at home: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF_dBk8EPDk

 

Rowan Class - Forest School

 Rowan class spent the morning learning about how to light a mini fire safely. They used a flint and steel to make a spark, they fluffed up their cotton wool to allow the oxygen to flow through it and then tried to transfer the speak onto the cotton wool. They made sure the timing fire was contained and safe and watched it carefully until it went out.

There was also time to make a forest person craft, explore with binoculars and do some cloud watching.

Walnut Class Forest School 26/06/26

 

As it was an extremely hot week, we moved from our usual Forest School site to a shady area beneath a canopy. To help keep everyone cool, most of the activities were water-based.

The children enjoyed mark-making on the ground using ice cubes and paintbrushes with water. Miss Hines kindly brought water balloons, which were a big hit. They also had lots of fun shaking a tarpaulin with water on top, creating a refreshing shower of water droplets.

The children took part in a barefoot trail, exploring different natural materials such as sand, leaves, conkers and water with their feet. They enjoyed describing the different textures and sensations.

We finished the session with a fun game of Disco Detective, where one child secretly led the dance moves while the detective tried to guess who the leader was. It was a great way to end a fun and active session. 

Year 2 Certificates - 26.6.26

 

Well done to all the children that have received certificates this week!

Mulberry 

 E for Excellence:Ethan

Star Writer: Devansh

Reflectiveness:Robert

Resourcefulness:Luca

Resilience: Zara

Reciprocity:Archie 

Pine

 E for Excellence: George

Star Writer: Tiya

Reflectiveness: Amelia

Resourcefulness: Sienna-Rae

Resilience: Kotryna

Reciprocity: Nevaeh

Rowan

E for Excellence: Isaac

Star Writer: David 

Resourcefulness:Eliza 

Resilience: Aadhav

Teacher Happy: Anisa

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Resilience - These children have demonstrated perseverance, managed distractions, noticed patterns and been absorbed in their tasks.

 

Reciprocity - These children have shown interdependence, collaborated effectively, listened to others, displayed empathy and have imitated effective ideas and methods from others. 

Reflectiveness - These pupils have planned carefully, revised ideas, identified key features and can talk about their learning. 

Resourcefulness - These pupils have been curious about their learning, made links between ideas, shown imagination, reasoned methodically and capitalised on resources. 

Year 1: What We Are Learning!

 

Year 1: What We Are Learning 

This week in Literacy, our young writers plunged into the wonderful world of storytelling as we explored the rescue of the whale in the Story of The snail and the whale, focusing on sequencing events, adverbs of time, and becoming adjective detectives.

The children "uplevelled" everyday adjectives like big, small, sad, and happy into much more exciting vocabulary!

Once the children knew the sequence of the story, it was time to write sentences about it. The children did a fantastic job of orally rehearsing their sentences out loud before using their time adverbs to bring their writing to life!

This week in Maths, the children have been learning about unitising, which is an important skill for recognising the value of coins and preparing to work with money.

To support this learning, the children used pre-money counters in our class shop. They practised grouping and counting the counters to "buy" different items, helping them understand that one object can represent a value, just like a coin.

Next week, we will begin learning about money, where the children will apply their understanding of unitising to recognise coins, count amounts, and make simple purchases. You can support your child at home by looking at different coins together and talking about their values.

This week in Science, our Year 1 children explored where our food comes from and the journey it takes from farm to fork. They learned that food can come from plants or animals and discovered the different stages involved in getting food from farms to our plates. 

Well done Year 1 for an amazing week - keep up all your brilliant work!