In Year 1, our children focus on learning to read with confidence through daily phonics teaching using the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) programme, where they learn and revise Phase 3 and 5 sounds to support accurate blending, segmenting and fluency.

Alongside phonics, pupils enjoy a wide range of high‑quality texts that develop vocabulary, comprehension and a love of reading.  Children also encounter a variety of additional texts linked to our foundation subjects, helping them deepen understanding across the curriculum and make meaningful connections through reading.

Writing is at the heart of everything we do in Year 1 and is woven throughout our Curious Quests approach. Inspired by the work of Greg Bottrill, Curious Quests places creativity, imagination and children's ideas at the centre of learning. Through high-quality texts, immersive experiences, storytelling, role play and enquiry-based learning, children are encouraged to become curious thinkers and confident writers who see themselves as authors.

Our classroom environment encourages writing wherever children learn and play. Whether they are recording observations in the science area, creating labels and maps in geography, writing instructions in the construction area or designing their own books, cards and letters, children learn that writing has a real purpose and audience.

Through carefully chosen texts and memorable experiences linked to our Curious Quests, children are inspired to write for a range of purposes, including stories, captions, labels, character descriptions, information texts and simple instructions. We place a strong emphasis on oracy, vocabulary development and imaginative play, ensuring every child has ideas they are excited to write about.

Using our 'Every Time I Write' approach, children are supported to remember the key ingredients of successful writing: capital letters, finger spaces and full stops every time they write. Alongside this, they develop their phonics knowledge, handwriting, sentence construction and confidence, helping them to see themselves as capable and enthusiastic authors.

Most importantly, we want every child to develop a love of writing and the belief that their ideas, stories and imagination are worth sharing.

Mathematics

In Year 1, children build strong early maths skills through practical lessons. Sessions are taught in short, focused bursts with a balance of teacher-led learning and play-based activities. Children use a wide range of manipulatives such as counters, cubes, tens frames and number lines to explore ideas and new concepts hands‑on.