Year 1

Miss Douglas is the Year 1 teacher and is supported by Mrs Gilchrist who also covers PPA and Miss Kelly who is the Teaching Assistant. Year 1 is an exciting and important stage, where children build on their early foundations and grow in confidence, independence, and responsibility. The year is filled with opportunities for exploration, creativity, and developing key skills in reading, writing, and mathematics within a supportive and nurturing environment.

The ethos of the Year 1 classroom is to be kind, respectful and to have a love of learning. Miss Douglas fosters a nurturing and inclusive environment where every child feels safe, valued, and encouraged to share their ideas.

Miss Douglas joined St Joseph’s in September and has really enjoyed becoming part of the school community. She has loved getting to know the children and their families and feels welcomed by the warm, supportive atmosphere that makes St Joseph’s such a lovely place to work. She especially enjoys seeing the children grow in confidence and independence throughout the year and is proud to be part of a team that supports both their learning and personal development.

At St Joseph’s Primary School, we value keeping parents informed and involved in their child’s learning. In Year 1, children will build on their phonic knowledge and early reading skills, develop number knowledge in maths, and learn about seasonal changes and local history.

We also love welcoming families to our Breakfast with a Book session, where parents and carers join their child for breakfast and share a story together helping to foster a love of reading at home and school. In class, children enjoy Drawing Club, where stories, drawing and imagination support vocabulary and writing. We also use Talk for Writing to help children confidently say sentences aloud and learn story patterns before writing independently.

Through these exciting opportunities, we aim to make learning fun, meaningful and engaging for every child.

Year 1 is an exciting year where children grow in confidence and build strong foundations in reading, writing and maths through fun, practical learning.

In June, children take part in the national Phonics Screening Check. This is a short, one-to-one check with a familiar adult to see how well they can use their phonics to read words. We will keep you informed and share ways to support your child at home.

Children bring home a phonics-matched reading book. Reading little and often at home makes a big difference to confidence and fluency.