Induction Information

Welcome to the

Year 1 and 2

Agenda

• Introduction and Welcome

• The Curriculum

• The Big Write

• National Expectations - SATs

• Targets

• Supporting your child at home

• Furthering independency

• Important Information and Events

• Extra Curricular Activities

Teaching in Year 1 and 2

Class teacher- Miss Boon

Support in Year 1 and 2 this year –

• Mrs Bates

• Miss Hardy

Introduction and Welcome

We feel that it is very important for the transition from year groups to be as smooth as possible for our children at Our Lady of Grace. We also want you, as parents, guardians and grandparents to be a part of this and become familiar with any changes that there may be. This will enable us all to work together in supporting the children’s learning and well-being.

We hope that this PowerPoint will help you to:

• understand more about the curriculum in Year 1 and 2 and how it may affect your child.

• understand more about levels of attainment in KS1.

• know how you can continue to support your child at home.

The Curriculum• English and Maths will be taught each morning.

• Science, Computing, R.E and PSHE are taught as discrete lessons and also within other subjects.

• Children will have PE sessions weekly – specialist coaches.

• Geography, History, Art and Design and Technology are taught weekly

• In Year1 and 2 the children also learn French.

• Speaking and Listening activities (Role Play, Drama) is taught within all subjects.

Reading• We teach children Reading skills, enabling them to read for

understanding. This is done with the whole class during the ‘Shared

Reading’ part of English and during daily ‘Guided Reading’ when the

teacher works with every group once a week. The learning outcomes of

these sessions will be recorded in the children’s reading diary.

• Children will read with another adult or a teaching assistant during the

guided reading session. Each group will also have the opportunity to

develop independent reading skills on a weekly basis.

• Children will also be bringing home a school library book. These books are

chosen by the children and will often stimulate them, as the text type and

contents will broaden their reading experience. They can also support

topics covered in the Curriculum. The children do not have to read these

independently, they are for you to share and model reading for them. Some

children will also begin to use Accelerated Reader. These are designed to

encourage literary comprehension and allows children to choose a broader

range of reading material.

Our commitment at Our Lady of Grace• We will:

– Teach your child to read through the use of Phonics. Children are currently split for phonics groups so that their reading needs are being met. Phase 6 is also introduced in English.

– Monitor and record progress against targets;

Children will have a whole class target and individual targets, these will be changed every half term

– Inform you about your child’s progress.

• Our Expectations from Parents/Families– Listen to your child read regularly (at least 3 times a

week and sign diaries);

– Read to your child to model reading skills;

– Discuss stories/reading choices and preferences;

– Above all, foster a love of reading with your child.

Phonics• At Our Lady of Grace we value that reading is a key life skill which

unlocks the wider curriculum, and therefore we are committed to

help our pupils develop a lifelong enjoyment of reading. We

understand that the teachings of reading is fundamental to the

school’s improvement each year and have a sharp focus from the

very start to maximum progress. We prioritise early reading and are

determined that every pupil will learn to read, regardless of their

background, needs, or abilities. All pupils, including the weakest

readers, make sufficient progress to meet or exceed age related

expectations.

• Daily phonics is taught as a discrete session of 20 minutes where

children are grouped according to ability to ensure that all children

reach their full potential.

Targets• Class Targets

• For Literacy, targets are closely linked to the checklist

• of basic skills:

Correctly hearing, recognising and representing letter

sounds

handwriting

reading/writing, checking for sense

demarcation of sentences (correct end marks)

extended sentences using conjunctions, adjectives etc

• Maths is taught in units and before each lesson an AFL

takes place to ensure that the correct starting point is

found for each child (individualised learning). Targets

change after each session to support or extend at the

pace of each individual child ensuring a secure build up

of basic skills

HandwritingWe follow a cursive handwriting scheme from Year 2.

Children are taught this at school and encouraged to practise it at home.

Why this scheme?

• Correct formation of letters is insisted on from the beginning.

• Children rarely reverse any letters in this style.

• Capital letters don’t appear in the middle of words.

• Since words are joined straight away, the words are seen as a unit of letters and this helps the reading process.

• Writing becomes quicker – there is continual motion instead of the start/stop process of printing.

• Children love the idea of writing in a grown-up way.

• The spacing of writing is better due to words being a “joined” unit of letters.

The Big Write

Why are you doing Big Writing?Children need the opportunity to write for more extended periods of time.

On a Monday a Big Write homework task will be sent home to parents, this

will explain what the text type will be that the children will be writing and

what the purpose of this text is.

Each day during English, children will have opportunities to complete an

activity focusing on the skills to remind the children of important things to

include in their writing.

RSE – Why teach Relationship and Sex education in a Catholic

School?We teach relationship and sex education because the book of Genesis says that we are made in the image and likeness of God – male and female. So our gender is part of our identity and is essential to making healthy relationships with other people. For most people, the most fulfilling and deepest relationship people will be in is the Sacrament of marriage. Other relationships such as father/son, mother/sister, brother/sister are also influenced by our gender as are the relationships of friendships and other types of love.

All of the above is part of our understanding of God’s Creation and we respect and worship God by relating to his creation in the appropriate way according to our age and our commitments to God and one another.

Journey in Love• The Directors have now approved the new policy for RSE

that has been developed with in consultation with all the schools and parents within the collegiate.

• The new scheme of work for Relationships and Sex Education, which is rooted in the teaching of the Catholic Church has also been approved by the dioceses and the Directors of the collegiate.

• The policy and new resources can be found on the schools website. Please do take a look. https://our-lady-of-grace-catholic-academy.secure-primarysite.net/rse/

• The teaching of RSE will take place in the 1st half of the summer term.

• If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to speak with Mrs Rathbone.

Key Stage 1 SATs- Year 2Throughout the year, your child will be assessed and their

progress will be monitored. You will be informed regularly about

the standard at which they are working at and ways in which you can support your child. Also if you have any concerns about your child’s progress – we are here to listen.

There are standardised tests (SATs) set by the government which

will be taken by the class at the end of the year. These will

support the ongoing assessment which has taken place throughout

the year, to give your child the standard they are working at when leaving Key Stage 1.

Key Stage 1 SATs- Year 2

The tests cover two subjects:

English: Reading paper 1 and Reading paper 2

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG)

Maths: (Covering all aspects of maths including: geometry,

numbers and the number system, measure, statistics and

calculations.) The test will be split into two papers: arithmetic and reasoning.

The tasks and tests will be taken during May. The teacher

assessment may be moderated by your local authority. This is to make sure teachers make consistent assessments of children’s work.

SATs Results- Year 2

We will report if your child is working AT, ABOVE or BELOW age-related expectations.

Supporting your child at home

Reading with your child and helping them with

writing and spelling can help boost their

achievement. Certain skills, like reading and

counting, are worth really practising at home

because they are fundamental to your child’s

progress later on. Successful learning also

depends on having problem solving skills and

thinking logically.

• Let the children see you as reading and

writing role models.

• When you read to your child, make the

experience interactive and try your best to be

positive.

• Use dictionaries together for difficult words.

• Use the library.

• Write cards, postcards, letters, e mails to

family/ friends.

Ideas

• Write shopping lists.

• Role Play being at school, the doctors,

restaurant etc.

• Encourage children to read menus, road signs

etc.

• Introduce your child to simple map-reading

using a road atlas or map of your area.

• Be aware of all the things that are different to

home – buildings, accents and languages,

clothes, food, customs, and so on.

• Show them how useful number skills are on

car journeys, at the shops, in the kitchen.

• Make models and shapes.

• While cooking ask them to work out ingredient amounts if a recipe is doubled. Praise your child for trying, even if they get stuck or get things wrong.

• New experiences and discoveries are always stimulating, and they don’t have to be expensive or elaborate (Eg. Going to the park or if you go for a country walk, try collecting leaves of different shapes, look for insects or signs of wild animals.)

• Make learning fun.

Furthering Independency

As your children are now in Year 1 and 2 we aim for them to become increasingly independent in their social development and with their learning. With your support and our support, this can be a positive experience for the children as it will enable their self esteem and confidence to grow.

We encourage the children to:

• become responsible for their own belongings (especially jumpers) and those of others, showing respect for them;

• become responsible for changing their Home Reading book regularly and independently;

• speak to their school council class representatives about any concerns they have or ideas to help our school become even better.

• Completing homework tasks with growing independency.

Important information and events for Year 1 and 2

• This half term, P.E. is on Monday but will need their PE kit in

every day. Children are allowed to wear trainers for outdoor P.E,

but pumps are needed for indoor use.

• Children will be given daily maths and literacy homework which

will be small tasks intended to take just a few minutes.

• The children will also be given one piece of additional

homework a week focusing on the foundation subjects: science,

history/ geography, Art/DT, PSHE, computing or music.

• We thank you for your continued support with your child’s

homework.

• Spellings will be given out on a Monday and the children

will be tested on the following Friday.

And Finally…

• Thank you so much for your continued

support.

• Please feel to contact the office with

any questions or concerns that you may

have and we will call you back to

discuss these with you.

Thank you