Otley and Witnesham Partnership

Welcome to Class 1. Miss Tabeart is our class teacher and Mrs McCormack is our TA.

Class 1 is a fun, supportive place to learn, where we develop our confidence, independence, curiosity and creativity!

How we learn

In Class 1, we learn in a range of different ways, including short adult inputs, supported group work and practical activities. We also have plenty of Discovery Time, which is a chance for us to choose our own learning. We have many different areas in the classroom to choose from, including construction, small world, role play, malleable and creative areas. We are also very fortunate to have a large outside area with water trays, a sand pit, a large mud kitchen, bikes, scooters, climbing apparatus and much more!

In Year R, we follow the Early Years curriculum which is very active and play based. The adults observe our play and develop our learning. They also encourage us to try new activities and increase our skills! We have daily Phonics lessons, as well as daily ‘Funky Fingers’ sessions to develop our arm, hand and finger muscles, ready for writing. We have two group reading sessions each week, where we work on our fluency and comprehension. We also have a mixture of Maths lessons, Writing lessons and ‘Project Time’ sessions throughout the week. Please see the curriculum part of our website to find out more about the topics we will be focusing on!

In Year 1, we follow the National Curriculum. We have guided inputs with an adult, and then work in small groups or independently to apply our new learning. We have daily Phonics and handwriting lessons. We have two group reading lessons a week, as well as whole class Reading, Writing and Maths lessons. We cover all of the wider curriculum subjects, which usually involve a short adult input followed by an independent activity. Please see the curriculum part of our website to find out more about the topics we will be focusing on!

We use Seesaw in lessons to record our practical learning, for example in Maths lessons. We can also record our independent learning from Discovery Time on Seesaw.

Communication

At Witnesham, we believe in the importance of effective communication between home and school. Families are encouraged to communicate with teachers in person at the beginning and end of the day, or via messages on Class Dojo. Teachers will also share pictures and updates from the classroom.

There are a variety of parent workshops, meetings and Stay and Play sessions throughout the year, about a variety of topics. Look out on newsletters for the dates of these sessions. 

Homework

Children will bring home their reading book after reading it twice at school. Please help them by listening to them reading this book at home! This will help them to practise their reading and Phonics skills, and to become more fluent. Children also bring home weekly Phonics sheets with information about the sounds, words and sentences that we have been working on in Phonics that week. Please help them to practise these at home.

In Year 1, children receive a half termly homework grid. This has a mixture of English, Maths, Science, History, Geography, PSHE and Art activities that are linked to our learning in school. They can complete whichever activities they would like to, and we have a homework sharing session at the end of each half term to celebrate everyone’s hard work!

Other Notices

We have weekly outdoor learning sessions where we explore different parts of the school grounds and complete a range of exciting activities. Sometimes we work with our friends from other classes during these sessions! We will go outside in all weathers, so please help your child to remember their hat/coat/wellies!

We visit the library once a week and choose a ‘reading for pleasure’ book to bring home and share with our family. 

Our PE day is Friday. 

Please make sure that all items (bags, bottles, jumpers…) are named, so that we can easily reunite any missing items with their owners!