Year 1

On this page you will be able to find out about all the exciting learning happening in Year 1. Below you will find our year’s planning, half termly newsletter and link to our Twitter page.

Please click on an image for a brief introduction to the teachers

• Mrs Csicsek
  Year 1 Teacher & History Lead
  Mrs Csicsek

  My name is Mrs Csicsek and I have been teaching for around 10 years. I haven't always been a teacher, although I have always loved working with children. My main careers before teaching were being an air cabin crew member for British Airways and working in the maintenance department for London and Quadrant.

  I completed my history degree while my daughter was young then went on to study for a PGCE. Having grown up in Abbey Wood and attended De Lucy Primary School, I felt it only natural to come back to teach in the town where I grew up. I really enjoy working with the children of Alexander McLeod Primary school; I truly believe they are all special and have the potential to reach any goal they set their minds to.

  I have experience of teaching in KS1 and KS2. I am very experienced in the KS1 curriculum and enjoy delivering it in a fun and inspiring way. I have a good understanding of how children learn and I use this to both challenge and support the children in my class.

  As a mum to three children (one teenager, a KS1 child and a toddler) I understand how precious children are to their parents and I aim to create a nurturing and caring environment for them.

• Mrs Hamilton
  Year 1 Teacher
  Mrs Hamilton

  I am Mrs Hamilton I have been a Class Teacher at our school since 2021. I have taught across KS1 and EYFS in many schools. I have vast experience working as a Teacher including for a time a Swimming Teacher! I love working with the wonderful children at our school. It's a privilege to teach them.

• Mrs Binks
  Year 1 Teacher & Leader of Learning,
  Mrs Binks

  I am Mrs Binks and I teach in Elder class. I have worked at Alexander McLeod since 2015 and have taught across Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. I spent my childhood playing schools with my sister and always knew I wanted to be a teacher. I completed a degree in Primary Education and specialised in children's literature. I grew up in a household with a mum who loved to read and she inspired my own love of reading - particularly for children's books. Even now I am more likely to be reading a young adult novel. Also, I have always been passionate around learning outside of the classroom as I believe the real world has so many life lessons to teach. I have a passion for travel and have previously taught Reception and Nursery classes in Perth, Australia.

  I am currently the Key Stage One Leader of Learning. During my time here I have also been subject leader for PSHE and SMSC, computing and digital learning. I feel so privileged to be the Leader of Learning Key Stage 1 - I like to think of Key Stage 1 as a little school that I am headteacher of. I am passionate about supporting our teachers to deliver exciting lessons and learning opportunities for our children that motivate and engage them to become life long learners.

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• Mr Shelley
  Year 1 Teacher & Maths Lead
  Mr Shelley

  Hello, I'm Mr Shelley and I am a class teacher as well as the Maths lead. I am in my fifth year of teaching at Alexander McLeod school. I have experience of working in EYFS, KS1 and KS2. As Maths lead, I am enthusiastic about all things numerical and have high expectations of all learners. I am very passionate about making maths come to life, and allowing children to see and feel maths within the classroom.

Our Learning

Year 1 is a very exciting year as children move from the Early Years Foundation Stage into Key Stage One. As well as teaching the Year 1 National Curriculum, we will also be recapping important learning from the Early Years Framework.

Albert Einstein stated that ‘play is the highest form of research’. Year 1 will be using a provision based approach to cover our curriculum during the autumn term. We will use child-initiated play, along with small adult led focus groups to cover our curriculum. Each day we will provide various resources for children to explore freely in different areas of the classroom. Each area will be engaging, offer challenge and allow children to develop important life skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, as well as meeting the National Curriculum. As the children learn and develop, our provision will gradually become more formal. This will support children with their transition into Year 2 where all learning is formalised.

In Year 1, a big part of our provision is the use of books all around the classroom to enhance the children’s learning. As well as linking to our topics they also link to PSHE issues such as friendship and kindness and offer a range of diversity to ensure all children can see themselves represented through the books in our classrooms. As well as each child reading with an adult three times a week, we also use high quality texts to teach whole class reading every day.

The topics that are being covered in Year 1 this year are Superheroes, The Journeys (our local area), The Wonder Garden, Whale Rescue, Mary Anning and Island Adventure. We have chosen these topics as they all lend themselves well to cross curricular learning which will enable children to develop knowledge, skills and understanding, while motivating them to learn in a variety of creative ways.

Phonics Screening Check

In Year 1, children will complete a Phonics Screening Check at the end of the year. Children will take this test in an informal setting, one-to-one, with a teacher. Whilst children learn phonics to help them with both word reading and spelling, the Phonics Screening Check only tests their skills at word reading. This is sometimes called decoding. During the Phonics Screening Check, children are asked to read (decode) 40 words. Most of these words are real words but some are pseudo-words (made up words). Pseudo-words are included to ensure that children are using their decoding skills and not just relying on their memory of words they’ve read before. As some children may misread these pseudo-words based on their similarity to words in their existing vocabulary, each pseudo-word is clearly identified with an image of an alien. Most teachers and children, therefore, refer to pseudo-words as alien words. Children are taught phonics every day and they will be taught the difference between pseudo-words and real words throughout the school year.

Year 1 Newsletter - Autumn Term 2

Key Stage 1 Curriculum booklet