Year 1

At the beginning of Year 1, in the first part of the Autumn Term, our topic is ‘Coasts’. At Seaside, we are very privileged to live by the sea. This enables us to immerse the children in their topic by making regular visits to the beach. We walk from the school down to the beach and explore and identify the human and physical features of the coast where we live. 

As part of this topic, in DT lessons, the children create their own underwater shoebox scene. For this, they explore existing products, design their scene and then make what they have designed. This includes creating their own background and sea creatures which can move around in their boxes.

Science – Materials

Art and Design – Shoebox stories

R.E. – Christian Creation Stories

PD –What is family?

PE – Football / Circuits

Computing – Logging on and typing

During the second part of the Autumn Term, the children enjoy exploring maps and looking at keys on a map. To begin this topic, the children explore a range of different maps and look at the features of maps. They are then able to create their own key for a map using a range of symbols they have learnt about. This is then linked to their previous work on coasts as they examine different coastlines and compare the locations of these and their features on a map.

At the end of this half term, the children enjoy rehearsing for and performing a Christmas Show to their parents. They work hard on this throughout this half term and learn a range of songs, dances and poems for the performance.

Science – Seasons

D&T – Salt Dough Christmas Decorations

R.E. – Nativity story

PD – Online Safety

PE – Gymnastics/Fitness

Computing – Online safety and technology outside of school

In the first part of the Spring Term, we blast off into space. We learn all about the first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, and the adventures of Apollo 11. In English, we look at the story ‘Man on the Moon: The day in the life of Bob’ and the children create their own diary entry as Bob visiting the moon for work. During this half term, we have the ‘Science Dome’ visit. This planetarium experience enables the children to see what space is like and shows them inside the International Space Station.

Science – Human body

Art and Design – Peter Thorpe and Nicole Stott: Space-inspired art work

R.E. – Patron Saints

PD – Personal safety

PE – Dance/Yoga

Computing – Grouping and sorting and pictograms.

In the second half of the Spring Term, the children explore and learn all about castles. During this topic, the children learn about the different types of castles, who would have lived in a castle and their roles and they have the opportunity to examine different castle artefacts. They are fully immersed in this topic and enjoy making their own coat of arms during art lessons.

As part of our ‘Castles’ topic, the children visit Arundel Castle. When the children are at the castle, they enjoy dressing up, exploring the castle grounds and they even climb up the keep!

Additionally, as part of our science unit on plants, the children are able to plant their own vegetables and salad in our Year 1 Busy Garden. The children care for these plants and will then use what they have grown as part of their D&T project in the Summer Term.

Science – Plants

D&T – Coat of arms

R.E. – Easter story

PD – Good manners

PE – Tennis / Dodgeball

Computing – Lego builders and maze explorers

In the first part of the Summer Term, the children learn all about smuggling in the local area. This involves the children examining what smuggling is and exploring key areas for smuggling in Worthing and Shoreham.

Art – Beach hangings

R.E. – Stories from different religions

PD – Being a helpful friend

PE – Athletics/Active hour

Computing – Animated stories

In the final half of the Summer Term of Year 1, the children learn more about the journey of food. This includes the children learning about where a range of food comes from, discussing which food they have eaten and trying a range of foods from different countries. Through looking at the journey food makes, this then supports the children to develop their understanding of where different countries are and the climate of these countries to enable different foods to grow.

During this half term, the children are able to use the salad and vegetables they have grown to create their own salad. This is very rewarding for the children as they sow the seeds, give them to right conditions to grow and then eat what they have produced.

In addition to learning about smuggling, the children also explore and learn more about a range of animals. During this unit, they are able to see, touch and discuss different animals. This contributes to the 118 New Horizons book as they are able to stroke an animal in one of our science lessons.

Science – Animals including humans

DT – Salad making

R.E. – Bible stories

PD – What to do in an emergency

PE – Football rounders/Dance fitness

Computing – Coding