Foxes

What a magnificent and memorable end to the school year for Year 1! The children have been absolutely fantastic this final half of the Summer Term—it may well have been our busiest (and warmest!) half-term yet.


Our English work revolved around the wonderful chapter book Nikhil and Jay Save the Day by Chitra Soundar. The children loved reading about the brothers' adventures and explored important life skills like patience, perseverance, and resilience. Inspired by the story, we wrote our own narratives about losing things and how it feels. We also learned about the city of Chennai, comparing it to our local area of Fetcham, and even wrote our own Fetcham fact sheets. A real highlight was following 'Amma’s recipe' to make and taste our very own traditional dosas—delicious!

In Maths, we have been counting all the way to 100! The children used number lines to find 1 more and 1 less, and practiced comparing numbers by looking at their tens and ones. We also completed our unit on time, learning how to read 'o’clock' and 'half past' on an analogue clock, alongside reviewing the days of the week and months of the year.


In Science, we became busy investigators to consolidate our knowledge of plants and animals. Through a mix of beautiful picture books and practical investigations, we explored tree trunks, compared woodland animals, measured animal footprints, and even built waterproof animal homes and bird feeders.

Our Geography and History learning took us on some incredible journeys. In Geography, we continued our unit, 'Why do we love being by the seaside so much?', virtually traveling to Wembury to discuss beach pollution and how we can protect our coastlines. We also began naming and locating the world’s seven continents and five oceans, and explored how seaside holidays in the past differed from today. In History, we finished our 'Explorers' unit by learning about the discoveries of Christopher Columbus, the achievements of Matthew Henson, and the extraordinary determination of Dame Ellen MacArthur. We loved comparing how exploration has changed, noting that while it took Columbus ten weeks just to cross the ocean, Dame Ellen MacArthur can sail around the entire world in less than 100 days!


Our creativity truly shone in Art as we launched our unit on sculpture and 3D form. Inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ famous spider sculpture, 'Maman', the children worked brilliantly as a team, tightly rolling newspapers to construct their own fantastic 3D dragonfly sculptures. Meanwhile, in DT, we became chefs—selecting fruit and practicing essential preparation skills like slicing and juicing to create delicious summer smoothies.

In Music, we had a wonderful time learning Waka Waka for Sports Day, and in our lessons, we took a musical trip to the beach to create our own seaside soundscapes using instruments.


We turned into real programmers in Computing! The children successfully created simple programs using code blocks, mastering how to trigger events, objects, and actions.

In PSHE, our focus was on 'Changes'. We had some lovely discussions about how growing up means changing, and how every time we learn something new, we change a little bit too. This beautifully tied into RE, where we explored how different religions believe we all have a responsibility to look after and protect our wonderful planet.

Beyond the classroom, we want to say a massive "well done" to all the children for a fantastic Sports Day. Even with a new format this year, their enthusiasm and sportsmanship were absolutely shining!

It has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure to teach your children this year. We can hardly believe they are ready to fly the nest to Year 2! Thank you so much for your continued support throughout the year. The Year 1 team wishes you all a wonderful, safe, and well-deserved summer break.

Have a beautiful summer, and we will see you in September!