Key Stage 1 2025 - 2026

Ms West

KS1 Lead

Golden, Puffin, Camelot and Hook

Welcome to Key Stage One

Ms West, Miss Eaton, Miss Welch, Mrs Nakayama (Mrs Symes is on maternity leave)

You will find our Termly newsletters and knowledge organisers at the bottom of this page. These will give you an insight into all of the curriculum areas that we will be covering over the term. Please use the knowledge organisers as a tool to support your child at home. Any class specific updates will be posted on Class Dojo.

Summer Term 2

This term, children in Key Stage 1 are continuing to enjoy a wide range of exciting and purposeful learning opportunities across the curriculum.

As Authors, the children are building on the skills they have developed this year to begin writing their own versions of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Sandwich. They will also be creating a non-chronological report about African Big Cats, focusing on organising information clearly and using subject-specific vocabulary. As Mathematicians, the children are learning how to tell the time. Year 1 are focusing on telling the time to the nearest half hour, while Year 2 are extending this learning by telling the time to the nearest 5 minutes.

In Geography, the children are learning all about The Gambia. They will be comparing a small town in The Gambia with Ilminster, exploring similarities and differences. They will also investigate the weather and climate of both the UK and The Gambia, linking this to their scientific enquiry by learning about animals that live in The Gambia. In Music, the children will have the exciting opportunity to learn how to play African drums, exploring rhythm and performance. In PE, the children will be developing their batting and balling skills through a range of engaging activities. In RE, the children are continuing their learning about Judaism before moving on to learn about Humanism, developing their understanding of different beliefs and ways of life. In PSHE, the children will be learning about their bodies and how to keep themselves safe.

Key Events This Term:

3rd June: Somerset Roman Ring
16th June: Herne View Reading Festival
18th June: Sports Afternoon
24th & 25th June: KS1 Trip to Somerset Museum, Taunton

Reading and Little Wandle

We use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds to teach or phonics, spelling and guided reading sessions. Although your child will be taught to read at school, you actually have a huge impact on their reading journey by continuing their practice at home. By then end of KS1, children are expected to read age-appropriate texts fluently and with expression while demonstrating comprehension by retelling stories, identifying main ideas, and answering questions. Therefore, to support this, we suggest that you should aim for 5 reading sessions at home each week. This could be your child reading to you or you reading to your child. Please make sure you record what you or your child has read on their reading record sheet.

There are two types of reading books that your child will bring home each week:

Decodable Little Wandle book

This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level and they have already been exposed to this book in class in their reading sessions that week. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading. Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, read it to them. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Sharing book of their choice

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together. Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. The main thing is that you have fun!

If you require any more information about Little Wandle, please visit their webpage: For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

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