This week in Reading into Writing, the children have been enjoying the wonderful story Handa’s Surprise. They have loved listening to and discussing the book, as well as exploring the different characters, animals, and fruits featured throughout the story.

To begin our learning, the children sequenced the events of the story, helping them to develop their understanding of what happens first, next, and at the end. They worked hard to recall key events and put them in the correct order.

Building on this, the children had a go at retelling the story in their own words. They focused on applying their early writing skills by using capital letters at the beginning of sentences, leaving finger spaces between words, and remembering to finish their sentences with full stops.

We have been very impressed with the children's enthusiasm and growing confidence in both reading and writing. Well done, everyone! 🌟

Year 1 have been enjoying developing their handwriting skills through the Kinetic Letters handwriting scheme.

We began by recapping our knowledge from Reception, reminding ourselves of the different writing positions that help us sit comfortably and hold our pencils correctly. The children have worked hard to remember how good posture and pencil grip support neat and fluent handwriting.

More recently, we have been learning about the Jumper Family. The children have explored the family feature and practised forming a range of letters, including h, n and m. We have been focusing on starting each letter in the correct place, forming it carefully and using the family feature to help us remember the correct movements.

It has been wonderful to see the children's confidence growing as they develop their letter formation and handwriting skills. We are looking forward to continuing our Kinetic Letters journey and learning more letter families throughout the year!

Beech Class have enjoyed some extra playtime today after achieving the highest attendance in school last week and winning the attendance award! 🌟

We are incredibly proud of all the children for their commitment to being in school every day, ready to learn and take part in all the exciting opportunities on offer. Excellent attendance helps children make the most of their learning, build strong friendships and create wonderful memories together.

The children thoroughly enjoyed their reward and showed great enthusiasm throughout their extra playtime. Keep up the fantastic effort, Beech Class. We can't wait to see if you can hold on to the attendance trophy next week!

Well done, Beech Class! Every day counts! 🎉👏💜

This half term, Year 1 have begun their RE learning by exploring Christianity and learning about God. We started by thinking about our own families and discussing who is special to us. The children enjoyed sharing stories about their family members and talking about the people who care for them.

We then linked this learning to Christianity by exploring the idea of God's family. The children learned that Christians believe everyone is welcome in God's family and that the church community is an important part of this. They shared thoughtful ideas and made connections between their own families and God's family.

More recently, the children have been learning about baptism. They discovered that baptism is a special ceremony for Christians and explored the different features that can be found during a baptism. The children enjoyed labelling and discussing the key parts of a baptism, including the font, water and special symbols used during the ceremony.

Year 1 have shown great curiosity and enthusiasm throughout our discussions and have been respectful when learning about the beliefs of others. We look forward to continuing our journey of learning about Christianity over the coming weeks.

Well done, Year 1! 🌟✝️

This week, our Year 1 children have been exploring how to sort objects by their different properties. Using a range of practical resources, the children worked collaboratively to group objects by size, colour, and shape.

The children enjoyed investigating everyday items and discussing what makes them the same or different. They sorted objects into groups, compared their choices with their classmates, and explained the reasons for their decisions using mathematical vocabulary such as larger, smaller, circle, square, and triangle.

These activities help to develop important early maths skills, including observation, comparison, and problem-solving. They also encourage children to think critically and communicate their ideas clearly.

We were very impressed with the enthusiasm and confidence the children showed throughout the week. It was wonderful to see them applying their learning through hands-on activities and working together to solve challenges.

This term, Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed completing their computing unit on programming floor robots using Bee-Bots. Throughout the unit, the children explored all of the Bee-Bot buttons, learning what each one does and testing how different commands affect the robot's movements.

The children developed their understanding of algorithms by following given sets of instructions to guide their Bee-Bots from one location to another. They carefully predicted where the robot would go before testing and refining their ideas.

As their confidence grew, the pupils challenged themselves by creating their own algorithms. They planned and plotted routes, programming their Bee-Bots to travel from a chosen starting point to a finishing point. This encouraged problem-solving, logical thinking, and perseverance as they debugged and improved their instructions when needed.

We were incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm, teamwork, and determination shown by Year 1 throughout the unit. They have developed valuable early programming skills and enjoyed seeing their algorithms come to life through the Bee-Bots' movements. Well done, Year 1! 🐝💻

Today, Year 1 had a wonderful visit from Fisher's Family Farm. We were very excited to meet lots of different animals and learn more about them.

The children enjoyed petting some of the animals, including goats, donkeys and rabbits. It was a fantastic hands-on experience, and everyone loved getting up close to the friendly animals. We also enjoyed looking at all the other animals and finding out interesting facts about them.

The visit was a fun and memorable experience for Year 1, and we would like to say a big thank you to Fisher's Family Farm for bringing their animals to our school. We had a wonderful day! 🐐🐴🐇

This week, Year 1 enjoyed reading The Mega Magic Teacher Swap. We had lots of fun following the exciting story and talking about our favourite parts. The children shared their ideas, made predictions, and discussed the characters and events together.

After reading the book, we completed a special writing activity and wrote letters to our new teachers for next year. In our letters, we introduced ourselves, shared our interests, and wrote about some of the things we enjoy at school. This was a wonderful opportunity for the children to practise their writing skills while helping their new teachers get to know them. 🌟✏️📚

This half term, Year 1 have been busy growing sunflower seeds and learning all about how plants grow. We carefully planted our seeds and observed them closely each week.

We were very excited to see the first roots begin to grow. Soon after, tiny green shoots appeared above the soil. We learned that plants need water, light, and warmth to help them grow strong and healthy.

As our sunflowers changed, we recorded our observations in a plant diary. We drew pictures and wrote about the changes we noticed, helping us to track the progress of our plants over time.

We also sequenced the stages of plant growth, learning how a seed develops into a young plant. This helped us understand the life cycle of a sunflower and the important stages it goes through as it grows.

Year 1 have thoroughly enjoyed being young gardeners and scientists, and we are proud of how well our sunflowers have grown! 🌻

Year 1 had a fantastic time during our Heritage Day as we explored the key question: "How has the Blackpool Tower Circus changed over time?"

To begin our learning, we watched an old video of the Blackpool Tower Circus and compared it with a modern-day performance. We looked carefully at what was the same and what had changed, noticing differences in the performers, costumes, and the way the circus entertainment is presented today.

Next, we became history detectives by sorting pictures into past or present. We used clues such as the style of clothing, the colours in the photographs, and the design of the circus posters to help us make our decisions.

We then worked together to place a selection of Blackpool Tower Circus posters in chronological order, helping us understand how the circus has evolved over time. The children enjoyed discussing which posters were older and explaining the clues that helped them decide.

To finish our learning, we used our creativity to design our own Blackpool Tower Circus posters. The children included bright colours, exciting acts, and eye-catching illustrations to encourage people to visit the circus.

Year 1 showed excellent historical enquiry skills throughout the day and thoroughly enjoyed learning about an important part of Blackpool's heritage. Well done, Year 1! 🎪✨

Today, Year 1 had a fantastic time working with Active Blackpool and taking part in a range of fun, energetic games. The children showed great enthusiasm as they ran, jumped, balanced and worked together through a variety of exciting activities designed to keep everyone active and engaged.

There were lots of smiles, laughter and teamwork throughout the session as the children challenged themselves and encouraged their friends. It was wonderful to see everyone having so much fun while developing their physical skills and confidence.

The highlight of the day was our special glow-in-the-dark activity! The children were amazed as they glowed and moved around in the dark, creating a truly memorable experience. It was a fantastic way to finish an action-packed session and one that the children will be talking about for a long time.

A huge thank you to Active Blackpool for providing such an enjoyable and exciting experience. Well done, Year 1, for your excellent participation, energy and enthusiasm throughout the day! 🌟🏃‍♂️✨

Today we had a very special visit from the coastguard, and it was both fun and really informative. They came to help us learn how to stay safe around water, especially when visiting the beach.

We began by looking at a poster showing different seaside scenes. As a group, we spotted lots of possible dangers, such as strong waves, deep water, slippery rocks, and hidden currents. It made us realise how important it is to stay alert when near the water.

The coastguard then shared some key safety rules with us. We learned that you should never go to the beach alone and should always stay with an adult. Another important rule we discussed was “Float to Live”—if you ever find yourself in trouble in the water, you should lie on your back, stay calm, and float until you can control your breathing and get help.

We also talked about listening to lifeguards, swimming in safe areas, and knowing how to call for help if needed.

It was a fantastic visit, and we all learned lots of important ways to stay safe. A big thank you to the coastguard for teaching us these life-saving skills! 🌊🚤

Today was a fun and energetic way to wrap up our sports week! To celebrate everything we’ve been doing, everyone came to school dressed in sports clothes to show our support for England in the World Cup. It was great to see so much red, white, and blue everywhere—football shirts, tracksuits, and even face paint!

The atmosphere was full of excitement, with lots of people talking about football and cheering on England together. It really brought everyone together and made the end of sports week feel special. Some people even brought in footballs so we could play during breaks, adding to the sporty vibe of the day.

Ending the week this way was a perfect reminder of how sport can bring people together and create a sense of team spirit. We’re all hoping England does well in the World Cup, and today showed just how much support they have!

What a fantastic way to finish sports week! ⚽🎉

Our Year 1 children had a wonderful time welcoming some very special visitors this week—our fantastic Year 5 pupils! The older children “took over” the classroom and led some brilliant learning activities.

They helped us practise when to use capital letters and full stops, and supported us in correcting sentences that had mistakes in them. The Year 5s were kind, patient, and great teachers!

We also loved having their help during our continuous provision time, and they did a fantastic job supporting us with our phonics learning too.

It was a fun and inspiring experience for everyone involved—well done to both Year 1 and Year 5!

This week in maths, we have been learning all about quarters! The children have been exploring what a quarter means and how to recognise it.

We now understand that for something to be a quarter, it must be divided into 4 equal parts. The children have been busy sorting different groups of objects, deciding whether they have been split into quarters or not. This helped us to think carefully about whether parts are equal or unequal.

We also took part in some hands-on activities. The children folded shapes, such as paper circles and squares, to find quarters. This practical approach helped us see how shapes can be divided fairly into four equal pieces.

It has been a fantastic week of learning, and the children have shown great enthusiasm and confidence when exploring fractions. You could support this at home by encouraging your child to spot quarters in everyday life—perhaps when cutting food or sharing items fairly!