Welcome to Year 1
Welcome back to school Year 1. We hope you had a fantastic summer and are ready for an exciting year of learning ahead. We have lots of fun learning opportunities planned for you throughout the year and we are looking forward to getting to know you all.
Please remember to bring your book bag each day, with your reading books inside. You will take home two reading books each week and these will usually be swapped at the beginning of each week. It’s really important that you practise reading your book every day at home.
Please also remember to bring a named water bottle with you.
PE days for both classes are Tuesday (indoor) and Thursday (outdoor).
On these days, you should come to school dressed in your PE kit which you will stay in all day.
If you have any questions, then please ask one of us.
Mrs Ahmed, Mrs Nixon and Miss Powell
Phonics
For Phonics information and support, please visit the Phonics section in the Parents section of our school website.
Useful Links
Staying Safe Online
Please use these 2 links to find out how you can help your children stay safe on the internet.
The first link gives you advice and the second link is an activity you can do.
Childline – 0800 1111, https://www.childline.org.uk/
Staying Healthy
Please have a look at this fantastic booklet. It is all about keeping healthy, both physcially and mentally! It has lots of practical ideas and activities to try. Enjoy!
100 Fun Things To Do
We have attached a document containing lots of fun ideas that you can do at home to keep busy. There are 100 different activities to have a go at so there is plenty to do if you are stuck for ideas. What will you choose to do?
Reading
- https://www.storynory.com/ – listen to a variety of audiobooks for free as an alternative to a bedtime story
- http://www.moosekidcomics.com/ – read a selection of free online comic books
- https://www.storyberries.com/ – offers a variety of story books and audiobooks
- https://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/have-some-fun/storybooks-and-games/ – a range of interactive story books that you can read along with
19.11.25- Art
Styrofoam printing
Today, we created our very own styrofoam printing blocks. We began by choosing a character from our key text, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, which we then fastened onto the styrofoam using a paper clip. We used a sharp pencil to carefully poke holes through the picture, creating a dotted outline on the styrofoam, which we then joined together. After that, we used rollers to apply paint to our styrofoam printing blocks and stamped them onto paper. The results were amazing!
12.11.25- Messy day!
The children had a fantastic time exploring the art form of printing using a wide range of objects, including vegetables, Lego, sponges, and even their fingers! It certainly got very messy! We experimented with printing on different materials such as cardboard, paper, and cloth, which the children thoroughly enjoyed.
15.10.25- History
Rendell Primary School in the past
Thinktank- 07.10.25
We had a wonderful time in Thinktank’s Minibrum role-play area. It provided a fantastic opportunity for children to learn about the features of a town or city. They thoroughly enjoyed taking on a variety of roles, including doctors, builders, shopkeepers, hairdressers, and many more. As an added bonus, we were also able to explore the wonderful science garden, where the children had the chance to explore freely and engage with their surroundings.
02.10.25- Local walk
As part of our topic ‘This Is Me’, we learned about our town of Loughborough and the features of our local area. We enjoyed going for a walk around the locality, where we spotted the canal, a mosque, All Saints’ Church, a temple, vets, shops, and open fields. After our walk, we completed a checklist of the places we had seen. We also used VR headsets to explore parts of Loughborough that we couldn’t walk to, including the university, the Carillon, the Town Hall, and the train station.
22.09.25- Computing- Digital drawing
WB 15.09.25- Maths and writing
This week, we have been busy using concrete resources to find one less and one more, as well as comparing numbers using the correct symbols. We have also been practising writing in sentences, making sure to use a capital letter, finger spaces, and a full stop.
10.09.25- Art – Pablo Picasso
Today we learned all about what a portrait and self-portrait are, and we discussed how artists use them to express identity, emotions, and creativity. We explored the work of Pablo Picasso, looking closely at how his style changed over time, from realistic portraits to his more abstract and cubist pieces. We talked about how he used shapes, colors, and lines to show feelings and personality in unique ways.
WB: 08.09.25 – Learning choices
What a fantastic, fun-filled week the children have had in Year 1! They have been very busy exploring a wide range of learning opportunities as well as taking part in structured lessons. The children have enjoyed creating a home for Beegu (the main character from our key literacy text), sketching and painting self-portraits linked to our This is Me art unit, practising tricky word writing, and working on number formation. 
