Welcome to Year 1!

Notices

During the week beginning 16th March, all pupils from Y1 to Y6 will engage in a variety of activities that will support their awareness and knowledge of neurodiversity terms and concepts at an age-appropriate level. Awareness and knowledge is the first step towards developing a whole Belmont community with positive attitudes towards neurodiversity and neurodivergence. 

In KS1 (Y1 & Y2), the children will have an assembly at the start of the week where they will learn that neurodiversity is a way to describe how all of us are different in the way we think, feel and learn.

The children will then complete a class quiz together with their teacher. 

As part of our spring topic ‘Animals including Humans’, Year 1 are going on a trip to the The Lion King, Lyceum Theatre on Wednesday 22nd April 2026.

The children will be able to enjoy a matinee performance at 2.30pm at the theatre and enjoy an ice-cream during the interval. This is not due to finish until 5pm therefore the children will be returning to school at 6pm.

We would like the children to arrive at school at 8:55am as usual. Children must wear their Belmont uniform and as we are walking, black trainers and coats are recommended. School will provide a high-vis vest for each child. After an early lunch at school we will walk to Turnham Green Station, travel using the District Line to Temple and take a short walk to the Lyceum Theatre. We will expect to be returning to school for 6pm.

To cover the full cost of the discounted ticket, ice-cream and insurance, please could we have a contribution of £22.80 payable via MyChildAtSchool (MCAS). Trips are funded for Pupil Premium children but we still must have permission via MCAS. Please complete payment and consent by Friday 13th March 2026.

We are sending a separate message to all Y1 parents already on our school DBS list – so please look out for this email if you are one of our approved helpers. Parent volunteers are very much appreciated and make school trips possible.

To discuss your child’s progress, we would like to offer all parents a 10 minute consultation with your child’s class teacher.

Class teachers will be available at the dates/times below:

· Wednesday 11th March 3.40-7pm
· Thursday 19th March 3.40-7pm

Booking is via the MCAS Parent App and the booking system will go live on Friday 6th March at 1pm. Bookings will close 48 hours before each session.

As the children take part in a range of cutting and creative activities throughout the year, we are currently running low on glue sticks. If you are able to donate a glue stick or two to help replenish our class supplies, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Thank you for your support!

Thank you to everyone who has been able to donate to our reading for pleasure book library.

If you can donate a new Reading Pleasure book from our list below, it would be greatly appreciated. There are lots of new books added to the list for this year and as you can see we do not have many of these books.

Outdoor PE (Cherries and Pears)

Kitchen Garden or Forest School (half termly swap)

Indoor PE (Cherries and Pears)

Children need to come to school in a full Belmont PE kit that is labelled.

• Addition method: Counting on

Writing fact sentences about the UK

• Children will be recalling their knowledge from our Geography learning to write fact sentences about the UK

Please remember that there are no spelling tests in Year 1. These activities are designed to build confidence and familiarity with reading and writing words. As stated by Little Wandle, repeated practice of spelling helps children move their new learning into their long-term memory. In Year 1 especially, it is important to try to find time to practise and embed spelling outside of the phonics lessons.

Have a go with reading these words. You could put them on post it notes around the house and encourage your child to recognise the alternative grapheme and then read the word.

Graphemes

Words

Tricky Words

Additional activity: sentence dictation

To help children apply their phonic learning to their writing, it helps to put the sentence into context. Here are some sentences you can practise writing.

• The blue fruit has a bruise.
• These sheep have sharp teeth and little feet.

Common Exception Words

This term, we are practising reading and writing Common Exception Words. Please support your child by helping them practise reading and writing these words. Once confident, they can try using the words in a sentence.

the,  a,  do,  to,  today, was,  is,  his,  has,  I

For your understanding, Common Exception Words don’t follow the normal rules, so you can’t always sound them out perfectly. You have to learn them by looking at them again and again, like learning a secret code! We call them exception words because they are the exception to the rule!