Lavender, Poppy and Peony Blog - Friday 9th October 2026

We have had a fantastic week in KS1. In English, we have been writing our own acrostic poems about the emergency services, while in Science, we created care plans for animals. In Geography, we have been exploring atlases to name the countries of the UK and the surrounding seas.

Cauliflower Christmas Cards 

On Monday, the children will be coming home with their Christmas card design attached to the order form. If you wish, these designs can be turned into Christmas cards, mugs, books and wrapping paper too! If you want to order any of these items you need to place the order online first AND then return the artwork to school please. All the details about how to do this are clearly set out on the form that the artwork is attached to. Once you have placed the order online, you must tick the box indicated and return the artwork and form back to school by Friday 16th October 2026 so we can send it away to be printed for you. If the artwork is not returned to school, the company will be unable to complete the order. If you do not wish for your child's design to be made into items then you do not need to return the artwork. 

Maths Homework 

This week, we would like you to look at pages 36 & 37.

For Year 1's this focuses on halves. It is helpful when discussing fractions to relate it closely to division. So when discussing finding half, relate it to the same as dividing it in 2. 

For Year 2's this focuses on doubling and halving. As usual, relate these mathematical concepts back to the basic operations of maths - doubles as times by 2 and halving as divide by 2. 

Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS)

This week, your child brought home their brand-new Times Tables Rock Stars login details, and the children have been buzzing with excitement to get stuck in. In KS1, our main focus is on mastering the 2, 5, and 10 times tables and their related division facts. By the end of Year 2, children are expected to know these fluently, and we are starting by focusing on the 2 times table.

Frequent, short sessions work best! Just 3 to 5 minutes of practise a few times a week is far more effective for embedding these facts into long-term memory than a single long session once a week.

Reading

Your child’s phonics reading book is now in their bag, ready to be shared! Reading together at home is one of the single most powerful ways to boost your child's confidence, vocabulary, and overall academic progress. Regular home reading significantly strengthens comprehension, enhances listening skills, and builds a lifelong love for books.

Did you know that children who read for just 5 minutes a day are exposed to roughly 282,000 words a year? For children who read for 20 minutes a day, this jumps to 1.8 million words a year!

Forest School

Next week is Forest School week! To ensure the children stay warm, dry and comfortable during outdoor learning, please keep the following in mind:

• Clothing: Children should come to school wearing long sleeves and trousers that you don't mind getting wet or muddy.

• Spare clothes: Please pack a set of named spare clothes in their bag, just in case they need a change after our outdoor learning.

• Puddle suits & wellies: Because the children do not head over to the Forest School area until mid-morning, please send puddle suits and wellies in a separate, clearly named bag rather than sending them to school wearing them first thing in the morning.

World Food Day

Looking ahead, next Friday is World Food Day! We have some exciting activities planned, and further information will be shared with you early next week—keep an eye out for updates.

Thank you so much for your continued support with home learning and school activities. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please drop us a message on Dojo or speak to us at the classroom door.

Have a fantastic weekend,

The KS1 Team X

Lavender, Poppy and Peony Class Blog - Friday 2nd October 2026

 Happy Friday, everybody!

Time seems to be flying by as we whizz into October. As the weather will soon begin to change, please ensure that your child has a coat with them every day and that all items of clothing are named. We are still having a large number of unnamed, lost jumpers.

Maths Homework

This week's Maths homework will be pages 20-21 for both Year 1 and Year 2. This focuses on number bonds to 10 for Year 1 and number bonds to 10 and 20 for Year 2. Learning number bonds to 10 and 20 is an important part of developing children’s confidence and fluency in maths. By knowing these facts quickly, children can move away from counting in ones and begin to solve addition and subtraction problems more efficiently. These key facts also provide a strong foundation for future learning, including place value, mental maths and solving more complex calculations.  

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home — it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

There is no Forest School next week.

If you have any issues or questions, please come and see us at the end of the day.

Have a great weekend.

Kind regards,

Mrs Griffiths, Mrs Holmes, Mrs Elms and Miss Bridges

Lavender, Poppy and Peony Class Blog - Friday 25th September 2026

Happy Friday, everybody! This week in Science, we have been looking at living things  and matching baby animals to their adults. Next week, we will be using our own baby photos in class so if you have yet to send one in, please try to as having their own photo makes the learning much more personal to the children.

Maths Homework

This week, your children will be coming home with a Maths Homework book. We would like Year 1 you to look at pages 8 & 9 and Year 2 to look at pages 6 & 7. 

This focuses on tens and ones. Understanding how 2-digit numbers are made up of tens and ones is fundamental to all the maths we do in Key Stage 1. Having a clear understanding of what digits represent in numbers is such an important aspect of our maths learning. Although we represent the number 12 with the digits 1 & 2, 12 is actually a 10 and a 2. Again, look at page 8 or 6 to understand the idea and then work through the following page. 

If you wish to extend your child's work in this, count objects and group these into tens so you can see how these larger numbers can be represented by tens and ones. There are also some games in the link below to help reinforce these ideas.

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ 

Alternatively, you can draw out your own number lines, giving a starting point and an end point and asking your child to place numbers where they feel they would go between these numbers.

Don't forget to keep up all your fantastic efforts with your reading at home - it will make a huge impact on your child's reading development.

Next week will be a Forest School week. For  Peony this will be on MONDAY, Lavender this will be on TUESDAY and for Poppy this will be on THURSDAY. As previously mentioned, on Forest School days, children should come into school wearing long trousers, long sleeved tops and trainers. They should bring with them, named and in a bag, welly boots, waterproofs and a spare change of clothes in case they get wet or muddy.  

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day or send us a message on Dojo. 

Have a super weekend!

All the best

Mrs Griffiths, Miss Bridges, Mrs Holmes and Mrs Elms

Lavender, Poppy and Peony Class Blog - Friday 18th September 2026

 Happy Friday, everybody! 🌟

What a brilliant, action-packed week we’ve had in Key Stage 1! Our young writers have been crafting some fantastically persuasive apology letters to the Three Bears from Goldilocks in our English lessons. In Geography, our intrepid explorers put their navigation skills to the test, using compasses to explore the 4 compass points on the playground. 

Reading At Home 📖 

Reading regularly at home works magic on your child’s learning across every single subject. Try to share a book as often as you can and log it in their reading diary. Don't forget to discuss the book after you have finished, asking questions such as: What was your favorite part? Why did you love (or dislike!) that character?

Important Reminder: Please ensure your child brings their reading book and diary to school every day. We need all books and records every Thursday so we can swap them over for fresh weekend reads!

Forest School 

Although there is no Forest School next week, we noticed that there was some confusion about what children should be wearing.  On Forest School days, children should come into school wearing long trousers, long sleeved tops and trainers. They should bring with them, named and in a bag, welly boots, waterproofs and a spare change of clothes in case they get wet or muddy. 

We have had many jumpers lost this week, please ensure the children’s names are in them so they can make their way back to you. Writing them in with a biro is fine - fancy labels are not needed! 

If you ever have any questions, pop us a message on Dojo or catch us at the bottom of the steps at the end of the day.

Have a wonderful, restful weekend!

The Key Stage 1 Team

Lavender, Poppy and Peony Class Blog - Friday 11th September 2026

 

Happy Friday, everybody! We hope you have had a great week. We have been busy in KS1 looking at the traditional tale of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears in English as well as learning about the points of a compass in Geography.

Forest School

Forest School sessions will be starting from next week.

Peony Class will be on alternate Mondays.

Lavender Class will be on alternate Tuesdays.

Poppy Class will be on alternate Thursdays.

The children we need to wear long sleeved tops and trousers/leggings. Children will need to wear weather appropriate footwear. Old trainers would be perfect as the weather has been drier recently. As we move into wetter, colder months wellies will be much more appropriate.

We will send a message on ClassDojo as a reminder on Forest School weeks.

 

Roald Dahl Day

This Monday we will be celebrating Roald Dahl day in school. We are looking forward to seeing the children’s wonderful costumes. Please do bear in mind that the children will have PE on Monday so their costumes and shoes will need to be appropriate for this.

Baby Photos

One of the main themes of our science learning this half term is living and non-living things. In this, we look at how all living things grow and consider how we have all grown up from being a baby. To help us in this work, if you could send in a photograph of your child as a baby this would make their learning more relatable to themselves. Please send this in via Dojo to your child’s class teacher by Friday 18^th September 2026.

Spellings Homework

This week, your child will come home with some spellings to practice at home. Please practice these spellings on the sheet, this does not need to be returned to us.

Reading At Home

Reading regularly at home will make a huge impact on your child's reading development and learning across the whole curriculum. Please read each week as often as you can and jot it down in the reading diary. It is also important to talk about a book when you have finished your reading. Which is your favourite part? Did you like this character? Why? 

We will send home the book that your child has been reading in their Guided Reading sessions during the week. Up to two additional reading books from the colour bands will come home and will be changed weekly if they have been read at home. Please note the reading you are doing at home in your child's reading diary so we can see each week if the children are ready for a new book.

Always remember to have your child's reading books and reading diary in school everyday!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day or send us a message on ClassDojo. 

Have a great weekend!

Much love

Mrs Griffiths, Miss Bridges, Mrs Holmes & Mrs Elms

Lavender, Poppy and Peony Class Blog

 

Happy Friday, everybody! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog - A new blog post will be posted every Friday containing information about what the children have been up to and what they will be doing in school the following week. It will also detail any reminders or special events coming up, as well as the Maths and English homework that has been set for each year group. Further information on this will follow.

We have had a great first week back. It was so lovely to welcome the children back into school on Wednesday and to hear all of their holiday news!

The children have settled in so well and we are all very proud of how well the children have coped in their new classrooms and with new routines. Thank you so much for joining Dojo. I think you'll agree that it makes communication between parents and teachers so much quicker and easier. Please do not hesitate to use it to contact us if you need to or to send in photos of any special activities or achievements that the children have completed at home. We will also be continuing with 'Wow's' in Key Stage 1. (We know how you all like to use them as bribes from time to time! 😀) These can be in the form of the usual paper copy or via Dojo. 

Reminders

It is important that your child brings with them a water bottle and their reading diary and reading book every day please. The guided reading books are needed for the next group each week, so returning them is very important. 

Ensure that all hats, cardigans, jumpers, coats etc. have the children's names in them! We have already had a number of children losing items and our lost property is mounting up! We would be grateful if you could do a quick check of the uniform this weekend please (including their PE kit). The children are far less likely to lose things that are labelled and it makes our life so much easier! 

**Don't forget that Monday is our PE day, so the children come to school in their school PE kit.**

Forest School dates will be announced next week.

Reading Books

Your child will have brought home coloured reading books this week. This is to supplement extra reading practice alongside their Phonics Guided Reading books which will be coming home next Friday. Please write in your child's reading diary about any reading they have done as regularly as possible. Little and often helps your child's development so much! A quick note or a signature is all we need to see when we check if the children have read at home.

School Council Elections

Next week we will be holding elections in class to choose our class councillor, who will become part of the School Council. If your child wishes to stand they might like to make a poster or prepare a short speech which will help them make their case to the class!

If you have any issues or questions, please, please come and see us at the end of the day or send us a Dojo message.

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Best wishes

Mrs Griffiths, Miss Bridges, Mrs Elms and Mrs Holmes

Bluebell, Buttercup and Daffodil Blog Friday 10th July 2026

Happy Friday Everybody!

It's been another week of fine weather but also very hot! The children have done so well to continue with their learning in the heat. This week has seen the children visit their new classes and meet their new teachers for September, as well as taking part in our Race for Life 'walk' today. It was lovely to see so many children and staff dedicating their walk to loved ones and people close to them. 

For parents of children in Lavender Class in September, Mrs Grifffiths will be in school on Monday next week and will be happy to meet you after school, so that you can put a face to the name.

Homework

Both year groups have their new Animaphonics books in their bags along with their spelling sheets.

Year 1 Maths homework is pages 37 and 39 of their CGP book. this looks at halves and quarters, which we have been focusing on in lessons this week.

Year 2 Maths homework is a temperature sheet. The children need to look at the scale and read the temperature on each thermometer. 

Beach Visit

On Tuesday we will be taking the children to Bradwell Beach for the day. We are aiming to leave school at approximately 9:15am and are anticipating being back in time for the end of the school day. Please ensure your child has had sun cream applied before school, is in comfortable clothing (appropriate for the beach - shorts and a T-shirt) and has old trainers or beach shoes on. Clothing and shoes are likely to get sandy and muddy, so please do not put them in anything that they will worry about getting spoiled. They can also bring a bucket and spade. Please be mindful that the children will be walking and carrying their own lunch and beach items, so do not send them in with anything too big and heavy. Thank you! We are really looking forward to a fun-filled day learning about our local coastline!

We hope you all have a great weekend, whatever your plans are. Let's hope the football isn't too nervewracking to watch!

Love 

The Key Stage 1 Team x