At Manadon Vale, our Year 1 children continue to build on the skills and knowledge they gained in Foundation. Children develop their literacy skills and we nurture the excitement of stories, as well as taking a closer, curious look into the marvellous world of maths and beyond!

A big, warm welcome to all our wonderful Year 1 children!

We are so excited to start this new adventure with you. We have lots of fun, learning, exploring and exciting activities planned for the year ahead!

Remember, every day is a chance to learn something new, make new friends and have lots of fun!

We can’t wait to see all the amazing things you will achieve.

 

Miss Bryssau and Mr Cuzner

Reading Books

Reading books will be sent home every Friday and changed each Friday.

Your child will bring home two books:

(I) Independent Reading – a book your child should be able to read independently.

(S) Supported Reading – a book linked to the phonics stage your child is currently working on. This book may require a little more support from an adult.

Please encourage your child to read regularly at home and talk about the story, characters and new vocabulary. Please leave a note or signature in your child’s reading record whenever they read at home.

Please give your child the opportunity to re-read their school books, ideally 4 times,to build fluency and expression. There is a school reading reward raffle into which children are entered if there is evidence that they have read 3 times at home.

When hearing your child read, and when reading to them, please continue to engage your child in some discussion of the story or text. When a child is trying hard to decode the words, or when able to read fluently and just going as fast as they can, they can lose sight of the meaning and therefore the enjoyment ofwhat they are reading. A few open ended questions keep them thinking!

Reading TO your child is still vitally important for their language and own love of reading development.

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Spelling

We will be developing children's phonics knowledge and spelling skills throughout the year. More information about weekly spellings and how you can support your child at home will be shared as we progress.

 

Homework

Year 1 homework will include Numberbots activities to support children's maths learning at home.

We also encourage children to read at home at least 3 times each week. Children who read three times a week will earn a whole-school incentive raffle ticket!

 

PE Days

Please ensure your child comes to school in their full PE kit on the following days:

Tuesday –Indoor PE

Friday –Outdoor PE

Please make sure all PE kit is clearly labelled with your child's name.

For PE, we will go outside in cold weather and in between rain showers, please ensure your child will be warm enough and their feet will be dry.

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Meet the team

Miss Katie Hamer

Miss Katie Hamer

Whole School PPA Cover
Mrs Dawn Cowin

Mrs Dawn Cowin

Whole School PPA & Higher Level Teaching Assistant
Mrs Kirsty Voden

Mrs Kirsty Voden

KS1 Higher Level Teaching Assistant
Mrs Lucy Collins

Mrs Lucy Collins

Year 1 Teaching Assistant
Mrs Maja O'Neill

Mrs Maja O'Neill

Teaching Assistant & Meal Time Assistant
Miss Jessica Bryssau

Miss Jessica Bryssau

Year 1 Teacher & KS1 Lead
Mantarays
Mr Zack Cuzner

Mr Zack Cuzner

Year 1 Teacher
Octopus

Maths Yearly overview; ‍

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English Yearly overview;

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Phonics Yearly overview;

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Curriculum  overview:

‍Autumn Term Curriculum               

This term, we will be covering a wide range ofengaging topics across the curriculum:

English – We will continue to develop reading fluency and comprehension through phonics, group reading and storytelling. We will also be reading some well-loved stories together and writing our own versions, practising how to use capital letters, full stops and sentences to share our ideas.

Maths – Our focus will be on place value, addition and subtraction within 20, and exploring 2D and 3Dshapes.

Science – We will be learning about The Human Body. Children will explore their senses, identify different body parts and begin to understand how we can keep ourselves healthy.

Geography – Our topic is Weather and Climate.Children will learn about different types of weather, how weather changes across the seasons and how weather can be different in other parts of the world.

Art & Design – We will be studying the artist Andy Warhol and creating our own self-portrait pop art inspired by his work.

Design & Technology – The children will be investigating, designing and building their own free-standing playground equipment.

PE – Children will develop their basic movement skills, balance and coordination through games and simple gymnastics.

Music – We will enjoy singing, learning rhythm patterns and playing simple percussion instruments.

PSHE – Our focus will be on Being Me in My World and Celebrating Differences, helping children to understand themselves, value others and build positive relationships.

RE – We will be learning about Christianity, exploring Christian beliefs and traditions. Children will learn about what Christians believe about God and Jesus, and explore how these beliefs are expressed through stories, celebrations and everyday life.

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1.  Resources

Someuseful websites to support your child at home;

PhonicsPlay

NumBots | Motivational maths practicefor schools and families.

KS1 Maths - BBC Bitesize

IXL| Year 1 English games

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Year Notices:

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💛 Happy World Kindness Day! 💛 At Manadon Vale, kindness is something we celebrate every day! We are so proud of all the wonderful ways our school community spreads kindness. A little reminder to all our parents and carers that our Kindness Postbox is located in reception! 📮 You can add a little message of kindness for a member of staff or one of our children. Our postbox is emptied every few weeks, and the lovely messages are shared with their recipients to spread a little extra happiness. Let’s keep spreading kindness, making people smile and showing that even the smallest acts can make the biggest difference!
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❤️ MVPS REMEMBRANCE DAY ❤️ They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
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📢 Music Club: Upcoming events 📢 - The PTFA's Kickstart to Christmas event, where members of the choir and orchestra will be performing in the school hall. 💙🎄🎶 - Christmas Carols at Home Park with PAFC - this is a free, public event with players from PAFC in attendance, as well as Pilgrim Pete! ⚽️🎄🎶 Electronic copies of the registration links have been sent out via email. Members will be bringing paper copies home today. We hope to see you all there! - Miss Eastgate
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-Reminder- Please remember individual photos are taking place today. Please wear school uniform. If children have PE, they are welcome to bring their PE kit to get changed into.
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🗓 Due to Pupil Progress meetings this week, Music Club will not be running tomorrow. 🎶 Thank you! ✨️ - Miss Eastgate
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💙❤️💛Inclusion Lead Vacancy 💛❤️💙 An exciting opportunity to come and work at our amazing school and lead inclusion throughout. 🤩 Please click on the link below for more information, relevant documents and the online application form. 💻 https://ce0218li.webitrent.com/ce0218li_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC179GF.open?WVID=838654ApYP
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🐬 Reminder: Dolphin class have PE tomorrow instead of Wednesday 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏽‍♂️
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🌟Foundation Stage plea🌟 Please see below for donations we are looking for. Any donations will be much appreciated! Thank you 😊
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✨ Year 5: DT, maths and science round-up! ✨ In DT, we've been building free-standing wooden towers, inspired by New York skyscrapers. We've learnt that hot glue is hot (doh!) and that resin pets are everyone's favourite decoration. 💅 In maths, we ditched the maths books as a Friday treat and learnt about factors and multiples with a little help from the whiteboard pens. 🥳 In science, we've been learning all about space and recapping our understanding of the solar system with some hands on activities. 🌕 Well done, Year 5! You're all gems! 💎
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This afternoon,20 of our KS2 children took part in a cross country event at Staddiscombe! A fantastic effort from all our runners 👍 👏
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World Mental Health Day 2026: a little note to you. Sometimes, we all need reminding, adults and children alike! 💙
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Introducing our Kindness Postbox at Manadon Vale! We are so excited to be launching our very own Kindness Postbox this Monday! A letter has been sent home to everyone today with more information. The postbox will live in reception. Our wonderful Year 5 Kindness Monitors as pictured in the photo will be helping me spread a little happiness 🌟 How does it work? 💛 Parents/carers, staff and children are all welcome to post a kind or thank you message in our postbox to anybody in our school community this can include staff & children. 💛 The postbox will be open before and after school (children must be accompanied by a parent/carer) and at breaktime for the first few weeks with our Year 5 Kindness Monitors. 💛 Postcards will be available next to the postbox. You might like to take one home, write your message and bring it back another day to post. 💛 Myself and our Kindness Ambassadors will empty the postbox every few weeks and make sure the messages reach their recipients. There is absolutely no pressure to get involved. Thank you for your support Mrs Barber
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It has been a busy week for cross country. The house competition happened at school on Wednesday, with the teams being picked by the respective house captains. The winning houses will be announced in school next week. At the Connect Academy Trust cross country event at Widey the teams performed brilliantly. All runners persevered on a tough multi lap course. A special well done must go to the 2 teams who won their team relay races. The final cross country race at Staddiscombe awaits next Thursday!
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🎃Calling all Foundation Stage parents/carers🎃 The Halloween disco for Foundation will take place on Thursday 22nd October during the school day. The children can come to school dressed in a Halloween costume if they wish. Any questions please speak to a member of Foundation. We can’t wait 👻🎃
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💙❤️💛 NEW TOUR DATES ADDED 💛❤️💙 Do you have a child who is due to start school in September 2027? 🏫 Come and visit our amazing school to see all the wonderful opportunities we offer our children. ❤️💙 Please phone the school office to book onto a tour. ☎️
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