Years 1 & 2

In Year 1 and Year 2 children have Art and D&T lessons taught as two subjects, split during the academic year. We start the year with Art and follow on from the second half of the Spring Term with D&T.

Pupils experience a wide range of creative activities including observational drawing, painting, collage, printmaking and textiles. They also explore various types of three dimensional skills such as clay, wire and mixed media sculpture.  They are encouraged to work collaboratively as well as on their own individual pieces.

Wherever possible, children are encouraged to take initiative and develop projects in their own way. They are actively involved in evaluating their progress allowing for them to achieve high standards whilst having creative fun. Furthermore, pupils are encouraged to participate in local and national competitions.

To enhance the children’s experience further, there are opportunities to visit art galleries or meet visiting artists. Culture Day, our Creative Arts Festival and the Year 2 Play also give children a chance to embrace Art alongside the other Creative Arts.

The children have the opportunity to access a range of ICT equipment including, computers, iPads and programmable robots. They learn practical skills, such as good keyboard and mouse skills, alongside fun challenges which require the children to use coding and software for presenting information or images. For example, being a TV chef and making a recording on an Ipad, using coding to make a working app, presenting information using slides and taking photos to edit. At each stage we encourage the children to be creative and work together to solve problems.

Computing is also linked with other areas of the curriculum and technology is used by the children to enhance their learning experience and present work in different ways such as: book creator, slide presentations and data handling.

Drama forms part of the English Curriculum and is linked to themes and topics included in the Creative Curriculum in Years 1 and 2.

Right from the start of their education, the children are able to explore role-play areas and make sense of the world around them. They are encouraged to create their own small world scenarios with resources in their environment as well as their own role-play inside and outside the classroom.

Children explore stories and speaking and listening activities through a range of opportunities including helicopter stories and storytelling sessions. During the course of the year the children have the opportunity to take part in Drama activities within the English scheme of work, experience Drama4All workshops and join in with a visiting Pantomime. They will also take part in performances of their own for example as a part of our Poetry Festival, in Assemblies and in the Year 2 play.

The Creative Curriculum is a wonderful vehicle through which to learn Literacy skills. Rich, exciting and entertaining texts are carefully chosen to suit each topic and inspire children to write poems, instructions, letters and stories. Pupils develop a love of reading, discovering a range of wonderful characters and settings, whilst broadening the imagination and learning how to craft and improve sentences and develop speaking and listening skills.

Spellings, grammar and handwriting are practised in discrete lessons and regularly throughout the school day, in all subjects. We use a government accredited phonics scheme. We aim to give children reasons to use and practise their skills by responding to letters, emails and notes from book characters or exciting discoveries such as, dragons’ eggs in the classroom, paw prints of visiting polar bears or treasure chests buried in the playground! Our aim is to bring Literacy to life and instil a lifelong love of reading and writing.

In Years 1 and 2, French is taught each week, with the aim of helping the children to develop an ear for the language. The children begin to understand and reproduce vocabulary and sentences, in an authentic accent, whilst having fun. Songs and language games are used to reinforce vocabulary, and gradually the written word is introduced to develop the children’s reading in French.

In Year 1, topics include: greetings, numbers 1-10, colours, classroom objects, head and face vocabulary, the story of the Hungry Caterpillar in French, fruit and vegetables.

In Year 2, topics include: saying how you are, numbers 1-20, Christmas vocabulary, parts of the body, simple physical description (eyes and hair colour), rôle play at the market, and ice cream flavours.

In the Humanities, the Creative Curriculum really comes to the fore, providing a dynamic, exciting, and deeply enriching learning journey.  Children are encouraged to use a questioning approach and practical activities to deepen their understanding and skills.

History – Pupils develop an awareness of the past, understanding where the people and events they are studying fit within a chronological time frame. Pupils study the lives of significant individuals and famous events in time. They are encouraged to look at similarities and differences compared to their own experiences and family history.

Geography – A curiosity and fascination about the world around us is encouraged through Creative Curriculum themed lessons. The children deepen their understanding and sense of enquiry of the world, the UK and their locality. We look at the vocabulary related to human and physical features, begin to use geographical skills to study maps and identify seasonal and daily weather patterns. There is also a focus on environmental change, sustainability and topical ecological issues.

In Years 1 and 2, Maths is an exciting and thought-provoking tool from which children learn about the world around them. It should leave them with the ability to reason mathematically and give them an appreciation of the power of Maths. We intend for our children to feel comfortable to take risks, think logically and feel confident to find alternative methods. Maths is taught through a rich and varied curriculum that focuses on securing children’s mathematical foundations on which they will continue to build upon as they travel through the school.

Concrete resources are used to support understanding and build strong visual images of numbers. The children are engaged in practical activities to extend their thinking, whilst capturing their curiosity along the way. We want our children to understand that Maths is not just about sums, but developing transferable skills for life such as: problem solving, maintaining resilience and finding connections. We challenge children by offering them increasingly complex problems over time, in order for them to apply their knowledge, identify links in learning and develop their understanding of how Maths is a critical tool when navigating everyday life.

Music is always exciting at The Manor. Every child is given the opportunity to discover, explore and enjoy music as part of their curriculum. All classes in Years 1 and 2 have two half hour music lessons each week, which include singing, movement, playing instruments, music technology, listening and composition.

We are extremely lucky to have such wonderful facilities, boasting two large classrooms packed full of resources and five practice rooms which allow plenty of room to accommodate our 15 visiting specialist music teachers each week. We offer a huge range of instrumental tuition which, with permission from the class teacher, may commence from Year 2.

Throughout the year, children showcase what they have been learning by working towards regular performances for the school and parents. Specific highlights include the Year 1 and 2 Christmas Celebration, the Year 2 Play and, wherever possible, Show and Tell assemblies.

The Music department offers a variety of music clubs for Year 1 and 2 children to get involved with. These include Singing, Ukulele, Recorder Beginners and Piano Beginners.

Learning for Life is our name for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE) here at The Manor.

Learning for Life lessons at The Manor prepare the children for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life encouraging them to become healthy, confident, independent and responsible members of society. The curriculum supports our children in their personal development and citizenship, whilst promoting Fundamental British Values which encourage respect and tolerance for others and respect for democracy. These lessons aim to enable our children to understand and appreciate who they are, empower them with a voice and equip them for life and learning.

We utilise the exciting curriculum developed by Jigsaw:

“Jigsaw is a whole-school approach and embodies a positive philosophy and creative teaching and learning activities to nurture children’s development as compassionate and well-rounded human beings, as well as building their capacity to learn. Jigsaw has two main aims for all children; to build their capacity for learning and to equip them for life” (Jigsaw, 2024)

Throughout the school year, all of the children follow the same six themes of learning, with all lessons delivered in an age and stage appropriate way so that they meet children’s needs. These themes are:

1. Being Me In My World
2. Celebrating Differences
3. Dreams and Goals
4. Healthy Me
5. Relationships
6. Changing Me

We believe that Religious Education is important in every child’s development.

Different religious, spiritual and moral themes are purposefully explored to give a greater understanding of Christianity and to bring the major world religions to life. Learning about religion focuses on beliefs, teachings, practices and forms of expression. Explorative questions encourage pupils to listen to and value different viewpoints.

Our Religious Education curriculum at The Manor is delivered using the Jigsaw RE scheme. This enquiry-based program progressively covers the principal world faiths from EYFS to Year 6. Each half-term, learning begins with a “big question” that prompts children to explore a concept from their own experience before delving into religious perspectives.

Wherever possible this is woven through the Creative Curriculum and topics throughout the Years 1 and 2.

Science is a core subject within the curriculum and is taught throughout the school, harnessing the children’s own natural interest in the world around them.

In Years 1 and 2, Science is taught as part of the Creative Curriculum. The children are taught practical scientific methods, processes and skills. They learn to observe closely, using simple equipment. They perform investigations, learn how to identify and classify and use their observations and ideas to suggest answers to questions. The children make predictions, carry out fair tests, gather and record data to help answer questions.

Science topics include: Plants, Animals including Humans, Everyday Materials and their uses, Seasonal Changes, Living things and their Habitats and Space.

Children in Years 1 and 2 are continuing to develop fundamental movement skills and learning to perform as an individual.

All Games and PE lessons are delivered by a member of our specialist PE staff team, with the additional support of the Teaching Assistants, all of who are passionate about Physical Education.

To complement the curriculum, a variety of sports clubs are introduced as part of our extra- curricular provision; the children may choose different clubs each term.

Our facilities include a multi-purpose field, outdoor tennis and netball courts, and a state of the art Sports Hall.

PE – In the Autumn and Spring Terms, the children participate in a multi-skills programme following on from the Early Years. They are also introduced to gymnastics and dance. During the Summer Term, the children explore athletics with a focus on Sports Day at the end of the year.

Games – The children develop a variety of skills through more sport-specific activities, such as Football, Tag Rugby, Hockey Heroes, Bee Netball and Cricket. The children begin to play in small-sided games with a particular focus on teamwork and developing an understanding of key rules in each game.

Swimming – Children in Years 1 and 2 attend bi-weekly swimming lessons, all year round.