Key Stage One

Key Stage One comprises Year 1 and 2.  When the children move from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 1 they are entering this new Key Stage.  The Year 1 class is run similarly to the Early Years for the first term, however the class is taught to the Year 1 learning objectives.  The children are taught through focused play activities in small groups and this helps the children to settle into Year 1 with confidence and enthusiasm.

Children learn in small groups which become larger over time until they are confident to learn as a class.  Children are usually taught Literacy, Phonics and Numeracy in the mornings with the foundation subjects being taught in the afternoon.

Children learn through hands-on activities.  They have an outdoor learning area which they can use in all weathers.  Learning is fun and the Year 1 children develop their key skills quickly.  Children in Year 1 are often seen out and about around the school grounds whether measuring footprints in the snow, experimenting with capacity in the water trays or learning about nature. Children learn through topics such as  Village Detectives, Castles and Dinosaurs which make their learning exciting and interesting.

The children then move into Year 2.  They are again taught Literacy, Phonics and Numeracy in the mornings and subjects such as Art, Design Technology, PE, ICT, Science, PSHE and Humanities in the afternoons.  Once again children learn through a topic-based approach and topics include Expeditions, Explorers and Florence Nightingale, Tropical Rainforests, Electricity and The Great Fire of London.  At the end of Year 2 all the children are assessed using national SATs (Standard Assessment Tasks), the results of which are reported to parents in the end-of-year reports.

As a school we are part of the School Sports Partnership and HASSP (Haddenham Area School Sports Partnership), Children in all Year Groups take part in sporting events against other schools in Buckinghamshire.  Children have represented the school in short tennis, dance, tag rugby and football.

Children across Key Stage One get out and about around Haddenham and further afield.  The local community is a vital resource to us and our children are often seen visiting the local churches, the Snakemoor nature reserve and St Tiggywinkles.   We also go further afield and visit National Trust Properties to enhance learning.  The Year 2 children recently visited Claydon House to learn about the life of Florence Nightingale. Year 1 children visit Oxford Castle as part of their topic on Castles and Knights.  We also have close links with various other places of interest and we endeavour to use these as parts of our termly curriculum enrichment weeks.