Here is an overview of what we will be learning this half-term.  

Our topic this term is…. ‘Mighty Explorers’ 

We are looking forward to an exciting half-term, with a focus on our History topic of explorers and how they changed the world! 

English – Model text ‘Little Charlie’

We will be learning the story of “Little Charlie” as our model text. The children will then write their own stories by creating a character and writing about the journey that they take and the characters that they meet. We will focus on choosing verbs carefully, using adverbs, using two adjectives to describe a character and using onomatopoeia.

Key vocabulary: beginning, middle, end, once upon a time, unfortunately, luckily, but, next, character, journey, verb, noun, adverb, adjective, capital letter, question mark, exclamation mark, finger space, full stop.

Maths – Geometry - Position and Direction (ctd), Place value within 100, Money and Time

In our work on position and direction, we will learn to describe turns as full, half, quarter or three quarter. We will learn the directions left and right and practice moving to our left or right. We will develop our precision when describing positions by learning the terms “forwards” and “backwards” and then begin to describe more complex movements. We will build on this positional language by including the words “above” and “below” in our descriptions. We will develop our ability to recognise and represent direction using marks and symbols. We will explore the terms “top” and “bottom”. We will learn to recognise numbers used to describe the position of something. We will identify and represent ordinal numbers and use them to explain events.

In our unit on place value within 100, we will count past 50 up to 100, count in 10s to 100, partition numbers into tens and ones, complete number line work up to 100, find 1 more and 1 less, compare numbers with the same number of 'tens' and compare any two numbers.

In our unit on money, we will recognise coins (1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1, £2), recognise notes (5, 10, 20 and 50) and count in coins (adding coins together below 50).

And for our unit on time, we will learn about before and after, use the days of the week, months of the year, look at hours, minutes and seconds, tell time to the hour and tell time to the half hour. 

Key vocabulary: turn, full turn, half turn, quarter turn, three-quarter turn, direction, arrow, left, right, move, forwards, backwards, movement, above, below, top, bottom, first, second, third, fourth, fifth, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, last, order, ordinal number,  tens, ones, number line, greater, less, more, fewer, partition, recognise, coin, note, pence, pounds, greater than, less than, equal to, count, before, after, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, hour, minute, second, clock, hands, o clock, half past.

Science - Seasonal Changes

We will make observations of the local environment and use these to identify the changes in summer and make comparisons with the other seasons that we have studied over the year. We will think about how many hours of daylight there are in summer. We will record and describe the weather over a week and think about the type of clothing we might wear in summer. We will make comparisons between the seasonal changes that we have observed across the whole year.

Key vocabulary: weather, rainy, windy, cloudy, sunny, daylight, night, record, summer clothes, winter, autumn, spring, summer, season, coldest, warmest, flower, year

Computing – Creating imagery- Digital imagery 

We will use our imagination to plan a miniature adventure story and capture it using our developing photography skills. We will learn to enhance photos using a range of editing tools.

Key Vocabulary: background, blurred, camera, clear, crop, delete, device, digital camera, drag and drop, edit, editing software, filter, image, import, internet, keyword, online, photograph, resize, save as, screen, sequence, software, storage space, visual effects

Religion and Worldviews – How do we know that new babies are special?

We will think about reasons why people might celebrate a new baby. We will identify reasons why some Muslim people welcome a new baby with Adhan. We will learn about the key parts of Aqiqah and why these are important to some Muslim people. We will learn about the important parts of Jatakarma and why these are important to some Hindu people. We will explore similarities between Jatakarma, Adhan and Aqiqah. We will identify what a promise means in a Christian baptism. We will explore ways in which some people choose a name for a new baby. We will learn about what happens at religious and Humanist baby naming ceremonies.

Key Vocabulary: Allah, belief, believe, blessing, Brahman, ceremony, Christian, community, creation, God, Hindu, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, religion, Sikh, Trimurti, worldview.

Art and Design: Sculpture and 3D: Paper Play

We will explore paper-based 3D art forms, focusing on techniques like rolling paper tubes, shaping paper strips and constructing imaginative sculptures. We will apply painting skills to our 3D art.

Key Vocabulary: artist, carving, concertina, curve, cylinder, imagine, loop, mosaic, overlap, sculpture, spiral, three dimensional (3D), tube, zig-zag.

Music – Musical Symbols (Under the Sea)

We will combine all of the musical concepts learned throughout Year 1 for an underwater-themed performance incorporating instrumental, vocal and body sounds. We will move and create sounds to represent a character. We will learn to move at a speed that reflects the tempo of the audio and respond to dynamic changes. We will sing and play high and low sounds. We will read symbols representing high and low pitch.

Key Vocabulary: dynamics, pitch, rest, tempo, sound pattern.

History: How have explorers changed the world?

We will find out about events and people beyond living memory. We will particularly think about explorers and what makes them significant. We will create a timeline and investigate which parts of the world they explored, before comparing explorers and discussing ways in which these significant people could be remembered.

Key Vocabulary: achievement, beyond living memory, coat of arms, determination, discovery, equipment, event, exploration, explorer, historical significance, living memory, North Pole, past, present, qualities, remember, resilience, solo, timeline, transport, voyage, yacht

 Outdoor PE - Athletics

We will practise running and throwing using a variety of equipment (bean bags, quoits, balls). We will work on using a balanced running technique and run in straight and curved lines whilst changing direction and speed. We will practice throwing underarm and overarm. We will perform a range of jumps for distance (hop, one foot to two feet, two feet to one foot, two to two) and perform all skills to take part in a competitive event.

Key Vocabulary: running, straight, curved, speed, direction, forwards, backwards, right, left, turn, slow, fast, underarm throw, overarm, throw, jump, distance, competition.

Outdoor PE – Fielding and Striking Skills 

We will work on throwing a ball with ranges of direction and height and striking a ball with a racket. We will throw from one hand, catch with two hands and use hand-eye coordination. We will follow simple rules to play a game with success. 

Key vocabulary: ball, throw, catch, field, strike, cone, underarm, overarm, game, rules, one hand, two hands, hand-eye co-ordination. 

PSHE  - MyHappyMind Relate

The children will learn that “relate” means to get along and understand others. They will learn how their character strengths help them to get along with others. They will learn what active listening is and what “Stop, understand and consider” means and that this can help with friendship issues. 

Key vocabulary: character strengths, relate, get along, people, active listening, “Stop, understand and consider” 

PSHE - Ourselves – Growing and Changing

The children will learn about change and loss, what makes them special and unique, what they are good at, how to manage when they find things difficult and growing and changing from young to old. 

Key vocabulary: grow, change, needs, stage, baby, child, adult, young, old. 

PSHE - Transition 

The children will learn about how to apply MyHappyMind learning to help them start a new class. 

Key vocabulary: strength, change, start. 

Important dates: 

First day back after half-term – Monday 1^st June 2026

EYFS/KS1 Sports morning – Wednesday 17^th June 2026

Father's Day - Sunday 21^st June 2026

Year 1 Explorer Day (children dress up) – Thursday 25^th June 2026

Summer Fayre – Wednesday 1^st July 2026

Year 1 Trip to Ferry Meadows – Wednesday 8^th July 2026

Move Up Day Friday 10^th July 2026

Last day of summer term – Friday 17^th July 2026

Teacher Training Day (School closed to pupils) Monday 20^th July 2026