Year 1 Curriculum Map
Year 1 prepares its pupils for the opportunities, experiences, and responsibilities of life in and around school. We aim to nurture inquisitive minds, encouraging children to ask questions, explore ideas, and develop a genuine love of learning. Our curriculum is enriched with high-quality texts that inspire curiosity and creativity, and we bring learning to life through exciting, hands-on experiences. Throughout the year, children will take part in a wide range of engaging projects. From caring for others—like persuading our deputy head that we’re ready to look after the school dog for a day—to writing a letter to Greenpeace during our Frozen Planet topic, there’s always something meaningful to explore.
We’ll travel through time to discover how transport has evolved, create and film our own blog, and take part in a cross-Trust bake-off while learning about plants and growing. During our Tudor topic, we’ll host a grand banquet, and we’ll become young journalists writing about oceans and seas for the school newsletter. Science is woven throughout our learning, with exciting experiments that link directly to our topics—like investigating how plants grow best, exploring melting and freezing in icy conditions, and testing materials to design the best Tudor shields or model wheels. With enriching trips to support our learning, Year 1 is a place where curiosity, confidence, and a love of discovery grow every day.
Curriculum Map
Project Based Learning Focus
Autumn Term
Term 1
Caring for others:
Convincing deputy head Year 1 know how to look after a pet and should have the school dog in class for a whole day!
In the form of a leaflet, the children will give advice on how to care for our Trust pets to the Deputy and Headteacher. Children will care for their own pet ‘jelly baby’ for a day and learn about the needs of caring for a range of animals.
Term 2
Frozen Planet:
Sending a letter to Greenpeace
Through the lens of Frozen Planet, the children will compose their own letters to Greenpeace about a very unlikely visitor in their back garden. Looking at the way our planet is changing, our impact as humans and what we can do for Antarctica, will inspire both creativity and purpose in their writing.
Spring Term
Term 3
Transport through time:
Year 1 Blog – Everything you need to know about transport through time
In the role of historian, the children will look at how transport has changed over time and go to the TV Studio to create their own blog to share as part of the weekly ‘Headteacher’s Blog’ segment.
Term 4
Plants & Growing:
Take part in a cross-Trust bake-off
As they become familiar with a range of fruit, vegetables and grains the children will develop an awareness of which parts of a plant are eaten and what conditions they grow best in. They will harvest the carrots they have grown and bake their own carrot cake to share in a cross-Trust bake-off.
Summer Term
Term 5
The Tudors:
Hosting reception for a Tudor banquet
Through an exploration of narrative text, story-mapping and composition the children will write their own themed story and perform them to entertain Reception during their Tudor- style banquet.
Term 6
Oceans and seas:
Write an article for our school Newsletter
As they learn about the five oceans and the animals found in each, the children will put themselves in the role of sea explorers to create a dairy entry detailing their adventures. Taking part in a local beach clean-up they will also consider the impact humans are having on our ocean wild-life.
Key Texts
Autumn Term
Term 1
Term 2
Spring Term
Term 3
Term 4
Summer Term
Term 5
Term 6
Literary Form
Autumn Term
Term 1
The Pet Potato: Picturebook
Martha Maps it out: Picturebook
Term 2
The Emperor’s Egg: Narrative Non-Fiction
Dear Greenpeace: Narrative Picturebook
Spring Term
Term 3
Mrs Armitage on Wheels: Narrative with repeating patterns
Flying High: Non-Fiction
Term 4
The Secret Sky Garden: Narrative Picturebook
A First Book of Nature: Poetry
Summer Term
Term 5
Hector and the Big Bad Night: Narrative Picturebook
Term 6
Little Turtle and the Sea: Narrative Picturebook
Deep Sea Diary: Narrative Diary
English Writing Outcomes
Autumn Term
- Letters of advice
- Recount of looking after my pet jelly baby
- How to care for a pet information Leaflet
- Setting descriptions
- Fact-files
- Letter writing
Spring Term
- Writing narratives with repeating patterns
- Non- Fiction pop-up posters
- NMM
- Poetry in a range of forms
- Alternative ending story writing
Summer Term
- Using adjectives to describe nouns
- Joining simple sentences form the story with ‘and’
- Identifying opposites
- Re-telling a familiar story in form of a story map
- Inventing own adventure story
Term 6
- Retelling events from character’s perspectives
- Diary entry
Support Texts
Autumn Term
- Sparky! by Jenny Offill
- The Dark by Lemony Snicket & Jon Klassen (Orchard)
- I Can Do It! Look After My Pet by Rurt Martin
- Dogs don’t do ballet by Anna Kemp
- My Pet Goldfish by Catherine Rayner
- There’s a rang-tan in my bedroom by James Seilick
- The Fox and the Star by Caralie Bickford Smith
- Penguins by Emily Bone
- Animals Are Amazing: Penguins by Valerie Bodden
- Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
Spring Term
- Boris and Sid go on a Tram by Ruth Merttens
- Handa’s Hen by Eileen Brown
- Brining The Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema
- I Love My Bike by Simon Mole
- A chicken followed me home by Robin Page
- Hey Little Bug! by James Carter
- The Wild Weather Book by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield
- Things for Kids to do Outside by Dawn Issac
- Nature’s Day by Kay Maguire
- The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle
Summer Term
- Zog and The Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson
- The Adventures of Egg Box Dragon by Richard Adams
- The Castle The King Built by Rebecca Colby
- How to catch a dragon by Caryl Hart
- The first book of Sea by Nicola Davies
- Deep in the Ocean, Lucie Brunellière
- Dougal’s Deep-Sea Diary by Simon Bartram
- Rocks and Minerals: The Definitive Visual Guide by Ronald Bonewitz
- A Stone for Sascha by Aaron Becker
- The Secret of Black Rock by Joe Todd-Stanton
Maths
Autumn Term
NCETM
- Previous Reception experiences and counting within 100
NCETM
- Comparisons of quantities and part-whole relationships
- Numbers 0-5
- Review Unit
- Recognise, compose, decompose and manipulate 2D and 3D shapes
Spring Term
NCETM
- Recognise, compose, decompose and manipulate 2D and 3D shapes continued
- Numbers 0-10
- Additive structures
NCETM
- Additive structures continued
- Addition and subtraction facts within 10
Summer Term
NCETM
- Review Unit
- Numbers 0-20
- Unitising and coin recognition
Term 6
NCETM
- Unitising and coin recognition continued
- Position and direction
- Time
- Review Unit
Science
Autumn Term
- Look at our bodies
- Sense explorers
- My imaginary pet, what animal makes a good pet and why
- Types of pets
- Ice observation
- Frozen animal rescue experiment
- Identify and name animals living in Antarctica
- Comparing our pets to animals in the Antarctic
Spring Term
- Children design their own experiment to test different materials for wheels and evaluate their effectiveness
- Write predictions, conduct experiments and draw conclusions
- Planting carrots
- What grows in our country? Parts of a plant
- What do we know about whether?
- The weather station: Rainfall
Summer Term
- I-spy materials
- Materials – Which is the odd one out?
- Building a shield and comparing the materials – Which one is best?
Animals, Including Humans: Who lives in our oceans and seas?
- Fish, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals – who lives in the our oceans and seas?
- How can we keep these animals happy and healthy?
- What materials could you use to make a submarine?
History
Autumn Term
Me and My Family: What was life like for my Great-Grandparents?
- Personal timeline
- How we shop today and how shopping has changed over time
- How have their homes changed?
Explorers: The Discovery of Antarctica
- The race to reach the last unexplored place on earth! Who is Ernest Shackleton?
- How has Antarctica changed over time?
Spring Term
Transport Through Time
- Plot the evolution of transport on a timeline
- How did people get around before wheels?
- The invention the car – Carl Benz
- The first aeroplane – The Wright Brothers
- Getting to space – Neil Armstrong and Valentina Tereshkova
- Bessie Coleman
Changes in Farming
- Where does our food come from?
- How and why has farming evolved?
Summer Term
The Tudors
- What was life like in the Tudor times?
- Compare Rich and Poor Tudors. Life in a castle
- Host a Tudor banquet for Reception
My Local Area
- Use digimaps to study changes in our local area
- Look at Physical and human features of our locality and how the balance has changed
Geography
Autumn Term
Maps: Walking our School Pet
- Create a map of my school
- Devise a simple map to plan a dog walk in my local area
- Use digimaps to explore my local area, identify features such as shops, rivers ect.
Cold Climates
- Where are the coldest places on our earth? Look at the position of the equator
- Identify physical and human features around our school
- Compare with Antarctica
Spring Term
Travelling to School
- What is my address, what information does it contain?
- Explain the route that is taken to get to school.
- use aerial photographs and plan perspectives to recognise landmarks and basic human features
Weather Patterns
- Differences between seasonal and daily weather
- What clothes do we wear?
- Weather maps
- Comparing countries
Summer Term
Castles in the UK
- Look at aerial pictures of the UK; identify the 4 countries
- Plot where we live on a map of the UK
- Where are the castles in the UK – look at capital cities
Oceans and Seas
- Introduction of 7 continents
- Where are the 5 oceans?
- Create Simple map with a key
- British beaches
Religious Education
Autumn Term
Christianity
- Worship, symbols and beliefs
- The creation story
Faith Communities
- Understand that there are people different from ourselves
- Diversity
- Religious communities
Spring Term
Islam
- Ways of living for Muslims
- The Five Pillars
- Prayer
What does it mean to be good?
- Morality and rules
- Religious moral codes
- Non-religious definitions
Summer Term
Buddhism
- Tipitaka
- Acts of worship
Let’s Get Thinking
- Is it ok to be different?
- Key text: Something Else
- Who is the most important person in a community?
- Key text: There’s Room for Everyone
Art
Autumn Term
Term 1
Recreate Yvonne Coomber flower painting
Term 2
Design and paint a Christmas Bauble
Spring Term
Term 3
Create a self-portrait using collage materials
Term 4
Construct and decorate a hot air balloon
Summer Term
Term 5
Create a half and half pencil drawing
Term 6
Used mixed media to create an underwater scene
Music
Autumn Term
Hey You
- Introducing beat
- Style: Old School Hip Hop
- How pulse, rhythm and pitch work together
Rhythm In The Way We Walk and The Banana Rap
- Adding rhythm and beat
- Style: Reggae
- Pulse, rhythm and pitch, rapping, singing and dancing
Spring Term
In the Groove
- Introducing tempo and dynamics
- Style: Blues, Baroque, Latin, Bhangra, Folk, Funk
- How to be in the groove with different styles of music
Round and Round
- Combining pulse, rhythm and pitch
- Style: Bossa Nova
- Pulse, rhythm and pitch in different styles of music
Summer Term
Your Imagination
- Having fun with improvisation
- Style: Pop
- Using imagination in music
Reflect, Rewind & Replay
- Creating a story through sounds
- Style: Classical
- The history of music
- Learning some of the language of music
Computing
Autumn Term
Teach Computing: Technology around us
- Identify technology
- Using technology responsibly
Teach Computing: Digital painting
- Freehand tools
- Shape and line
Spring Term
Teach Computing: Moving a robot
- Commands
- Sequences
- Programming
Teach Computing: Grouping data
- Labelling objects
- Describing objects
- Comparing object
Summer Term
Teach Computing: Digital writing
- Using a computer to write
- Changing text
Teach Computing: Programming animations
- Effects of changing a value
- Designing a project
- Algorithms
Physical Education
Autumn Term
Tennis
- How to told a racket
- Ball control
- Target practice
- Rallies
- Different stokes and serving
Ball skills
- Throwing
- Catching
- agility
- Jumping
Spring Term
Gymnastics
- Individual/ partner balances
- Transition between balances
- Perform routine
Dance
- Explore different types of movements slow/fast/ high/ low
- Imitate basic movements
- Link two movements together
- Invent movements to match music
Summer Term
Athletics
- Howler and javelin throw
- Bean bag throw accuracy
- Standing long jump
- Sprinting and relay races
- Egg and spoon and skipping
Trust football competition
- Ball skills
- Receiving/ passing
- Dribbling
- Shooting
Design & Technology
Autumn Term
Structures: Bed for my Jelly Baby
- Explore different materials and experiment with structures
- Assembling
- Testing and evaluating
Cooking & Nutrition: Sugar free gingerbread men
- Following recipe and cooking hygiene
Spring Term
Mechanisms: Pop-Up Posters
- Create poster with moving mechanisms, a pop up and spinning wheel
- Suggest improvements to make the mechanism more effective
Cooking & Nutrition: Carrot Cake Cook-off
- Cooking hygiene
- Make a prototype and evaluate to suggest improvements
Summer Term
Cooking & Nutrition: Preparing a Tudor banquet
- Cook bread and pottage
- Safety while chopping vegetables
- Testing and evaluation
PSHE & SMSC
Autumn Term
Relationships: Ourselves and others
- Similarities and differences
- Individuality
- Our bodies
Relationships: People who care for us
- Groups we belong to
- Families
Spring Term
Health and Wellbeing: Being healthy
- Hygiene
- Medicines
Health and Wellbeing: People who help us with health
- Hygiene
- Medicines
Summer Term
Living in the Wider World
- Money
- Making choices
- Needs and wants
Living in the Wider World
- Ourselves and others
- The world around us
- Caring for others
- Growing and changing
Spanish
Autumn Term
- Hola – basic greetings
- Pets
- Numbers 0 – 10
- Navidad
Spring Term
- Colours
- Farm animals
- Pets and farm animals
- Months of the year
Summer Term
- My family
- Hobbies
- Recap
- Spanish writing
Trips
Autumn Term
Term 2
Torquay museum /Barnstable museum
Spring Term
Term 4
West Town farm / Quince honey farm
Summer Term
Term 5
St Nicholas priory /Tudor workshop
