Beech Class - Years 1 & 2
In Year 1 and 2 our curriculum is designed to spark curiosity and wonder as our children move into more formal learning. By exploring the world around them, pupils develop foundational skills in a creative and supportive environment.
Discovery the past and exploring the world
Our humanities journey begins with either a local study or the history of toys. Students build foundational historical enquiry skills—asking "What came before?" and "How has our immediate world evolved? Both topics support our students in rooting their Identity and understanding change over time.
In the Spring term, students continue with Explorers or Great Women. Both topics investigate agency and discovery - examining how pioneering individuals change our understanding of the world. These studies expand horizons through learning about impactful lives.
During the Summer term, the geographical study of Mexico or Kenya provides a rich comparative study of place, climate, and community. Children directly contrast non-European locations with their own UK context, embedding locational knowledge and cultural understanding.
Science Inquiry and the Natural World
The children will continuously revisit fundamental scientific principles at higher levels of complexity, ensuring deep understanding. Students build an understanding of form through the study of material, moving from simple identification to testing hypothesis-driven questions about material suitability. They connect how our own bodies work to how organisms survive and adapt within wider ecosystems. Children observe changes over time through plants and habitats, track real-life growth, and refine their scientific investigation skills.
Mastering the fundamentals of Literacy and Maths
Reading skills are taught through the use of a whole class text as well as individual reading of books from our Phonics Bug reading scheme. In writing we move between writing to inform and writing to entertain. Spelling, punctuation and grammar skills are taught discreetly and applied to a variety of genres for writing.
We base our maths teaching on the principles of the White Rose maths scheme using a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach. In Year 1 and 2, children build foundational fluency by mastering place value, core arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), and early geometric shapes. They then progress to applying these core skills to measure mass, capacity, time, and money, while exploring fractions, statistics, and position.
Creativity, Technology and Physical Health
Children develop practical, creative skills across a two-year cycle by progressing from local tree drawings, windmill structures, and pouch textiles one year, to still life, fairground mechanisms, and traditional Mexican weaving in the next. Children build foundational musical skills through a two-year exploration of timbre, tempo, and rhythm. Within each year, the class has the opportunity to play an instrument through ‘Listen to Me’ where a specialist Hampshire music teacher teaches the class.
Students build digital literacy and computational thinking through a stepped progression that covers mouse skills, algorithms, and a moon-themed project, advancing to Beebots, Scratch Junior programming, stop motion, and data handling.
PE provides a comprehensive foundation in movement and sport by cycling through core gymnastics, dance, athletics, and yoga alongside multi-skills modules in rugby, tennis, and football which are applied to cheerleading, netball, cricket, and tri-golf.
