In Years 1 and 2 children follow the Key Stage 1 National Curriculum. This includes programmes of study for the following curriculum areas:
Although there are no national programmes of study for Religious Education, we follow the Hertfordshire Agreed Syllabus of Religious Education 2023 -28, this supports our planning and enables us to explore world religions and other worldviews. Please look under the our curriculum: Programmes of study section to see details of the coverage and topics for each subject area.
Our thematic approach to the teaching and learning of all subjects allows children to explore topics in depth and to make crucial links in their learning. We are dedicated to making learning 'real' by including experiences, practical resources, visits and visitors that bring lessons to life.
We believe that developing excellent skills in core subjects - English and Maths - is essential for the future wellbeing and success of our children, and we have a systematic and well organised whole school approach to ensure that the vast majority of children leave us with the skills they need to learn.
In English we use the 'Bug Club' phonics programme. Children start learning phonics in Nursery, and then from Reception we use Bug Club resources across the school to ensure that we consistently provide children with the building blocks for reading and writing. This continues into Year 1, and leads to excellent outcomes for children in the national Phonics Check. This in turn has a significant impact on standards in reading. We use 'Talk for Writing' activities and believe an important part of our success is valuing the development of writing skills across the curriculum.
In Maths we put a strong emphasis on understanding the number system, and being able to explain mathematical thinking. We provide plenty of opportunities to develop reasoning and problem solving skills as well as using a wide range of concrete resources to support early learning, including numicon, dominoes, dice, playing cards, tens frames and number lines. Children are then supported in moving from the concrete, through pictorial representation, to the abstract: we are developing our Mastery curriculum to ensure deep, secure knowledge that provides a basis for Maths throughout children's time in education. We use Hertfordshire Education's 'Essentials' maths to support teaching and learning across the school.
Please have a look at the English and maths sections for further detail.
https://www.groveinfants.co.uk/english/
https://www.groveinfants.co.uk/maths/
We have a specialist music teacher, who works with all of the Year groups from Nursery to Year 2, teaching singing, instrumental work and musical appreciation. We are very pleased to have this back fully post the pandemic.
We employ a sports coach who also works with all of our pupils: teaching PE - dance, gymnastics, games and use of large and small apparatus, supporting active play at break times, and running free extra-curricular activities after school.
Our Forest Schools programme runs throughout the year for all of EYFS and KS1. Children learn and practise new skills from across the curriculum through outdoor learning, and observe changes in the natural environment throughout the year. This compliments our skills based science curriculum that allows children opportunities to investigate and explore the world around them. Have a look at our dedicated forest school page for further detail.
The Grove Infants use the arts as a driver of cross curricular learning, and are proud of the gold Artsmark we have held for more than 15 years. Our whole school art projects based on Take One Picture (or Take One Artist) introduce children to works that they might otherwise not encounter, and stimulate creativity and aesthetic appreciation.
In KS1 children are taught a broad and balanced curriculum. We know how important it is for children to make a good start in core areas, such as Reading, Writing and Maths. At the same time, we are also aware of how important it is to be active, enjoy finding out about the world around us and be explore the creative arts: so much to do and only a few hours in the busy school day!
You can see from our Programme of Study documents how the curriculum in Years 1 and 2 is made up.
Following on from the Year 2 SATs information evening for parents, we used our home learning platform Seesaw to communicate further with parents. We shared a range of ideas, in each area of learning, that parents could undertake at home to support their children with key learning.
Below are two of the leaflets produced for parents that were shared both this year (March 2023) and last academic year.
Computing links:
To support research and curriculum delivery