Starfish

In PSHE next term, children will explore the theme of Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing, focusing on understanding feelings and emotions during the first part of the term. They will learn to recognise a range of emotions in themselves and others, develop strategies to manage different feelings, and begin to understand how their actions can affect other people. Through stories, role-play, circle times, and discussions, children will practise expressing emotions appropriately, showing empathy, and building positive relationships.

Children will also explore Online Safety through the topic of Rings of Responsibility. They will learn about trusted adults, how to stay safe when using technology, and understand the importance of making safe choices online. Through practical scenarios and discussions, children will begin to recognise who can help them both online and offline.

Later in the term, children will learn about Stranger Danger and how to keep themselves safe in unfamiliar situations. They will discuss safe and unsafe choices, identify trusted adults, and practise ways to respond if they ever feel worried or unsafe.

Finally, children will focus on Friendship, exploring what makes a good friend and how to build healthy relationships with others. They will discuss kindness, sharing, listening, and resolving simple disagreements respectfully. Throughout the unit, children will continue to develop their confidence, emotional awareness, resilience, and understanding of how to stay safe and healthy in different situations.

In English next term, children will explore a range of engaging texts including ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’ and a variety of seaside poems. Through the story ‘A Squash and a Squeeze’, children will develop their understanding of characters, settings, and story structure by retelling events, sequencing the story, and discussing how the characters feel throughout. They will use the text to inspire speaking, listening, role-play, and simple sentence writing activities. Alongside this, children will explore seaside poems, focusing on rhythm, rhyme, repetition, and descriptive language. They will perform poems aloud, identify interesting vocabulary, and create their own simple seaside-themed phrases and poems. Across all units, children will continue to develop their speaking, listening, reading, comprehension, and early writing skills through creative and engaging activities.

During week two, children will focus on invitations. They will explore the key features of invitations, discussing how information is presented clearly and politely. Children will then plan their own writing before creating a detailed invitation, thinking carefully about audience, purpose and layout.

In week three, children will work with a fiction text, beginning by retelling the story to strengthen their understanding of sequence and key events. They will then plan and write a character description, using expanded noun phrases and thoughtful vocabulary to describe appearance, personality and feelings.

Week four will move into non-fiction writing. Children will learn to recognise the features of a fact file, identifying how information is organised under headings and presented clearly. After planning their ideas, they will write their own fact file, focusing on using factual language and clear sentences.

In week five, children will explore information leaflets. They will discuss why people use leaflets and how they help to share important information. After identifying key features such as headings, bullet points and simple explanations, children will plan and create their own information leaflet, applying their knowledge of structure and presentation.

Across all units, children will continue to develop their speaking and listening skills through discussion, drama and shared reading, while building independence and confidence in their writing.

In Maths next term, children will develop their understanding of fractions, position and direction, time, and mass, capacity and temperature through practical and engaging activities. They will explore fractions by recognising and finding halves and quarters of shapes and objects using concrete resources and everyday examples. In position and direction, children will use language such as forwards, backwards, left, right, above, and below to describe movement and location through games, maps, and outdoor activities. When learning about time, children will begin to tell the time to o’clock and half past, sequence events, and talk about daily routines. Children will also investigate mass, capacity, and temperature by comparing and measuring objects using hands-on equipment, exploring concepts such as heavier and lighter, full and empty, and hotter and colder. Across all areas, children will continue to develop their problem-solving, reasoning, and mathematical communication skills in fun and meaningful ways.

In Geography next term, children will learn about towns and cities in the United Kingdom and explore what makes places similar and different. They will develop their map skills by locating the four countries of the UK and their capital cities using maps, atlases, and globes. Through discussions, photographs, role-play, and practical activities, children will investigate features of towns and cities such as houses, shops, roads, transport, parks, and landmarks. They will compare busy cities with quieter towns and think about what it might be like to live in different places. Children will also learn about famous landmarks and begin to understand how people use and care for the places where they live, helping them build their geographical knowledge and understanding of the wider world.

In RE next term, children will explore the question “How do Hindu stories help believers live their lives?”. They will learn about special Hindu stories and discover the important messages and values they teach. Through storytelling, discussions, drama, and creative activities, children will explore stories featuring characters such as Ganesha and Shiva, thinking about themes including kindness, honesty, bravery, love, and caring for others. Children will discuss how stories can influence people’s choices and actions, and begin to understand why these stories are important to many Hindus. They will also reflect on lessons they can learn from stories in their own lives, helping them develop empathy, respect, and understanding of different beliefs and values.