Welcome to the Year 1 webpage. We will use this page to keep you informed about events and learning in Year 1!

We cannot believe that another year is over!   We have been so pleased and proud of the progress that all the children have made.  We hope all the children have had as much fun as all the teachers. As usual it has been a busy half term with a wide range of different activities.  

We have learnt about the different plants that grow around us and planted our own seeds and observed them grow (some more successful than others).   We visited Wisley Gardens and used this as an opportunity to develop our understanding of evergreen and deciduous trees.  We had a scavenger hunt and revisited our learning about Andy Goldsworthy by creating our own sculptures in the Pinetum.  When we got back to school we sorted leaves and learnt more about how different trees grow.

We have also been busy being creative.  We made clay pots from leaves around the school. First we placed the leaves on the clay to make the shape of the bowl. Then we pressed our leaves into the clay bowl, imprinting intricate leaf patterns!

Lots of fun times were had too.   We had Healthy Living Week which was very busy: healthy breakfasts, healthy snacks and lots of sporting activities such as athletics, dancing  and sports day.  We took part in WWF week, learning about endangered animals. We brought in copper coins and made them into a copper mile in the playground.

KS1 learnt about 4 endangered animals and then to help us decide which one to adopt, we watched Year 2 present their persuasive arguments in assembly. Every class voted and the school chose to adopt the hedgehog.

On top of that we also had Burlington’s Got Talent and we certainly saw just how talented our children are.  There were so many stand out performances such as dances, martial art displays, informative presentations, magic tricks, football skill demonstrations, poetry recitals, piano playing and even a hula hoop dance!

We are going to miss all the children so much but look forward to seeing them around the school next year.  Have a lovely summer.  

All the best, Year 1 team

Dear Y1 & Y2 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter with instructions on how to download your child's learning journey on Tapestry. 

KS1 Tapestry Download letter for parents 2026

You have 28 days from the date of this letter to download your child’s learning journey. 

Please note that after the 28 days, we are no longer able to access the content so please make sure you download before the 28 days has passed. 

Thank you and best wishes, Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Maria Sibylla Merian was born in 1647 in Germany.  She is famous for her detailed drawings of nature.  Her illustrations were so detailed that people thought the bugs would jump right off the page!  She is also famous because she discovered how caterpillars change into butterflies, also known as metamorphosis.  She has at least six plants, nine butterflies, two bugs, one spider and a lizard named after her. 

Take a Science Selfie and post your photo on Tapestry!  If you would like to have your photo included in our weekly school newsletter, please e-mail your photo to admin@burlingtoni.org.uk

Dear Parents/Carers,

The children had an assembly today where they found out their new class and teachers for September. They were all very excited! 

New Classes for September 2026

Please find attached information regarding your child's new class. If you have any questions, please contact the school office. 

Thank you and best wishes, Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers,

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the second half of the summer term.

Year 1 Newsletter 2026 Summer 2

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

This half term we learnt about bears. They are such interesting animals and are found in every continent, except Africa. We learnt about polar bears, panda bears and spectacled bears. We looked at how bears are similar and different to each other and found out what they eat. Bears are omnivores which means they eat meat and plants. We thought about other animals and what they ate too. 

In English, we used Paddington Bear to inspire much of our learning. We learnt all about Paddington Bear’s character and pretended to be him by writing diary entries and letters to his Aunt Lucy. We also learnt how much Paddington Bear loved Marmalade sandwiches! Because of this, we learnt how to make our own sandwiches and wrote instructions. We even tried hard to use bossy verbs. 

In Maths, we developed our understanding of counting in groups and how to solve practical multiplication problems. We investigated how we could make arrays for different numbers by arranging equal rows and columns. We also practised learning to double numbers and find half of a number.   

We also had a lot of fun on Maths Day where we started off by playing maths games during our family morning where grown ups from home are invited into class. Our theme this year was developing our understanding of money and how important it is to look after our money.  We did a range of activities linked to money such as ordering coin values and learning how to add up different amounts.  In addition to this we also took the children outside to learn more about measuring. 

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Ms Ellis, our Maths leader regarding fluency tests the children will be completing next term and how you can help them at home. 

Year 1 Maths Fluency Test 2026 Summer 2

Thank you and best wishes, 

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter regarding the phonics screening check which all year 1 children will be completing. 

Year 1 Phonics Screening Check

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to speak with your class teacher. 

Thank you and best wishes,

Ms Ellis, Year 1 Leader

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the first half of the summer term. 

Year 1 Newsletter 2026 Summer 1

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Ms Ellis, our Maths leader regarding fluency tests the children will be completing next half term and how you can help them at home.

Year 1 Maths Fluency Test Letter Summer 1 2026

Thank you and best wishes, 

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

We kicked off our new Pirate and Explorers topic with a treasure hunt around the school. We followed a series of clues which led us all around the school, until finally we ended up back at the classroom and found the treasure! To help us with our topic we have been reading The Great Explorer, an exciting story of a boy called Tom that searches for his missing dad in the North pole.   We wrote some excellent diary entries about Tom’s adventure and retold parts of the story.  Finally, we learnt about the most terrifying pirate of all… Blackbeard!

This half term we celebrated Book Week, with a whole school focus on developing our vocabulary and how to use powerful words in our writing. All the children looked at different images of stars and thought of powerful words to describe them.  We also thought about how we could describe the images using our senses, by writing poetic sentences and by writing very simple similes.  We then put all our ideas into writing a special shape poem. 

In Geography, we have been learning about human and physical features and maps. We started off by walking around the playground, identifying human and physical features, before heading on a local area walk, which included Beverley Park and other local features. While on the walk we identified our location on a map and when we returned we drew our own maps showing the route that we had taken.

We also become materials experts over the last few weeks! We began with a classroom hunt to identify which objects used which materials, after that we  looked at the properties of the different materials. Working scientifically, we classified and grouped different materials and compared them to say how they were the same and different.  After all that hard work we decided to carry out an eggs-periment… Looking at a variety of materials, we predicted which material would best protect an egg when dropped from a height. I think a lot of us were quite surprised by the results.

In Maths, we started off by looking at one more and one less with numbers up to 50. We compared numbers using the correct vocabulary, greater than, less than, and equal to. Over the half term we also completed several problem solving activities, using different skills to help us find the answer. We also learnt how to measure length and height, using both standard and non standard units of measure.

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the second half of the spring term. 

Year 1 Newsletter 2026 Spring 2

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Ms Ellis, our Maths leader regarding fluency tests the children will be completing next half term and how you can help them at home. 

Year 1 Maths Fluency Test Spring 2 2026

Thank you and best wishes, 

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

What a busy half term!  We have done so much in the last few weeks it is hard to remember everything we have done!  Firstly, we started our new topic by having a surprise encounter with a UFO and a little baby alien.  The children were so excited to discover a little alien in the playground and receive a letter from his dad.  The children enjoyed writing to the alien and helped return him back to his family.

In English, we have really enjoyed reading Beegu.  We used our reading skills to predict and sequence events.  This lovely book also inspired us to write our own version of the story, to create an imaginary alien planet and write a newspaper report.

In Maths, we have focussed on developing our understanding of addition and subtraction when working with numbers up to 20.  In our learning we developed our fluency and looked at different strategies that would help us find the answers.  We also spent time looking at how numbers above 10 can be partitioned into tens and ones.  We used a variety of models to help us make sure we had a really good understanding.

Year 1 have also been busy learning all about Space. We learnt about the planets and the Solar System. In addition to this, we learnt more about the history of flight and about the famous people who played an integral part in this, such as the Wright Brothers, Neil Armstrong and Mae Jemmison. We even had the chance to visit the Science Museum and saw models of space and aircraft.

In addition to learning about space, we also learnt more about the weather in New Malden. We were meteorologists and studied the weather every day for a week.  We used a rain gauge, a thermometer and observed the speed of the wind. We then had great fun performing and writing a weather forecast. 

Year 1 have learning all about the Lunar New Year. We were very lucky to be visited by Earth Song, who showed us a variety of different instruments and dances. To help our community celebrate this special time of the year parents and carers were invited into class.  Everyone got very crafty and made a range of crafts such as puppets, lanterns and posters.  We even got to try some delicious treats!

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the first half of the spring term. 

Year 1 Newsletter 2026 Spring 1

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Ms Ellis, our Maths leader regarding fluency tests the children will be completing this half term and how you can help them at home. 

Year 1 Fluency Test Spring 1 2026

Thank you and best wishes, Burlington Infant & Nursery School

We have really enjoyed learning about Toys this half term.  We read the story Traction Man and linked this to different areas of our learning.  We wrote our own 'Traction Man' stories such as: Traction man saves Salt Pot Stan from the Boiling Soup.  We also enjoyed making a stocking for Traction Man.  We designed our stocking and then had to use our sewing and cutting skills to create it.  We all felt very proud of our hard work!

In our Toys topic, we looked at the history of toys and used our history skills to order toys from oldest to newest.  I think we all agreed we are lucky that we have the toys we do today that we can play with.  We linked our learning about toys to Geography.  We learnt that there are different games played around the world and we got the chance to create different images using Tangram shapes.

In Science, we learnt about materials.  First we learnt the different types of materials we have and then thought about how we could describe them.  Finally, we used our knowledge to investigate which material would be best for a reindeer’s coat.  We decided it should be waterproof.  We tested different materials until we found the best one. 

In Maths, we have been developing our knowledge of tens and ones.  We used straws and Deines to help us find out how many tens and ones are in numbers to 20.  We have also learned the names and properties of 2D and 3D shapes and have been comparing them.

In History, we learnt about Remembrance Day. We talked about why people wear poppies at this time and what they symbolise. The children created poppy artwork and showed it in a whole school assembly. An officer from the Royal Navy came to see our art work and read the Flanders Field poem to the children. 

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the second half of the autumn term. 

Year 1 Newletter Autumn 2 2025

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from Ms Ellis, our Maths leader regarding fluency tests the children will be completing next half term and how you can help them at home. 

Year 1 Maths Fluency Tests 2025 Autumn 2 - letter for Y1 parents

Thank you and best wishes,  

Burlington Infant & Nursery School

Thank you to all the year 1 parents who attended the workshop last week. Please click below to see a copy of the slides.

Welcome to Year 1 presentation for parents 

Dear Year 1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached instructions on how to access Busy Things and J2E via your child's LGFL logins. 

Busy Things and J2E access for Year 1 parents

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team

Dear Y1 Parents/Carers, 

Please find attached a letter from the Year 1 team regarding tricky words the children will be learning to read and spell. 

Year 1 Tricky Words - letter for Y1 parents

Thank you and best wishes, School Office

Dear Year 1 Parents 

Please find attached the year 1 newsletter for the first half of the autumn term. 

Year 1 Newsletter Autumn 1 2025

Thank you and best wishes, Year 1 Team