Clifton College - Butcombe

Year 1

Staff
Head of Year 1:	Miss Juliet Michallat
Teachers:
	Mrs Fiona John
	Mrs Michelle Lambert
	Mrs Anne Askew

In the Michaelmas Term, Year 1 study Houses and Homes as their topic. We go on a trip to St Fagans National History Museum on the outskirts of Cardiff. It is a good way to introduce the children to many different types of houses. Gradually they become experts at identifying differences between old and new buildings through visiting the Celtic village, cottages and farms in the museum.

During the Lent Term, we always have an exhilarating day when the children bring in their bikes for the Wheels topic. The playground resembles a racetrack for these days, as children cycle or scooter around a ‘circuit’. As well as remembering to look out for and obey the road signs as part of the Highway Code, they can improve their cycling prowess. Photos can be seen in the gallery.

Sing Up

On Friday 2nd March Year 1 took part in a ‘Sing Up’ Event at Bristol Grammar School. This was an opportunity for children in local state and independent schools to share some of their favourite songs from their music lessons and have some fun!

We travelled to BGS by mini bus and then walked back to Butcombe.

We were thinking about wheels and road safety in 1M. We made road safety books and used our road safety knowledge on our walk back from BGS. We saw many different signs and vehicles with wheels.

Year 1 visit from the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

To round up our topic on the Senses, Year 1 had a visit on Thursday 1st March from a registered guide dog owner called Maureen and her guide dog AJ.

The children learnt about how the guide dogs support their owners and took part in a variety of sensory games. Maureen typed each of our names in Braille.

Maureen and AJ have many different adventures together. Maureen told us about how AJ often wants to go to the park when it’s time to visit the shops!

For the Summer Term, after preparations for the exhibition for Celebration Day (this year, Year 1 painted pictures in the style of the Australian artist Ken Done), we got down to the study of Native Americans. This is always a most successful topic as it really captures the imagination of the children. We visit the American Museum in Bath, and as well as several children dressing up in an authentic costume as a squaw or an Indian Chief, we try our hand at writing stories. These ideas are very inspirational for the children, and form the basis of some excellent literacy work back at school. See also a news story of their visit to Clifton's own Synagogue. We usually finish this topic with a Pow Wow and this year was no exception. A traditional dance and a short play were performed and the gathering ended with a picnic around the campfire.

For a full year in Butcombe's Year 1, please see the gallery of exciting things we have done.