Years 1 and 2
🌟 Welcome to Year 1 and 2 at Gorefield Primary Academy! 🌟
We are the Ocean Explorers Class
Where curiosity turns into discovery, ideas grow into knowledge, and every learner is encouraged to shine.
👩🏫 About Miss Rankin
Hello! I'm Miss Rankin, the Year 1 and 2 Class Teacher at Gorefield Primary Academy.
My teaching philosophy centres on creativity, nurturing independence, and bringing the wider world into the classroom. I believe that learning should be engaging, inspiring and full of opportunities for every child to explore their strengths and develop confidence.
I have spent many summers teaching abroad, and I love bringing these experiences into our lessons, whether it's sharing stories from different cultures, exploring global traditions, or inspiring curiosity about the world beyond our classroom. These experiences help children see learning as an adventure and encourage them to think creatively and independently.
In my classroom, I am joined by Miss Tanner and Miss Vargeson, our fantastic learning assistants. Together, we make a friendly and supportive team, ensuring that every child feels valued, supported, and excited about learning.
We strive to create a welcoming, stimulating environment where hands-on, imaginative activities link learning across subjects, helping children make connections and discover the joy in every lesson.
Outside of school, I am passionate about travel, reading, and discovering new cultures, and I love sharing these experiences to make learning richer and more meaningful for my class.
🧩 About Our Year 1 and 2 Class
Our Year 1 and 2 classroom is fully of energy, enthusiasm and exploration. Here, children make the exciting step from the Early Years into Key Stage 1, a time when learning becomes more structured, skills strengthen, and independence blossoms.
We believe that children learn best when they feel confident, valued and inspired. Our classroom is a happy, purposeful space where every child is encouraged to have a go, take pride in their progress, and develop a love for learning that lasts a lifetime.
🌈 Our Learning Approach
As children move through Key Stage 1, they begin to apply what they already know in new and exciting ways. We build strong foundations in reading, writing and maths, while nurturing creativity, curiosity, and a sense of wonder about the world.
Our lessons are lively, hands-on, and connected to real life, helping children make sense of their learning and see themselves as capable, successful learners.
We celebrate perseverance, kindness, and teamwork, knowing that learning is about much more than just what happens in books.
🔡 Reading and Phonics
Building confident, fluent readers
In Key Stage 1, we continue the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme. Daily phonics sessions build accuracy, fluency, and confidence as children learn to read and spell unfamiliar words.
As their skills grow, children begin to explore longer books, develop expression and comprehension, and enjoy reading for pleasure.
📚 Each week, children take part in small-group reading practice and take home:
A decodable book matched to their phonics level
By Year 2, children move from phonics-based reading to developing deeper understanding, vocabulary, and a lifelong love of books.
✏️ Writing and Drawing Club
Building imagination, creativity, and confidence as writers.
In Year 1 and 2, children continue their writing journey through Drawing club and Curious Quests, immersive, story-led approaches that brings language and imagination to life.
Through these adventures, children use storytelling, role play, and illustration to build vocabulary, sentence structures, and confidence in expressing their ideas.
As their skills progress, we move from creative exploration to more structured writing, producing narratives, reports and recounts with growing independence and pride.
🔢 Mathematics
Deepening understanding, fluency and reasoning
Maths in Year 1 and 2 follows the NCETM Curriculum Prioritisation and Mastering Number approach. Lessons are practical, talk-rich and carefully sequenced to help children develop a secure understanding of number and patterns.
Children learn to:
- Understand number and place value
- Use strategies for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
- Explore fractions, shape, measures, and time
- Apply learning to real-life problems and reasoning tasks.
We use practical resources, discussion, and small-step progression to ensure every child masters the key concepts before moving on.
Times tables are an important part of Maths. Throughout Year 2 and towards the end of Year 1 children will be learning about and solving problems involving their times tables. To support their rapid recall of these please encourage your child to use TTRockstars regularly.
🌍 A Broad and Balanced Curriculum
Learning across subjects with curiosity and creativity
Our topics connect learning across:
🌿 Science - hands-on investigations that build curiosity about the world
🗺 Geography & History - exploring people, places, and events that shape our lives
🎨 Art - experimenting with colour, texture, and creativity
🎵 Music - rhythm, song, and self-expression
💻 Computing - developing digital confidence, safety and creativity
🧘 PE - teamwork, coordination, and self-belief. Our PE days are Tuesday and Thursday.
❤️ PSHE - learning empathy, respect, and emotional awareness
Each subject helps children explore, question and create. Our aim is for every child to discover independence, teamwork, and a sense of wonder about the world.
📅 A Day in Year 1 and 2
Busy minds, big ideas, and lots of laughter
Each day in our classroom is busy, purposeful, and full of learning.
A typical day includes:
☀️ Morning Starter
🔡 Phonics
📖 Reading
✏️ English
🔢 Maths
🌍 Topic-Based Learning
🧪 Science
📝 Grammar and Spelling
❤️ PSHE
🌿 Outdoor Learning
📚 Story Time
Our routines build confidence, independence, and a love of learning across every subject.
🤝 Working Together
We value strong partnerships with families. Home learning includes daily reading, Numbots, Times Tables Rock Stars, focus words and optional topic challenges.
We share learning and updates through Class Dojo, termly meetings, and parent workshops.