Welcome to the Unit 1 web page 

Here you will find copies of our unit newsletters and dates for your diaries! We also hope you enjoy looking at what the children have been learning about each term.

Unit Leader - Miss Penny Rundle

Class Teachers 

Mr Smart - Cofton Year 1

Mrs Wilcox - Aller Year 1

Mrs Callaghan - Coryton Year 2

Miss Rundle & Mrs Cayless - Newhay Year 2

Contact us via Seesaw, School Gateway app or

📧 admin@westcliff.org.uk

Summer Term 2

Unit 1 have had a wonderful Summer term! It only feels like yesterday that we were welcoming our new classes and embarking on a new academic year. Children in unit 1 have been very busy this term. Year 1 had a visit from the Animal Encounters where they learnt about different types of animals and their needs to survive. They also took part in a beach clean at Shaldon beach where they learnt all about the environmental impact that out little has. In PE they practised balancing, jumping and landing, making sure to bend our knees so we land safely.

Year 2 have had the pleasure of music lessons with Mrs Harvey this half term where the children have been learning how to follow musical notations and creating their own pieces of music. During 'Proud to be Me' week, the children read the story 'The Suitcase of Belonging', the children then brought in two items from home, one which represented something they were good at and another which represented a their family history or culture. We then shared these items and placed them into our suitcase in class, it was fascinating learning about the children's backgrounds and skills outside of school. Year 2 also had a visit from the Dartmoor Schools PE team where they lead activities such as archery, rugby, handball and parachute games.

The children displayed super effort and fantastic teamwork during our sports day, all of the staff commented on how wonderful their behaviour was and were impressed by the positive attitude and sportsmanship shown.

We ended our year with a water play afternoon - a great way to cool down! This quickly turned into a water battle of teachers vs students! Great fun was had by all and it was a brilliant way to celebrate the end of a super year.

I hope you all have a fantastic summer and I look forward to seeing you in September.

Summer ☀️ Term 1

The summer term has been packed with exciting learning in Unit 1, with plenty more to come after half term.

In geography, the Year 1 children have been learning about the different countries in the UK, we looked at what similarities there are between the different countries as well as the differences that make them unique. The children had great fun learning some traditional Irish Dancing! In literacy the children have been learning about instruction writing, they wrote and followed instructions on how to make gingerbread men... the tastiest of all our literacy outcomes this year! In Design and Technology the year 1 children have been learning about levers. They used a range of resources to test out different ways to make levers and created their own seesaws.

The Year 2 children have also been working incredibly hard this half term. In literacy they wrote and illustrated their own version of The Storm Whale, told from the perspective of the baby whale who gets washed up on the beach. We then shared these stories with the children in Foundation who all gave us top marks for our brilliant writing! In Design and Technology, the children have been learning about cookery and nutrition. They designed and created their own 'healthy dips' which we then invited parents in to taste. Some delicious recipes were created and the bowls were empty at the end of the afternoon! In Geography we have been comparing two locations, one being Johannesburg in South Africa and the other being Exeter. We looked at the global location of these two cities and gave instructions to our friendly aliens on how to get there, we discussed which hemisphere, continent and country they would be able to find the cities in. In Music we have been learning about percussion, we used our body parts to create music with 'body percussion', we then moved on to using untuned percussion instruments such as drums, shakers and scrapers. The children were able to work together as a class to follow a steady beat and followed some lovely musical patterns.

Spring 💐 Term 2

Another busy and exciting half term in Unit 1.

Year 1 children have been doing lots of interesting learning over the last few weeks, including exploring different everyday materials and their properties in their science lessons. They tested various materials to see if they were rigid, bendy, waterproof or absorbent, and tried to make the strongest structure that we could manage from a range of building materials. The children have also been working on their modelling skills in their art lessons, they used clay to create a Black Swan sculpture. They explored different mark making and textures on the clay as well as different moulding and joining techniques, as well as delicately painting their sculptures - the end results were fantastic creations! In Year 1's DT learning they studied high-vis clothing pioneers Bob and Joe Switzer, experimented with different methods of joining including sewing and gluing, and finished by designing and creating their own high-vis headwear to fit a teddy.

In Year 2, the children have been exploring algorithms in their computing lessons. They have been using a programme called 'Scratch' to create different algorithms for a character to complete, they had swimming fish, dancing cats and even talking parrots! They have also been working hard on their 'persuasive writing'. The children researched, planned and wrote a strongly worded 'persuasive letter' to Rishi Sunak about the damage caused by deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. The children even walked to the post box and posted it themselves, we will let you know if we get a reply! Sewing has also been a focus for year 2 children in their DT lessons, we have designed our very own hand puppets. The children explored different joining methods and looked carefully at different stitches which could be used to create their puppets. We can't wait to see the finished products!

World book day was a great day this half term. The children had fantastic outfits and spent the day immersed in different exciting stories, authors and characters. The Year 2 classes even took a trip to Dawlish Library where they took part in a 'Book Hunt' and explored lots of different texts.

Spring 💐 Term 1

Unit 1 have had lots of exciting learning opportunities this half term.

In Year 1 the children have been learning about how to create collages in art, they then designed and made their own landscape collages using a range of different materials. In literacy they have been learning about non chronological reports and writing their own information texts all about pets. They have been enjoying library sessions as part of their 'reading for pleasure' lessons where they share a selection of texts with their peers. The children also took part in their Big Schools Bird Watch for the RSPB and saw lots of different birds, an important bit of research for the charity!

In Year 2 we had a busy half term with lots of exciting learning. In geography we have been learning about different continents and oceans that make up the Earth (I'm sure you've been serenaded with these songs at home), this week they have been making their own globes. In history they have been learning about Mary Anning and the fossils found at the Jurassic coast, we had an exciting talk from a palaeontologist who works at The Lyme Regis Museum who shared lots of different fossils from sea creatures that have been found there. We also went on a fun trip to the zoo! This linked to our science learning about 'Animals and their basic needs', we had a talk from a zoo keeper about giraffes and what they need to survive and how they have adapted to suit their habitats.

Autumn 🍂 Term 2

Unit 1 have had a super half term - lots of exciting learning and fantastic performances!

In Literacy, both Year 1 and 2 children have been learning about poetry. In Year 1 they have been learning about poems by Michael Rosen. On the first day of the unit the children listened to a range of his poems, including one called 'Chocolate Cake'...while eating chocolate cake! In Year 2 the children have been creating their own Christmas Poems and performed them for some of the Year 1 children, they learnt about projecting their voices and effective body language when performing poetry.

Aller and Cofton class have been working hard in their Design and Technology lessons, this term they have been looking at cookery and nutrition and focussing on food preparation skills along with food hygiene. They learnt how to safely cut fruit and vegetables using a range of cutting techniques like the 'claw' and 'bridge' technique. This week they have made some delicious fruit kebabs. Year 1 children have also been looking at the changes in music tastes over the years in their Music lessons, the listened to some jive music and came up with their own hand jive dance routine!

In Year 2, the children have also been working hard in their music lessons, they have been listening to a range of different music genres as well as identifying the different instruments they can hear. They have sorted instruments into different instrument families such as brass, woodwind, string and percussion. In science, the children having been learning about different materials, specifically how these can be changed. The children took part in lots of experiments to test different objects and see if they could be changed through squashing, bending, stretching or twisting. They found it impossible to stretch the table, but easy to stretch the elastic bands.

Of course we can not forget to mention the superb Nativity performance put on by Unit 1. The children were fantastic and kicked off the festive period wonderfully. It was a joy to watch and I know the children thoroughly enjoyed performing... we certainly uncovered some future stars of the stage!

We hope you have a super Christmas break, whether this is busily catching up with family and friends or taking some time to relax with the children - enjoy every moment. We look forward to seeing you again in the Spring term.

Autumn 🍂 Term 1

Unit 1 have had a great start to the year! In year 2 we have been looking at different landscape artists including LS Lowry, James Rizzi and Becky Betteworth. We created our own pieces inspired by these artist which we displayed at our Art Exhibition on Wednesday 19th October in the hall. In literacy we have been writing traditional tales, the children came up with super actions to help them remember the different parts of the story and produced wonderful pieces of writing which they will be sharing with the Year 3 children. We have just started a new unit on instruction writing and will be writing our very own spell and potion recipes to link in with Halloween!

In Year 1 we have been learning about the different points on a compass during our geography lessons. We have been looking at work maps and describing the locations of different countries using North, South, East and West. In our RE lessons we have been learning that Christians hold baptisms to celebrate someone joining the Christian religion. We held out own baptism in the classroom with our dolls!

Don’t forget to check your Family Seesaw account for class activities and announcements. If you need a new family/home learning QR code or would like to add another family member please contact the school office.

📧 admin@westcliff.org.uk