Welcome to Year 1

St David (1B) & St Clare (1AB)

Miss Bannister & Miss Baker

Miss Bannister and Miss Baker are so happy to welcome our new students to year one.  We are so excited to get to know all of them.   We offer a warm and safe environment where we ask for kindness and inclusion this is the perfect combination for success in learning.

Our aim is that all children will be able to learn at their own pace, we encourage them to challenge themselves, and offer support where needed. As part of maintaining our rich curriculum, your children will have many enrichment opportunities to reach out to the world around them through prayer, words, work and play. 

Your Class Teachers:

Hello everyone, my name is Miss Bannister, I can’t wait for September! I’m very excited to get to know you and learn more about you.

I enjoy keeping fit by going to the gym and big walks with lovely views. My family live in Ireland so on holidays I love to go home and spend time with them. I love to read, so I spend a lot of my free time reading books with a coffee.

My favourite subject in school is Art and Literacy, as I love being creative and learning about new books. My favourite colour is green and I love elephants.

My name is Miss Baker and I am very excited to be your teacher when you move up to Year 1!​

I am looking forward to getting to know you all and spending the year learning together!​

I was born on the other side on the world in New Zealand and moved to the United Kingdom in 2020. I grew up on a little farm with my mum, dad, four siblings and lots of animals! I lived in London for four years before moving to Manchester with my family. I enjoy going for big walks and playing with my daughter Lyla who is about to turn 3! My favourite subjects at school are writing and art. My favourite colour is purple and my favourite animal is a tiger!​

Contact details: admin@stmaryslevenshulme.org.uk with attention to Miss Bannister and Miss Baker.

Key Information:

PE Days

1B- Monday (outdoor) and Thursday (indoor)

1AB- Monday (outdoor) and Friday (indoor)

Book Bags

Book bags are given out on Fridays.

Please return by Thursday the following week.

Water Bottles

Please bring water bottles to school with your child on a Monday, these will be refilled and refreshed daily and throughout the day. We are a healthy school, therefore squash and juice are not permitted in water bottles.

Water bottles will go home on a Friday for a wash and clean ready to bring back on Monday.

Key dates:

Year 1 Assembly: 4^th February 2026

Year 1 Mass : 23^rd June 2026

Year 1 Timetable:

Here is a normal daily timetable for Year 1 students:

8:30: School opens

8.30-8:55: Settling and name practise

8:45am – 9.30am: Phonics.                          

9.30am – 10:30am: Maths                  

10.00am – 10:15am: KS1 break           

10.30am – 10:45am – Mastery of Math

10:45 - 11.45am -  Literacy

11.45am – 12.45pm: Lunch

1.30pm - 3.00pm: Guided Reading/Science/Topic/PE/PSHE/Handwriting/RE

3.00pm – 3.10pm: Story time

3.10pm: Prayer and home time 

This will be subject change on a daily basis to accommodate all of our enhanced learning opportunities during this term.

What is our curriculum offer?

Healthy eating:

Most children require a snack at morning break to keep them going through the day.

Fruit and vegetables are delivered to school and available for children daily, free of charge.

If you wish to send a snack with your child we encourage children to bring in healthy snacks full of vitamins and minerals containing no added salt, fat or sugar. Many of these will help contribute to their 5 daily portions of fruit and vegetables, keep them alert and help them concentrate. It can be hard during the week to think of suitable items for them to bring in to school, but we are aiming, with the help of the children, to not only support them in making healthy choices regarding snacks, but to also reduce food packaging and waste. Providing snacks in a small, named, recyclable container is ideal.

If you are intending to send in healthy snacks with your child please limit them to the list below. 

• Vegetable sticks – such as celery, cucumber, peppers or carrot, a range of colour ensures different vitamins and minerals. 
• A piece of cheddar cheese or babybel 
• A piece of fresh or dried fruit, high in soluble fibre and vitamins would also be a great snack– pineapple, mango, kiwi, plain raisins, apricots, blueberries, banana slices. 
• Bread sticks, plain pretzels, banana bread, malt loaf, oat/rice cakes and small pitta breads are also good snacks, providing children with carbohydrate to sustain them in-between meals. 
• Homemade snack - flapjacks or other oat/whole grain based snack. These must be nut free. Items brought into school should be carefully checked by you, to ensure this. St. Mary’s RC Primary School has pupils who are severely allergic to a range of nuts. 

We are aiming for a common-sense approach, with the key being to keep it healthy and no chocolate, sweets or crisps.

We need the children to stay hydrated and so please ensure they bring a named water bottle into school daily. Squash and fruit juice are not permitted. We hope that with your help, we can encourage the children to develop healthy eating habits that become a normal part of everyday life. By keeping high calorie snacks to a minimum and establishing healthy eating habits early on, improvements can be made for a child’s quality of life both in the short and long term. 

Frequently asked questions:

When do we bring our reading books and reading records in?

The children should keep their reading records up to date and will be expected to bring them, and their reading book, in every day even if they have not finished their book. This will allow us to monitor how much your child is reading at home. We would like parents listen to their child read, initial their reading record and to discuss their book with them at least once a week. We expect your child to read for a minimum of 20 minutes each evening. This will really help them to make good progress in all aspects of the curriculum.

What is our home learning offer and when is our  home learning due in?

Every week:

Reading - 20 minutes every night – reading record check will be on a Wednesday

Sticky Questions – sent home for discussion on Monday, discussion in class every Friday

Useful information:

• Little Wandle is our Phonics Scheme, there are helpful videos on the website to help you you’re your sound pronunciation https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/