It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to Class 1's page. My name is Miss Erwin and I am the Class 1 Teacher at Birstwith School. I am very lucky to be supported by my wonderful TAs, Mrs Johnson & Mrs Plant. Mrs Paxton teaches the class on a Wednesday afternoon when I am planning and preparing the exciting learning for the children.
Class 1 is a very special place as it is the first class your child will join when they start their school journey in Reception and we also enjoy another two magical years in Year 1 and Year 2!
Our days are filled with lots of fun and learning through a variety of hands-on, practical activities within indoor and outdoor provision areas, daily phonics, literacy and maths as well as a wealth of wider curriculum lessons and experiences.
Note to parents: (Updated 19th March 2025)
PE will take place on a Wednesday and Thursday. Please could all children come dressed in PE kit on Tuesday and Thursday. Thank you!
Please ensure your child comes to school with a water bottle (just water please) and appropriate clothing for the weather. As we approach the colder months, please send your child into school with appropriate outerwear (warm, waterproof coat; sensible school shoes; wellies for the wetter days).
We encourage reading your child's phonetically matched reading book every day as this makes such a positive impact on their development and confidence. We additionally encourage reading for pleasure, as we send home a 'sharing book' from the library as part of the Little Wandle scheme which your child won't necessarily be able to read fluently yet, but it is a special book to enjoy with their loved ones at home.
Please ensure school reading books and records are both brought into school each day to allow teaching staff to read with children regularly and, if you have time, a comment from parents/carers is always really helpful.
If you have any questions or queries throughout the year, please do not hesitate to speak with myself, Mrs Johnson or Mrs Plant, either at the gate or via email.
School Year 2024-2025
Curriculum Overviews
Text Maps
Have a look at a sample of our learning...
Fireworks and Fire Safety
Class One have loved meeting the Fire Service! They learnt about how to be safe at home by creating a family fire plan, testing their smoke alarms and knowing to call 999 in an emergency. As a special surprise, the children got to see a real fire engine and learn about lots of the equipment on it! They were so fascinated by how firefighters help people and animals. They loved taking part in some lovely imaginative role-playing outdoors pretending to be firefighters!
As it was Bonfire Night and Diwali, the children have been exploring fireworks and have loved making large-scale artwork outdoors using different colours and shapes to create them.
Visiting our local church - St James' Church, Birstwith!
As part of our RE curriculum and wider links with our local community, the children were so excited to take a walk through our idyllic village to visit our local church! Here is some of our children's thoughts about our visit...
"Church is special, it is soft and quiet" - Arwen, Y1
"Churches are detailed and cool, I felt satisfied in church. I liked looking at the Alter and the stained glass windows with Jesus in. The Bible was massive! It was nice and quiet in there" - Logan, Y2
"I loved the colourful windows and we all sat nicely and quietly" - Isabella, Y1
Our new EYFS children!
We are all so proud of how our new EYFS children have been settling into life in Class One! They have made wonderful friendships, been exploring the areas of provision both indoors and outdoors, and making positive bonds with their buddies. Well done Reception!
