Year 1: Blog items
Hoylake Lifeboat Station, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 28th Mar 2025 @ 12:04am
Year 1 had a fantastic trip to Hoylake Lifeboat Station yesterday. The children learnt all about the hard work of the RNLI and how lifeboats have changed from the past to the present. Each lifeboat class is named after a river and the one that they house in Hoylake is a Shannon Class. We were surprised to learn that a Shannon lifeboat costs £2.4 million and weighs the same as 3 African elephants! We also saw their hovercraft and experienced life in the crew rooms, where we saw where the selfless volunteers dress in their all-weather suits and can look out over the River Mersey. We had a great time and thanked them for their service to the community and for giving their time to teach us all about horse power and engines! We found out that only the day before, the coastguards were called upon for a rescue operation. This just goes to show how important the RNLI's role is in saving lives. Thanks to the parents who donated money as part of our trip cost, the RNLI is a charity and the volunteers there led this trip for us at no cost. Your donations will be sent across to support them to continue their life-saving service.
Science Week- The Peppered Moth, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 16th Mar 2025 @ 11:11pm
This year, the theme for British Science Week is 'Change and Adapt'. In Year 1, the children learned all about adaptation and camouflage through the story of the peppered moth. Peppered moths have lived in the UK for centuries and are usually white with black speckles across the wings, blending well with lichen-covered tree trunks. Some moths, however, such as black peppered moths have black wings, making them more visible to predators and keeping their numbers low. In the 19th century, pollution killed the lichen and darkened tree trunks with soot. Pale moths became easy targets for predators, while darker moths were now better camouflaged. As a result, black moths thrived, with 98% of peppered moths in Manchester turning black within 50 years. By the mid-20th century, air quality improved, lichen returned, and tree trunks lightened. This shift favoured pale moths once again, causing black moth numbers to decline. The children loved looking at images of the moths and other animals and insects. They tried hard to spot creatures hidden by natural camouflage. They then designed their own butterflies to test how well they blend into different habitats. We had some wonderful creations, with children even trying to hide their butterflies from the teachers! Excuse some of the fuzzy photos- the children have been using the iPads to take their own photographs!
World Book Day, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 6th Mar 2025 @ 10:16pm
What a great time Year 1 have had celebrating World Book Day. We have had numerous author workshops this week, some online and one special live one with Stuart Reid! The children have listened to many stories and illustrated with famous illustrators such as Axel Scheffler. Today, they created their own sea monster stick puppets, inspired by our English text 'Lula and the Sea Monster'. They then designed their own book cover. We had a parade of our costumes around the Junior playground with F2 and Y2. We were very impressed with the effort made with costumes as always. A prize was given to the best homemade World Book Day costume. Congratulations Zachary- our very own Mr Bump! We hope you didn't have too much trouble removing the blue paint this evening!
Children’s Mental Health Week, by Miss Hanton-Wise
Date: 6th Feb 2025 @ 1:05pm
🌹💐🌸🌺Know Yourself to Grow Yourself🌷🌻🌼🪷
Year 1 enjoyed learning about how to look after their minds, we discussed what makes us happy, what makes us sad and how we can use breathing to help calm ourselves down!
We loved painting our own flowers to remind us how we can grow!
🌹💐🌸🌺Know Yourself to Grow Yourself🌷🌻🌼🪷
Hi-Impact Robot and Coding Workshop, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 31st Jan 2025 @ 4:54pm
Year 1 had a robot and coding workshop this week. They used iPads to control a small robot encased in a ball, called Sphero. They could create block codes to program a bear to move around a map and played a coding game called Codeapillar. They spent some time creating a code using different coloured mats, then sat a car on top to see what happened. They had to find out which colour programmed what direction. They quickly realised that green meant 'go' and 'red' was to stop the car. The other colours turned the car left or right. They had so much fun and couldn't wait to have a go of every activity on offer. Special thanks goes to Hi-Impact who provided all the resources and teaching for this session.
Lunar New Year, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 31st Jan 2025 @ 4:06pm
This week, Year 1 have celebrated the Lunar New Year. We watched a video that explained how and why people celebrate the Lunar New Year and what animal represents the 2025 New Year- this year is the year of the snake! The children could then choose from a selection of activities to help us to celebrate. We made and decorated lanterns, practised writing Mandarin characters for the numbers, made snakes and coloured some posters. The children had a great time and asked for us to do the same next week! Since the Lunar New Year is celebrated over 15 days, they may have their wish granted! One child brought in some rice crackers and Chinese sweets for his class to share too!
Teo's Trip to Slovakia, by Mrs Harris
Date: 13th Jan 2025 @ 7:40pm
We’re excited to share some wonderful news! Over the New Year, Teo had an amazing trip to Slovakia to visit his grandparents and cousins. It was a special time filled with laughter and new adventures. He built an igloo and even learned how to ski!!! 🎿 🏔️⛷️
KS1 Nativity 2024 - 'Fleece Force', by Mrs Harris
Date: 6th Dec 2024 @ 8:04pm
Years 1 and 2 Christmas Nativity 'Fleece Force' is now on our YouTube channel 😀
Here's a link!! Enjoy 😊😊😊
Elf Day, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 3rd Dec 2024 @ 9:49am
We had lots of little cheeky elves in Year 1 yesterday! The children had an afternoon of crafting, colouring and painting. We began to decorate our classroom in preparation for Christmas. The children painted stockings and made paper chains. There were smiles all round, fabulous costumes and lots of great teamwork- well done year 1! Thanks to all the parents and carers that donated money for such a fabulous cause.
Children in Need 2024, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 15th Nov 2024 @ 4:10pm
Today, we supported 'Children in Need'. The children wore stripes, spots, bright colours or Children in Need themed clothes in their support of the charity. We have learned why we raise money and where our money goes. The children had Pudsey Bear themed activities this afternoon, a cake sale and of course, the famous colouring competition. The entries for the colouring competition were amazing, well done to all those that entered. A very special well done to the winner in Year 1JS, whose design was very creative! On a day where we're all wearing Pudsey clothes, Lucca's Pudsey was wearing an 'Our Lady's' uniform! Lucca won a giant art set to continue his passion for art at home. Thanks as always for your continued support, we're looking forward to hearing the total money raised for Children in Need.
Anti-bullying week, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 15th Nov 2024 @ 4:01pm
Well done to all the Year 1 children for supporting anti-bullying week. This year's theme is 'Respect'. We have talked about how we should respect others by being kind and using kind words. The children have been wearing odd socks all week to celebrate all our differences and have decorated 'kindness socks' to show ways that we can be respectful to others. Great work Year 1!
Remembrance Day, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 13th Nov 2024 @ 12:57pm
Year 1 have been remembering the soldiers, past and present, and all the other people and animals that have helped, supported and defended our country. Barney brought in a photograph of his Uncle and his medals to show us. We talked about the bravery of the soldiers, and had a discussion about the army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force and how they protect the land, sea and air. We watched a CBeebies video that showed us how all were affected by the wars, and how the first flowers to grow on the fields were poppies. We then coloured in some poppies, cut them out and displayed them in wreaths. The children worked in teams to make their wreaths and we displayed them in our classroom window in time for Remembrance Day. On 11.11.24, at 11am, we observed the 2 minute silence. The children were very respectful and we finished with a prayer.
Birkenhead Park Trip, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 6th Nov 2024 @ 5:22pm
Year 1 went to Birkenhead Park this afternoon to look for signs of Autumn. The children used maps drawn by the Year 6 children in Geography to help find our way to the park safely. We met with the Park Ranger, Hannah, who showed us some of the signs of Autumn. The children looked at the leaves, examined sycamore seeds and collected some other items to bring back to school. They found out that the seeds from a sycamore tree are shaped like helicopters, so they fly further from the parent tree. This helps them to get more light, water and space to grow. We then made our way further down the path, where we saw lots of colourful trees. The children saw red, brown, yellow and orange leaves. The children then had the opportunity to feed the ducks and watch the squirrels. Some of the pigeons were accidentally fed too! After that, we visited the boathouse, where the children learned of its history. They heard about how Joseph Paxton designed the park and was also an inspiration to many other park designers, including those that designed Central Park in New York! We passed the Swiss bridge on the way back and had a look at the colourful design. This will help with our Design Technology work this half term. The children enjoyed their afternoon exploring the park and linked lots of our previous learning to their visit today. Well done Year 1!
Month of the Rosary, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 24th Oct 2024 @ 12:38am
The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. It's a special time devoted to praying the Rosary. The children have been learning how Rosary beads are used when praying, to bring us closer to Jesus. Each group of beads represent different parts of the Rosary prayer. We passed around the beads so that the children could look more closely at them. We practised the 'Our Father' prayer and the children were given the opportunity to cut out a bead of their own. We then placed them in a prayer circle, making our own Rosary bead string. The children said their own prayers as they placed down each bead and we finished by singing and signing a version of the 'Hail Mary' prayer.
Geography Field Trip, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 24th Oct 2024 @ 12:19am
In Geography this term, the children have been learning all about our town, Birkenhead. We have been learning why postcodes are important and using maps to study the areas in and around our school. We have discussed different ways of travelling to school and mapped out dangers to pedestrians like railway lines, rivers and roads. We then learned that there are different types of housing, such as detached, terraced, semi-detached and flats. We discovered through location and observational skills that Birkenhead housing is mostly made up of terraced houses and flats and discussed why. The children loved finding the different types of houses on a map of our local area. We then discussed what amenities a town should have i.e. shops, places of worship, parks etc. Yesterday, the children went for a short walk to find out what the area around our school has to offer. They followed a route on a map, and stopped by different checkpoints to observe the different types of shops, factories, houses and other places available in the area. They used their knowledge of the local dangers to help them to stay safe near the roads and even recalled our Science work when they spotted some stinging nettles on their route! The children posted some postcards that they had made at the start of the topic in the local post box. Some have 1st class stamps and some have 2nd class stamps. They are excited to see them return back to the school, after watching videos of how our post is sorted. We made a prediction, guessing which postcards will return first. We returned back to school and filled in an obervation sheet to show our findings. The children were very polite and very observant on our field trip- they were a credit to the school. Well done Year 1 Geographers!
A great start to Year 1!, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 12th Sep 2024 @ 10:14pm
Y1 have had an excellent start to the year. We played lots of games to get to know our friends, teachers and classrooms. We've explored Maths and English resources, made seed bombs, made s'mores lollipops, experimented with colour mixing, painted butterflies, sketched a portrait of ourselves and made 'First day in Year 1' memory photo frames... all in the first 3 days! It has been lovely getting to know all of the children and we can't wait to see where our learning journey takes us in Year 1 this school year! 😊
Year 1 trip - July 2024 The Beach!, by Mrs Harris
Date: 14th Jul 2024 @ 5:44pm
Wow! What an amazing day Year 1 has had! We began the day at Church Farm, Thurstaston where we took a tractor ride around the farm to see some of the crops that Farmer Paul and his team had planted. We saw thousands of Christmas trees and pumpkins starting to grow! From the top of the farm, we could see the River Dee and Wales in the distance. We then fed the sheep before seeing donkeys, reindeer, pigs and ducks. The final stop on our tractor ride took us to feed the alpacas. Next, we petted the small animals. We were really lucky to pet some of the newest arrivals at the farm- baby bunnies. After that, we washed our hands and ate our lunch in the conservatory. We had some free time to enjoy the park, see the meerkats and goats, become lost in a maze, fly down a zip wire, slide on a toboggan slide, ride go karts and much more! As if that wasn't enough, we then got back onto the bus and drove to New Brighton beach where we spent the afternoon playing on the sand. The children made fabulous sandcastles, drew in the sand, made collages out of natural materials, collected shells and played with frisbees. This trip was an excellent way of consolidating all of our learning this year. The children recalled our work on lighthouses, the RNLI, seasons, weather, the coast, Art work based on Andy Goldsworthy, Victorian seaside history, Geography work focused on the Wirral, food and farming and much more! The children really impressed us with their knowledge and we had the best day. What a great way to end the school year! Thanks so much to all the parents, Sisters, Aunties and school Governors that supported our trip, it really is appreciated.
Year 1 trip - July 2024 (part 1), by Mrs Harris
Date: 14th Jul 2024 @ 4:54pm
Wow! What an amazing day Year 1 has had! We began the day at Church Farm, Thurstaston where we took a tractor ride around the farm to see some of the crops that Farmer Paul and his team had planted. We saw thousands of Christmas trees and pumpkins starting to grow! From the top of the farm, we could see the River Dee and Wales in the distance. We then fed the sheep before seeing donkeys, reindeer, pigs and ducks. The final stop on our tractor ride took us to feed the alpacas. Next, we petted the small animals. We were really lucky to pet some of the newest arrivals at the farm- baby bunnies. After that, we washed our hands and ate our lunch in the conservatory. We had some free time to enjoy the park, see the meerkats and goats, become lost in a maze, fly down a zip wire, slide on a toboggan slide, ride go karts and much more! As if that wasn't enough, we then got back onto the bus and drove to New Brighton beach where we spent the afternoon playing on the sand. The children made fabulous sandcastles, drew in the sand, made collages out of natural materials, collected shells and played with frisbees. This trip was an excellent way of consolidating all of our learning this year. The children recalled our work on lighthouses, the RNLI, seasons, weather, the coast, Art work based on Andy Goldsworthy, Victorian seaside history, Geography work focused on the Wirral, food and farming and much more! The children really impressed us with their knowledge and we had the best day. What a great way to end the school year! Thanks so much to all the parents, Sisters, Aunties and school Governors that supported our trip, it really is appreciated.
Seasonal changes, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 9th Jul 2024 @ 10:27pm
In Science this term, the children have looked at seasonal changes. Last week we looked closely at the signs of Summer. We had a lovely time exploring the signs of Summer in the Presbytery garden. The children saw bees, other insects, an apple tree, berries, daisies, rhododendrons, honeysuckles, Buddleia and many other blooming flowers. They spent some time sketching and labelling what they saw to use in their Science work this week.
Victorian Seaside Day, by Mrs Schultz
Date: 9th Jul 2024 @ 10:01pm
This term, Year 1 have been learning all about Victorians at the seaside. We looked at favourite past-times and what the Victorians would have enjoyed eating as a treat. Some things were very similar to what we enjoy today, such as Fish and Chips and ice cream. However, the ice cream was served in a very different way in the past. Sometimes it was served as a slice of ice cream wrapped in a piece of paper- this was called a 'Hokey Pokey'. When served in a small conical shaped glass, it was called a 'Penny Lick'. The children chose how they would like their ice cream to be served today and were surprisingly good at eating both ways- not a drop of ice cream was wasted! We made a traditional bathing machine for the children to role play with. Shaped like a beach hut with wheels, they were used by the Victorians to get changed into their bathing suits. They were then pulled into the water by horses so that the Victorians could be lowered into the water to swim. The children used their imaginations to jump back in time and take the train to the seaside during the Victorian era. As well as eating Hokey Pokeys and Penny Licks, they explored a range of Victorian past-times to immerse themselves into the life of a Victorian. The children changed into Victorian style bathing costumes, listened to bandstand music, watched a Punch and Judy show and collected shells on a pretend beach. They made crafts and role played strolling along a promenade and riding a donkey. They also entertained us with their own Punch and Judy shows. We've had a great day all round! We hope that the children will use their experiences to write a seaside postcard in their English work this week.
Mini Vinnies Pledges, by Mrs Harris
Date: 5th Jul 2024 @ 10:22pm
Mini Vinnies meet every Thursday. We are working together to help others.
Last Thursday, we made some pledges:
• We pledge to be kind to other
• To help others in need in any way we can
• To be good friends and to care for God's world
Mini Vinnies Donation, by Mrs Harris
Date: 5th Jul 2024 @ 10:19pm
Good news alert!!
Luna and Willow decided (themselves!!!) to design, make and sell bracelets to their family and friends 🧡
This wonderfully kind initiative was to raise funds for Mini Vinnies 🙌
They raised an astounding £42.44 from their sale, which is absolutely fantastic!!!! Mini Vinnies will use this generous donation to purchase toiletry bags for the homeless
Thank you Luna and Willow ❤️❤️❤️
Sunshine Room, by Mrs Harris
Date: 2nd May 2024 @ 9:56pm
Children had a great time in the Sunshine Room 🌞 ☀️ 💛
Year 1 and 2 Outdoor Ball Games Club, by Mrs Harris
Date: 22nd Apr 2024 @ 11:24pm
Year 1 and 2 had fun at outdoor ball games club
We practised throwing, catching and team work skills
