Home Page

St Nicolas' Church of England Infant School

Living life in all its fullness

What is Key Stage 1?

Key Stage 1

The children in Year 1 and Year 2 are known as Key Stage 1. The school follows the National
Curriculum for the core subjects English, Mathematics, Science, Information and Communication Technology and Religious Education. The curriculum also covers Art and Design, Design and Technology, Geography, History, Music, Physical Education and Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship. Every half-term, each class works on a topic and careful planning ensures a wide range of learning opportunities designed to extend academic achievement and to foster individual development in each child.

Careful assessment and record keeping allow us to track carefully each child’s progress and ensures continuity and progression in learning. A programme of continuous assessment forms the basis of the teachers’ planning. It monitors the children’s progress, identifies any problems and ensures that the needs of individual children are met in all areas of the curriculum. Our approach to any more formal testing of children’s learning is to make the experience as comfortable and non-threatening as possible. At the end of Year 2 (the end of Key Stage 1) children participate in the Standard Assessment Tests or SATs and the individual results are shared with parents.

Across the curriculum, we maintain quality teaching and learning through using a range of teaching strategies which promote high quality interaction, ensure pace and rigour in lessons, and focus on explicit and challenging interventions. We set high expectations matched to children’s abilities, using a structured planning system that outlines the objectives that children are to learn, how these will be achieved, and by integrating Information Technology to enhance learning wherever appropriate.