What will my child learn in Year 1?

What's new this year

Year 1 is the start of Key Stage 1 and the national curriculum. Days become a little more structured than in Reception, though many schools keep plenty of play, especially in the autumn term.

The one national check this year is the phonics screening check, in the week of Monday 14 to Friday 18 June 2027. Your child reads 40 words aloud, one to one with a teacher they know. Some are made-up "alien" words, which show whether they can decode rather than remember. The threshold mark is published on 28 June 2027, after the check (it was 31 out of 40 in 2026). Children who don't meet it get extra support and try again in Year 2. Our guide to the phonics screening check has the details.

Maths in Year 1

• Counting to and across 100, forwards and backwards, and counting in 2s, 5s and 10s.
• Reading and writing numbers to 100 in numerals, and to 20 in words.
• Number bonds within 20, and adding and subtracting one-digit and two-digit numbers to 20.
• Simple multiplication and division using objects, pictures and arrays, and finding a half and a quarter.
• Measuring length, mass and capacity, recognising coins and notes, and telling the time to the hour and half past.
• Naming common 2D and 3D shapes and describing turns and position.

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Counting to 100: Hop, Count and Blast Off with Pip

Learn counting to 100 forwards, backwards and in 2s, 5s and 10s by hopping lily pads, fuelling a rocket and b… Ages 4–730 min ♡

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Numbers to 20: Count, Read and Compare with Dotty

Learn to read, write and compare numbers to 20 by counting apples, filling ten frames, hopping a frog along a… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–650 min ♡

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Number Bonds to 20: A Ladybird Meadow Maths Game

Learn number bonds to 20 and the subtraction facts that go with them, by flipping counters, balancing scales… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–750 min ♡

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Adding and Subtracting to 20: Hop's Number Pond

Learn adding and subtracting to 20, including 0, with Hop the frog: read number sentences, hop on lily pads a… Ages 5–750 min ♡

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2D and 3D Shapes: Explore Shape Island with Bo the Robot

Learn to recognise and name 2D and 3D shapes, from circles and squares to cubes and cones, by spinning, stret… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–740 min ♡

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Telling the Time: Fix the Clocks of Time Town with Koo

Learn all about telling the time: read clocks to five minutes, quarter past and quarter to, draw the hands an… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 6–850 min ♡

English in Year 1

• Reading: daily phonics, so your child can read most sounds quickly (including two- and three-letter sounds like "sh" and "igh") and blend unfamiliar words.
• Tricky words: common exception words such as "said", "they" and "friend".
• Stories and poems: listening, talking about them and learning some poems by heart.
• Writing: sentences with capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks, joined with "and".
• Spelling: days of the week, the alphabet, and endings like -s, -es, -ing, -ed, plus the prefix un-.
• Handwriting: forming lower-case letters correctly, plus capitals and the digits 0 to 9.

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Digraphs and Trigraphs: A Letter Teams Island Adventure

Learn digraphs and trigraphs like ay, oy, ir and are, plus split digraphs, by joining letter teams, popping s… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–745 min ♡

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Year 1 Tricky Words: Heart Words and Days of the Week

Learn to read and spell Year 1 tricky words and the days of the week, find each word's tricky part and read I… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–740 min ♡

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Year 1 Spelling Rules: A Garden Adventure with Bea

Learn Year 1 spelling rules, from ff, ll, ss, zz and ck to –s, –es, –ing, –ed and un–, by building words with… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–745 min ♡

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Capital Letters and Full Stops: A Sentence Train Adventure

Learn how capital letters and full stops make a sentence, then build sentence trains, fix capitals and join i… Ages 5–735 min ♡

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Year 1 Punctuation: A Park Adventure with Dot the Full Stop

Learn Year 1 punctuation: capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. Fix sentences an… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–740 min ♡

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Year 1 Handwriting: Trace Letters and Digits with Poppy

Learn Year 1 handwriting: hold a pencil well, start each letter in the right place and form capitals and digi… Members · chapter 1 freeAges 5–745 min ♡

Science and other subjects

Year 1 science covers plants (naming common plants and trees and their parts), animals including humans (animal groups, what they eat, body parts and senses), everyday materials and seasonal changes. Children also study history, geography, art, music, design and technology, computing, PE and RE. Schools choose their own topics, for example toys from the past, a famous explorer or the local area.

This year's topics, subject by subject

The roadmaps below show the order in which topics usually build up through Year 1, subject by subject. Schools teach in different orders, so treat them as a guide to what's coming rather than a timetable.

How you can help at home

• Listen to your child read their school book, then read them something richer that they can't read yet.
• Play "I spy" with sounds, not letter names: "something beginning with sh".
• Count in 2s, 5s and 10s on walks or up the stairs.
• Point out o'clock and half past on a real clock at bedtime or teatime.
• Let them write shopping lists, cards and labels. Praise the ideas first, then one capital letter or full stop.