Year 1 pupils attend a whole-school assembly from 7.15am to 7.25am every day. This is a time to sing the National Anthem and prepare for the school day ahead. On Thursdays, there is a special celebration assembly where pupils are awarded for their hard work and the weekly House winner is announced.

Once assembly is over, pupils proceed quietly to their classrooms. A register is taken to assess who is in school.

• 7.30am – Year 1 begin their first lesson of the day – Phonics. Phonics is a vital part of a Year 1 classroom. This builds the basis for reading. Phonics lasts around 20 minutes, in which time pupils take part in differentiated activities based on the sound they are learning.
• 7.55am – pupils begin their second lesson of the day – Guided Reading. This, alongside phonics, is a vital part of the day. During this lesson, the teacher and assistant will work with small groups of children to further improve their reading and comprehension skills.
• 8.20am – Year 1 head for their first break-time of the day. This is a time to chat with their friends, eat, drink and play.
• 8.40am – the end-of-break bell will ring and pupils line up quietly, ready to head back to their classes. During this time, the class that lines up best receives a trophy on the ‘Best Break-Time’ display. At the end of the week, the class with the most trophies receives a certificate to display in their class.
• 8.45am – English lessons begin. This is where the teacher focuses on building pupil’s speaking, listening and writing skills. Through a combination of familiarising children with texts, modelling, imitating, innovating and grammar, children become more and more confident. We use strategies by Alan Peat and Pie Corbett (leading educational experts) to improve spoken language skills in order to develop writing skills. Each English unit lasts between 2-3 weeks. At the end of each unit, pupils produce an independent piece of writing. These independent pieces of writing are used to inform teachers of children’s progress across the year.
• 9.40am –  English lessons end and pupils will begin their other school subjects – Maths, Science, Arabic, Islamic Studies, ICT, Art, Social, P4C and library time. During these periods, there will be another break at 11.10 to 11.25am. These lessons are held at different times throughout the week as shown on your child’s timetable (which is sent home at the beginning of the academic year).
• 2.05pm – the school day ends. At this time, pupils get their belongings ready to head home. The teacher or assistant will quietly take pupils down to the hall at 2.15pm, ready to be collected by their parents. At GBA, we take the utmost care to ensure we are fulfilling our child protection and safeguarding duties, therefore in Year 1, either the teacher or assistant will stay with the children until they have been safely collected by an adult they know.