Beech Class

Welcome to Beech Class (Year 1 and Year 2)

Beech Class is a light-filled, high-ceilinged classroom which combines working areas for the whole class with lots of enticing, dedicated focus areas for child-initiated and independent learning.  For many children, this might be their first experience of a more conventional class set up, with groups of tables set up for them to sit around and work together. But look closer and they discover the library corner – set up to reflect this half term’s topic – the worship basket, maths focus tools, and so much more.

Like Ash Class, Beech has direct access to the outside, allowing learning to flow between indoor and outdoor focus.  We use boards around the room to aid learning and children use these independently to support their learning – such as to check the sounds we are learning or access help sheets. They love our WOW board where we display work and highlight star of the week and roll of honour.

Annie Matcham

How it works

From the moment the children come into Beech in the morning they have activities to keep them engaged. Whether they are Year 1 or 2 they will have some gentle morning tasks to get them thinking – this might be handwriting or maths practice, phonics sounds, or tricky word practise – this way they can start to recap knowledge as they settle them at the start of the day.

Year 1 spend the morning in Beech Class in their year group working on core subjects. At the beginning of the year, this will focus on familiarising the children with the classroom and ensuring that the Ash Year 1s are comfortable in Beech and see it as their classroom too. There is lots of group work in the class alongside continuous provision where children have the chance to create with construction, write using templates, explore maths resources linked to current learning, or spend time using role-play or the story corner. The approach becomes more structured through the year with whole class working, as the children become used to the new environment. Wherever possible we take the learning outdoors or get the children moving around the classroom.

After their mornings in The Orchard, Year 2s rejoin the class after lunch. We always have mindful time to help settle the whole class, often using breathing exercises to help them ground themselves after a fun playtime! The afternoons are topic and Foundation subjects; we align these with Ash Class to give the Year 1s continuity. Year 2 children have the opportunity to have dedicated time when Year 1s have PE on a Monday and work through their curriculum focus across the week in the context of the same topics.

Meet the teachers

Miss Matcham

Ash Class teacher and Year 1 lead teacher, Annie Matcham, has a social science degree with education and trained through the direct school route, as well as working as an LSA. It was almost inevitable that she would become a teacher as much of her family – including her mum – are in the profession.  Her experience is across EYFS and the Key Stages but her passion lies with Key Stage 1 and bringing mindfulness into the classroom.

Mrs Turnbull

LSA Mrs Turnbull is a long-standing member of the Twyford St Mary’s team. She supports Miss Matcham with Year 1 group in the morning as well as spending some afternoons with the whole Beech Class. She does 1:1 work with children who would benefit from more focus or greater depth and runs group interventions as well.

Staying in touch

We have regular touch points across the school year to keep families informed of your child’s progress, including parents’ evenings, in-class events and meet-the-teacher sessions.

I am always happy to talk to parents or carers about any aspects of your child’s learning or well-being and if you have any quick questions or pertinent information you want to share about your child, you can usually find me on the playground at pick-up. If I can please ask that you wait until I have ensured all children are safely on their way home, then I will be free for a quick chat!

For any other concerns, or if you would like a meeting to discuss any issues, please contact the office and we can arrange a phone call or a meeting.

Key days and dates