Year 5
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Dear Parents and Guardians,
Welcome to a new school year! I’ve had a lovely week getting to know the new Year 5s, who have worked so hard to ‘step up’ into Upper Key Stage 2. We have already started the year by setting up great foundations, perfecting our handwriting and presentation alongside Place Value in Maths, Climate Zones in Geography, and learning how to describe how we look in French.
I am Year 5's class teacher this year; Ms Hiscock will be teaching on Monday mornings and Tuesday afternoons. Mrs Partridge will also be supporting our class in the mornings and Mrs Magson will help in the afternoons.
As we embark on this journey together, I want to share a few key points that will help us create a successful and enriching experience for your child:
Communication:
Communication between home and school is vital for everyone to succeed. Please feel free to reach out to me in the first instance with any questions, concerns, or insights about your child. I am here to support your whole family and will send regular updates via Bromcom and the school newsletter.
Please let me know if you would prefer paper copies of letters; I can facilitate this, but only if I know!
Equipment and resources:
In Year 5, Chesterton will be providing all the stationery your child needs to access school. There is no need to provide them with additional stationery. However, if they choose to bring in a pencil case with coloured pencils and pens, these are useful in art lessons and afternoon subjects. To keep everything neat and help pupils develop their fine motor skills, I will be asking them to use handwriting pencils and pens provided by school for core lessons.
Our PE lessons take place on Monday morning and Friday afternoon. Pupils in Year 5 should bring their PE kit in in a named bag to get changed into during the day; they should always wear their normal uniform to and from school. Many pupils in Year 5 are starting to grow up and are welcome to bring roll-on deodorant to school, but not aerosols.
Please note that PE kit is a plain white t-shirt and black shorts/jogging bottoms. We will be going outside for football this term, so please pack appropriate kit. It is really important we get this right in Year 5, as we head out to more competitions and it’s important we look smart. Pupils who have long hair should tie this up; pupils who wear earrings will either cover these with medical tape (available in school) or remove them.
Curriculum Focus:
This year, we will explore lots of new topics and ideas, building on their previous learning in Years 3 and 4. These include:
English: We will be writing stories inspired by our Geography topic this term, using the picture books ‘Varmints’, ‘How to Live Forever’ and ‘The Great Kapok Tree’. In the first term of Year 5, consolidating the basics of handwriting, fundamental punctuation and grammar is key.
Maths: Place Value and Addition and Subtraction are our first topics in Year 5. These are absolutely crucial topics which we will use all year so please make sure your child is in school every day to get this learning.
Science: We will be learning about Properties of Materials this term, considering their transparency, conductivity and hardness. Later in the term, we will consider how suitable different materials are for different jobs.
Geography: We will be learning about climate zones and biomes in Geography this term, as well as learning about how human activity impacts the natural world.
Computing: Ms Hiscock is leading Computing this term, where we are learning about how to effectively use Google to quickly get the information we want safely.
PSHE: We are learning about stereotyping this term and how everyone is welcome in our school community.
Art: We are using the work of Dolan Geiman to create effective collages of the natural environment this term. Please bring in any scrap paper for this, including thin cardboard. If it can be cut with children’s scissors, it will be well-used!
RE: Ms Hiscock will be leading RE this term, focused on Christianity and how Christians know that God is holy and loving.
French: Pupils will be learning to describe how they and others look, using adjectives and opinions.
A curriculum web will be posted on the class page of our website this week. Please scan the QR code to reach the correct page.
Parental Involvement:
Your involvement is crucial to your child's success. I encourage you to participate in school events, volunteer opportunities, and parent-teacher conferences. Together, we can create a strong support system for our students.
Homework will be given out weekly and I would appreciate your support with encouraging your child to complete it every week. Homework expectations for Year 5 are:
10 minutes of Reading, 3 times per week. Please record this in Reading Records.
10 minutes of TTRockstars, 3 times per week. This is recorded automatically.
1 activity, chosen from the activity menu in their Reading Record. Please complete this in their Homework book.
Homework expectations will begin from the start of Week 2.
Trips and Enrichment:
There are so many fantastic opportunities in Year 5. Pupils have already started asking me about the London trip in May, for which details will be confirmed later in the year.
However, we have two trips much sooner than that: a visit to Cheltenham Literature Festival on Thursday 10th October and a trip to Birmingham Botanical Gardens (date tbc). The information about Cheltenham Literature Festival has already been sent via BromCom.
I have worked hard to keep costs down for these activities. Therefore, we will be taking the public bus to Cheltenham, reducing the cost by around £5 per child, and will share the coach to Birmingham with Year 6, which will also bring the cost down. If you are concerned about the costs of any trips, please contact Mrs Pringle for a private conversation.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year filled with growth, discovery, and fun. Thank you for your support as we work together to ensure your child's success.
Warm regards,
Miss Stuart
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For the home learning grid above:
They should then pick one task per week to complete.
The children can complete all the tasks if they wish.
This has been explained and demonstrated to the children in class and they are enthusiastic to get going! I can't wait to see what they come up with!
Miss Stuart
