Spring 5
Welcome back and Happy New Year.
Welcome back to all our Year 5 families, and a very Happy New Year! We hope you had a restful break and are ready for an exciting Spring term ahead. We would also like to take this opportunity to reflect on the fantastic learning that took place during the Autumn term.
Autumn Term Learning Highlights
During Black History Month, the children worked with local artist Layla Harris, learning about people in our local area who were treated as slaves in the past. Through this project, pupils developed their understanding of local history and social justice. Layla also taught the children how to draw portraits using shapes, helping them to build confidence and technique in their artwork.
In History, we studied the achievements of Mae Jemison, learning about her inspiring journey as the first African American female astronaut and the importance of perseverance and representation.
In November, as part of Into Film Festival Week, Year 5 visited the local cinema to watch Wicked. This experience supported our English learning and provided rich inspiration for the children’s own portal stories.
As part of Parliament Week, pupils learned about the role of an MP and how Parliament works. This learning was enriched by a visit from two local councillors, who answered thoughtful questions and helped bring democracy to life.
P.E Days = Monday and Friday Forest School = Thursday
Homework Expectations
We’re excited to share how you can support your child’s learning at home each week. These activities are designed to be simple, enjoyable, and effective in helping your child grow in confidence and ability.
Emile App – Maths & Spellings
Each week, your child will receive home learning tasks through the Emile app, focusing on key maths skills and spelling practice. Your child has their own login and can access the activities from home. It’s a fun and interactive way to reinforce what they’ve learned in class!
Reading – 10 Minutes a Day
Reading together for just 10 minutes a day can make a big difference. It helps build a love for stories, strengthens vocabulary, and improves comprehension. Whether it’s a bedtime story or a quick read after dinner, every minute counts!
Spellings
New spellings will be sent home every Monday, with a short test on Friday. Practising these regularly helps your child become a more confident writer.
Talk Homework – Building Sticky Knowledge
Each week, your child will bring home 3–4 key facts they’ve learned in class. These are part of our “Sticky Knowledge” approach. Talking about these facts with you helps your child remember them and improves their speaking and listening skills.
Thank you for your continued support. Together, we can make learning meaningful and enjoyable for your child!
Your Child's RAISE Assembly
6.1.26 = Fazal
13.1.26 = Hussnain
20.1.26 = Inaaya R
27.1.26 = Innaya A
3.1.26 = Dawood
10.1.26 = Sadira
Our Curriculum this half term
As mathematicians this term, we will strengthen our number skills by exploring how to divide by 10, 100 and 1,000 and understanding how digits move within place value. We will practise short and long division, tackle multi-step word problems, and choose the best strategies to solve them with confidence.
We will also learn how to read, interpret and present data using tables and line graphs, and extend our understanding of fractions by multiplying and dividing fractions by whole numbers, applying our knowledge in a range of real-life and problem-solving contexts.
In our exciting Space and Earth topic, we will travel through the Solar System, exploring how ideas about space have changed from early astronomers to modern scientists. We will discover how the Earth, Moon and Sun move, investigate what causes day, night and the seasons, design and use our own sundials, and learn how satellites help us — while also thinking about space junk and how scientists use data to predict climate change
As Writers, we will continue our exciting journey with Talk for Writing, building confidence as storytellers and writers. We will create their own adventure (journey) stories, bringing characters to life by using dialogue to show feelings, thoughts and action.
We will also sharpen our persuasive skills by writing a persuasion letter to a fairy-tale character, choosing powerful words and reasons to convince them to change their mind or take action
As Readers, we’ll be developing key reading skills such as retrieval, vocabulary building, and inference. We’ll explore a wide range of fiction and non-fiction texts, helping us to become thoughtful, confident, and curious readers.
Our class novel this term is Little Badman and the Time travelling Teacher of Doom — Young rapper Humza Khan and his best friend Umer attend a strange summer school in Pakistan, where they discover their strict teachers are evil time‑travellers with deadly robots and must stop them from causing chaos in time.
We’re also thrilled to launch our Reading for Pleasure initiative! Each child will be encouraged to read all the books in the Year 5 Reading Spine by the end of the academic year. These carefully chosen books are designed to inspire a lifelong love of reading and spark meaningful conversations at home and in school.
In our History unit, we will become detectives, using artefacts and evidence to uncover the real story of the Vikings. We will explore timelines, learn why some Vikings were peaceful settlers while others were raiders, and ask questions to think about different viewpoints, ending by deciding for ourselves whether it’s fair to call all Vikings brutal invaders
This term in PE, we’ll be improving our swimming skills by practising floating and moving through the water, doing turns, and swimming all the different strokes to the Swim England expected level. In our Dance unit, we use the theme of Earthlings and space to create and perform exciting dance sequences.
In Computing, we will become tech detectives, discovering how Smart Home gadgets like lights, cameras, and thermostats use sensors and AI to know what to do. They get creative by designing and making their own sensored night lights, using diagrams, models, and prototypes, then test and improve them while thinking about how to make them useful, clever, and kind to the planet!
As Deep Thinkers in RE...
We will explore how festivals and traditional stories are used to share important values and guidance in the Hindu Dharma. Through the exciting story of Prince Prahlad and Holika, we will learn about the colourful festival of Holi, and discuss the different types of truth, ask questions and make meaningful connections about the world around us.
