Year 5 pupils come into school and enjoy a range of stimulating activities to wake their brains up first thing in the morning; this may include a maths problem to discuss, spelling practise or reading comprehension.  Some children will use this part of the day to have any misunderstandings from the previous days’ learning addressed in what we call ‘pick up’ sessions. The register is taken at 9am and this is when those children who have school dinners are able to select which meal they would like for that day.

On Monday mornings we enjoy a full school assembly in the Festival Hall before we settle back to our classes to begin our Maths learning. Following a talk-rich and interactive maths session, the children will either spend the next part of the morning engaged in a Guided Reading activity or some focussed learning on their spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Following a refreshing break outside at 11am, Year 5 come back into class and commence their English lesson which they may refer to at home as ‘Talk for Writing’. We enjoy studying different texts from various genres and then imitate and innovate before we give pupils the opportunity to invent their own version at the end of each learning journey.

Lunchtime begins at 12.15pm and the children are staggered as they go into lunch, this changes on a weekly basis to ensure that everyone gets a chance at lunching first. 

After lunch, the children come back into class raring to start their Speedy Maths. These daily maths challenges are designed to increase their’ ability to do mental calculations and they are rewarded for increasing their scores rather than getting them all correct. Our PE day is on Wednesdays and we spend half of the afternoon outside, even when it is cold, so be sure to wrap up warm during the winter!

Science covers Earth and Space before we move onto learning about Forces in the second half of the term. In History the children study the Victorians with a particular focus on Queen Victoria and her family, the workhouses and schools. In Geography, the spread of the British Empire ties this subject to our learning in History. This is the term that Year 5 have swimming lessons once a week, as well as studying gymnastics and hockey in their other PE session.  In DT we design and make a scaled down Victorian house, including the furniture. We visit the Rural Life Centre;  an interactive hands-on trip where the children see what life was like on a Victorian farm and inside a Victorian school room.

Our main focus of learning in the Spring term is the Anglo- Saxons, we learn about their invasion and settlement in Britain in our history and Geography lessons and design Anglo- Saxon jewellery in DT. We have a really exciting art focus in the Spring, studying pop art and the artists from this genre; this includes Andy Warhol, Richard Hamilton and Roy Lichtenstein. In Science we focus on properties and the changes of materials and enjoy a variety of engaging and hands on experiments designed to nurture the childrens’ investigation and enquiry skills. Our RE sessions during this term focus on Buddhism and the Easter Story. This term Chertsey Museum visit us for an  Anglo Saxon Workshop. They  bring a collection of artefacts for the children to look at and investigate.

 

Our Science sessions in the Summer Term are biology focussed and ties in with the SRE during this term. Our Geography and History session take us to Ancient Greece where we learn about their customs and cultures, this focus links to our DT when we study Greek architecture and Greek sculpture and mosaics. In French, we think about our future careers and practise how to express this. The Summer sees us enjoying the colossal outdoor space we have at Chandlers Field when we enjoy athletics and fielding and striking games in PE. 

The children are continually assessed and their work evaluated which assists the teachers’ planning. Any children who need extra support in Maths will be put into a maths ‘pick up’ session between one maths lesson and the next. Children have their levels assessed half termly and we put in place any support for learners who need extra assistance.

Homework

Homework is handed out each half term on a homework grid, the number of options varies depending on the length of the term. In Year 5 we have two separate grids for Maths and one for writing-based tasks.