Welcome to Year 5

Miss McGowan - Year 5 Class Teacher

Mrs Mound - HLTA

Dear Parents and visitors,

I would like to say a very warm welcome to Year 5! We have a very exciting year planned for you with lots of fun and exciting activities and one or two challenges along the way. Below are a few bits of essential information to help you enjoy your time in Year 5. Check out our 'Latest News' and 'Gallery' pages for a sneaky peak of all the exciting things we get up to in Year 5.

Year 5 children are taught by Miss McGowan and supported by Mrs Mound

Usually, PE will take place on a Wednesday and a Thursday afternoon. Please ensure your child has a complete PE kit with trainers for these sessions. Please ask at the office for a list of the correct PE kit. During PE, long hair will need to be tied back and all jewellery will need to be removed. 

Each week children will be expected to read at least 4 times and this should be recorded in the their reading records. Children are asked to summarise what they have read or to write a short review. Reading to a grown up is still very important as this gives children the opportunity to discuss the book they are reading and for grown ups to check children's understanding. However, in Year 5, children are expected to begin to take ownership of their reading record in preparation for Year 6 and beyond. Children are also expected to regularly practise their times tables and have Times Tables Rockstars log ins to support this.  Homework will take a variety of forms this year from research and creating posters to extra practise of skills completed in class. Homework will  be set on Seesaw, but tasks may also be a paper based activity. 

We follow the Read, Write Inc Spelling Scheme in school. This means we focus on a particular spelling rule or pattern for a week. The children complete a variety of activities to investigate that spelling rule or pattern for fifteen minutes everyday. The weekly spellings will be given out to children on a Monday and will be linked to the spelling pattern or rule that we have been practising all week. The spelling test will take place on the following Monday.

Reading is a vital part of your child's learning and one you can help with at home. In fact, reading with your child every single day will help them to improve and achieve their potential. All children will have a Reading Record and this is where your child can record when he or she has read and for how long. You can also note down any comments such as words they may have difficulty reading. Writing and signing your child's Reading Record is extremely important as it is our only way of 'seeing' if your child is reading and if there are any difficulties, therefore an empty Reading Record would imply that no reading is being done at home! Reading Records will be checked once a week to monitor progress. If your child is reading our Stage Books then they will complete a Reading Assessment when they have read all of the books on that particular stage. This assessment is extremely useful as it shows us what the children are confident with and the aspects of reading they are less confident with.

Another way of helping your child achieve their potential is helping them learn their times tables. This is the foundation of Maths and quick recall of all times tables up to 12 X 12 will enable them to grasp more complex concepts far easier. Please practise these as often as possible so your child can quickly recall every times table. Each child has a login for Times Tables Rock Stars, which they can use at home.

Throughout Year 5, we will have the opportunity to study a range of very exciting topics through our Creative Curriculum. Throughout the summer term we will be studying a wide range of topics. From North America in Geography, to the Vikings in History, Forces and Animals (including humans) in Science, musical notation and Jazz, and will also be looking at the relationships that we have with others in our PSHE sessions. We will be reading our class texts, Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz and Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez. Please have a look at our 'Latest News' page to see all the exciting activities and fabulous work we have created.