Year 5 & 6 Class information page 2024 - 2025

Welcome to Years 5 and 6!

It's spring (term) which means that it's time to go back to school after hopefully enjoying a wonderful Christmas! It's time to make some New Year's Resolutions and get on with some exciting learning! 

Our topic this term is the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. We will be looking carefully at how this brutal and decisive period in British history helped to make us the country we our today. This time in history is characterised by the battles of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings for control over Britain. Our topic this term also links very nicely with the work we will be doing in ENglish with Arthur and the Golden Rope.

In science for the first half term we be taking a look at how we change as human beings from being a developing foetus to old age. What happens to our bodies during the different stages? In the second half term we will move on to the properties of light. How it travels in straight lines, comes from light sources and reflects off objects into our eyes allowing us to see things. 

In English, we will be using the picture book Arthur and the Golden Rope to inspire our writing and to help us to learn new ideas in grammar and practise skills we looked at previously.

Arthur and the Golden Rope follows the story of young Arthur, who embarks upon a quest to seek out the help of the Viking gods in relighting a fire before the villagers back home freeze to death. In return for their help, Thor sets his own quest for Arthur to complete. This is a highly engaging book that offers an introduction to Norse mythology.

To develop our reading comprehension skills this term, we will be using the wonderful book Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell. This book is about  a girl named Sophie who sets off to find her mother in Paris after being told she was orphaned in a shipwreck. Along the way we meet many vivid and wonderful characters and learn how important friendship and love are in our lives.

In maths this term, the Year 5s will focus on their understanding of multiplication and division, learning how to accurately make use of formal written methods of calculation. They will then move on to learning about how to make use of fractions, decimals and percentages, and how these three ideas are related to each other. The children will also learn about perimeter and area. Finally ending the term by sharpening their graph drawing and table-reading skills in statistics.  

The Year 6s will have an action-packed term learning about ratio, algebra, fractions, decimals and percentages. They will also squeeze in a bit of work on area, perimeter and volume. Time permitting, they will also do some work on statistics. All of this will be happening while the children also maintain their knowledge and skills in arithmetic.

PE during Spring Term will be on Thursdays and Fridays. On Thursdays the children will work on their dance skills and fitness with House of Dance. On Fridays the Year 5 children will develop their fitness by going to swimming lessons. The Year 6 children will work on the indoor athletics skills. Please make sure that a correct PE kit is in school ready for these lessons. If kits are taken home to be washed (which is encouraged) please make sure they are brought back again. Our uniform list is available on this website if you are unsure as to what children should be wearing for their lessons.

Each week we will have a list of spellings to learn and some maths and English tasks to complete too. Remember homework helps you to practise the skills you learn in school. It does not have to be something to worry about. Be organised with your homework! As soon as you receive it, look at what you have to do and ask your teacher or a friend if you do not understand. Do not leave homework until last minute because that is when it becomes stressful! Your lists of spellings will be attached to this webpage, if you lose them! Don't forget to read regularly and fill in your reading record. This is important and something you should be proud of! 

Please remember to bring in a water bottle each day. Staying hydrated is healthy and helps you to learn! Remember to use a reusable water bottle as this is far better for the environment than disposable ones although please don't spend a fortune on these! You can buy a reusable water bottle cheaply from school. Also, even though we are heading into autumn and we do still get some hot sunny days so consider whether sun cream might be needed.

Things you can do at home

Don't forget that we do expect you to spend half an hour or so a week on Times Tables Rockstars. Knowing your times tables is a vital skill so get practising straight away by clicking the link below.

Here are some other websites you may find useful and informative...Click the pictures to be taken to the sites.