Back in the classroom, in maths, they have continued to build confidence using formal methods of multiplication and division, linking them to their conceptual understanding. In science, they have been asking some big questions and investigating solutions and changes that occur over time – separating salt from saltwater using evaporation. Creativity has been the name of the game in English and art, with pupils crafting some truly vile character and setting descriptions as part of their work on Macbeth, as well as producing some fantastic poem art portraits.

In maths, they’ve been exploring prime and square numbers, while in history they’ve been comparing life in Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain. We’ve also been very busy rehearsing for our Harvest Assemblies and look forward to performing for you before everyone heads home for the half-term break!

We are absolutely thrilled by how hard the children have worked this half term and how well they have adapted to the expectations of Year 5. A very successful start to the year!

Our classrooms transformed into mini-lunar labs as the children endeavoured to answer the question, "Why do the Moon’s craters vary so much in size?" In art, they used their collagraph plates to create striking abstract prints, perfect backdrops for the imaginative future scapes to come. In maths, pupils have been flexing their addition and subtraction skills using RUCSAC to help them reason and problem solve, and in music they’re composing atmospheric three-note melodies inspired by Hans Zimmer’s Earth. Meanwhile, our budding historians have been busy asking questions about the artefacts discovered at Sutton Hoo and developing their own hypotheses as to their purpose, ownership and origins.

We are all looking forward to an exciting year of learning ahead!

This week, we have crashed back to reality and we are getting Year 6-ready! We have been converting units of measure in maths, researching all about South Africa in English to better understand the background of our new core text, Journey to Jo'burg, as well as investigating mechanical pulley systems in DT. We even had time to visit our chickens this week too! 

Back in the classroom, we’ve continued bringing Shakespeare to life in DT, crafting our Macbeth puppets. From fearsome witches to a rather regal-looking King Duncan, the creativity on display has been outstanding. We’ve wrapped up our units of work on shape in maths and global trade in geography, whilst in computing, we've pushed on with our work on databases, where we've been developing our computational thinking by using logical operators to help us answer questions based on the information held in records. 

Well done to all the children for participating in the Great Sheen Mount Bounce. There might be some sore legs after some very energetic bouncing! We look forward to the final event of the term on Friday, the unmissable Talent Show. Well done to all the children who participated in the Year 5 auditions. It was a pleasure to see the whole of the year group actively supporting and encouraging each other.   

In maths, we completed our first topic of the term on perimeter and area and enjoyed estimating the area of our outstretched hands. We are moving onto a short topic on statistics. In geography, we have been finding out about global trade and investigating where the food in our fridges and cupboards originates from. There were a few surprises, Brazil nuts from Bolivia, for example!

The Djembe drums have been as popular as ever in music and have given our voices a rest after the excitement of Young Voices at the O2. In French, we are exploring the language of the classroom whilst in computing we are learning about databases. Everyone's a gymnast in PE where we have been practising safely carrying out rolls with good technique, before progressing onto some more advanced moves.

Y5 experienced another enrichment experience outside the classroom when they attended an "Eat the Rainbow" workshop as part of mental health week. The children learnt about the importance of a varied and colourful diet and of how this helps them to stay healthy in different ways. In the classroom, we also spent time thinking about ourselves and, inspired by the film Inside Out, created individual personality-islands in order to know ourselves a little better. We also discussed how embracing a positive mindset can help us to grow.

As half-term approaches, we are finishing our unit of work on decimals and percentages in maths and our potion writing in English. The children have also produced some brilliant mixed-media self-portraits in art.

Of course, classroom learning has also continued over the last couple of weeks! In maths, we completed a short unit of work on fractions that included multiplying both fractions and mixed-numbers by whole numbers. In science, we have been separating mixtures as part of our topic on materials and their properties. Viking trade routes and sagas have been the focus of our enquiries in history and, in English, we have performed part of the witches' opening scene from Macbeth, to help inspire and generate ideas for written setting and character descriptions.

Before the Christmas break, we concluded units of work on natural disasters in geography, forces in science, Shackleton's Journey in English and, rather tastily, bread-baking in design technology.

The spring term has got off to a flying start! In science, we are developing our understanding of materials, their structure, the states they can exist in and of how they interact with each other. We are getting to grips with Macbeth in English and using primary and secondary sources to help us understand Viking conflict during the latter stages of the Anglo-Saxon period in history. The children have also enjoyed getting creative in our new unit of work incorporating portraiture in art - it transpires that it is somewhat challenging to draw a self-portrait without taking your pencil off the paper!

We've also been busy in science, learning about hydrodynamics by investigating how the shape of an object influences resistance to its motion as it travels through a liquid. In addition, we've looked at the forces involved in levers and begun to develop an understanding of the concept of mechanical advantage through load/fulcrum/lever models.

In maths, our unit of work on fractions culminates this week, and we look ahead to multiplication and division in the new year. Poetry and motivational speaking have been the order of the day in English through our current text, Shackleton's Journey.

Finally, as the end of term approaches, we have been singing our socks off in preparation for the Christmas Carol Concert, which will surely be a wonderful and fitting conclusion to a fantastic autumn term.

Watch out for mouth-watering recipes with some rather interesting ingredients in DT. Pupils have been getting creative and applying what they have learnt about different breads together with their own experiences to imagine their own baked masterpieces that they will produce and taste next week.

Mix all of this in with considering the pros and cons of living next to volcanoes, knead together with some work on fractions and you have just another week in Y5!

We have explored new number concepts including square numbers, cube numbers and prime numbers in our unit of work on multiplication and division, whilst in English we have petitioned Sir Ernest Shackleton to join him as crew members on his 1914 Trans-Antarctica Expedition. If you need a cook, photographer, champion swimmer, navigator, dog handler or able seaman, then you need look no further!

In our final investigation as part of our unit of work on space, we investigated how speed of impact affects crater geometry - by making our own craters in the classroom!  In maths, we have finished our exploration of addition and subtraction and moved onto multiplication and division - learning for the first time about concepts such as prime and square numbers.

In English, the children created some fascinating fact-files about Antarctica to help immerse us in Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition of 1914-1916. We have also journeyed even further back in time, comparing life in Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain.

In English, frogs continue to fall from the sky, enabling the children to put their journalistic skills to the test, reporting on the strange events that befell a sleepy town in David Wiesner's Tuesday.

Everyone has enjoyed the opportunity to play cricket on Fridays - despite the Great British weather's best attempts to delay play!

In English, we have been levitating in an altogether different manner, exploring the magical world of Tuesday, authored by David Wiesner. Watch out for flying frogs! We have also journeyed back in time to explore the causes and consequences of early Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain and considered retrofuturism in art.

The Year 5 teaching team have been delighted with how quickly the children have settled into Y5 life in their new classes and look forward to the exciting year ahead.

In maths, we are completing short units of work on converting units of measure and also volume and capacity before the end of term, whilst in History we have considered disruptions to schooling due to events such as WWII and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As the academic year draws to a close, we have enjoyed welcoming Y4 into our classes to share and celebrate this year's learning and to give them a taste of what is to come. We have also all enjoyed watching Y6 perform the dress rehearsal of their fabulous end-of-year production. Y5 made sure to take notes for next year's performance - when it will be their turn!

Monday saw pupils meet their new Y6 teachers and experience their classrooms for next year. It's fair to say there is a great deal of excitement and perhaps a little trepidation about moving up to the top of the school! 

Now that we've returned to school, the learning hasn't stopped! We've started a new topic in History - a post 1066 thematic study about schools and school life. In DT we've been investigating pulleys and mechanical systems. Decimals continue to be our focus in maths, and we are writing letters in English as part of our unit of work relating to the book Journey to Jo'burg. Careers week activities have also kept us engaged and very busy this week. A huge thank you to all of our parents who have supported this.

In English, we continue to develop our non-chronological report writing skills using the text Journey to Jo’burg, by Beverley Naidoo, to understand what life under apartheid was like.  We have also investigated metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis, using secondary sources, in insects and reptiles ranging from salamanders to dung beetles!

Trees have been the order of the day in art, with children experimenting with different brush-strokes to create everything from statuesque pines to weeping willows. The outdoors theme has extended to our work in English, where we continue to enjoy poems within The Lost Words. Children have explored figurative language, in particular using metaphors within kennings and both metaphors and personification within etherees.

Following on from our work on shape in maths, we are now focussing on position and direction. This complements our work in geography where we have been busy looking at maps and grid references, as well as finding out more about the fascinating processes that govern the formation of different coastal features.

We've been cartwheeling in PE and identifying different types of angles in maths - as well as learning how to measure, estimate and calculate them.   Grid references have been the order of the day in geography and in science, we have dissected flowers in order to better understand their different parts and functions. A cracking start to the summer term!

We've been journalists in English - covering the brutal murder of Banquo in Macbeth, statisticians in maths - interpreting line graphs, and have learnt to safely perform forward and backward rolls in PE. To top it all off, the children's Djembe drumming sounds superb!

Back in the 2020s, we have been busy compiling soliloquies fashioned on Macbeth's ruinous ruminations as well as designing puppets based on characters from the very same play. Watch out for some spine-chillingly sinister witches and menacing Macbeths.  

Global trade has been on the agenda in geography. We've been impressed by pupils' insights into where the food they eat is produced and how it reaches us, alongside their developing understanding of the implications of this at a local, national and international level. 

It's been lovely welcoming children back into Y5 after the half term break and we're excited about the action packed half term ahead of us. This week we've begun a unit of work in DT with children investigating existing puppet designs and looking at a timeline of the history of puppet-making. Later this term they will design, make and evaluate puppets linked to our core text: Macbeth. Speaking of which, we're moving on from concocting potions inspired by the Three Witches, to writing soliloquys. The only question is - will they have the same dire consequences as in Macbeth…?

In English, we have continued our work on Macbeth, bringing to life the three witches and their ominous prophecies, whilst in maths we have finished our topic on multiplication and division and moved on to working with fractions. Alfred the Great has been the focus of discussions in history and in art, children have been assembling photo collages inspired by the work of David Hockney.

          "A magical night with my friends."

          "Absolutely phenomenal!"

          "Too good to put into words."

         "A sky-full-of-stars experience."

A huge thank you to all of the staff, parents and of course, children, who contributed to this very special event.

And - not to diminish the rest of the week - Y5 have also been busy creating wonderful land art based on the work of Andy Goldsworthy, exploring the battlefield with Macbeth and extending their understanding and skills of both multiplication and division.