Year 5

Week beginning 26th January 2026

Our project for this half-term is Space and Earth.

Year 5 has had an exciting and very full week, beginning with our trip to Winchester Science Museum on Monday. The children were brilliant all day and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the interactive exhibits and workshops, showing great curiosity and enthusiasm throughout. Despite an extremely long journey home due to traffic — which meant we didn’t return until 7:30pm — the children remained resilient and positive, and we were incredibly proud of how well they coped with such a long day. Back in school, we have loved painting beautiful pointillism backgrounds inspired by our space topic and have begun our space report writing, where the children have been working hard to present clear, factual information. It has been a busy but rewarding week, and Year 5 have risen to every challenge with enthusiasm and maturity.

Important dates and messages:

Key Dates

The calendar section on the website lists all major events throughout the academic year, but here are some reminders:

Thursday 5th February - Galilee Class Worship
Friday 13th February - Break up for half term @ 3pm
Monday 23rd February - Return to school for term 4
Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
Thursday 26th March - Mediterranean Class Worship
Friday 27th March - Break up for Easter holidays @ 1:20pm
Monday 13th April - Return for the summer term
Monday 4th May - Bank holiday
Friday 22nd May - Break up for half term @ 3pm
Monday 1st June - Staff INSET day
Tuesday 2nd June - Children return for term 6
Thursday 11th June 2026 - School’s 170th Birthday
Friday 19th June 2026 - Sports Day at King’s Park Stadium
Saturday 27th June - St. James’ Summer Fayre
Wednesday 22nd July - Break up for summer holidays @ 1:20pm

Worship theme:

Memories/Remembering – Holocaust Memorial Day 27^th January

Curriculum

This week, the children will continue to explore our space project across a wide range of subjects. In English, they will recap the key features of non-chronological reports and will begin writing the main paragraphs of their non-chronological report. In Maths, we will be recapping multiplication, using grid method and formal written method up to 3digit x 2digit with the children learning how to apply these to solve long multiplication problems confidently and accurately.

In Science, the children will deepen their understanding of space by learning how the phases of the moon change depending on its position relative to the Earth and the Sun. In RE, lessons will continue to focus on Buddhism, with a particular emphasis on understanding the Eightfold Path. In Geography, children will use their knowledge of time zones to explain day and night and why these differ around the world.

Alongside this, the children will enjoy a variety of creative and practical subjects. In Computing, they will continue with their Coding unit on Purple Mash, developing logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Art lessons will focus on water colours for our next layer of our space art. In French, pupils will learn vocabulary related to the planets, building confidence in both speaking and listening. Forest School sessions will support teamwork, resilience and wellbeing, alongside PE lessons and PSHE discussions, including a focus on online safety.

It promises to be another busy and inspiring week, full of creativity, curiosity and excellent learning across the curriculum. 🚀✨

Other news:

PPA Days - PPA Days will be every other Tuesday, and children should come in wearing PE kits.
PE every Thursday - Children should wear their PE kits every Tuesday.

Homework:

Please find links to the relevant information below for the Project Overview and Homework.
MyMaths - We will set up MyMaths tasks termly, based on the learning we will be doing this term. Please let us know if you are finding them too easy or tricky, and remember that below, there are many resources you can use to extend your learning from home. Various MyMaths activities have will be set for this term. This is to allow children who like to do more to be able to. However, children do not have to complete all the MyMaths activities. One per week is our minimum recommendation.
Reading books - we would like to remind everyone to have a reading book in school - this can be a school or home book. We want all children to be able to share recommendations and reviews of what we have read recently. We display books we've read in the classroom to get children talking about the stories they love and inspire others to try new titles.
Reading records - All children should now have a grey reading record in which they can record how often they are reading. They will receive one raffle ticket if they read three times a week and two if they read more than five. At the end of each term, we will draw a raffle to win a trip to Costa. You have to be in it to win it! Activities in the reading records can be completed at home for fun!

Reading:

This term, we are reading The Jamie Drake Equation. We will be using Designated Reader sentence stems to support our written answers. Each lesson focuses on a different reading skill, including inferring, predicting, questioning, evaluating, clarifying, summarising and making connections.

Spellings:

Our spellings for this term are below. However, we are moving away from weekly tests, using more discreet learning techniques, and applying our spelling words across our curriculum.

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
debt	autumn	island	Knowledge	align
doubt	column	isle	Known	assign
lamb	hymn	debris	Knife	design
subtle	solemn	aisle	Knight	reign
climb	condemn	viscount	Knocked	resign
climb	condemn	viscount	Knocked	gnaw
Silent b	Silent n	Silent s	Silent k K is usually silent when it precedes ‘n’.	Silent g

Best wishes,

Year 5 Team

Miss Martin and Miss Perry

Learning as a family in Jesus, through Love, Hope, and Forgiveness.

Matthew 19:26: “With God all things are possible.”

Homework - Earth and Space 2026

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