Year 5
Week beginning 23rd March 2026
Our project for this half-term is Maya Civilisation.
Year 5 has had a busy penultimate week of term; filled with assessments, exciting science experiments and some wonderful visitors. The children absolutely loved learning Spanish with Mrs Shephard and enjoyed learning about all the different foods. We also had an extremely engaging and insightful visit from Escape Lines, informing the children about the reality of gang culture in the area and how to keep themselves safe. We also welcomed Miss Duncalf, who will be completing her final PGCE placement with us in Year 5 and she has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know all of the children so far.
The children have worked exceptionally hard this week in all of their learning and their assessments so we are really proud of them and are looking forward to our final week of term with them.
As we head into the new term, we wish all families a fun, restful break and hope the children return refreshed for the Easter term. After the half term, we will continue to promote our agreed year group rules to ensure a calm, safe and respectful learning environment. These include:
1. Staying in the classroom unless an adult comes to get them.
2. Talking at the right times.
3. Remaining in their seats unless given permission.
4. Never using violent or threatening behaviour or language.
By consistently revisiting these expectations, we aim to support positive behaviour, readiness to learn and a safe environment where every child can thrive.
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 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:
Easter
1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."
Luke 24: 6 – 7 He is not here; he has risen!
Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week. It reminds Christians of the journey Jesus made into Jerusalem, on a donkey, to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover (Pesach). Jesus chose a donkey to show that he had come in peace. Many people welcomed Jesus by shouting, waving palm branches and throwing branches down in the path of the donkey. They hoped that Jesus was the Saviour who the Bible had promised.
Maunday Thursday– . On the night before his death, Jesus had a final meal with his friends. Before this festival meal for Passover, Jesus surprised his friends by washing the feet of every person, a task that was normally done by a servant. He wanted to show his followers that they should love one another in humble ways.
Curriculum
Looking ahead to Week 5, Year 5 will continue their learning with a range of engaging lessons across the curriculum.
In English, the children will be exploring the poem 'Green Candles' by Humbert Wolfe. They will begin with a taster draft, writing a poem stanza in his style then the children will delve deeper into analysing the poem.
In History, pupils will bring the term to a close with a final lesson learning about the significance of maize and chocolate in Mayan cultures and completing a topic quiz.
In Science, the focus will continue learning about air resistance, with pupils investigating how it affects movement and designing their own parachutes.
In Computing, children will continue analysing and planning their own games or apps, while also discussing online safety, particularly online reputation.
In RE, the children will be revisiting the Easter story and using drama to show their understanding.
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 Boy in the Tower. 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:
This term we will be trialling a new spellings scheme with Purple Mash, starting with words ending with 'ious':
ambitious, precious , infectious, cautious , fictitious , vicious , repetitious , superstitious, nutritious and gracious.
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.”