Dear Parent/Carer,

This school year we have been using ‘Jigsaw’, the PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) Programme across school, which follows a mindful approach to PSHE.

These lessons have built children’s emotional literacy, self-esteem, and knowledge of who they are and how they relate to each other and the world in a positive and healthy way. We are sure you will have heard about the Jigsaw Friends and Calm Me time.

The Summer Term Puzzles (units) are about Relationships (unit 1) and Changing Me (unit 2).  Next half-term after the holidays, we will be focussing on the Changing Me Puzzle which includes, in every year group, 2 or 3 lessons to help children understand the changes puberty brings and how human reproduction happens. There is a very serious safeguarding aspect to this work and obviously the younger year groups are not looking at these issues directly and explicitly, but rather learning correct terminology for body parts and covering the foundation work for later year groups. The Year 5 and 6 lessons look more fully at puberty and human reproduction.

Welcome back to a brand-new term! 

I hope you are all feeling refreshed after the Easter holidays!

We will be learning lots of exciting things this half term: focusing on Farming in the UK and around the world in Geography; and Living Things and their Habitats in Science.   In Maths, we are continuing with Decimals then moving onto Percentages, and for English our fiction model text is called "Red". The curriculum information and the knowledge organisers for both Geography and Science can be found as an attachment at the bottom of the blog.

What is our class text for this half-term?

Last half-term we focused on the book ‘Boy in the Tower’ by Polly Ho Yen, then began to read ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. This term we will be completing ‘Holes’  and then moving onto the modern children's classic ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ by J.K. Rowling. Feel free to purchase a copy if you would like your child to follow along in class.

We have had an amazing day with Mr Adby from Partake History.

We began our day with Mr Adby showing us lots of Tudor artifacts. The children were able to handle these and discuss what each could be. The children came up with lots of suggestions and were amazed and shocked (and sometimes mildly disgusted) by what they actually were used for. We then sketched some of the artefacts which allowed the children to look at them in even more detail.

Mr Adby then taught us how to dance like they did in Tudor times. We created long lines by holding hands and following the leader. We then learned how to bow and curtsey like ladies and gentlemen at the Tudor court, hearing some gruesome facts about lice in the gentlemen's hats! (That's why they didn't show the inside of them when removing them when bowing!)

It turns out that, as a class, we are very talented at Tudor dancing!

We've had a fantastic day today, celebrating World Book Day.

We began with an assembly led by MC Grammar and Paddington Bear (aka Mr Cresswell and Mrs King). Mrs King shared our whole school story with everyone - a beautiful book by Oliver Jeffers called What We'll Build.

Key information for this half term.

Welcome to Spring 2!

In maths we are continuing work on fractions and then moving onto decimals and percentages. In Talk 4 Writing we are beginning a new text which is a news report called Rocketeer Rescue  whilst in science, we will be learning about forces.

We are continuing with our history topic on the Terrible Tudors where we will be exploring Henry VIII and his wives, the reasons why he fell out with The Pope, and what happened to his wives. See below for information about an exciting enrichment day that we have planned for later in the term!

Please have a look at the curriculum map attached below to find out what we will be learning in all subjects.

Linked to our science topic on The Earth in Space, Year Five are to have an exciting enrichment afternoon in two weeks' time.

The WonderDome mobile planetarium has been booked for the afternoon of Friday the7th February.

WonderDome provides an inspiring learning experience, which captivates all ages. An inflatable planetarium will be brought into school, where the knowledgeable presenter will set up in the Hall and provide an amazing planetarium show.

A WonderDome mobile planetarium is like a large domed tent, without a base. It is blown up with a large fan and everyone enters through the simple zip entrance. When it’s inflated, the equipment inside projects 360 degrees to reveal the wonders of the Universe.