Kites (year 5/6) - Miss J. Woskett and Miss D. Rickards

Kestrels (year 5/6) - Mrs S. Smith and Mrs S. Harris

Harriers (year 5/6) - Mr J. Merry

Merlins (year 5/6) - Miss A. Pickett and Mr S. Harris

Welcome to year 5 and 6.

Our topic for the Spring Term is ‘Survival Of The Fittest’. We will begin the topic with an exciting hook day based on our new class book – Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian. During the topic, we will focus on developing our skills, knowledge and understanding in History. We will learn about the events that led to World War II, what life was like in World War II and explore social change and continuity.  We will also be going on a trip to Swindon Railway Museum to take part in a fully immersive WWII day 'We'll meet again'. In Design and Technology, we learn to understand and apply the principles of a healthy varied diet, understand seasonality, and know where a variety of ingredients are grown, reared, caught and processed. Children will then prepare and cook a range of dishes to share at an UKS2 VE Day picnic.
During the term we will take part in lots of other exciting activities: a professional athlete will be visiting the school to support us in a sponsored workout event; all children will have the opportunity to use an interactive indoor climbing wall; children will have the opportunity to take part in Dene Magna’s Science Fayre. 

In Science we will learn about animals, including humans. We will describe the changes as humans develop into old age, identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood. We will learn about the impact of diet, exercise, drugs, and lifestyle on the way our bodies function and describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within humans.
In English, we will write a persuasive speech in the role of a sports manager, an explanation about the circulatory system, a letter home from a WWII evacuee and we will complete various writing task based on our class book - Goodnight Mister Tom.

In Maths, we will focus on building and strengthening our knowledge of Fractions, Decimals and Percentages; Area, Perimeter and Volume; Ratio; Algebra; Shape; Position and Direction

We will develop our creative skills in art by using mixed media to create a piece of work inspired by Picasso. In Music, we will develop an understanding of the history of music by listening to and learning songs from WWII.

Our Geography lessons, will focus on counties and regions, alongside studying mountains in the UK. We will also focus on fieldwork skills, in our local area.

In CPSHE we will learn about developing risk management, understanding personal change and responsibility, and physical and mental wellbeing

In Computing, we will learn to use logical reasoning to explain how some algorithms work. We will use selection in programmes and design, write and debug programmes that accomplish specific goals. In our Online Safety lessons will learn how about Health, Wellbeing and Lifestyle and Online Bullying. We will also celebrate Safer Internet Day.
You will not need to bring your PE kits to school but you can wear your PE kits on our PE days. Some PE will be outside so please make sure you’ll be warm enough.  This term we will be developing our teamwork skills in Outdoor Adventurous Activities, we will be doing some gymnastics, our net and wall sport will be Pickleball and finally our invasion game will be Hockey.

You can support us by listening to your child read regularly, helping them learn their times tables and practice their spellings. Children will receive a reward and raffle ticket each time they read at home (you can sign their reading record book or they could upload a photo/video to Seesaw). Children can become ‘Maths Champions’ and receive a special pencil when they know all the times tables and division facts up to 12x12 and are able to use them to solve a variety of problems. Homework is set at the beginning of the year and children will be rewarded for each piece they do.

We look forward to learning lots of new and interesting things this term!