Welcome to Year 5!

2025-26

In Year 5, our teachers are Mrs Gilchrist (Class 7), Miss Brown (Class 8), and Mrs Tamsett-Tate and Mrs Oswald (Class 9). We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistant (LSAs): Mrs Bridgeman.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your child's teacher. If they are not around at pick-up, you can speak to them by phoning the school office and requesting an appointment.

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

Curriculum Newsletters

Year 5 Autumn 2 - Curriculum Newsletter

Year 5 Autumn 1 - Curriculum Newsletter

Update – Friday 5th December 2025

To complete our Shang Dynasty unit, we explore the Bronze Age from across the world. We learnt that other countries also had Bronze Age eras at the same time as Ancient China and explored them in more detail. Working in pairs, we each chose a random envelope that contained information about a Bronze Age from a specific location. We used Google Earth to explore the location and used resources to learn more about what their Bronze Age looked liked. After this, we presented our findings to the class and compared and contrasted each Bronze Age with the Shang Dynasty:

      

   

We had an exciting set of visitors this week for the Science Dome! We were able to go into the Dome and learn more about Earth and Space through an exciting light show! It was a brilliant experience and so immersive for the children. We learnt a lot from the visitors, and the children really enjoyed their session:

Update - Friday 28th November 2025

Over the last couple of weeks, the children have planned, designed and created their pneumatic machines in groups! We have spent some time working on the skills required to work in groups, as it involves a lot of different social skills, communication and teamwork. Having designed their pneumatic machines, the children then used a range of recycled materials from home to create them. It has been a big learning curve for the children, and they have thoroughly enjoyed creating their final pieces:

In English, we have explored the use of parentheses within sentences. We learnt about brackets, dashes, and commas, how they can be applied, and what their effects on the sentence are.

We had a range of sentences with parentheses and had to remove them to explore what happens when they are removed.

We learnt that the sentences still make sense as the parentheses are for extra information, and then spent some time applying our new knowledge to have a go at using parentheses accurately within sentences. Next week, we will be writing our final pieces for our Horrible Histories unit of work, and we will try to see if we can include parentheses within our writing.

Update – Friday 21st November 2025

In Science lessons, we have continued learning about space, and the children created a model of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun to understand the relationships between their movements better. 

We then used these models to complete the following tasks: 

In the next session, we conducted an investigation to replicate Aristotle’s observations of ships disappearing over the horizon and determined that the Earth is spherical. We did one investigation where we imagined that the Earth was flat, and used a cube to represent a ship travelling over the horizon (our table tops) to investigate what we would observe. In the other investigation, we used a cube stuck onto a ball to also represent a ship travelling over the horizon. We concluded that this is what happens on planet Earth, as it is a sphere. We discussed that this proves Aristotle’s theory.

    

Over the last week, we have explored two key topics within our PSHE sessions: bullying and racism. The children have shown such maturity, and some fantastic discussions have taken place in classrooms. We have explored differences between people and why these differences make us unique and individual. The children have celebrated these differences and shown a good understanding of the importance of being different and being your true self.

We have explored what bullying and racism actually are, the impact they have on individuals and the importance of speaking up and responding in the correct way. It was very interesting to listen to the children's contributions, stories and their opinions within the lessons.

 

Update – Friday 14th November 2025

This week, we have continued with our Horrible Histories unit of work. Having explored non-chronological reports and Horrible Histories examples, we compared and contrasted the two so that we understood the layout and language features required. To show our learning, we completed a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between the two types of text:

   

We are now preparing to write an Apprentice piece so that we can have a go at writing part of a Horrible Histories report.

This week, we explored the end of the Shang Dynasty and the causes and consequences of the King's actions. To do this, we acted the end of the Shang Dynasty as a play:

  

Finally, we completed a diamond 9 activity to rank the causes for the fall of the Shang in order to determine the significance of each cause:

 

The children explored the biomes of the world and their key characteristics using a range of sources. We then completed an activity where we had to match the right characteristics to the right biome:

 

 

Finally, we explored some of Planet Earth and delved deeper into the Tundra biome.

 

Update – Friday 7th November 2025

In English, we are putting the children’s knowledge of the Shang Dynasty to the test by applying this within our English unit, ‘Horrible Histories: The Shang Dynasty’. The children have been exploring a range of information texts to unpick the layout and language features. 

In science, we have been learning about our solar system and creating a 'to-scale' model. We used a variety of fruits and vegetables to show the relative size of the planets to the sun.

Update - Friday 24th October 2025

DT:

This week we introduced the children to our new DT topic in preparation for after half term. We explored pneumatics! The children learnt about the states of matter before applying this knowledge to the concept of pneumatics:

 

We then explored how pneumatics is used within the real world:

 

After this, we investigated how squashed air increases the pressure to make things move using a range of syringes and rubber tubing:

The children absolutely loved this lesson and are very excited to start the unit. 

Boxes:

We have asked the children to bring in any empty cereal or shoe boxes if they have them at home in preparation for their creative work next half term. 

 

Geography:

Over the last couple of weeks, the children have explored climate zones and vegetation belts within the world. After learning about the climate zones, the children created their own display pieces to show off their learning and apply their knowledge:

    

Update - Friday 17th October 2025

   

The children have completed their Taotie masks in art and used painting techniques to finish their final pieces. This week, we are reflecting on our work and evaluating our masks. We have been very impressed with the children's hard work in this unit, and there are some talented little artists in our year group!

 

In History, we have been learning about the hierarchy of people within the Shand Dynasty. The children then used their knowledge to create Top Trump cards for the different roles to show who had the most power, wealth and popularity.

 

In English this week, we have worked hard on cohesion and ensuring we join our sentences and paragraphs effectively. We have learnt a lot about Simon Biles and the key events within her life.

Next week, we will be writing our final pieces to put our skills to the test and show off our learning. 

Update – Friday 10th October 2025

This week, the children explored religion within the Shang Dynasty. We looked at five key areas of religion and why this was so important to the Shang. In pairs, the children received a blank envelope, which revealed the area of religion they were tasked with investigating. They then used the Chromebooks to follow their line of enquiry and learn more about what the Shang believed, how they worshipped their ancestors and why this was so important to them. Each pair then created their own Google Slides and prepared a presentation for another group using flash cards. They then taught each other about their findings:

      

We completed our PSHE unit 'Being Me in My World' for this Autumn half term by looking at a range of conflict/resolution scenarios. We worked together to become Agony Aunts and support others with their problems. To do this, we used the structure 'GEARS' to write a reply letter supporting a child with their problem by showing empathy, giving advice and also reassurance:

This week we have completed our RE unit 'Belonging'. We have explored how a sense of belonging is felt within Islam:

Update - Friday 3rd October 2025

This week in English, we have started our next unit of work linked to Black History Month. 

We are exploring the life of Simone Biles in preparation for a biographical piece of writing later on in the unit. To kick start this topic, we were given a range of items as clues and had to work out who the mystery guest was. The Olympic medal and leotard were the biggest giveaways, and it didn't take the children long to figure out the gymnast! 

        

We have started to learn more about her life and explored her key life events, putting them into chronological order. 

We have moved on to our next unit, 'Addition and subtraction', and will be learning a range of methods to help us work out calculations quickly and efficiently. We will soon be exploring the use of the inverse to check answers and work out missing gaps in calculations.

This week in art, we made our own 'oracle bones' by hosting a divination ceremony. The children used clay to create their own bones/plastrons and then carried out the divination process by inscribing their names, date and question on behalf of the Shang:

         

Update – Thursday 25th September 2025

This week, we have started our Year 5 swimming sessions at the Sports Centre. The children have thoroughly enjoyed their first sessions, and it has been lovely to see them already growing in confidence in the swimming pool and listening carefully to their instructions as they are taught different strokes and shown techniques. We have a lot of great swimmers already in the year group, and their hour swim each week is definitely a hit with them!

In computing, we have enjoyed our new topic 'search engines' and have been learning about alternative search engines to 'Google'. The children had the opportunity to explore a range of different search engines and reviewed them to determine which ones would be the best to use in given scenarios. After this, the children explored the accuracy and validity of information from the internet. They were given a website to explore:

 

It didn't take long for them to realise the information provided on this website was inaccurate and had been fabricated! The children uncovered evidence of inaccurate information and we discussed safety online. 

In Geography this week, the children learnt about contour lines on OS Maps. We explored a range of maps and they were given the task of making their own 3D model to represent contour lines:

Update – Friday 19th September 2025

This week, we have continued to work on our persuasive letter writing. Having completed an Apprentice piece to show off what we can do, we started to focus on the structure of paragraphs. The children were given sentences to organise and manipulate to help develop their understanding of how to make paragraphs and sentences within paragraphs cohesive. We explore how to persuade using points, explanation and evidence to further our understanding of how a paragraph is pieced together.

After that, we then spent some time applying this knowledge and practising writing paragraphs in preparation for our final pieces.

    

This week in history, we took a trip back to the year 1950 in the 20th century, when a unique dig at Yinxu uncovered the first evidence that the Shang Dynasty had existed. To help us understand more about the dig, we first listened to a news podcast about the event. Then, we re-enacted the dig with our very own archaeological dig! The children used paintbrushes to uncover the evidence within and used their historical interpretation knowledge to try to work out what the artefact told them about the Shang Dynasty. We then looked back at historical scientists' insights before choosing an artefact to write about in our books. The children were very good archaeologists and enjoyed learning about the Shang Dynasty through the artefacts discovered!

      

Our current topic 'Forces and mechanisms' is well underway now and the children investigated friction this week. We carried out an investigation into the relationship between surfaces and friction. To help us understand the concept, we used cars, ramps and different surfaces to see how the car travelled.

Update – Friday 12th September 2025

The children have now begun their exciting History unit: Dynamic Dynasties! To start the unit off, we learnt about the chronology of Ancient China and created our own interactive class timeline:

After this, we then shared a memorable experience in which we acted out a myth from the Xia Dynasty called ‘The Yellow Emperor’. The children took on the role of different characters, and as a class, we performed the play:

   

Once we had completed the play, we discussed the validity of the myth. We explored how these stories are passed down and whether we believe them to be accurate depictions of what happened or whether we believe they have been embellished or made up for creative reasons!

This week we have been exploring words containing ‘ough’ in spelling. As a class, we learnt about some of the different sounds these letters can make and explored the following words:

We used the following ‘Grow the code mat’ to explore the words and break them down into their sounds:

The children spent the week practising these words and we tested each other to see how many words containing ‘ough’ we could spell correctly.

Each week on Mondays, we will continue to give the children the spellings being focused on for that week so that if they want to, they can practice them at home too!

Update - Friday 5th September 2025

Welcome to year 5! We hope you have all had a lovely summer break and enjoyed spending time together over the holidays. We have many exciting plans in place for the children this year so stay tuned on this Year 5 group page of the website for weekly updates. 

We have already been so impressed with the way the children have come back to school and started to settle into their new classes. Although they are in the same classroom area as last year, they have stepped up their game and are adjusting well to the expectations set for year 5. Every single child has shown such a positive attitude towards their learning and to their new class teachers so we are already excited about this year ahead.

We began with full steam ahead and the children have already kicked off many of their topics for the half term. Here are a few we have already started:

In maths this half-term, we are focusing on place value. The children use a combination of White Rose maths alongside the teacher's own creative ideas and have already explored Roman numerals as well as the place value columns. This exploration will continue into next week.

We have also started our TT Rockstar practice this week and hope the children will continue to use TT Rockstars online at home to further improve their knowledge and speed of their times tables because it has such a benefit to the children throughout their maths journey.

In our English, the children have started to read their new class book 'The Boy At The Back Of The Class' and we will be completing a writing unit alongside this. On our first day, we explored the term 'refugee'. A lonely chair sat at the front of the classroom when we first came back to school and on the chair, there sat a rucksack. Inside this rucksack, we uncovered a range of clues that led to us understanding more about refugees.

We explored the art of 'persuasion' within writing and will continue to explore the skills required to write a formal letter to Miss Charman.

     Linking to our history unit 'Dynamic Dynasties', the children have explored taotie art work. They learnt about the key characteristics of taotie art and then had a go at replicating an artifact using key drawing and sketching skills. It turns out we have some fantastic artists in year 5 and cannot wait to see what they can produce throughout the year!