Meet Our Staff

5 Juniper

Teacher: Ms S McIlvaney

Teaching Assistant: Mrs K Porter

5 Aspen

Teacher: Mrs F Begum/ Ms M Howlett

Teaching Assistant: Miss S Coombes

Key Information

PE

5 Juniper - Monday (swimming) Wednesday (Commando Joe)

5 Aspen - Monday (swimming) Wednesday (Commando Joe) 

Your child is to come in to school in their PE kit on these days.

Homework

Home work is sent home on a Wednesday and due in on a Monday
• Read every day (and discuss their reading)
• Practice spelling patterns and apply these to known and new spellings

Termly Update

Summer 1

This half term, in English, year 5 have been learning about ‘Boy in the tower’. They wrote their own short mystery narrative, using suspense building techniques that were identified in the text. We also spent some time looking at ‘Rhythm and Poetry’ by Karl Nova where they focused on the use of assonance. Assonance is when a vowel sound is repeated in words close together which helps the poem to flow. The children planned, wrote and performed their own motivational poem inspired by Karl Nova’s poem ‘I’m gonna make it’.

We were really lucky to be able to go to Hertfordshire University to take part in ‘The Big STEAM’ event. Whilst there, we took part in two workshops. One focused on art and the sketching of birds and the other looked at drama. It was also a great opportunity to see first hand what a university campus was like.

Our PSHE topic this term has been ‘Relationships’. We have learnt about the importance of relationships in school, at home and outside of school. We have been enjoying reflecting on the communities we belong to and how to ensure we feel safe and respected within each community.  

In Science, we have been learning about the different stages of the human lifecycle.  It has been interesting to reflect on our journeys through life so far, and exciting to find out what our future may have in store for us. 

In our Geography lessons our topic has been ‘Mountains’. We have enjoyed exploring mountain ranges around the world, describing the key features of mountains, explaining how different types of mountains are formed and using maps and atlases to support our understanding.

We have had a fantastic half term in Year 5 and have enjoyed many exciting learning opportunities.  We are now looking forward to what the last half term of Year 5 has to offer us!

Spring 2

In Year 5, the children have worked very hard in all subjects this half term, producing work to be proud of. They thoroughly enjoyed studying ‘Hermelin’ in English.  Following this, they wrote their own short mystery narrative. Our class text, Street Child by Bertie Doherty, has been an enjoyable read that has provoked some whole class discussions. 

In History, the children have studied the Vikings, making comparisons between life in the past and life today. It has been fascinating to learn how the Vikings came to Britain and what life was like during this time. Finding out about King Ethelred and his Danegeld strategy led to a lively discussion about how the children would have tackled the Viking invasions if they had been in charge.

Science has been very practical and investigative; the children have explored many concepts, including what paper items are flushable, the impact flushing non-disposable items down the toilet has and how global warming is impacting our planet. Pleasingly, the children have been making plausible predictions and drawing conclusions based on their results.

This half term, we have been fortunate to have welcomed several visitors to our school, including Claire Hatcher-Smith, author of‘ ‘The Mizzy Mysteries’. The children have also taken part in a Taskmaster project with the University of Hertfordshire, who have also run science sessions with the children all about space.. It was lovely to see how engaged and enthusiastic the children were in these sessions where they got to create their own ‘to scale’ planet strip and galaxies out of Play-Doh.

What an exciting half term it has been!  We look forward to seeing what the Summer Term will bring.