Topic-

During Topic this term Year 5 have been fully immersed in the world of the Victorians and it has been quite the eye-opener! From the strict discipline of the classroom to the challenging lives of the urban poor, the children have developed a deep understanding of how different life was for young people over 150 years ago.

To bring our learning to life, we recently visited the Ragged School Museum. This was a brilliant opportunity for the children to step back in time and see the reality of the Victorian era for themselves.

The museum showed us the "Ragged Schools"—free schools set up for the poorest children who couldn't afford an education. Walking through the original Victorian classroom, the students saw the cramped wooden benches and the sparse, cold environment. 

This topic has really sparked the children's curiosity. They have been comparing their own school lives to those of Victorian children, often concluding that they are very happy to be in a modern classroom! It has been wonderful to see them show such empathy.

Literacy- 

This term in Literacy Year 5 were lucky enough to take part in a fantastic creative writing workshop, hosted by Avron, with a stellar lineup of guest artists: Kat François, Alex Falase-Koya, Breis, and Rachel Seiffert. It was far from a typical day in the classroom; the energy was high as the students jumped headfirst into everything from narrative storytelling to live performance. Under the expert guidance of these mentors, the children found their own unique voices by writing moving poetry, building out new fictional worlds, and even dropping their own raps. It was wonderful to see their confidence grow as they traded their textbooks for microphones, learning that their own stories and rhythms truly matter. We are incredibly proud of the creativity they displayed, and we encourage you to ask them all about the "bars" they wrote or the tales they spun!

Maths

This term, Year 5 took part in a practical maths session, taking a hands-on approach to understanding perimeter. Rather than just working with diagrams in a textbook, they collaborated in small groups to construct their own rectilinear shapes using physical pieces of paper. By joining various rectangular and square pieces of paper, students created complex L-shaped and T-shaped polygons. This helped them visualize how a single "shape" is often composed of smaller units. Students then had to use their knowledge of parallel sides—calculating a missing side by looking at the difference between other known lengths. Once all sides were identified, the children worked together to sum the total distance around the edge (Perimeter).

This lesson moved beyond simple addition. It required logical reasoning to deduce that if the total height is 10cm and one part is 4cm, the remaining segment must be 6cm. Children used their core skills of resilience, striving for success and teamwork to achieve success.

Topic

This term, the children have been learning all about the ancient Greeks and spent some time understanding what life would be like for free people during Greek times as well as slaves. They listened to a Now Press Play experience where they helped save Athens from the Spartans who wanted to invade. This tied in nicely with other learning the children did about invasion where King Darius wanted to invade Greece to add to his empire. The Athenians won that war, despite having a smaller army. This was all because of their battle strategy.

Literacy

This term, the children have been reading information texts and Greek myths. They identified features of non-chronological reports and then spent their time gathering information and writing their own report. All children learnt vocabulary that was specific to the ancient and modern Olympics, and created freeze frames about these words. They understood that information can be organised in ways that appeals to readers and wrote their own report about the Olympics, making use of parenthesis and bullet points. Children enjoyed learning about Cronos and how he ate his own children.

Maths

This term in maths the children have been learning about place value. They started with learning about the different properties of number such as, factors, multiples and negative numbers. They then moved onto using a place value chart to determine the values of different digits and multiplying them by 10, 100 and 1000. Autumn term also means kick starting a new season of the school wide TT Rockstars competition!

During their trip to the Ragged Trouser Museum, as part of their Victorian studies,
Year 5 students explored the rich history of Victorian Schools in their local community.
Overall, the trip was a delightful blend of history and roleplaying engagement, leaving
the students with a deeper understanding of Victorian life. For International Family
Week, children participated in hands-on sewing activities, stitching flags to their tie-
dye T-shirts. This experience not only taught them practical skills but also fostered
teamwork and creativity.

Literacy

In Year 5 during Spring 2, we celebrated World Book Day by decorating story spuds,
turning potatoes into our favourite book characters. We also created a stop-motion
animation using our spuds as the main characters! For International Week, we
researched Spain and Greece, learning about their cultures and traditions. We then
designed informative brochures and shared them with other students during Mini
World. It was a fantastic way to celebrate books and global cultures!

This term, the children have been completing their learning about fractions by
exploring fractions of an amount. They also started learning about perimeter and spent
time thinking carefully about what perimeter is and calculating perimeter of shapes. All
children have been developing their reasoning skills in math and this can be seen in the
challenges that they have attempted and the journaling explanations that accompany
their calculations. This has allowed each child to apply their core skills of problem
solving and resilience to maths.

This term, year 5 children have been continuing their learning about the Victorians and understanding how the Docklands were important during this period of history. While learning about the theatre in history, they used drama to act out a play by Oscar Wilde – The importance of being Earnest.

In the run up to international week, children have also learnt about sewing techniques and used this to sew their flags onto their t-shirts. Parents were invited in to help their children and other children in the class to do the sewing.

Literacy

This term, year 5 have been reading their class texts. Children have been focusing on understanding authorial intent and learning the context behind words chosen by the authors. Each class has tremendously enjoyed reading their book. 5CB has been reading Kensuke’s kingdom, 5T has been reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone, 5PB has been reading Stormbreaker and 5C has been reading Boy at the back of the class. This term has also been world book day and all children created story jars of their favourite story. This has fostered a real love for reading.

Maths

During our maths lessons this term, Year 5 has been learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. They have learnt the links between the three and started applying them to real life situations. Children are able to see that 50 percent is the same as half and that is 0.5. This information has been particularly useful when talking to the children about money and converting between pounds and pence.

This term the children have continued exploring the life of the Ancient Greeks. They looked at different sources to find out how the Greeks lived, dressed and were educated. They had conversations about the Minoans and understood the importance of trade for the people of Crete. They explored the difference between Sparta’s and Athens’ government systems and what this meant for their citizens. Children had some time to think about the similarities and differences between these two Greek states as well as how our modern day Britain is in comparison.

Literacy

Children have been reading their class book and are writing a descriptive piece based on a section of this text. Their grammar and reading skills have all been focused around enjoying and understanding the texts they have been assigned. 5CB is exploring Boy at the back of the class, 5T is sinking their teeth into Stormbreaker, 5PB is enjoying Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone and 5C are diving into Kensuke’s kingdom. All children have spoken about the atmosphere in the text and the words chosen by the author to draw a reader in.

Maths

In year 5, children have been learning about the four operations in more detail. They spent some time on each operation and have used their problem solving Curwen core skill to answer questions using these. It has been very important to understand the vocabulary required for each question and to focus on recall of past learning. Children have been able to show off the prior learning of vocabulary related to maths and of strategies needed to solve mathematical problems.

Year 5 has been learning about the Ancient Greeks and their achievements. Many cross-curricular links have been made with maths, literacy and science. The children started their learning with a theatre experience – Who wants to be an Olympian, where they understood how Olympians strive for success. They spent some time looking at Ancient Greek and British events in chronological order and explored Greek events which influenced our lives including the battle of Marathon, democracy and the Olympics. During these activities, children displayed excellent teamwork and problem solving.

Literacy

Children have been learning about non-chronological reports in literacy and writing their own about the Olympic games. They explored how to use punctuation for parenthesis and using colons to show bullet points. After looking at features of an information text, children then applied themselves to writing in paragraphs beneath a variety of sub-headings, all related to comparing the ancient and modern Olympic games. The children have also really enjoyed working with their partners to read with fluency and expression, displaying great teamwork and communication.

Maths

This term, year 5 started their maths learning with place value. The children built on their existing vocabulary to talk about the four operations, undertaking a variety of problem solving activities where they had to be resilient and strive for success. They consolidated their understanding on the value of digits in a number, writing numbers in words and digits, factors and multiples. They moved on to rounding numbers to 10,100 and 1000 and multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000.

In literacy and maths, Year 5 has been revising in preparation for the assessments. They have worked extremely hard this year, and this was reflected in their assessments. They have also continued reading the class books: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (5B); Kensuke’s Kingdom (5L); The Boy at the Back of the Class (5T); and Alex Rider: Stormbreaker (5C). This term, Year 5 were learning ratios and proportion. They began with an exploratory lesson that got them to visually see that ratios meant ‘for every’ and proportion meant ‘out of’ the whole.

DT

This term for DT, children learnt about sustainability and created windmills. They measured their materials required to create the windmills. Then they used tools (saws and bench hooks) to cut the wood into the appropriate sizes before assembling it into the frame for their windmills. The children then used computers and the software TinkerCAD to design the sails of the windmill, which was 3D printed for their design. As part of the DT Children also took part in food technology where they explored the different produce in the UK and made Pizzas using local ingredients.

RE

After learning about Islam, the children took a trip to the mosque, a Muslim place of worship. The Imam presented information about Islam and children were given the opportunity to witness prayer and to take part if they wished. After this, children presented an Eid assembly to their parents via zoom, to showcase their learning and to pass on the information about the prophet.

Geography Day

For Geography Day, year 5 went to West Ham park to do a quality survey of their local area. Children had to think about the traffic on the road, how clean their environment was, pollution in the area and if there was evidence of eco solutions along the way. They collected things in the park for their journey stick and compiles a tally chart which they turned into a bar graph showing the number of vehicles they saw on the road.

We’ve done lots of reading this term, but one day really stands out amongst the rest…World Book Day! It was an amazing experience for all children! They created sandwich boards based on their favourite book or a book they have been reading. It was fantastic to hear all of the different stories and summaries that the children shared with the class. Year 5 got to watch Michael Morpurgo explain how he became an author and how it changed his life.  Many children mentioned how inspiring he was and how they hope to become authors themselves one day. 

Maths

In maths, Year 5 has continued their learning of fractions. We have learnt about fractions of an amount, simplifying fractions and how to solve problems involving fractions. We have also explored angles and properties of shape this term.

Topic

For Science, our topic was materials and their properties. We started off our learning with an exploratory lesson where the children were able to explore different materials with their table groups. It was exciting to see children so engaged and trying to use vocabulary to describe the types of materials. Once the vocabulary was discussed as a class, children were able to use this to justify which material would be best suited for certain things, such as ‘a teapot couldn’t be made of chocolate because it would melt.’

For International Family Week, we decided to create tie dye t-shirts with our chosen country sewn on to the front. We looked at how we could manipulate the pattern and colours to create a design that was unique. The children learned how to use different sewing techniques such as a blanket, chain and running stitch. It was fantastic to have parents come in to support and engage with the children on how to sew a piece of material to their t-shirt. The t-shirts look fantastic and the children can’t wait to wear them for carnival!

This term, we have been focusing on the Victorians and the way the London Docklands have changed over time. As part of our learning, through Now Press Play, we experienced what life was like for a child during this period. We have also explored how people in the Victorian period used to live and how important trading was for the dock workers. During our art lessons, we explored textiles that were popular during the Victorian period. These photos are drawings representing paisley patterns, which are said to be some of Queen Victoria’s favourite patterns. 

Literacy

For our whole school poetry unit, Year 5 wrote poems from the perspective of a child living in a workhouse during the Victorian times. These poems were based on the theme ‘Resilience’ and incorporated a range of literary features such as repetition, similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia. We were then given the opportunity to read our poems aloud, practising when to change our voice, how to consider speed on our delivery and when to use movement and gestures to enhance the experience for our audience.

Maths

In maths this term, we have focussed on fractions, decimals and percentages. This included: simplifying fractions, adding and subtracting fractions, and finding equivalent fractions. We used concrete resources and pictorial representations to support our understanding. We particularly enjoyed explored fractions using chocolate…and we even got to eat some at the end!!!