Year 5

Welcome to the Year 5 Swans and Herons Class Page

The Year 5 team

Swans Class

Teacher: Mrs Hykin

                               Teaching Assistant:  Mrs Walker (Mon /Wed/ Fri AM)                             

                             Ms Brock                

Herons Class

Teacher:  Mr Jhangeer

Teaching Assistant: Ms Walker  (Tues/Thurs AM )

Swimming is on Tuesday and children should come to school wearing their PE kit, with the swimming kit (goggles, towel and swimsuit) in a separate bag.

Herons Class - Autumn 1, Spring 1 and Summer 1

Swans Class - Autumn 2, Spring 2 and Summer 2

PE is on a Wednesday and children should come to school wearing their PE kit.

Herons Class - Autumn 2, Spring 2 and Summer 2

Swans Class - Autumn 1, Spring 1 and Summer 1

Summer Term 2

Week 3 

What an exciting and memorable week it has been in Year 5!

This week, the children have taken part in a range of engaging activities alongside their usual lessons. As part of our Science and Geography learning, we investigated air pollution around the school grounds. The children worked scientifically to collect evidence, analyse their findings and discuss the impact pollution can have on our local environment.

We were also fortunate to welcome Severn Trent Water into school. Through a series of interactive activities, the children developed their understanding of the water cycle, where our water comes from and the importance of conserving this valuable resource. They impressed our visitors with their thoughtful questions and enthusiasm for learning.

To finish the week, we enjoyed a fantastic Sports Day. The children demonstrated excellent sportsmanship, determination and teamwork throughout the events. It was wonderful to see them encouraging one another and celebrating each other's achievements.

Despite the excitement of these additional activities, the children have continued to work hard in all areas of the curriculum. We are incredibly proud of the maturity, effort and enthusiasm they have shown throughout the week. Well done, Year 5!

Sports day fun. 

Water experiments with Severn Trent Water.

Welcome back to our final Summer Term.

Week 1 and 2 

As we begin our final Summer Term in Year 5, we would like to reflect on some important changes within our team. Last term, we said a fond farewell to Mrs Pearson and thanked her for all of her hard work and dedication. We were also delighted to welcome Mr Jangheer to the Year 5 team. He has settled into his role exceptionally well and has quickly become a firm favourite with the children—especially after treating the Herons to a pizza party! We are looking forward to an exciting and successful final term together.

Last term, we focused not only on our academic achievements but also on adding a creative flair to our learning through music and drama lessons. These opportunities allowed the children to develop their confidence, creativity and teamwork skills while exploring new ways to express themselves.

Golf sessions 

This term, we were fortunate enough to enjoy a golf lesson delivered by a professional coach. The whole class enthusiastically joined in as we practised our golfing skills, and a few children even managed to score a hole in one!

Experiencing a variety of sports is not only great fun, but it also provides opportunities for hidden talents to shine. It was fantastic to see the children's confidence, determination and teamwork on display throughout the session.

Well done, Year 5! We look forward to seeing some of you competing in the Masters in years to come!

Assessments

As we move into our assessment weeks, the children are taking everything in their stride. They have remained calm and confident, showing great resilience and determination by always trying their best. We are incredibly proud of the positive attitude they have shown towards their learning and the effort they continue to put into all areas of school life. Keep up the fantastic work, Year 5!

Dimensions Curriculum

Our exciting new Dimensions topic this term is Global Warning, where we are exploring the important issues of climate change, pollution and their impact on our world. The children have already contributed some fantastic ideas and shown great enthusiasm for the topic. To enhance our learning, we will be welcoming a visitor from Severn Trent on Tuesday to discuss the wonderful world of water with us. They will explain the water cycle and how clean water is treated and delivered to our taps.

English

In English, we have entered the fascinating world of Kong. The children are developing their writing skills by creating dilemma narratives and using ambitious vocabulary and similes to bring their monsters to life. They have worked exceptionally hard to develop their creativity, acting out scenes and taking on the roles of different characters from the story to help inspire and improve their writing. It has been wonderful to see their confidence and imagination grow as they immerse themselves in the text.

Maths

In Maths, we have been focusing on place value. It has been amazing to see how quickly Year 5 have grasped this concept and applied their understanding to a range of challenges. We are incredibly impressed by their determination and positive attitude towards learning, especially as we approach the end of the term. The children continue to work hard, show resilience and strive to do their very best in every lesson.

Summer Term

Week 3 & 4

The weeks are rushing by this term and soon it will be Easter!  The pupils have been busy completing their Spring Term assessments; they worked really hard and we are very proud of them all for their efforts.  

Swans class continue to enjoy their sporting Tuesdays as they continue with their swimming lessons, making progress every week, and enjoy their cricket lessons.  Herons class have spent time in PE being circus performers and are now being introduced to the different events in Indoor Sportshall Athletics as well as fully engaging in their cricket lessons.  They are mastering catching and batting as well as beginning to learn the rules of cricket.

This term's Dimensions curriculum focuses on the human lifecycle and the changes humans go through as they get older.  The pupils are now moving on to learn about how to create a healthy lifestyle and the effects of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and food on their body.  This unit will encourage them to think about their food choices and how they could choose to improve them.

The Swans had a fantastic trip to the Swan Theatre last week to see The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and the Herons are looking forward to their trip.

Week 1 & 2

It has been a busy start to the Spring 2 term with the pupils engaged in a wide range of lessons and activities.  In English the pupils have started to explore The Promise, a picture book about a teenage thief living in a lifeless, depressing city where nothing grows and nobody smiles.  The pupils will be writing a character narrative in the next few days.  Maths continues to look at decimals, fractions and percentages before moving onto area and perimeter and the pupils are enjoying the challenge of learning new mathematical concepts.

Our Dimensions curriculum is covering science units for this term, starting with looking at and understanding the human life cycle.  The pupils had a wonderful time looking at their baby photos and trying to guess whose photo was whose!  The unit moves on to looking at the heart and how diet, exercise, alcohol and cigarettes affects the human body.

Swimming is going well for the Swans class who have enjoyed glorious weather so far on their walk to the Leisure centre.  Both classes have been thoroughly enjoying the cricket lessons, so far learning about catching and batting.  They are beginning to learn some of the rules of the game and are having a great time.

The Herons class were fortunate to have a netball workshop with students from Shottery Girls Grammar School this week.  The students planned and delivered three skills sessions, rotating the pupils through each session. Everyone had a great time and learnt new skills.

The highlight of the week has been World Book Day where pupils have come to school as dreamers or adventurers.  As part of the day, pupils have read with younger pupils in year 2, swapped their teacher with the other class, entered a classroom door decorating competition and enjoyed a picture book called The Journey.

We look forward to welcoming parents into school for our Dimensions afternoon and later in the term for parents evening.

Spring 2

This half term our topic is:

Go with the Flow

Spring 2

As a reminder, pupils will need to wear PE kit on the following days this term:

Herons Class - Tuesday for cricket and Wednesday for PE

Swans Class - Tuesday for cricket and swimming

Week 5 & 6

What a busy two weeks it has been!  

English - the pupils have continued to use The Hound of the Baskervilles as their core text; their first piece of writing was a cliffhanger narrative and this week they have written formal reports to either Sherlock Holmes himself or to Scotland Yard.  The pupils have learnt about the features needed and how important it is to use formal language from the time the story was first written.

Maths - our unit has moved on to decimals with us exploring tenths, hundredths and thousandths and converting these decimals to fractions.  The pupils have realised just how important it is to understand place value!

Science - pupils were tasked with planning an investigation into the properties of cotton wool.  Once planned, they carried out the investigation and then wrote it up.  It was wonderful to listen to their scientific discussions, their teamworking skills and then to see them enjoying  exploring the properties of cotton wool.

Topic - now that we all know where in the world New York and Sydney are....we have learn about immigration, colonisation, indigenous people and so much more.  Pupils have been challenged to show their work in different ways with some choosing writing, some choosing posters and others choosing comic strips.  

PE & swimming - Swans pupils have enjoyed learning circus skills in their PE lessons, whilst Herons pupils have continued to grow in confidence in the water as well as the independence skills needed to get to the pool on time, change and then get back to school before the end of the day.  After half term, the classes will swap and the Herons will learn circus skills as well as have an introduction to sportshall athletics and Swans will take to the water.

Circus skills workshop - this week we had the best Wednesday afternoon ever!  Circus Mash, a circus skills workshop, visited our school and taught us new skills - juggling, hula hooping, diablo, plate spinning and more.  There was laughter, frustration, pride and so many more emotions as we all undertook the challenge of learning new skills.  Perhaps joining the circus could be a career option....

We wish you all a restful half term and look forward to seeing you after the holiday.

Update (WB 26.01.26)

It has been a busy few weeks in Year 5 as the pupils continued to learn to become experts in multiplication and division before moving onto multiplying fractions and then finding fractions of amounts.  The children have worked hard and should be proud of their resilience and progress.

In English, the pupils have been exploring The Hound of the Baskervilles, learning about Dr Watson, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Henry and most importantly...the Hound!  The first piece of writing has been a first person narrative, as Dr Watson, ending with a cliffhanger; the next piece will be a formal report written by Dr Watson for Sherlock Holmes himself.

Our afternoon lessons have had a historical and geographic focus, looking at New York and Sydney.  The pupils have enjoyed learning about these cities and are looking forward to sharing their learning with you in our Year 5 assembly.  In science, the pupils have investigated properties of materials and will be planning an investigation into the properties of cotton wool.

PE and swimming have been enjoyed by all, with great progress being made by our swimmers, circus performers and athletes alike.  We are very fortunate to be welcoming a Circus Skills company into school soon who will hopefully refine our juggling skills.

The Year 5 train project is nearly at an end and we would like to thank all those parents who volunteered their time to help us.  Thank you!  And to sign off, we would like to share with you the most important rule when measuring and sawing...measure twice, cut once!  Please have a look at the photos below... apologies there aren't more!

Week 1

Happy New Year to you all!  The children have returned to school with a very happy and positive mindset following the Christmas break and have immediately begun learning new topics across the curriculum.  In English, the pupils are studying the Sherlock Holmes book, 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' ready to write a cliffhanger narrative.  Maths this week has seen the introduction of long multiplication.  This is new to most pupils so we will take our time to allow pupils to become familiar with the method used.

This week has also seen the launch of Dimensions, the school's new scheme to teach foundation subjects.  Year 5 pupils have learnt about New York this week including where it is and  the history of immigration surrounding Ellis Island.

As a reminder, Swans class have PE this half term and will be learning some circus skills and indoor athletics whilst Herons class will be swimming on Tuesday afternoons.  Please ensure pupils have warm clothes on these days.

Spring 1

This half term our topic is:

Cosmopolitan

W/B Monday 15th December

What a term it has been!  The year 5 pupils have worked so hard and have already become mature year 5 pupils - we are very proud of them and their achievements.

This week sees our annual KS2 Carol Service, Christmas lunch, class parties and the trip to the RSC to watch the BFG.  In between these activities, pupils will be finishing their English unit by writing a formal mission log around one of the Apollo missions as well as finishing their maths unit on fractions.

The year 5 teaching team wish all our pupils and families an exciting, yet restful holiday and we look forward to welcoming the children back in 2026.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Space talk

The year 5 pupils were fortunate to receive a visit from a parent who works in the space industry.  This parent visited us last year and we were delighted when he offered to come in again.  The pupils were able to see pictures of space they had not seen before as well as ask questions and even see a real-life astronaut suit!

As we enter December, preparations are beginning for the KS2 Carol Service.  Pupils who have been chosen to say lines will be bringing their lines home this week.   Please help them to learn them and we look forward to seeing you all at Holy Trinity Church.

As part of our space topic, the pupils have explored 'retrofuturism' in art, looking at what we thought the future would look like in the 1950s and 1960s.  The children have created backgrounds for a piece of artwork using a collage and paint method and will be completing their work over the next two weeks by designing a futuristic image to add to the background.  We are looking forward to seeing the end result.

In science, the pupils have learnt about day and night, the theories of the solar system, the seasons and the phases of the moon.  Maybe they could impress you with their knowledge!  This has linked nicely to our ICT lessons during which the pupils have been learning to design and make websites.  Using Google Sites, they have designed a home page, then added pages to share everything they have learnt about space so far.  Their websites are very creative, colourful and informative.

We are now looking forward to our Design & Technology afternoons during which time the pupils will be building model trains to run on a track powered by an electric circuit.

Space Centre Trip 

What an amazing day Year 5 had at the Space Centre in Leicester!  It was a busy day, starting with an 8.30am arrival at school for last minute preparations then off on the coach at 8.55am.  The coach arrived on time and we were met by a member of the Space Crew for final instructions before being whisked into the lunch hall for a well-deserved snack to give pupils the energy they needed for the day.  Their next stop was the Planetarium for an absolutely amazing trip onto the space station and to learn about astronaut training.  The following 1.5 hours was spent exploring the centre, playing, touching and experiencing all things space.  Lunch was at 1pm and then the coach left at 1.45pm.

The pupils' behaviour was excellent and their happy, smiling faces showed what a wonderful day they had.

Autumn 2

We would like to extend a warm welcome back to the pupils, we hope they had a wonderful and relaxing break.

This term is full of exciting opportunities for the pupils as we will spend the whole term exploring space (please see the knowledge organiser below).  This will be our topic and science for the whole term as there is a lot to cover. The pupils will explore lots during these lessons, from the solar system, to seasons, to day and night.  In English, the pupils are learning about the moon and the lunar landings and will begin to write narratives about travelling to and exploring the moon.  During art, the pupils will create retro space artwork and in ICT they will learn how to create websites.  It is a fantastic term and we are very excited to support the children with their learning and exploration.

This week, the pupils threw themselves into the new topic by learning what skills they needed to be an astronaut.  They soon realised that communication and teamwork were key to success.  During the day, pupils built pyramids using cups, elastic bands and string, recreated models they only had fleeting glimpses of, tested their memories by trying to remember details about robots and then worked together to build, test and fly a rocket.   Please enjoy the photos below which show some of the activities the children enjoyed on our topic day. 

Date for your diary - a reminder that the trip to the National Space Centre is on Friday 14th November.

Tourist Trip

On Thursday 9th October, Year 5 explored Stratford-upon-Avon as though they were tourists.  The classes started by taking a photo outside the Butterfly Farm (with an inquisitive swan nearby!), visiting the statues in the canal basin, before visiting the Tourist Information Centre.  From here, they walked around town, looking at statues and historical buildings finding attractions that they, as locals, had previously missed!  A quick stop at the American monument for a snack gave the children the energy needed to continue on to Holy Trinity Church to visit William Shakespeare’s grave.  The whole year group ate lunch outside the RSC, enjoyed a trip to Hoorays for ice cream and then had a play in the park which finished off a wonderful day.
 

Science

The children have been exploring air resistance and surface area by designing, making and testing parachutes.  In their teams, they dropped their parachutes from an upstairs window (safely and with adult supervision) and monitored which parachutes fell the slowest.  As a class we discussed how a bigger surface area increased air resistance and allowed the parachute to fall slower.  As you can imagine, there were some design flaws, however, the children gained a good understanding of what size parachute they should choose and why!

What a busy start to term!

A huge well done to the Year 5 pupils for a very successful start to the new term.  Both classes have been working hard to establish routines and expectations in the classroom and we are delighted to say that both classes are fantastic!  

In English, the pupils have been exploring a book called 'The Lost Book of Adventure' and have enjoyed imagining that they are explorers in a range of extreme settings.  They have learnt about relative clauses, adverbs for possibility, verb prefixes and suffixes as well as a wide range of vocabulary.  The pupils will be writing survival narratives in the coming days.

Maths has focused on reminding pupils about place value and stretching them to understand about millions.  Next up will be addition and subtraction.

In science, the pupils are learning about forces and will be exploring how air resistance and gravity work together by making a parachute.  Hopefully, the parachutists (paperclips!) will survive the drop...

Topic is mainly a geography focus, with the pupils learning about map symbols and map co-ordinates as well as understanding about tourism and its positive and negative effects on towns.

Swimming for the Herons class is going well and PE in the Swans class is fun.

As always, please speak to us at pick-up or email the office if you have any questions.

Autumn 1

A very warm welcome to Year 5, 2025-26.  We are very excited to start our topic with a local emphasis - Stratford upon Avon, what is it like to live in a tourist town? We will be researching and discussing both advantages and disadvantages of living in a tourist town and looking at what sustainable tourism is and why this is so important.  This is also an excellent opportunity to learn more about William Shakespeare. Please see the knowledge organiser below for more details about the topic.

School trips

To really understand this topic, we will actually become tourists for the day and visit the Tourist Information Centre as well as walk around our local area to identify all those famous and impressive buildings and statues in our town.  You can't be a tourist without suitable treats, so we are very excited that we will be visiting our local ice-cream parlour Hoorays for a well deserved ice-cream. This school trip is booked for Thursday 9th October.  A letter with more information about this trip will be emailed home shortly.  

PE/Swimming 

In Year 5, the children receive swimming lessons. This half term, the Herons have started and go swimming on Tuesdays.  This means the Herons need to wear their PE kit on Tuesdays and bring their swimming kit with them.  Please ensure your child has a waterproof coat as well, as we walk to the swimming pool, no matter the weather! 

The Swans have their PE lesson on Wednesdays, so they need to wear their PE kit on Wednesday during this half term.