Welcome to Upper Key Stage Two

Year 5 is the transition from Lower to Upper Key Stage 2 and a crucial year in your child’s education. We endeavour to work in partnership with you to make it as stimulating, challenging and enjoyable as possible for your child. We will focus on developing your child’s independence and ensure they are confident individuals, successful learners, effective contributors and responsible citizens ready for their final year at primary school. To ensure that the children are prepared for their transition to High School, we encourage independence and that they are able to take responsibility for themselves and their own learning.  

Term One - Autumn 

Our Maths Curriculum

We follow the White Rose Hub planning for Maths at Bolshaw.

The units that will be covered this term in Year 5 are:

• Place Value
• Addition and Subtraction
• Statistics
• Multiplication and Division
• Fractions

Children must have quick and fluent recall of times tables and related division facts to 12x12. Times Tables Rock Stars is an exciting way to help your child secure these facts.

Children in Year 5 are expected to be able to tell the time on both digital and analogue clocks. This is something that can be practised at home and in school throughout the day.

Our English Curriculum

Reading

Children are encouraged to read at home at least 3 times a week, this can be a novel they are reading at home or their school reading book. Reading is a feature of every English lesson and children will be encouraged to read out loud within the class setting. They will also share and discuss texts in our weekly Whole Class Reading sessions, where we explore a variety of texts in detail, discussing the writer’s intention and draw conclusions from evidence in the texts.

Writing

Children will be taught to develop their writing skills by exploring quality, rich texts. Grammar, punctuation, spelling rules and handwriting skills are taught discretely and entwined throughout writing across the curriculum. This term children will begin their Year 5 writing journey by studying and exploring formal letters, poetry and instructional writing. This will then be followed by historical fiction and persuasive texts, which will both be linked to Anglo-Saxon and Viking studies in History.  All children are expected to write using cursive handwriting and will be given a blue pen to write with when they demonstrate a consistent use of the cursive script (unless they have a SEN support plan which states otherwise).

Our Science Curriculum

This term’s Science topic is ‘Properties and Changes of Materials’. During the term we will develop our investigative skills while learning about reversible and irreversible changes. We will investigate thermal and electrical conductivity as well as exploring ways to separate a variety of mixtures using a wide range of methods. We will also learn about how different materials are used for different purposes, based on their qualities and this will then be linked to our DT project, where we will design and make our own tote bag to carry our school books home in. 

Our History Curriculum

Our History topic is ‘Anglo Saxons and Vikings’. The children will learn about who the Anglo Saxons were and what their daily life was like. We will then explore the many attempts of invasions by the Vikings and their final conquest of Britain. Our studies will take us up to the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. Children will explore how historians have drawn conclusions about what life was like in the past. We will have an immersive day based on battle tactics, which will be led by a visiting Viking, and we will also explore the historical significance of York during these eras.

Physical Education

Our PE days are on Monday and Friday. Over the term we will be developing our gymnastics, dance, netball and football skills. Children in Year 5 will also take part in a weekly Forest School session on Tuesdays.

Homework

Homework will be set via Google Classroom on Fridays and is due for submission on THURSDAY mornings! Homework tasks will either consolidate work covered during the week or act as a pre-learning linked to our Maths units. Children are also expected to read at home and complete session on TTRockstars.

Other Curriculum Highlights

In Art we will be exploring still life drawings, developing our pencil and chalk pastel skills. We will be learning numbers and basic phrases in Spanish and in Computing we will be exploring how computer systems are used as a form of communication and how to utilise the different presentation features on Google Docs and Slides.  In RE we will be exploring how the teachings of Jesus influences the way Christians live in the 21^st Century.

Term Two - Spring

Our Maths Curriculum

We follow the White Rose Hub planning for Maths at Bolshaw.

The units that will be covered this term in Year 5 are:  

• Multiplication and Division B
• Fractions B
• Decimals and Percentages
• Perimeter and Area

Our English Curriculum

Reading

Children are encouraged to read at home at least 3 times a week, this can be a novel they are reading at home or their school reading book. Texts that will be covered in our Whole Class Reading sessions will include; A Moster Calls, The Boy at the Back of the Class, Rooftoppers and Gregor the Overlander.

Writing

Children will be taught to develop their writing skills by exploring quality, rich texts. Grammar, punctuation, spelling rules and handwriting skills continue to be taught discretely and then entwined throughout writing across the curriculum. This term children will explore and write biographies about astronauts, a fantasy adventure about alien invaders and a suspense narrative, which focuses on descriptive language devices.   

Our Science Curriculum

This term’s Science topics are ‘Space, Earth and Beyond’ and ‘Forces’. We will learn key facts about the solar system as well as develop our scientific enquiry skills. The children will take part in practical activities to help them understand different concepts about the Universe. We will also be learning about how a variety of scientists have shaped space exploration and understanding. We will explore different types of forces such as gravity, air resistance and water resistance and how they occur in every-day life. The children will also explore how mechanisms can create a force. We will develop our planning and observation skills in scientific investigations. Children will be given the opportunity to follow their own lines of enquiry through our practical investigation sessions too.

Our Geography Curriculum

During the term, the children will learn about the Northern and Southern Hemisphere; the significance of latitude; the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn; the Arctic and Antarctic Circle; and habitats around the world.  We will also explore the Greenwich Meridian and different time zones around the world.  This topic is very much based on children learning and understanding geographical vocabulary and applying it in their written work. They will learn about the physical and human features of different habitats across the world and will explore why certain animals are found in these types of habitats. We will also be learning about the different countries in North America.

Physical Education

Our PE days are on Monday and Friday. On Mondays we will develop our gymnastics skills in the first half of the term, and tennis in the second. Fridays we will be swimming at Cheadle Swimming Baths.  Children in Year 5 will also take part in a weekly Forest School session on Tuesdays.

Homework

Homework will continue to be set via Google Classroom on Fridays and is due for submission on THURSDAY mornings! Homework tasks will either consolidate work covered during the week or act as a pre-learning linked to our Maths units. Children are also expected to read at home and complete sessions on TTRockstars.

Other Curriculum Highlights

In RE we will explore different places of worship and how people from religious and non-religious communities celebrate festivals. We will continue to learn Spanish and in PSHE we will be developing our understanding of wellbeing and the role we have to play in maintaining our own personal mental health using the Seeds of Happiness programme.  Bikeability, the government’s national cycle training programme, will also be taking place this term for all pupils in Year 5. This is a fantastic opportunity for children to learn how to ride safely and how to keep their bike in road-worthy condition.  In Computing we will develop our coding skills and investigate the features of Spreadsheets.  

Term Three - Summer

Our Maths Curriculum

We follow the White Rose Hub planning for Maths at Bolshaw.

The units that will be covered this term in Year 5 are:  

• Shape
• Position and direction
• Decimals
• Converting Units

Our English Curriculum

Reading

Children are encouraged to read at home at least 3 times a week, this can be a novel they are reading at home or their school reading book. Texts that will be covered in our Whole Class Reading sessions will include; Cogheart, Oliver Twist and Kensuke’s Kingdom.

Writing

Children will be taught to develop their writing skills by exploring quality, rich texts. Grammar, punctuation, spelling rules and handwriting skills continue to be taught discretely and then entwined throughout writing across the curriculum. This term children will explore and write non-chronological reports about endangered animals, a Maya myths, explanation texts and Shakespeare’s Macbeth.     

Our Science Curriculum

This term’s Science topics are ‘Living things and their Habitats’ and ‘Animals including Humans’. We will be learning about the life cycles of different mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and amphibians as well as learning about asexual reproduction. This will link in with our PSHE topic on Puberty, where we will learn about the physical and emotional changes that both boys and girls can expect to experience over the next few years. We will develop our scientific enquiry skills throughout both topics through research and exploration.  As well as developing our planning and observation skills in scientific investigations. Children will be given the opportunity to follow their own lines of enquiry through our practical investigation sessions too. We will also explore the impact of the work carried out by a variety of people such as Dame Jane Goodall and Sir David Attenborough.

Our History and Geography Curriculum

Our History and Geography will be based on Central America. In History we will discover the intriguing and sometimes gruesome Maya Civilization. We will find out about their everyday lives, their beliefs and rituals and how their lives compared to those of the Anglo Saxons and Vikings back in Britain.

In Geography we will immerse ourselves in the varied countries within Central America. We will consider how the countries utilise their natural resources to make trade links across the world.

Physical Education

Our PE days are on Monday and Friday. On Mondays we will develop our athletics skills in the first half of the term, and dance in the second. Fridays we will be swimming at Cheadle Swimming Baths.  Children in Year 5 will also take part in a weekly Forest School session on Tuesdays.

Homework

Homework will continue to be set via Google Classroom on Fridays and is due for submission on THURSDAY mornings! Homework tasks will either consolidate work covered during the week or act as a pre-learning linked to our Maths units. Children are also expected to read at home and complete sessions on TTRockstars.

Other Curriculum Highlights

As part of our Art unit, we will visit the Shropshire Sculpture Park as a class, and then we will be using recycled card to create 3D sculptures of endangered animals.  We will design and make a Maya feat on DT and in RE we will be exploring the Muslim religion in depth. In PSHE we will explore how to keep ourselves safe online and think about what defines our personal identity and values.  We will also be joining forces with Year 6 to put on an all singing and dancing production of ‘William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream’.