Year 5

The pupils in Year 5 have had an incredibly busy first term back. We started with our skills week where we learned the importance of basic first aid, wrote instructions and created sponge cakes and carried out tasks to help us escape a deserted island!

Our inquiry into 'Rights and Responsibilities support, help and protect us' led to a range of learning experiences. We found out how Draco, the Greek lawmaker was very harsh with his punishments. We then looked into the Roman crime and punishment and identified different aspects that we still use today ,such as 'innocent until proven guilty.' We read 'A Kind of Spark' and discussed how people with disabilities may have been treated poorly in the past and how it linked to witch trials and 'shows' (which we looked at further by reading 'Wild Boy'). In our science lessons, we created ducking stools using our knowledge of balanced and unbalanced forces. A police officer came in to speak to us about the role of the modern police force and discussed his day to day tasks.

We also found out how rights are affected when one country chooses to take over another country and looked at the British Empire and its link to the slave trade. After this, we considered the differing points of view surrounding the statue of Edward Coulson. We then selected people we felt should have statues or a way of commemorating them and wrote poems. Year 5 then looked into the development of human rights from the Magna Carta, to the present day. The children noticed that even in Britain, not everyone received the rights they were entitled to - particularly Article 22 - Everyone has the right to a home and enough money to live on. It was decided that Year 5 wanted to raise money for a local homeless Charity 'Maidstone-Homeless Care' as it particularly focuses on young people (16-24) who need additional support. They created toffee apples, cinder toffee, popcorn and chocolate apples that they sold to the other pupil in school. They managed to raise £300! The children have also written their own newspaper report about it, which is on the next page of the newsletter.