Class teachers - Miss Craven and Mrs Price

• September - Respect and Responsibility 

• October - Compassion and Hope 

• November -  Friendship and Forgiveness 

• December - Understanding and Patience

Our Literacy curriculum consists of whole class reading, Writing roots and Spelling.

In guided reading we will begin the term reading 'The Good Thieves' by Katherine Rundell. The Good Thieves is a book about a woman called Vita Marlowe who is fresh off the boat from England and has a job to do. Her beloved grandfather Jack has been cheated out of his home and possessions by a notorious conman with Mafia connections. Seeing Jack's spirit is broken, Vita is desperate to make him happy again, so she devises a plan to outwit his enemies and recover his home. She finds a young pick-pocket working the streets of the city. Nearby, two boys with highly unusual skills and secrets are about to be pulled into her lawless, death-defying plan. The children will explore the 1920s in New York City, the time and place in which this book is set. They will develop their understanding of the period and explore the issues of the day as well as any relevant vocabulary. The children will gain experience answering a range of inference questions, focussing on impressions, characters' feelings, relationships and motivation.  They will also explore how protagonists change over time by mapping out character arcs.

During our literacy sessions, we have been looking at Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, in which the children will learn about the achievements and determination of these four iconic women at key moments in American and world history. This provides an inspiring context for children to write for a range of purposes and for different formal and informal contexts. 

Throughout the week, we will also be focusing on phonics and ensuring that the children are confident in their sounds. 

For Welsh this year, we will be doing daily Helpwr Heddiw sessions. We plan to focus on providing the children with lots of opportunities to deepen their knowledge and confidence when using Welsh in and out of the classroom. Therefore, we will be focusing on ensuring that we engage in lots of Welsh reading and writing alongside oracy. The children will have access to Welsh reading books on Google Classroom that they can access at home or in school.   

The children are able to read for pleasure and choose books from the library that they would like to read. We still expect children to be reading their books in school and at home where possible.  

We will begin by focusing on a range of skills within the number system (place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division) using a combination of oral, written and practical methods.  Pupils will identify common factors between numbers, round whole numbers to 10,000, and solve problems using reasoning skills.  Pupils will be developing their mastery of maths using equipment and sentence stems to deepen their understanding and build on their ability to recall facts more easily.  An example of a sentence stem for place value is:_____ is equal to _____ (1200 is equal to 1 thousand and 2 hundreds or 1200 is equal to 10 hundred and 20 tens).  This allows pupils to identify number equivalence, digit value and improves their addition and subtraction skills using regrouping. 

During the second half of the term, pupils will use their number system knowledge to develop multiplication and division skills, calculating through practical activities and varying contexts: area and perimeter, budgeting, algebra. 

The pupils are encouraged to practice their times tables at home to support their learning.  Times tables are central to mathematics and the ability to recall tables will assist pupils with more challenging mathematical problems.

During PE, we will be developing our collaboration skills, working with other members of Year 5, building resilience, perseverance and independence. At the end of each day, we have a check in session, this allows pupils to speak freely about their day, ask questions and develop empathy skills towards one another and identify ways to move forward. 

Oldcastle Primary School are fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’ a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. Children will take part in group activities in class.  

As a Year 5 group, we will concentrate on group work and team building. We know that everyone deserves to have their say and to be listened to. It is important that we give others the opportunity to voice their opinions and to use evidence to inform our own. We will be continuing to learn about Human Rights and the Rights of the Child and the importance of exercising these rights. 

This term, Year 5 will explore Justice and Freedom. We will be exploring our identity and what makes us 'us'.  We will be exploring diversity within society and learning about the different communities and societies humans have created based on their identity. We will be celebrating the richness of diverse cultures that flow from our different identities. 

We will be exploring the impact of 'choices', both for ourselves and other people. We will be looking at Governance in Wales and the UK and comparing them to the governance of other countries. We will be expanding children’s understanding of governance systems throughout history and the world. We will find out how monarchies and religion have affected politics over the years. They will also develop their knowledge of democracy and dictatorship and identify how each has evolved. Children will understand that politics affects every aspect of their lives and that they have the power to change the world through their vote, activism and protest.  We will be exploring protest art and music through an Expressive Arts lens and creating our own pieces.

Children will understand how politics have affected different groups throughout history, especially people of colour, women, and those of different classes.  Pupils will explore various historical, mythical, and political events that lead up to the world they live in today, supporting them in formulating opinions and ideas about how they can impact the future. 

Throughout the unit, pupils will form in-depth and research-supported ideas and opinions on the role of politics in today's society, linking back to poignant historical political figures and local, national and global political events. We will also explore governance through case studies in different countries, tribal governance, governance in the animal kingdom and in sport. 

All pupils should have a water bottle in school every day. PE will take place on Thursday. Children are expected to wear their kit to school on PE day. Children should read their reading books daily and practise their times tables at home as much as possible.  Enrichment sessions will take place on Friday afternoons. 

We have a number of children in school with a nut allergy.  We strive to be a nut-free school so please do not send in nut products in packed lunches such as nutella.

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To contact your child's teacher please drop us an email via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk or call us 01656 815790.  Don't forget to download our School App via the Play or App stores - The School App will provide you with up to date information about activities and events at Oldcastle Primary School.  Please look out for our weekly newsletter issued via The School App and available on our website on a Friday afternoon.