Class teachers - Miss Craven and Mrs Price

• May - Co-operation and being a good citizen within society

• June - Showing Gratitude, Care and Generosity

• July - Taking and managing risks 

We’ll be continuing our work with the film and book The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan. This imaginative and humorous story follows a boy who discovers a strange creature while collecting bottle tops at the beach. Realising it’s lost, he tries to help it, but no one else seems to care or even notice it.

Children will explore the story’s structure and themes, then create their own ‘lost things’ and story plans. This will lead to writing their own original narratives inspired by the text.

We’ll also be studying The Island by Armin Greder, a powerful picture book about a man who washes up on a strange shore. The islanders are wary of him because he looks different, and though they don’t send him away, they choose to ignore him. This story explores important themes like refugees, fear of outsiders, and human rights.

Through this text, children will write welcome guides, detailed descriptions, letters of advice, and diary entries. Their final project will be to write a narrative sequel, imagining what happens next.

In guided reading sessions, children will work in small groups to explore a shared text closely. They’ll practise reading fluently and with expression, discuss vocabulary and key ideas, and answer questions to deepen their understanding. Activities might include predicting what happens next, exploring characters’ thoughts and feelings, and making connections to their own experiences.  We will be focusing on the book Real Life Mysteries.

For Welsh this year, we will deliver Welsh Literacy lessons every Tuesday. We will also 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.

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.  

In Year 5, students will continue to use their knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to tackle concepts such as fractions, percentages, and decimals.  As they progress through the term, they will also delve into averages, time, and measurement, sharpening their mathematical prowess. Children will look at timetables and how they work, and complete challenges based on arranging activities. Through the strategic use of manipulatives and sentence stems, students will enhance their comprehension and facilitate easier recall of mathematical facts. An example of a sentence stem for conversion of imperial and metric measure would be ________ inches is equivalent to approximately ______ cms. This allows pupils to identify number equivalence, digit value, and approximation in conversion and improves their transference of knowledge to other contexts..

During the second part of the term, students will focus on data analysis, actively collecting data samples from both their school environment and the local community. Additionally, numeracy skills will intersect with our Fashion topic, as students analyze a fashion timeline, compare and measure fabrics. 

All Year 5 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. 

This term, we will continue to use our Shine Team resources to explore important topics such as resilience, self-esteem, and well-being. We’ll talk about what it means to be resilient and how it can help us in everyday life, at school, at home, and in our friendships. A big focus will be on making and keeping friends, and we’ll practise using what we learn both in the classroom and out in the playground. We’ll also work on recognising and managing emotions, understanding how we feel and how others might feel too. Through open and honest discussions in our Health and Wellbeing lessons, we aim to strengthen the relationships within our class and build a safe, supportive environment for everyone. By developing resilience and perseverance—especially when learning feels challenging—we’re helping to prepare for the transition into Year 6 and beyond. Our goal is to support the growth of independent, confident learners who are ready to take on whatever comes their way.

This term, our class is diving into an exciting topic all about fashion—but not just the clothes we wear! We’ll be exploring how fashion has changed over time and what it can tell us about the world around us, including cultural traditions, big historical events, and even political movements.

We’ll look at key moments in history that have influenced what people wore and why, from wartime styles to futuristic fabrics. Pupils will develop their skills in observation, comparison, and analysis, and even have the chance to try some creative fashion design of their own!

We’ll also explore how fashion connects with music and art as powerful forms of self-expression—and think critically about what fashion means today. As part of this, we’ll learn about the ethics of modern fashion, including issues like fast fashion, sustainability, and how clothes are made.

All pupils should have a water bottle in school every day. 

Reading books are available to take home daily and should be returned to school to read in class on a daily basis.  The children now have a digital reading log accessible through Google Classroom, which can be used to track and comment on the books that they are reading. 

Health and Wellbeing session take place on Fridays. These will alternate between theory  and physical education lessons. Children should wear PE kit on Fridays.  All children need a coat in case of adverse weather on route to offsite premises. 

Swimming will take place every Wednesday afternoon in the second half term (for 5 weeks). Please make sure all children bring the required equipment into school on those days. 

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.  The newsletter contains all forthcoming diary dates for the school.