Spring Term

Year 5 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with visiting poet, Paul Lyall. He taught us the importance of simile, metaphor and the power of figurative language; he showed us how to use these skills to compose a poem about the moon, and then later about our own themes. Take a look at how we spent our day with him. 

We used the tools, tips and tricks Paul Lyall's taught us last week to perform in our annual Poetry Slam. All children rehearsed for a whole week- thinking carefully about their body movements, facial expressions, intonation and expression, and their volume and pacing. We had a very successful Poetry Slam with lots of exciting, creative and inspiring poems performed! 

Another fantastic World Book Day- take a look at our fun-filled day celebrating reading! 

To complement the wonderful learning we have been doing about ingredients, seasonal food and sustainable cooking, Juniper, our school catering company, joined us to host 2 fabulous workshops: pizza making and smoothie bike blending. Children learnt more about the importance of eating a varied, proportional diet and put their learning to the test in a real-life setting. 

After 6 weeks, Year 5 were finally ready to show their Street Dance performance. Year 5 have worked hard over the weeks to build and strengthen different skills such as: contact work, partner work, learning how to perform at different levels and understanding, and using, different dynamics. We even created our own choreography in groups where we had to incorporate all of our new skills. Take a look at how some of our early work built up to our final performance- enjoy! Thank you as ever to Caroline, our fabulous dance teacher, for all of your hard work, kindness and patience. 

Final Performance

Creating Our Own Choreography in Groups

Focus on: Dynamics, Levels and Contact Work

Moving With Rhythm- Working on Moving to the Beat

Focus on: Rhythm

Coordination Skills: Practising The Skills That Will Be In Our Dance

Focus on: Rhythm, Balance, Coordination, Contact Work, Dynamics, Levels

With Y6 tackling Sustainability Week this week, Y5 decided to take on their own sustainability challenge. In DT, we have been learning about seasonal produce and eating sustainably. Over 2 weeks, we learnt about what food is grown in the UK and when; we learnt about reared, caught and processed food; and we explored what the NHS Eatwell Guide suggests is a healthy, balanced and proportional plate of food. With this knowledge, we then created our own recipes for a seasonal meal with the aim of creating a proportionally healthy meal whilst being both sustainable and home-grown. Take a look at our sustainability journey!

" This is guideline created by the NHS. It shows us roughly what our plates should be made up of. It includes protein, carbohydrates, fruit, vegetables, dairy, oil and spreads. It also tells us how much water we should be drinking everyday. " Noor F

Well done to all children who achieved their 10 Merit Certificate this term! All children in Year 5 have now received their 5 and 10 merit certificates. The countdown is on as to who will be the first to reach 20 merits and get to take part in the much-loved milkshake party! 

Mrs Hyde and the Y6 ambassadors hosted another wonderful Reading Cafe for Year 5. Adults, parents and carers were invited to join us for a session of reading books, literature chats and cups of tea. 

WDPS recognises the importance that reading with your child has and so we use this as an opportunity for children and their adults to read together. Teachers model how to read with their child, how to ask probing questions, and how to recognise if their child understands what they are reading. 

Take a look at the wonderful reading that took place!

Ms Akhtar, our Designated Safeguarding Lead, organised for 'Growing Against Violence' to visit Year 5 and 6. GAV are a charity that aims to protect young people against peer-to-peer violence, and exploitation both on the streets and online. 

Year 5 took part in a workshop which aimed to show children the many negatives, and positives, of using social media. Children learnt about the legal ages for most of the social media platforms they are using and realised they are too young for most of them. Children reflected on how easy it was to share personal information when not thinking carefully. We learnt about the importance of letting our parents and trusted adults monitor what we are doing online so that they can keep us safe. 

Year 5 learnt GAV's 5 rules on strangers online: 

1. Do not talk to strangers if you don't have to- block them, ignore them, delete the platform they are trying to communicate to you on.

2. Do not trust strangers- they can lie about who they are and what they want.

3. Never take anything from a stranger- it is likely they will want something in return. 

4. Do not share your personal information- it can be used against you. 

5. Never ever meet them face-to-face. 

We also learnt about GAV's 5 rules if something bad happens to you online: 

1. Tell a trusted adult that something bad has happened- a problem shared is a problem halved.

2. Screenshot the content for evidence and proof- their username and/or IP addresses can help the police to trace them.

3. Report it to the site or platform that it happened on- they have a responsibility to investigate it.

4. Block the person 

5. Delete the app/platform.  

Year 5 certainly learnt lots in the session and all left the workshop feeling reflective, empowered and equipped with the tools needed to navigate social media more carefully and thoughtfully. Thank you Darren (GAV) and Ms Akhtar! 

Year 5 and Year 6 spent the day at BETT 2026 at the London Excel Centre. Originally started in 1985, BETT is the British Educational Technology Show. The event is attended by over 35,000 visitors and had more than 700 exhibitors all there for one reason- to make 'better education, globally'. Our children were lucky enough to attend and in doing so met with some of the leading figures in educational technology. Our children were inspired by inventors, scientists, engineers and policymakers; they interviewed well-loved BBC Newsround reporters; they tried their hands at programming and coding; and lucky for them, picked up lots of freebies to continue their learning and excitement even after the event had finished. A big thank you to Ms Fowler for organising such an inspiring visit! 

Our Spring Life Skills topic is Citizenship. It is important to learn about Citizenship because it helps us understand how parliament and Government work, and it helps us to know how to challenge prejudice and discrimination in appropriate ways. We spent some time learning about laws, what they are, and why they are important. We discussed rules and laws that exist in the classroom, then which rules/laws exist in society after. Children learnt more about the UN Convention of the Rights of The Child and discussed what rights we have. In line with this, we learnt about the term "Responsibilities'- we realised that in order to enjoy a safe, happy society, we need to act responsibly; we all have a responsibility to be an upstanding citizen, just like we all have the right to be surrounded by upstanding citizens.

After we'd learnt about the importance of laws and why they exist, we looked at what could happen if you break the law. We talked about different consequences with varying levels of severity. We spent much time talking about what happens when someone is put on trial and the different roles there are within a court. In order to understand this better, we decided to stage our own 'mock' trial. 

The crime: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water; Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. 

Jill is prosecuting Jack for bodily harm- she believes he purposefully knocked her down to hurt her. 

Jack is defending himself- he swears it was an accident and he meant her no harm. 

We were given roles to play, which would exist in a courtroom,  and the trial began...