Year 5
Year 5
Spring 2, 2026!
Welcome back! We hope that you all had a relaxing half term break and you are ready for lots more learning in Spring!
Start time – 8:40am Pick-up time- 3:15pm
If you have any questions, concerns or worries, please contact us at year5@cpa.dsat.education and we will do our best to respond as soon as we can.
Please ensure that your child brings a labelled water bottle to school each day as well as ensuring that all items of your child's uniform is clearly labelled too.
Click on the link below to access the powerpoint from our recent Meet the teacher meeting.
Year 5 Meet the teacher powerpoint
Maths Calculations Parents' Guidance
English Information- Year 5 and 6
"Picture News" is a UK-based educational resource that provides schools with weekly current affairs packs, featuring a relevant photo, a "big question," and teaching materials to help children discuss real-world events, develop critical thinking, and learn about British Values, respect, and empathy in an age-appropriate way, often linking home and school learning.
Purpose of our PICTURE NEWS assembly at Canon Popham:
To make the world more accessible and understandable for children.
To develop speaking, listening, and vocabulary skills.
To foster independence, drive, and a passion for learning.
To build empathy and teach children to find their own voice.
PICTURE NEWS is delivered in a whole school assembly once a week with a thought-provoking question by class teacher throughout the school year.
Each week in assembly, the children learn about an exciting or important story that has been in the news. They consider their responses to the story and are invited to feedback their thoughts. They reflect on each story and learn how they relate to British Values and Protected Characteristics - Equality.
Each class will also take part in a weekly PICTURE NEWS assembly in their classroom.
Curriculum
Our geographical study this half term is Our connected world.
Our theme this half-term will develop our understanding of time zones, how the world is connected and how geographers divide the world into sections for locational purposes (latitude, longitude and tropics). We will learn about global trade, understanding how goods are moved around the world and the impact of weather. Also, we will learn about drought and flooding and how these can be devastating for farmers and crops.
Writing
Our writing this half term will be based on the book Arthur and the Golden Rope by Joe Todd-Stanton.
Imagine a vault so cavernous that it could contain all the world's greatest treasures and relics, from mummified remains of ancient monarchs to glistening swords brandished by legendary warriors. Who could be in charge of such a vault and how did he come into possession of such a unique collection? Who is...Professor Brownstone?
We will be creating and describing Norse characters and settings using adverbials, expanded noun phrases and relative clauses to write a myth using our text as inspiration. As part of this, we will use dialogue to convey characters and advance the action through the use of inverted commas and other punctuation.
Reading
This half term, we will be looking at a range of fiction, non fiction and poetry texts.
As part of this unit we will be making predictions about the text from details stated and implied. We will explore the meaning of words and clarifying vocabulary in the text. We will ask and answer our own questions about the text, and make inferences from what we have read.
Maths
This half term we will be further developing our reasoning skills as well as further developing our knowledge of fractions, percentages and transformations of shape.
We will also be focusing on knowing and remembering our Key Instant Recall Facts (KIRFs) for Spring 2 - prime numbers up to 20. Please click on the links below to continue to support your child securing their multiplication and division facts for to 12 x 12 too.
If you have any questions about these areas of Maths please don’t hesitate to come and speak to us.
R.E.
In RE, we will focus on the Christian concept of Salvation to explore the question "What did Jesus do to save human beings?"
We will -
- understand what Christians mean when they say that Jesus’ death was a sacrifice.
- suggest meanings for narratives of Jesus’ death/ resurrection, comparing their ideas with ways in which Christians interpret these texts.
- make clear connections between the Christian belief in Jesus’ death as a sacrifice and how Christians celebrate Holy Communion/Lord’s Supper.
- show how Christians put their beliefs into practice.
- understand that his birth, life, death and resurrection were part of a longer plan by God to restore the relationship between humans and God.
- understand that Christians see Jesus as their Saviour.
Science - Plant and animal life cycles
In this module, we will:
● describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird
● describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals.
Design and technology - Mechanical systems: gears and pulleys
As part of our learning, we will -
- give examples of machines that use gears and/or pulleys.
- describe how gears and pulleys work and their purpose.
- design and make a gear and pulley system.
- write questions for market research, provide feedback and research market competitors.
- write and use a design brief to guide design.
- evaluate a product against a set of design criteria, provide useful feedback and incorporate changes.
- draw and annotate an eco-gadget bike design.
P.E. - Swimming
In PE, our focus is Swimming.
In our lessons, we will focus on improving confidence, mastering strokes (front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke), developing breathing, and learning water safety. ,
Our PE day is Wednesday. Please ensure that your child arrives at school at 8:30am on this day, ensuring they bring the correct swimwear, towels and a bag for wet swimwear after the lesson. Goggles can only be worn if parental permission has been given to school. If your child wears earrings, these must be removed and please ensure long hair is tied back away from the face.
P.S.H.E. - Economic education
In our learning about economic education, we will know that different currencies are used in different countries, discuss why people might choose one payment method over another and explain what value for money and ethical spending are. We will also discuss how keeping track of spending can help people to budget.
Computing – Databases
In our computing lessons this half term, we will be introduced to databases beyond branching databases. We will create our own databases as well as query existing databases to find information.
French - Les Romains (The Romans)
In this unit, we will learn some key facts of the history of ancient Rome in French and recall and spell the days of the week in French, and their relation to Roman gods. We will also be able to name some/all of the most famous Roman inventions in French and create a presentation as a rich and/or poor child in Roman times, including what life would have been like, in French.
Music
Our musical theme is Enjoying musical styles. There are so many different, wonderful and interesting styles of music.
Something that happens in music that makes it so interesting is ‘texture’. ‘Texture’ refers to the layers of sound you hear in a piece of music. Texture can be the number of voices and instruments you hear at once. Styles of music have different textures. In our learning, we will explore how voices and instruments combine to create texture in music.
TTRockstars and Reflex– Every day 10 minutes
Adaptive and individualized, Reflex is the most effective system for mastering basic maths facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Full of games that children love, Reflex takes children at every level and helps them quickly gain maths fact automaticity and confidence.
Times Tables Rock Stars (TTRS) is a program designed to help children learn and memorise multiplication and division facts. It uses a gamified approach, incorporating a rock and roll theme to make practice fun and engaging. In order to get the best out of TTRS children should regularly play for short bursts of time over the week.
If you have misplaced your log in details or are having trouble accessing the websites, please email me to let us know.
READING – Every day 10 minutes
Please continue to enjoy your reading each day. Reading is fun and a great way to spend time together with your family, as well as developing our imaginations. Encourage your child to talk about what they have read and ask them a question or two about the book. This will help consolidate their comprehension work in school. Adults please remember to record what your child reads at home in their reading record. We will count all entries in the reading diaries weekly and award golden tickets to those who have read 20 times or more in a month.
Our book change day is Thursday.
Homework
Maths- Given out every Thursday to be handed in by the following Thursday.
If you have any questions, worries or concerns please contact me using the class email: year5@cpa.dsat.education
Thank you.
Mrs Milnes & Mrs Wilkinson