WC 9.11.26

What a busy and exciting week we have had! We began by welcoming Mrs Ayaz back to school - she will be covering Aspen and Hawthorn on a Monday whilst the teachers plan and Hawthorn on a Thursday. Instead of our usual Monday morning assembly, we participated in a special 'Bee Assembly' held by Accent Catering, in which we learnt about the incredible variety of species of bees, as well as the importance of their roles in our world! We also had our fantastic trip to the Ragged Museum – please see the blurb and pictures below.

On Wednesday, as a mark of respect to soldiers and their families, we participated in a minute's silence on the playground. We took this time to reflect and think about the sacrifices others have made for our freedom.

In maths, we have been learning about square and cube numbers; multiples and common multiples; and factors and common factors. We used practical resources such as multi-link, Venn diagrams and factor bugs to deepen our understanding. 

In History, we have been learning more about the Ancient Greeks. Throwing ourselves into the Olympics – did you know that the Olympics originally only lasted for one day? We were also making comparisons between Sparta and Athens – whose lives were so different! Sparta trained their children to become brave warriors, whereas Athens focussed on teaching their children the arts and music. Inspired by the Ancient Greeks, we are hoping to try some olives next week, as we recently found out they are the largest supplier of olives in the whole world!

In art, we created a famous Athenian Temple called The Parthenon (which sits atop the Acropolis). Using a one-point perspective, we made our temples look 3D. We finalised them by using a watercolour pallet of our choice to bring them to life.

Finally, we participated in a very important anti-bullying workshop and learnt the importance of speaking up if we experience or witness any form of bullying. The workshop used the wonderful book 'The Boy at the Back of the Class' as inspiration for our drama and freeze-frames.

Have a great weekend!

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

 

10.11.26 - Ragged Museum London

What a day! We all had a fantastic experience at the Ragged Museum on Tuesday. It was a unique, immersive day, and we really felt like we had travelled back in time (some children even said we were going further and further back in time each time we drove through a tunnel on our journey there). The smell of the building, the draughts through the corridors and the creaky floorboards all provided a rich flurry of the past! We were lucky enough to experience a real Victorian lesson with Miss Poll (who was very strict indeed) and we looked at a range of Victorian artefacts, including a replica of a Victorian room that would have been shared by a family of eight people. We found out so many interesting facts about Victorian London. For example, children used to be paid 3 pennies to make 144 match boxes! Also, can you believe that you were not allowed to write with your left hand in Victorian times?! 

We have attached some pictures for you to enjoy.

Mrs Hyett & Miss Dennis

WC - 2/11/26

We hope you are all well rested after our half-term break. We have thrown ourselves into this half-term with enthusiasm, resilience and a desire to be the best we can be! We have also been fortunate enough to welcome back Mrs Ayaz from maternity leave, which has been very exciting for us all.

In maths, we started long multiplication – showing grit, determination and resilience. We have all pushed ourselves in this challenging area of maths and many of us have managed to move on to multiplying three-digit numbers by two-digit numbers. Each one of us made ou teachers especially proud this week!

In History, we started learning about Ancient Greece, a very exciting (and mythical) time in history! We began by looking at the geography of Greece and learning many interesting facts about the country (did you know it is a peninsula?). We concluded by creating excellent timelines to show this remarkable period. Our reading focus this week was 'Theseus and the Minotaur'– which yielded some fantastic choral reading as a class. In grammar, we learnt how to use parentheses (specifically brackets) and used them in our writing.

In PE, we started our new topic, which is gymnastics. We created shapes with our bodies and use our balance for stability – engaging large muscle groups and testing our core strength! We will develop our skills further by doing partner work and using apparatus as the weeks progress.

In science, we concluded our 'Earth and Space' topic, ready to move on to 'Materials and their Properties'– which involves lots of practical work and investigation. We are looking forward to that!

In art, we created poppies for our wreath, ready for Remembrance Day on Wednesday. We will hold our annual minute silence showing respect to those who fought, and currently fight, for our freedom.

We are looking forward to our school trip next Tuesday. It should be an incredibly enjoyable day for all! 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

WC - 19/10/26

As we reach the end of our first half-term together, it is a great time to reflect on how far we have come already. It was wonderful to meet so many of you on Monday and share your child's progress in year 5 so far. It has been an exciting, incredibly busy, half-term and we are all looking forward to a well-deserved break and rest ready for the second half of the autumn term.

This week in maths, we have concluded short multiplication and revised some of the concepts we have learnt so far. We are really looking forward to learning long multiplication after half-term! 

In History, for Black History Month, we have been learning about the inspirational powerhouse Katherine Johnson – a former NASA mathematician, who broke down barriers in a world full of segregation to show that anyone can do anything with hard work and determination! We used our knowledge of her to create some fantastic free-verse poetry as well as some wonderful art, which will be used for a display outside our classrooms. 

In art, we finished our phenomenal Mayan masks by painting them using vivid colours and attention to detail. We have attached some photos below. We are looking forward to using clay again later in the year!

In science, we learnt the phases of the moon and used Jaffa cakes to represent them! Science is a fantastic opportunity to showcase our learning in a practical, interactive way. 

On Wednesday, we had a special assembly linked with road safety. After this, we left the school in small groups to learn how to move around the streets safely and be alert to any dangers around us. Claire, our instructor, complimented our maturity and conduct – which is always nice to hear!

We hope you have a fantastic half-term break! Stay safe, enjoy this special time with your loved ones and, most importantly, have fun!

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis :)

WC - 12/10/26

We have had a really busy week in year 5 this week. In English (and History), we planned and started writing our non-chronological reports on the Ancient Maya. The knowledge we were able to bring to our reports was phenomenal and demonstrated how much we have learnt about this topic. Linked to our Maya topic, we are using clay to create amazing masks – we chose between a celebration mask, a battle mask or a death mask. Interestingly, the Maya used colour to represent different things and often used animal designs in their masks. We will finish them off next week when we paint them and will share some pictures for you all to see.

In maths, we have started short multiplication. This is a wonderful warm-up for after half-term when we start long multiplication! We are really using our growth mindsets, and essential multiplication skills, to tackle each calculation. 

In Science, we have learnt more about our Solar System – answering the question 'why and how does day and night occur?'

Earlier this week, KS2 participated in an incredible live lesson held by the British Museum. It was linked to the astonishing Bayeux Tapestry, which made its way to England (London) for the first time in around a thousand years. We carried out a range of activities and learnt so much about this incredible piece of history – can you believe it is 5 London buses in length?! 

Have a wonderful weekend and we are looking forward to seeing you all on Monday for the parent consultations.

Mrs Hyett & Miss Dennis

WC - 5/10/26

As we near the end of week 6, it has been a nice opportunity to see how far the children have come in their learning already. We have attached some work from our working walls to show you!

In maths this week, we have been working on addition word problems - these really challenged our mathematical thinking as we used many steps to work out the answers! Then, we moved onto subtraction. We recalled our learning from year 4 and then pushed ourselves to work with increasingly large numbers. We had fun in our practical session, where teamwork and collaboration is key. 

In History, we started our new topic 'Ancient Maya'. We started by creating incredible timelines and then we generated lots of research to prepare ourselves for our big write next week - an explanation text. The children recalled lots of knowledge from year 3 and deepened that further in our lessons.

In science (and art), we created fantastic solar systems using shaving foam! We will post some pictures soon, when they are dry!

In PE, we continued tag rugby, developing our skills as team players and securing our understanding of the rules of tag rugby. Some fabulous year 5 children were also selected to participate in tri-golf, representing the school wonderfully, with one person even scoring a hole in one!!

In music, we continued learning to play the toots. The children really are working very hard at perfecting their performances!

Earlier this week we participated in a 'My Futures' Zoom. This is a great opportunity to get the children thinking about the type of jobs they could consider for their future. They particularly enjoyed the golden ticket element, in which they had to decode a secret message. In addition to the My Future zoom, we had a special assembly about Halloween and Bonfire night, delivered by Essex Police. They told us how to keep safe at this fun (but potentially risky) time of year!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Mrs Hyett & Miss Dennis

 

WC - 28/9/26

It is hard to believe we are in week 5 already! 

In maths this week, we have been working on rounding numbers to the nearest 10,100 and 1,000 - using our growth mindsets and our knowledge from year 4 to support us. Our helpful phrase '5 or more let it soar, 4 or less let it rest' come in handy! We have also started column addition, increasing the size of the numbers we were working with.

In English, we completed our biographies of Queen Victoria - at a year 5 level we strived to include year 5/6 spelling words, fronted adverbials for cohesion and as much detail as possible to ensure they were interesting to read! We really did work hard on these and look forward to our next big write! In art, we created portraits of Queen Victoria using charcoal, which added depth and texture to the piece.

In Spanish, we recalled our prior learning (greetings and introductions) and moved on to the places we live in - Vivo en Inglaterra. We have really enjoyed the start we have made in Spanish, the enthusiasm is infectious.

In PE, we were fortunate enough to have an enrichment session covering a very important life skill - self defence. We listened carefully and applied the skills we were taught in a mature and sensible way. It is important that we remember to only use these skills if absolutely necessary and the best defence is avoiding situations in which we feel any sense of danger.

In science, we continued our Earth and Space topic by learning the way that planets move around the sun - using language such as rotate, orbit and elliptical pathway. 

Have a great weekend.

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

Home Learning Activities for Friday, 25th of September 📚✏️

Hello Year 5! 

Here are some tasks that we would love you to complete while the school remains closed. Have a go, try your best, and most importantly, enjoy your learning!

1. Maths: Roman Numerals revision - can you recall the Roman Numerals that you know?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z8trxg8

BBC Bitesize is here to help!

Have a read through and test yourself with the quiz.

You can use BBC Bitesize for more fun maths games and activities. 

2. TT Rockstars 🎸

Why not log on to TT Rockstars and have some fun practising your times tables?

Challenge yourself to improve your score and see if you can climb to the top of the leaderboard! 🏆

3. Enjoy a Good Read!! 📖☀️ 

There’s always time to enjoy a good book!

Find a comfy spot, head outside into the sunshine if you can, and enjoy getting lost in a great story. 🌞📚

✅ Ask an adult to sign your reading record after you have read. 

⭐ Finished your book? Become a book reviewer! 

Tell us: 

• What was your favourite part of the story? 

• Who was your favourite character and why? 

• Would you recommend this book to a friend? 

You could even draw a picture of your favourite scene! 

4. English – Creative Writing! ✏️📖
Your task: 
Look outside your window or, if you can, go for a short walk. Take your time to notice what is around you.

1. Look closely 👀
Notice:

* What can you see?
* What colours, shapes and textures do you notice?
* Is anything moving?
* What is the weather like?

2. Listen carefully 👂
What sounds can you hear? Try to describe them using interesting vocabulary.

3. Imagine 💭
Choose one thing you noticed and imagine it has a secret story.

4. Write ✏️
Write a creative piece of at least 250 words. You could write:

* a short story
* a setting description
* a poem
* a diary entry from the point of view of something you saw

⭐ Challenge yourself!

Use:

* expanded noun phrases
* powerful verbs and adjectives
* similes and metaphors
* personification
* show, don’t tell
* a variety of sentence openers

Starter idea:
“I had never noticed it before. Hidden between the…”

Remember: You don’t need to go outside if you can’t. You can use your imagination and observe from a window instead!

5. Enrichment Passport (also linked on the previous page):

How many of these can you complete? 

This is a fantastic opportunity to have fun, try something new and learn new skills. Challenge yourself and see how many you can tick off! ⭐

📸 We'd love to see photos, drawings or any work you complete! 

Have fun, be creative and let your imagination shine! 🌈

 

Have a great day everyone and see you on Monday,

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis 

 

 

WC - 21.9.26

What an unexpected turn of events this week, we hope it has not impacted too many of you at home! We hope to be back to normal and in school soon. Despite the unexpected interruption in our week, we have been working hard and pushing ourselves to be amazing across a range of lessons.

In maths, we learnt a range of Roman numerals – including working out our birth year! Next, we moved on to negative numbers (which will resume when we return). As always in our maths lessons, we like to make connections with real life and the children were able to identify a variety of places they have seen Roman numerals (clocks and in movie credits) and negative numbers (lifts and thermometers). In English, we learnt the features of a biography and used this to help us plan our upcoming biographies on Queen Victoria – the children really are experts on her now, so we expect some fantastic writing from them! The children were so impressive in their recall of facts about Queen Victoria that a number of adults came into class from different years to test them! In computing, we had our first AI lesson, in which we identified images that were created by AI and also emphasised the importance of recognising that AI can never replace a human when we need a friend or connection. We want to keep this discussion ongoing throughout the year so we can help support the children in their understanding of the fast-evolving AI world. Please have these conversations at home too.

 This week, in our assembly, we were fortunate enough to have Essex Police in to discuss hate crimes – the children listened attentively and respectfully. We were very proud of them.

We hope to see you all very soon!

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

 

WC - 14.9.26

It was another busy week in year 5 last week!

In maths, we continued our place value topic. We challenged ourselves by working with larger numbers; ordering numbers; and counting in 10s, 100s and 1,000s. This week we are moving onto Roman numerals and negative numbers! In History, we learnt about Queen Victoria and her significant reign. We will use all the research we have gathered to write biographies this week. Did you know Queen Victoria made Christmas fashionable? Our art was also linked to the Victorian era, and we focused on the floral designs in William Morris' artwork – using watercolour paints to create effective pieces. In music, we have been lucky enough to be enrolled on a fabulous course to learn the toot – an instrument similar to a flute. We met the lovely Mrs Hundle on Thursday and we will continue lessons with her for around 10 weeks. In science, we recapped our prior learning (the order of the planets) and delved deeper by identifying that planets are spherical. In PE, we continued tag rugby and started some small games. In the coming weeks, children who demonstrate talent, and most importantly teamwork, will be selected to represent the school in a tournament! 

We hope you had a lovely weekend and we are looking forward to an exciting week ahead.

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

WC - 1.9.26

Welcome to year 5! We hope you enjoy and keep up to date with this page as we aim to include an abundance of information and photographs, showcasing the year 5 journey throughout the entire year.

The children have started the year with great maturity and resilience; we are very impressed with our first impression! It has been a joy to get to know them and hear about their exciting summers. We have had a soft start to our year this week, writing diary entries based on a highlight of our summer holiday; enjoying some OTTER time; undertaking some baseline assessments; starting our tag rugby lessons in PE; starting our new history topic 'Victorians'; and creating some incredible art inspired by Picasso and the story 'The Dot' (please see some lovely examples below). We are looking forward to jumping headfirst into our timetable and exciting year 5 curriculum next week. 

On Monday, lots of us will enjoy the attendance award of a day at Legoland - be sure to be prepared for all weathers if you are coming! On Friday, we will be holding a parent information session at 2.50pm - we will outline the year ahead and answer any questions you may have about year 5. 

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis

WC - 7/9/26

It has been a very busy week in year 5! It started with a large portion of us going to Legoland for the day - it was a very enjoyable day, full of rides and laughter, and we are incredibly grateful to the adults who came to support the trip! The children who remained at school played some games outside in the sunshine and created some wonderful cat art - inspired by our class book 'Varjack Paw'.

In maths, we started our place value topic and the children have impressed the teachers so much! We enjoyed using dice to create numbers together and breaking down the place value of each digit. In PE, we started tag rugby and played some fun games to practise throwing and catching as well as dodging defenders. In art, we created our annual Christmas cards (if you can believe it), these will be sent home next week - should you want to order any merchandise from Cauliflower. In History, we have continued our Victorian topic by creating some awesome timelines! We are going to conduct some research on Victorian inventions in the ICT suite tomorrow!

It has been a tiring week and the children really have worked hard, it isn't easy getting used to early mornings and getting back into the swing of school, so we really are proud of them.

We hope to see lots of you at our parent meeting tomorrow afternoon (2.50pm), where we will outline the year ahead and hopefully answer any questions you may have. If you cannot make it, we will be updating our website with the slides.

Mrs Hyett and Miss Dennis