Welcome to the Lapwing Class
A warm welcome back to the new academic year! The year 5 team hope you have all had a wonderful summer and made the most of some time off school.
Please find some key information below, and as always, if you have any queries or concerns, please contact us via the school office.
Y5 Staff:
Mrs Stainton – Class Teacher
Mrs Biggs – PPA Cover/Friday Afternoons
Miss Smith – Class Teaching Assistant
Miss Demery – Class Teaching Assistant (Monday)
Our Curriculum:
We have some fantastic topics in Year 5 and we cannot wait to get started. Our class curriculum overview is on the curriculum document below.
We endeavour for our Year 5 curriculum to provide as many enrichment opportunities as we can squeeze in, and of course the children have our exciting Lakeside residential to look forward to. A Lakeside information evening will be held at the beginning of 2025.
Further information on other school trips will be provided as we progress through the year.
Homework:
Homework will initially consist of spellings and reading. As the children settle into our routines, I will add other pieces of work to this. Homework goes out with the children on Friday afternoon and should be returned to school on Monday morning. Homework diaries are checked every Friday and children are awarded extra credits for completing these. Now your child is in Year 5 they should take responsibility for ensuring they remember to take home and return their books and homework.
Spellings: We will send your child home with five new words every Monday. We ask that they not only practise spelling the words using effective strategies for themselves, but that they write each word in a sentence in their spelling books. If these sentences are super sentences, children can earn a credit.
Reading: We will be continuing with Accelerated Reader this year. Your child completed an assessment before the summer holidays and so will have the opportunity to choose a book appropriate to their level. Once they have completed the book, they will take the short online quiz (matched to the text) to determine their understanding. Children may also chose a school library book. As part of our schools’ expectations your child should read at least three times each week for twenty minutes. This reading should be recorded inn their reading diaries. Credits will be awarded to the children for meeting or exceeding this target each week
Multiplications: Following the statutory online Multiplication Tables Check (MTC) the children took in Year 4, our objective is for children to maintain their table facts, which most learnt off by heart and with a recall of <6 seconds. They should continue using Times Table Rockstars to refresh this recall or learn the tables they haven’t yet secured. We ask again this year that your child continues to access this resource at home.
E-Safety and social media:
Please refer to the school website to read our Online Safety policy.
It has also been brought to our attention that some children are using social media apps outside of school hours. Although this social media activity is not happening on the school site, please be aware it affects behaviour, anxiety and subsequently the learning of children in school.
We cannot regulate the online access that children have outside of school, but if a cyberbullying or safeguarding issue is reported to us, we have a duty of care to inform the parents involved.
We also kindly remind parents that whilst WhatsApp and other social media groups are a great resource for sharing information, there are unfortunately times when misinterpretation occurs. If you have a query or concern about your child or the school, please talk to us directly – we feel this is the best way to communicate information.
Credits & Behaviour Policy:
Please could we ask that you read the updated St. Peter’s Expected Behaviour policy which can be found on the school website. We ask parents for your support at home with this policy.
As always, there will be plenty of opportunities for children to gain credits for their house. Every half term, the house with the most credits will be given a non-uniform day as a reward.
PE Days:
PE will be on a Thursday and Friday. Please remember to label all kit and ensure that long hair is tied back. Black jogging bottoms or leggings can be worn for outside lessons during the colder months. At all other times, it is black shorts please.
Medical Information:
Please could you inform us of any medical issues you think we may not be aware of. If your child has an inhaler, please can you ensure they have a labelled one in school and can we please take this opportunity to remind you that we are a nut free school as we do have some children and staff with severe allergies, this includes Nutella or similar products. Thank you.
Packed Lunches:
As we are a healthy eating school, we ask that you do not send your child in with a fizzy drink and that chocolate is limited to one small bar/biscuit. Please could we also ask that your child has a separate clear water bottle (with a sports top) that they can access throughout the day in addition to the one they have for their lunch.
Uniform:
Our Uniform policy is on the school website, but please could we ask that the correct school colours are worn, especially with socks! All long hair (if it touches the shoulders) needs to be tied back and hair accessories are to be plain and in school colours. A single pair of plain silver/gold studs may be worn and a watch.
We are really looking forward to the year ahead. As your children progress through Year 5, we prepare them for the ‘big step up’ to their final year of primary school. We have high expectations of behaviour, and the developing use of independence and resilience – all of which are key to the children’s progression in maturity. We want to grow independence and a love of learning, and to flourish together.
We are all so excited for the year ahead, getting to know your children better. If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us straight away.
Mrs. Stainton and Mrs Smith