Welcome to our Autumn Term newsletter. WW2!

This terms topic is ‘WW2”. We will focus on understanding the importance of this relatively short yet, influential period in history. The uniqueness of this historical topic is the ability to gain exposure to primary evidence and we already have two inspirational and heart-wrenching visitors planned – watch this space as the vehicle to inspire. Judging by the positivity shown by the children to this topic, our aim is to use this topic as a vehicle for most other lessons.

We do have a WW2 wow day planned for Tuesday 19th September (letter to follow) and will be asking children to ‘interview’ family members or friends to collate and share their experiences of this period.

English

As you will know, the new English curriculum has an increased focus on technical accuracy and in particular, spelling, punctuation and grammar and expectations are higher than ever before. For this reason, all children will now be explicitly taught grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Children will also be given opportunities to both hone and show-off their writing skills across a range genres including: letters in the first person, reports, instructions and biographies within the context of our topic work.

Maths

The continued rise in expectations at all ages has placed greater emphasis on children being completely secure in the four main operations and compact methods of calculation. Last year’s SATs paper only served to highlight this and the importance of written arithmetic and a genuine appreciation of place value and basic number facts e.g. times – tables and the inverse division facts and bonds.

It is imperative you regularly practice times-tables and division facts with your child at home until they are fluent as this knowledge allows them to access the other curriculum demands.

On a Friday the children will focus on developing fluency in relation to fractions (+,-, x and ÷), decimals and percentages.

Please don’t hesitate to speak to me regarding these expectations as I am keen to help in any way I can and suggest ways in which you can help your child reach ‘age related expectations’ by the end of the year.

Science

Science will be taught by on a weekly basis and or focus for this term will be tofurther develop their investigative skills and methods of scientific enquiry. They will learn how to plan, conduct, write-up and evaluate a fair experiment. We will focus in particular on forces, light and electricity and where possible will be linked to our WW2 topic.

French/Computing

The children will continue to learn French with Mrs Pickford each Wednesday and they will be looking at the topic of school. She will begin with the topic of Morning Routine and later in the term they will learn how todescribetheir journey to school. They willrecognise and learn how to use Reflexive verbs, the 3rd person form and varied question forms. The older Badgers will be extending their learning through using connectives, tuning up their accuracy and pronunciation and using the bilingual dictionaries to personalise their work. Year 5 only will be attending an MFL morning at RBSC on Wednesday 27th September. We will use a minibus, leaving 08.55 and returning in time for lunch.

Computing will be expertly taught by Mr Chaffey each Wednesday morning. The children will be learning about coding, programming as well as lots of online safety information – essential to all users.

P.E.

Please ensure your child has their PE kit with them at all times.The children will normally have PE on a Monday afternoon, however if the weather is poor, I will endeavour to swop the session to an alternative afternoon, hence the importance of having suitable kit at School every day. We will continue to swim on a Friday afternoon. There will also be various sporting fixtures, tournaments and skills sessions during the term for those children who are interested.

URGENT PLEA – We are desperate for parent helpers to accompany the class to swimming on a Friday afternoon. If you could volunteer for just one session, we would be very grateful. Simply let Mrs Hodge in the office or myself know.

Music/Drama

The children will continue to have their weekly singing assembly. There will also be drama activities linked to our topic throughout this term.

Art

This year, the art curriculum will be covered as part of our topic sessions as opposed to isolated teaching.

Residential

You should have already received a letter about next year’s trip which promises to be really exciting and action packed. If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks again for your continued support – we are all really excited about the term ahead!

If you have any questions at all, please speak to Mr Day, Mrs Marsh or Mr Arnold