Our class book this term is ‘The Stolen Spear’, Saviour Pirotta. This is a book written by an author who we had the pleasure of inviting into our school a couple of years ago. It is based around our topic of Stone Ages: Wolf has always been an outsider to his community, with his strange dreams and stargazing. When he is saved by a secretive stranger called Crow, he brings her into his village. Some time later, someone breaks into the sacred burial mound and steals a precious spear belonging to a dead healer. Convinced that Crow stole the spear, Wolf is banished by his village to find it. But the world outside the village is harsh and new… will Wolf find the strength he needs to find the spear?

Maths:

We are always working on our mental maths skills and strategies in Year 3 and 4. This half term is no different as we will continue to discuss and practise the best mental strategies for solving problems, alongside continuing to learn our times tables.
In addition to this, we will be learning about Place Value, including reading and writing numbers up to 1000 in Y3, and numbers up to 10000 in Y4. Pupils will be comparing, sequencing and calculating with numbers, using bar models to help them. Following this, Year 4 will progress onto rounding and estimating to conclude this topic.

English:

We have read ‘Stone Age Boy’ this week in classes and the children have been very inquisitive about life during the Stone Ages. We are delighted to feel the enthusiasm for this topic brewing as they will be learning lots of information during their History lessons, alongside their English ones.

In English, we will be focusing on various aspects of grammar to support the pieces of writing we have planned. The children have already made a great start of their character descriptions and we know they’re setting descriptions will follow on with as much effort. There are going to be lots of writing opportunities and we are looking forward to seeing what the children’s outcomes will be.

RE/PSHE:

Children in both year groups have already started exploring ‘What do the creation stories tell us?’. They have made a brilliant start with this and have worked hard to understand some difficult concepts relating to religion. We hope that the children will continue to show respect and understand the world around them in greater depth.

Children in Year 3 and 4 will be accessing some PSHE lessons focusing on RSE this half term with their class teachers. Parents/carers should have received an information letter which gives more details about these sessions. Please ask staff in the LKS2 team if you think you may have missed this.

PE:

Our PE focus for this half term are handball and health related exercises. All classes will be accessing two hours of PE every week. Please ensure your child wears their PE kit on their PE days – you can find this information out from your child’s class teacher.

Please see below which sports your class will be learning:

Stingrays: Handball and Health Related Exercises

Pufferfish: Handball and Health Related Exercises

Blue Tangs: Handball and Health Related Exercises

Science:

Our next Science week is w/c 25/09/2023 and both year groups will be learning about Animals including humans. Children will be working within their own year groups during this week.

Spanish:

During this half term’s topic of ‘Time to Eat’, children will learn and repeat key vocabulary. They will learn to make statements about food that they like and dislike as well as making polite requests and identifying quantities. Further into the topic, children will be drawing on their prior knowledge of adjectives in Spanish to describe food and drinks items. We are hoping that by the end of this unit, children will be able to have a short conversation about food, in Spanish.

Music:

During music lessons this half term, children in Y3 and 4 will be learning songs, beats and even some dance moves in our ‘Human Body’ topic. We have planned for children to use percussion instruments to accompany songs. They are looking forward to the challenge of being able to multitask with playing, singing and dancing! Alongside lessons in class, each class will get the opportunity to work with our outreach Djembe teacher – Autumn term: Blue Tangs.

History:

In History, we will be learning about the Stone Age, the Iron Age and the Bronze Age and just how long ago these periods were! We will learn about people’s way of life during this time and how this changed over the time period. As we don’t have any written records about prehistoric times, we will find out how archaeologists have discovered what life was like then.

We are continuing with our class book from last half term which is Letters from the Lighthouse, Emma Carroll.

‘Olive and her brother have been evacuated to Devon, but her older sister Sukie is still missing from the night of the bombs. A mysterious note found in the coat of her sister suggests that Sukie was involved in something dangerous, but Olive can’t make the pieces fit together.’

English

Our Rose Blanche narratives are unfortunately coming to an end. The children have thoroughly enjoyed delving into the life of Rose and writing about her experiences during WW2. The children have showed empathy and compassion in their writing and it has been wonderful to hear so many of them enthusiastic about their pieces of work, wanting to share them with adults, and children, around school. It’s also been really enjoyable to mark such brilliant work!

Following our recent workshop with guest speaker, Judith Rhodes, our next writing focus will be biographies. Judith, with the ‘Little Suitcase’, came to talk to UKS2 about her family’s experience during the Holocaust as a Jewish family. The children listened attentively during this session, showing great respect and asked some brilliant questions throughout.

Spanish

In Spanish this half term, both year groups will be focusing on ‘The Wider World’ (el mundo a mi alrededor). The children will learn new key words and phrases relating to places in our world e.g. continents, animals, countries and the United Kingdom. They will conversate in Spanish asking each other questions such as, “Where do you live?”, and “Where is Spanish spoken?”. Not only will this enhance their Spanish skills, but their Geography knowledge too.

Maths

Year 5

During their Maths learning this half-term, Year 5 will continue to develop their understanding of fractions in a variety of contexts. After, they will move on to decimals and begin to explore the relationship between fractions and decimals using key mathematical vocabulary to reason this connection. Year 5 will also continue to strengthen their fundamental maths skills through the wide range of fluency activities provided on an afternoon

Year 6

In Maths this half-term, Year 6 will be working on applying our understanding of fractions and percentages to support us when comparing quantities using ratio. We will also look at geometry and strengthen our understanding of the different types of angles, drawing triangles and naming parts of a circle. This will be followed by position and movement where we will apply our understanding of co-ordinates and negative numbers to help us describe reflections and translations of shapes. Alongside this, we will continue to work on our fundamental mathematical skills during our afternoon fluency activities.

PSHE

PSHE at Oulton is taught through discussion. Pupils are asked to follow classroom rules that encourage respect and the ability to discuss concerns with a trusted adult when needed.

Through PSHE, UKS2 will be focusing on two different topics. We will begin the half-term by learning about Identity, Society and Equality. Part of this will be looking at the experience of refugees, human rights and about homelessness in today’s society. We will also be looking at Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Education. They will be focusing on the risks associated with different drugs and how to manage risk in situations involving drug use.

PE 

Our PE this half term will be slightly different depending on which year group/class your child is in. Please see below to see which areas of PE your child will be focusing on this half term.

Blue Tangs: Swimming and Dance
Orcas: Swimming and Tennis
Starfish: Tennis (Miss James) and Dodgeball (Elite)
Octopus: Tennis (Mr James) and Dodgeball (Elite)

Children in Octopus, Blue Tangs and Starfish will also continue to be taught by Elite Kids Coaches for one of their PE lessons.

DT

We will be continuing with DT this half term but starting a new project making controlled vehicles. The children will first learn about the history of transport and then move onto understanding why we are moving towards more electric vehicles. They will then budget for their project and work together to create a small battery-powered vehicle. We are lucky enough to be working with the Primary Engineer Programme for this project which means that we will be partnered with an engineer from the local area to come and support us throughout. The children will also get the opportunity to be chosen to take their vehicle to a competition at the end of May to showcase their work alongside other schools from Leeds.

Science

In Year 5, we will be learning about Living things and their Habitats. Throughout which, the children will expand on their knowledge of Plants from Year 3/4, look into the work of Jane Goodall and compare the life cycles of different living things. They will also have the responsibility of looking after our strawberry beds up until the end of the year.

Year 6 will be learning about Electricity and will also be building on knowledge from Year 3/4. Constructing simple circuits to investigate light and sound alongside understanding the symbols used to represent different elements of a simple circuit. This will link in well with our DT project which will contain a circuit of its own.

Music

Our music theme for this half-term is Roots. Pupils in both Year 5 and 6 will work on performing a traditional African story through drama as well as singing traditional African songs. Children will be given the opportunity to use a range of instruments to support the tracks as well as provide background music for some scenes of the story.

History

Our class book for this half term is Letters from the Lighthouse, Emma Carroll.

‘Olive and her brother have been evacuated to Devon, but her older sister Sukie is still missing from the night of the bombs. A mysterious note found in the coat of her sister suggests that Sukie was involved in something dangerous, but Olive can’t make the pieces fit together.’

English

Our class text this half-term is Rose Blanche. This is a picture book based around WW2. ‘This story is told through the eyes of a young German girl, Rose Blanche, who is a witness to the immense changes occurring in Nazi Germany.’

Children will begin by exploring the book, one picture at a time. They will be exploring grammatical features of writing a narrative as well as creating dramatical freeze-frames to enhance their writing. The story will unfold a week at a time and the children will be re-telling Rose Blanche’s experience in their own way. We hope they will follow the various emotions with empathy and that this will reflect in their writing opportunities.

Science

Science week: w/c 23/01/2023

Year 5 will be learning about Earth and Space in their upcoming Science Week. During this week, they will be investigating and exploring the movement of our Solar System and how this relates to every day life. They will be describing the movement of Earth, and other planets, in relation to the sun and moon. Children will also get the opportunity to learn about why we have seasons and rotations during day and night.

Year 6 will be learning about the circulatory system in their upcoming Science Week. They will be exploring the different parts of the system and how they work independently as well as collective to allow our bodies to function. As part of their Science Week, Year 6 children will be given to opportunity to learn about CPR and will receive CPR training for specialist visitors.

Maths

To start the half term, Year 5 will be recapping their multiplication and division skills through exploring word problems. Following this, they will be learning about fractions. Children will be focusing on comparing and ordering fractions, finding equivalent fractions, and adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions. Year 5 will also have the opportunity to develop their understanding of reading and interpreting different types of data.

Year 6 will start the half term by focusing on units of measurement. They will be using our understanding of multiplying by multiples of ten to help them convert between centimetres and millimetres, centimetres and metres as well as grams and kilograms and millilitres and litres. Once this topic is finished, Year 6 will move onto percentages. Within the topic, they will be considering and exploring the relationship between percentages, fractions and decimals. They will also begin to strengthen their mathematical skills when using percentages to solve a range of questions.

RE

This half term’s RE key question is: ‘What do Christians believe about Jesus’ death and resurrection?’.

DT

We have already begun our new DT project, linked with our new history topic, WW2. The children have been exploring examples of Propaganda and have had the opportunity to re-create their own example, displaying a positive message relating to war. As the term proceeds, children will be exploring textiles and developing their sewing skills – something they are looking forward to!

History

During this half term, children in Year 5 and 6 will learn when and why World War II began and find out about the key individuals and countries involved. In addition to this, they will discover all about evacuation; learn what it was like to live with food rationing and explore the contribution made by women to the war effort. There will also be opportunities for them to learn important facts about the Holocaust and investigate events that were key turning points in the war, such as the Battle of Britain. We are hoping to visit the Holocaust Centre in Huddersfield so that children can learn outside the classroom in a hands on environment. Studying WW2 will help children to develop their investigation and evaluation skills; learn to organise information chronologically and understand how past events have helped to shape the world we know today.

Music

This half term, Year 5 and 6 are exploring ‘Growth’ during their music lessons. They will be learning new songs, something they really enjoy, and incorporating body percussion and instruments to enhance their skills.

PE

Our PE this half term will be slightly different depending on which year group/class your child is in. Please see below to see which areas of PE your child will be focusing on this half term.

Blue Tangs: Swimming and Dance
Orcas: Swimming and Dance
Starfish: Gymnastics (Miss James) and Dance (Elite)
Octopus: Yoga (Mr James) and Dance (Elite)

Children in Octopus, Blue Tangs and Starfish will also continue to be taught by Elite Kids Coaches for one of their PE lessons.

Children in UKS2 also have access to an after-school club run by Elite Kids. Please get in touch with the school office if you would like any additional information, or to book your child a place.

English

In our English, we will be looking at developing our writing skills by studying different grammatical tools. We will investigate these tools and consider the impact they have on our writing and how a good writer can use these to their advantage.
We are starting a new class book, The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. In this story, we follow siblings Tom and Kat in resolving the mystery of their missing cousin, Salim. They watch him board the London Eye and once the pod lands, everyone leaves, except Salim.
We already can’t wait to see how this story unfolds!

Maths

We are always working on our mental maths skills and strategies in Year 5 and 6. This half term is no different as we will continue to discuss and practise the best mental strategies for solving problems.
Alongside this, we will also be learning about Place Value, including reading and writing numbers up to 1,000,000. Pupils will be comparing, ordering, rounding and calculating with numbers, using bar models to help them. Following this, Year 5 and 6 will progress onto calculating with large numbers using the four operations to solve calculations and word problems.

Science

Our next Science week will be w/c 10.10.2022 for both year groups. Year 5’s Science week will be focused on Animals Including Humans. The children will explore and identify different life cycles. They will also get opportunities to investigate changes during the existence of animals and humans, studying the similarities and differences between species. Year 6’s focus will be on Living Things and their Habitats. During this topic, the children will be exploring and investigating the remarkable plants and animals that make up our planet.

Journey of Migration

In History this half term, we are going to be learning what is meant by migration. We are then going to be exploring why people, past and present, have entered and left Great Britain. We will be reflecting on different countries, parts of history, and other factors which have influenced migration in the past, alongside exploring what changes migration has brought to our country.

PE/Swimming

Throughout this year, Year 5 will be attending weekly swimming lessons at our local leisure centre. This is something they are really looking forward to and know the importance of.
In PE, Year 5 and 6 will be focusing on Basketball throughout this half term. In addition to this, Year 6 will be enhancing their skills in Sports Hall Athletics sessions.

Home Support

We hope you will continue to promote your child’s learning at home by regularly listening to them read (and recording this in their planner), practising times tables and allocating time for them to practise/test their spellings. This really does make a difference!