Class book: We are continuing with our class book from Summer 1: Wolf Wilder, Kathryn Rundell
A wolf wilder is the opposite of an animal tamer: it is a person who teaches tamed animals to fend for themselves, and to fight and to run, and to be wary of humans. When the murderous hostility of the Russian Army threatens her very existence, Feo is left with no option but to go on the run.

English:
Both Year 5 and 6 have been working hard in their English lessons to find out the physical geography facts about 3 countries: Russia, Canada and United Kingdom. With this information, they have planned and written a non-chronological report aimed at Y4 pupils. It has been great to see the children to engaged and interested in finding out about countries climates and physical features.
Following on from this, Y6 are hoping to re-read their letters from this time last year and re-write one ahead of their upcoming transition to high school. It will be a great time for reflection and for them to see just how far they’ve come!
For the final part of the term, amidst all the end of year chaos, both year groups will be working on a superhero project. We know they are going to love the different activities involved in this, especially inventing their own superhero!

Maths:

Year 6 will look at spirals in Maths and the different geometric patterns and shapes that can create these. We will then consolidate aspects of our learning throughout the year.

Year 5 will be moving on to geometry- where they will look at types of angles, drawing angles and finding missing angles on straight lines, around a point and in quadrilaterals. They will also begin to deepen their understanding of regular and irregular polygons.

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.

Science:

Year 5 will be learning about the properties of different materials during their Science this half term. They will carry out a series of tests to identify the properties of different materials and then group the materials according to their properties. There will be lots of hands on enquiries for the children to carry out as well including: testing thermal insulators, exploring how to separate different mixtures and observing irreversible changes.

In Year 6, they will be exploring Light during their Science lessons. Through this topic they will: recognise how light travels; understand how objects are seen and explore how shadows are formed. This work will lead on nicely from their Earth and Space topic in Year 5 and Light topic in Year 3.

Art:

In Art this half term, UKS2 will be working with clay to recreate some well-known British landmarks. They will first create mood boards around a chosen landmark; then they will improve their techniques working with clay; finally creating a replica of their chosen landmark.

 

Music:

For our music in the final half-term of the school year, Year 6 will be practising their singing in preparation for the end of year production. This year promises to be one full of catching songs and the pupils are excited to share these with friends and family when performance day rolls around!

Year 5 will continue to work on their Worlds Unite performance from last half-term.

Geography:

In Geography, UKS2 will be exploring the physical geography of three countries – the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia. We will compare these countries and identify similarities and differences in what these countries are like and how this impacts the people living there. We will be using our knowledge of these countries to write fact-filled non-chronological reports in our English lessons.

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 Athletics
Orcas: Swimming and Athletics
Starfish: Athletics (Miss James) and Cricket (Elite)
Octopus: Athletics (Mr James) and Cricket (Elite)
Children in Octopus, Blue Tangs and Starfish will also continue to be taught by Elite Kids Coaches for one of their PE lessons.
UKS2 children are also able to attend an UKS2 Dodgeball club. If your child is interested, please contact the school office via email.

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.
Throughout this half-term, they will be focusing on Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco. Part of this will require the children to look at the risks associated with using different drugs,
assessing the level of risk in different situations involving drug use and learning about ways to
manage risk in situations involving drug use

We’re already into another half term; it’s going to be a busy one! We are especially looking forward to celebrating the upcoming Coronation and have some exciting things planned in school for the children.

Class book: Wolf Wilder, Kathryn Rundell

A wolf wilder is the opposite of an animal tamer: it is a person who teaches tamed animals to fend for themselves, and to fight and to run, and to be wary of humans. When the murderous hostility of the Russian Army threatens her very existence, Feo is left with no option but to go on the run.

English:

During this half term, Y5 & 6 are concluding their Ursula Rhodes biographies and progressing onto learning about Greek Myths and Legends, in line with their current History topic, Ancient Greece. The children will use storyboards as a resource to plan to re-tell a famous myth of their choice. We know this is something they are going to love exploring!

Year 6 are going to be looking back at the letters they wrote to themselves at the end of their previous school year. They will reflect on these and plan to write a new letter, ready for their next steps going to high school.

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.

Science:

Science for Year 5 this half term will be Properties and Materials. In this topic we will be: comparing and grouping everyday materials, exploring soluble and insoluble and investigating how different materials can be separated. This topic is quite a large topic and so therefore it will continue into Summer 2.

In Year 6, we will be learning about Light. This will build on our work from LKS2 where we will explore the different ways light behaves including light sources, reflection and shadows.

DT:

All of UKS2 have made a good start to their controlled vehicles in Spring 2. This half term, we will continue to build the frame for our vehicles and then add in a circuit to make them move. We look forward to choosing 6 children to take to a celebration event at Leeds Beckett University on the 19^th of May!

In Geography, UKS2 will be exploring the physical geography of three countries – the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia. We will compare these countries and identify similarities and differences in what these countries are like and how this impacts the people living there. We will be using our knowledge of these countries to write fact-filled non-chronological reports in our English lessons.

Maths:

Year 5

During this half-term, Year 5 will begin by securing their understanding of decimal place value and how to write and read them. They will then explore the relationship between fractions and decimals before using this to support them with adding and subtracting. After decimals, Year 5 will move onto percentages where they will explore how to write a percentage, the relationship between fractions, decimals and percentages. They will also begin to consider comparing quantities using percentages.

Year 6

For this half-term, our Year 6 pupils will recap our prior learning to strengthen our understanding of key mathematical concepts such as place value, fractions and percentages. We will also recap our learning on 3 dimensional shapes and their properties. Once we have recapped our prior learning, we will move onto using algebra to describe patterns as well as writing and solving algebraic expressions.

Music:

Our music theme this year is based on Worlds Unite. During this, children will strengthen their body percussion and instrument skills. Pupils will also sing collectively in harmonies and melodies before coming together for a united performance.

RE:

In RE, we are looking at ‘How do Sikhs show Commitment?’ Throughout this topic, we will look at understanding how Sikhs demonstrate values through daily religious observance, investigate how Sikh teachings and stories influence Sikh practice and how Sikhs reflect on their own ideas and experiences.

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.

Throughout this half-term, they will be focusing on Careers, financial capability and economic wellbeing. Part of this will require the children to look at how money can be borrowed and the risks invovled in this, what makes a successful enterprise and what influences people’s decision about careers.

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 Tennis

Orcas: Swimming and Tennis

Starfish: Dance (Miss James) and Tennis (Elite)

Octopus: Dance (Mr James) and Tennis (Elite)

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

UKS2 children are also able to attend an UKS2 Dodgeball club. If your child is interested, please contact the school office via email.

Class book: Kensuke’s Kingdom
Our class book for this half term is Kensuke’s Kingdom, Michael Morpurgo.

Kensuke, a former Japanese soldier, survived the war and the bombing of Hiroshima, but his family perished. As an extraordinary bond forms between the two, Kensuke faces a heart-breaking choice: can he give up the secluded life he’s built for himself to help reunite Michael with his parents?

English

Our class text this half-term is Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo. As mentioned briefly above, this is a story of a young boy whose family decides to sail around the world together. During a storm, Michael gets knocked off the boat and is washed up on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Michael can’t find food or water but one morning he wakes up to a plate of fish and fruit. He’s not alone on this island.

Children will begin by writing a balanced argument for and against sailing around the world with their family. As the story continues, we read entries from Michael’s ship’s log and so the children write their own ship’s log-imagining what a good day and a bad day might be like aboard a ship. We then look at short stories before the children write their own. As the story draws to an end, the children will have an opportunity to write a letter from one of the main characters in the story before putting them in a bottle to ‘send out to sea’!

Science

Year 5 will be learning about Forces in their upcoming Science Week. During this week, they will be investigating and exploring gravity and the effects of air and water resistance. They will be experimenting with objects when they act between moving surfaces and how different variables can impact the movement. Children will also get the opportunity to learn about gears, leavers and pulleys to explore the impact their forces have against objects.

Year 6 will be learning about Adaptation and Revolution in their upcoming Science Week. They will be exploring how living things can produce offspring of the same kind, despite not being identical. Year 6 will also explore how living things have changed over time and that pieces of history, such as fossils, can provide information about how things inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. During this week, the children will also be investigating how animals and plants have adapted to suit their environment and that adaptation may lead to evolution.

Maths

To start the half term, Year 5 will be moving onto their Multiplication and Division topic. Within this topic, they will be learning about multiples, factors and prime numbers then move onto multiplying 2, 3 and 4-digit numbers. They will also look at dividing with and without remainders. Towards the end of the half term, they will be applying their Multiplication and Division skills to Word Problems.

Year 6 will start the half term by finishing off their Fractions topic. They will be using all four operations to answer reasoning and problem-solving questions linked to fractions. Leading on from this, they will develop their understanding of Decimals; knowing how to convert a fraction to a decimal, divide decimals by multiples of 10 and multiply and divide decimals by whole numbers.

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, Year 5 will be learning how to keep themselves and others safe. Pupils will discuss what it means to be safe online and the impact and influence online behaviours can have on themselves and others. Year 5 pupils will also be looking at the impact of choices around being absent from home and identifying ways in which they can support themselves and others in this scenario.

For Year 6, PSHE lessons will be around Relationships and Sex Education. Pupils will learn about positive relationships, human reproduction and roles and responsibilities individuals have. Within our learning, children will be given the opportunity to ask questions using an ‘ask it basket’. Throughout our lessons, children are asked to be respectful of each other and follow the ground rules.

Art

All of UKS2 will be improving their skills in working with Water Colours. They will develop different sketching techniques: Hatching, contour hatching, cross hatching, random hatching, stippling and ink wash and learn how to control and experiment qualities of tone, shades, hue and mood. These skills will accumulate in each child creating a piece based on their class text (Kensuke’s Kingdom).

Geography
In Geography, we will be learning about the North Pole and the South Pole. This will include learning about the conditions in these places – how they are similar and how they are different. We will also learn about the countries that are located within the Arctic Circle. We will then go on to find out about how plants and animals have adapted to live in these regions and consider the impact climate change is having on the Arctic Ocean.

Music

This half term, Year 5 and 6 are spending their music lessons preparing for the KS2 Carol Concert. Both year groups will be learning and practising songs to perform as year groups, phase and whole KS2. They are all really excited to perform to parents in the last week of term.

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 Cricket
Orcas: Swimming and Dance
Swordfish: YOGA and Cricket
Octopus: Cricket and Badminton

Children in Octopus, Blue Tangs and Swordfish 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. They will be focusing on Tag Rugby and, as of now, there are still some spaces available. Please get in touch with the school office if you would like to book your child a place.