Ridgefield Primary School

Hello!

Welcome to Year 5!  This is a really important year so we need to be motivated and work very hard to achieve success and to prepare us for Year 6.  On our page, you can find out about some of the exciting things that we do throughout the year, along with a few routines that we follow.  Please do not hesitate to pop in and see me at any time before or after school.

Staff in Year 5

My name is Mrs Barber and I am the Class Teacher. We are really lucky this year to have two amazing Learning Assistants to support us: Mrs Smith is with us all day and Mrs Collison supports our learning in the mornings.  Both Mrs Collison and Mrs Cooper will teach the class on Tuesday afternoon, incorporating Art and Music into the Year 5 curriculum.

Routines

• We do PE on Thursday, Children need to make sure their PE kit is in school and washed regularly. You can see the school uniform here. You may want to wear a tracksuit during the winter months.
• Homework is handed out on a Wednesday and due on a Monday morning. Children need a letter from parents if there is a delay otherwise they will be asked to complete their homework in detention.
• We celebrate with a party on the last day of term in the Summer and also before Christmas. We do ask each child to bring in something small to share.
• Children are encouraged to bring water into class to keep them hydrated throughout the day. Please bring it in a named ‘squeezee’ type water bottle. No juice, please.
• Children are welcome to bring their own snack or piece of fruit to eat at morning break time.
• Children may take books home from class. We ask that they are returned in the same condition so that they can be enjoyed by others.
• Children are welcome to bring in treats for their birthday but it is not expected. Please try to send healthy treats as far as possible!

Class rules and behaviour

In year 5 we are very clear about what is acceptable behaviour and discuss and agree our Class Charter at the beginning of the year which we all sign.  We receive House Points and rewards for high quality work and positive behaviour, and work hard to achieve our Golden Time at the end of the week.  We can also earn raffle tickets for super reading, handing in our homework on time and for going that extra mile!  I expect children in Year 5 to be polite and respectful, and to be good role models to the younger children in the school. As a school, we have a fair and consistent system of sanctions for those rare occasions where children do not follow the agreed code of conduct. Please download our behaviour brochure here.

ATTENDANCE

It is so important for children to be in school on time everyday to ensure that they do not miss out on important learning of new skills and concepts.  Days out of school can adversely affect progress and means that your child will need to catch up on work that they have missed.  Please support your child’s learning by ensuring that they are in school everyday and try to avoid booking holidays in term time.

NUMERACY

In Year 5, we focus on both mental and written methods for solving calculations involving all four number operations, providing children with practical and visual ways of working. We build on the work done in Year 4 on understanding the value of numbers and introduce work on decimals. We also introduce percentage for the first time and more complex fractions. Children consolidate their understanding of all the times tables and demonstrate their knowledge of these in a variety of real life and creative contexts.  We will also focus on developing our own strategies for solving problems and looking for patterns in our results.

LITERACY

In Year 5, we will discover a range of exciting genres including myths and legends, film writing, stories by famous authors and those from other cultures.  We will also develop our knowledge of non-fiction texts by investigating online instructions, persuasive texts and historical recounts together with a range of fun poetry! 

TOPICS

We are currently working hard on reviewing our curriculum and most of our Literacy, Science and foundation subjects will be taught within the context a range of exciting topics to help develop our understanding further.  These topics will be planned around the children’s interests and prior knowledge and will incorporate a wide range of ICT including the use of Powerpoint presentations, videos, podcasts, Stop Motion animation and any other media that we can get our hands on!