Curriculum Letter

Dear Parents/Carers,

Welcome to the new term’s curriculum letter.

 We hope this is going to be an exciting term with lots of new learning opportunities for everyone.

This term we will be joined by Mrs Cunningham on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. This means we will be having three groups of about 20 children for English and Maths on those days.

Our topic this term is, ‘Yes Minister’. Our main focus will be on how government has developed in this country from the signing of the Magna Carta to the present day. We will be looking at how the General Election is conducted and linking this to work in Literacy on persuasive writing. We will also be learning how to write formal letters and studying how the writing of authors like Charles Dickens changed public opinion.

In Geography we will be investigating how we belong to different councils and constituencies and looking at the difference between local and national issues.

Our PSHE work will also be closely linked to out ‘Yes Minister’ topic as we explore the role of the individual in society, and the choices we and governments face.

In Music we will be investigating how music has been used to make a political point in the past.

In Art we will be focussing on art with a message, for example the paintings of Hogarth, and the work of political cartoonists.  We will also be continuing to work on our water colour skills.

In Science this term we will be focussing on the Material World, Changes of State and Living and Growing.

In ICT we will be collecting and analysing data as well as continuing to develop our programming skills. We will also be using ICT to develop our communication skills.

PE will be outdoors on a Monday and Tuesday. We will be learning about athletics and striking / fielding games. Full outdoor PE kit will be required on both days. There may be times when it is necessary to change the days so it is advisable that PE kit stays in school from Monday to Friday.

We will be visiting several secondary schools during the second half of term to allow the children to experience at first hand some of the facilities offered by each school. There will also be 11+ practice tests towards the end of the year.

Homework will continue to be set regularly. Homework will be published on Edmodo and on our blog http://richmond5s.blogspot.co.uk at the beginning of the week. During the week, the children are given the opportunity to print any resources and access any online content they may need to complete their homework.

We have several blogs for sharing pupils’ work and information: http://richmond5s.blogspot.co.uk has general information and details of homework.

http://y5lit.blogspot.co.uk has examples of our writing in Literacy. 

http://trs100wc.blogspot.co.uk has examples of work submitted for our weekly 100 Word Challenge. 

All of the above blogs can be accessed directly or via the home page of the school’s website. We also have a Twitter account @RichmondYear5. You are welcome to leave positive feedback on the children’s work.

Mr Ball & Mrs Sylvester