As well as getting fully immersed into your curriculum, we ensure that you make new friends and have lots of opportunities to work together on extra-curricular activities.

Writing

Here at West Moors Middle School, we use Talk4Writing as our vehicle to explore many different writing genres. We discover how different authors capture their reader’s imagination. We then get to apply our knowledge to write a range of texts including: diaries, explanations, adventure stories, non-chronological reports, play scripts and persuasive texts. 

Reading

Throughout the year, during Guided Reading, you will get to read ‘Millions’ written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, ‘The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler’ written by Gene Kemp, ‘Why the Whales Came’ by Michael Morpurgo and ‘Georges Marvellous Medicine’ written by Roald Dahl.

We will also have the opportunity to read further texts in the afternoons in our class reading time. These include: ‘Oranges in No Man’s Land’ written by Elizabeth Laird, ‘Friend or Foe’ written by Michael Morpurgo and ‘Tales of the family from one end street’ written by Eve Garnett.

Every Year 5 child will also have access to the program ‘Accelerated Reader’ which will enable you to monitor your independent reading practice.

Year 5 Suggested Reading

You can also find a great list of suggested books for Year 5 here:

https://goodreads.com/shelf/show/year-5

100 best books for 9-11 year-olds from the book trust:

http://booktrust.org.uk/books/children/booklists/243/

Spelling

The government has published a list of words that they expect Years 5 and 6 to be able to spell (see below).  Please also make use of the ‘Spelling Shed’ website to help support the learning of these: https://spellingshed.com. Every Year 5 child will also have access to ‘Spell Zone’ which provides you with your own bespoke spelling program online.

Year 5 and 6 Spellings:

Maths

We encompass the ethos that every child can succeed in Maths. In Year 5, we strive to develop fluency, reasoning and problem solving skills. We use the Power Maths Scheme and further develop skills by using White Rose. To find out more about White Rose, please visit https://whiterosemaths.com/. Each child in Year 5 will also have access to MyMaths, where teachers will set weekly homework to support the learning carried out in class.

We ask all Year 5 children to continue practising your times tables at home; this is key to children being successful as Mathematicians. All children will also have a log in for ‘Times Table Rock Stars’. Please visit https://ttrockstars.com/page/features, which outlines the benefits of times table recall speed. 

Overview of Foundation Subjects within Year 5

Science

Over the course of Year 5, the children will be immersed into ‘Being a Scientist’ at the start of the year, followed by studying ‘Forces’. In Spring, you will learn about ‘Earth and Space’, which will include a trip to the Winchester Science Museum. You will then study ‘Properties and Materials’, followed by ‘Animals and Humans’, before completing the year with ‘Life cycles’.

Integrated Learning

In History, we start the year exploring ‘Amazing Africa’ exploring the Kingdom of Benin. In the Spring Term we will learn about ‘Captivating China’ examining the Shang Dynasty. Finally, in the Summer Term we will learn about ‘Brilliant Britain’ where we will look at aspects of World War Two.

In Geography, where possible, our units link to the History topics. We will start the Autumn Term exploring Africa, including: the location of its countries, its climate, mountain ranges and aspects of human geography. In the Spring Term, we explore the physical and human aspects of the country, China. Finally in the Summer Term, we will develop our knowledge of the UK, including its geographical features, and the locations of its countries, towns, cities, hills, mountains, seas, coasts and rivers.

In Beliefs and Values, Year 5 will spend the year learning many different aspects about Buddhism, including how this religion started, their core beliefs and where and how they worship.

Music

We have an exciting music curriculum for pupils in Year 5. We begin with the exploration of tuned and untuned percussion instruments, learning rhythmic accompaniments and melody parts to play in ‘The Siamese Cat Song’.  We will then study the life and music of Ludwig Van Beethoven, extending tuned percussion skills and reading music on the stave.

As the nights draw, Year 5 will compose descriptive pieces for Halloween and Fireworks Night before knuckling down to some Christmas carols and songs, with a whole class performance of ‘Jingle Bells’.

We enjoy Chinese Music and pentatonic scales at the start of the spring term to coincide with the Chinese New Year, and then move to some Jazz and improvised pieces whilst we focus on musical structures.

Chaplin Capers is a fun topic where we recreate storyboards for a silent movie and source and compose short sound clips, to embed in a class presentation. British Values are celebrated in our study of war time music before we set about on a whole school production.

World Music, discovering the great composers, performing, reading musical notations, composition …. We will be having tons of fun!

Art

In Art, Year 5 will be taught to develop their techniques by ‘Investigating the Elements of Art’. We will then go on to explore ‘Nature in Art’ and ‘Buildings and the Made World’.

PSHCE

Across the school, we deliver PSHCE using the ‘Jigsaw’ programme. During the Autumn Term we look at: ‘Being Me in My World’ and ‘Celebrating Difference’. We followed this with: ‘Dreams and Goals’ and ‘Healthy Me’ in the Spring Term. We then end with ‘Relationships’ and ‘Changing Me’ in the Summer Term. Please visit: https://jigsawpshe.com/ to find out more.

PE

In PE, you will take part in basketball, rugby, badminton and High 5 netball during the Autumn Term. This will be followed by gymnastics, indoor hockey and cricket in the Spring Term. Year 5 will also have the opportunity to go swimming at Ferndown Leisure Centre in the Summer Term and will also take part in athletics and tennis.

Spanish

In Spanish, you will start by learning greetings, numbers, colours, days and months of the year and then ages and birthdays. In the Spring Term, we will then explore: where we live, parts of the house and our clothes. Finally, in the Summer Term you will discuss in Spanish: weather and games and toys.

For further information on the Year 5 Curriculum, please go to the Curriculum section of our school website.