Class Page Summer 2025

Dear Parents,

Welcome back to the new term and the final term of your child's time in Year Five.  I hope that you have had a good and refreshing Easter break enjoying the glorious weather, and that the children are ready for some hard work as we move towards getting them ready for Year 6 and High School.  

Our topic for this term will be The Ancient Maya. We will be studying History and Geography through this until the end of term. Our studies will look at the History of the subject and how the topic has influenced the world in which we live.   We will explore lots of History and Geography through this topic. I expect the children to really enjoy the excitement that the topic provides. 

We will be looking at ‘Living Things and Their Habitats’ in Science, specifically.

The children will be taught to:

 describe the differences in the life cycles of a mammal, an amphibian, an insect and a bird

 describe the life process of reproduction in some plants and animals

In RE we will looking at Hindu Dharma and how Hindus live followed by a study of the Bahai faith in Summer 2 

There will be two PE sessions each week so the children will be required to come to school in their PE kits on a Wednesday and on a Thursday. One session will be on a Wednesday afternoon and one on a Thursday morning.

The homework will be sent out on a Wednesday and due in on the following Wednesday.  It is extremely important that children continue to practice their tables and read regularly. The 'My Maths' has proved a really useful tool for homework and general practice of what we have been doing in class. 

The homework will always be set online and can be found on the Meerkats' Class Page. 

English

In English, we will be looking at The Lost Happy Endings and The Wolves in the Walls.

Opportunities to write include:

• Setting descriptions
• Character descriptions
• Persuasive letters
• Diary entries
• Newspaper reports
• Alternative endings 

We will be creating our extended writing through our topic of The Ancient Maya giving the children lots of creative and interesting information for them to improve their Spelling, Grammar and text construction through research and analysis of the topics and the previously mentioned varying genres. 

These opportunities form an interesting and varied list and I will endeavour to keep writing opportunities as interesting as possible.

As always, please continue to read regularly with your child as this really helps their comprehension skills and improves their understanding of English Grammar and spelling patterns. I would stress to parents of our class to discuss anything the children have read in any one session with them at home to improve their comprehension skills. This has to be a focus for us moving forward through the year and also towards their personal preparation regarding the reading test at the end of Year Six. Reading helps massively with children's writing.

If you can find the time please read with your child and ask them the meaning of the text they have read. The children need to find evidence for their reasoning within the text.

Spellings that come home will come from the Year Five National Curriculum requirements.

Maths

In Maths this term we will be looking at shape and space, position and direction, decimals, negative numbers, converting units and measurement including volume. 

 I would appreciate your continued support and encourage you to speak to me directly should there be anything to discuss. Please feel free to speak to me at the beginning or end of the day so that I can deal with any issues that you may have as quickly as possible. This makes for good communication and relations between us all and keeps things positive and forward moving throughout the year. Good communication between myself (as a teacher) and yourselves (as parents) leads to your children being in the frame of mind where they are ready to learn. 

As always, I will strive to keep your children happy at school, encourage a love of learning and to equip them with a passion for their future time in Year Six and High School.

Many Thanks

Mr. S. Hewson

Summer Term 2025