Diocese of Winchester

Hawthorn Road, Southampton SO17 1PX Tel: 023 8055 5793 Tel/Answerphone/Fax: 023 8039 9703 [email protected] www.highfieldceprimaryschool.co.uk

An Aided School in the Diocese of Winchester

Headteacher A G King BA Hons PGCE NPQH

Upper Juniors – SUMMER TERM 2016

Dear Parents / Guardians, Welcome back to a new school term. We hope you had an enjoyable and peaceful Easter.

ROUTINES IN THE DEPARTMENT P.E. sessions As the weather gets warmer, we will start to move our usual indoor PE lessons outside. These will generally take place on Mondays (Asia and North America) and Wednesdays (South America), although they may sometimes be moved due to bad weather. Therefore, children should always have their P.E. kit in school, including plimsolls or trainers. Please ensure that your child’s kit is clearly named.

Presentations Each week in your child’s class there is a time where a child gives a presentation on something which interests them. It is a chance for the children to share their enthusiasm and knowledge to their peers. It is also an exciting way of developing speaking and listening. We have already enjoyed some fascinating presentations so far this year. If your child has not yet done their presentation, they will know by now when their allotted slot is. On this day, they should come prepared with their information which could be presented through a PowerPoint, objects, pictures and a talk. The children should be prepared to talk for 5 minutes on their chosen subject.

Home Learning As the Year 6s get closer to their SATS, we are reaching the end of the grammar books that we have been working through this year. When this happens, we will be replacing the fortnightly grammar homework with other writing or topic homework. Spellings will continue as normal, including weekly spelling tests on Mondays and the end of Summer term spelling test for Year 5s. Year 6s who have not yet earned their spelling badge for the year should continue to work on learning the 100 key words from the Year 6 badge booklet.

We believe that home learning plays an important role in supporting children’s progress and there are other ideas for how you could support on our curriculum letter (attached). We also firmly believe, that children need the time to explore other interests, enjoying time with family and friends as well as time to relax and do very little when they need to! As parents, you know best how to set routines that will get the balances correct to ensure that it is never “all work and no play”. However if you do have comments or questions regarding homework, please speak to the class teacher.

Admin: Dinner money should be sent into school on the first day of the school week. Please use the TUCASI system to pay for dinners (if you require new login details, please contact the school office). Alternatively, many of you may prefer to put the money for dinners and trips inside a named envelope and give it to your child to pass onto their teacher. Please check that all school clothing, water bottles, snack and lunch boxes are named. Please ensure your child brings their book bag to school every day.

SunSmart: Highfield CE Primary School is committed to encouraging the staff and pupils to develop a healthy lifestyle in line with the National Healthy Schools Programme. We want staff and pupils to enjoy the sun safely. We aim to promote the advice and guidance of the Sun Smart Campaign (Cancer Research UK):

S tay in the shade 11-3 M ake sure you never burn A lways cover up – wear a t-shirt, hat and sunglasses R emember children burn more easily T hen use factor 15+ sunscreen

As the weather becomes better, please can you ensure that your child has sun cream on before starting school. We would recommend that pupils bring sun hats to protect them during playtimes and lunchtimes.

We strongly recommend that children bring a named water bottles into school every day during the summer term, as it can get quite warm both inside and outside the school building!

ALL parents would have received a yearly calendar of dates at the beginning of the Autumn term. Dates are also on the school calendar via the website. Here is a reminder of the dates relevant to this half term as well as other dates that have more recently been agreed within the department. Numeracy:PLEASE KEEP IN A SAFE PLACE!

Friday 15th April: Year 5 Cantell trip Friday 22nd April: Class Photos Monday 2nd May: Bank Holiday Monday 9th to Friday 13th May: Year 6 SATS week Monday 30th to Friday 3rd May: Half term Wednesday 22nd June: Rock Challenge Friday 24th and Monday 27th June: INSET Friday 1st July: Sports Day Monday 4th to Friday 8th July: Y5 Cycling Proficiency / Year 6 Transition Week Thursday 23rd June: Year 6 Winchester cathedral service Tuesday 12th July: Drop-in parents’ evening Thursday 14th July: Year 6 leavers’ service Monday 18th July: Year 6 leaving assembly Wednesday 20th July: Last day of term

The school team recognises how valuable parental support is to our children’s learning and the school community. We are always extremely grateful for any additional time that parents are willing to give to the school. If you are interested in sharing books with children, teaching them some basic cookery skills, or working within the class on a regular basis to support groups of children in their activities, please talk to your child’s teacher. We ask that you are able to make a regular commitment to help.

Finally, we look forward to meeting you all again at the drop-in Parent/Teacher meeting on 12th July, but please do speak with your class teacher if you have any immediate concerns or queries as we are happy to make an appointment to meet with you at a convenient time.

Meanwhile we trust your child will have a stimulating, successful and enjoyable term.

Yours sincerely,

Mr Dodson, Mrs Ford, Mr Clarke and the Teaching Assistant team The Curriculum That Is Taught in Years 5 and 6 We believe that home learning plays an important role in supporting children’s progress and this is a summary of the curriculum this term with other ideas on how you could support further should you wish to. Spring Term - What your child is learning How you could support your child’s learning at home... Literacy - Read, read, read – reading is one of the best ways to We will spending the first half term covering a improve your child’s literacy skills. Whether or not they variety of text types including explanation texts are an avid reader, they should also still try reading a (how astronauts stay healthy in space), narrative variety of books, both non-fiction and fiction. (based on the rediscovery of the Maya - When your child is reading (you are reading all the civilisation), and persuasive writing (linked to a time even though you don’t notice it), encourage them visitor from the NSPCC). The two weeks prior to to think about the purpose of the text and the writer’s the half term break will be centred on Alfred viewpoint, and how they show this through their writing. Noyes’ poem, ‘The Highwayman’. Also, check that your child understands any hidden or In the second half of the summer term, we will implied meanings on the page, in addition to what is continue to do more writing linked to the topic of plainly written. the Ancient Maya. - Encourage them to write Mr King a story for his wall. - Encourage them to log into their Bug Club account for extra reading practice and the opportunity to experience a range of genres, as well as practice with comprehension questions. Numeracy - Get your child to practise the ‘rung’ they are on for Year 5 will be covering topics such as factors, each of the four operations, as a regular routine. prime numbers and imperial measures, while - Practise times tables every week, in preparation for Year 6s will be continuing to prepare for their the weekly test. Most children have passed Mr King’s SATS. times tables test by this point, but if not, there’s still Towards the end of the Summer term, children time! Even if your child has passed this, it is still vital will be encouraged to plan and carry out their that times tables are regularly practised, now more than own Maths investigations, as well as revisiting ever in the light of the new times table test that will be trickier topics from earlier in the year to ensure introduced for Year 6s in the Summer of 2017. target steps are secured. - Practise other mental maths with them, such as adding/subtracting 2- or 3-digit numbers in their head, writing number sequences (including with decimals and fractions!), and listing factors of numbers. - Check the Year 5/6 badge booklets (available in the parents’ section of the school website under ‘resources’) to see exemplification of all the target steps. History and Geography This term we will be learning about the Ancient - A trip to the library to investigate books, especially Maya civilisation – a brand new topic for Highfield books on famous people. For children, books are often and likely for your children too, so there’ll be more focused and useful than the internet as they are plenty of new learning going on! We will be published for children. looking into the rediscovery of the culture in the - Since the recent addition of the Maya to the new 1800s, finding out what explorers learned about curriculum, there are plenty of child friendly websites the Maya way of life and their beliefs. appearing online that your child could visit. For example, Comparisons will also be drawn between the you may wish to look at the Maya section of the Maya and another Ancient civilisation that the Espresso site or www.ducksters.com. children are familiar with – the Greeks! Science - Children should be encouraged to take an interest in During the Summer term, we will be continuing the world around them. Talk to your children about the to revise a range of Science topics on Thursday natural world and any science stories that appear in the afternoons, such as rocks, changing states, news! dissolving and forces. - There are a range of videos and fun activities on the Espresso and Bitesize websites. Art / DT - Visit some of Southampton’s art galleries, and discuss Art and DT in the first half of the summer term the artwork with your child, talking about the artists’ use will be linked to our Ancient Maya topic. Children of colour, tone, shading and texture. will be creating a variety of Maya inspired - When the time arrives, please help your child to collect pictures, and in the afternoon of SATS week, will materials for their Maya temples. be working together to create models of Maya temples! After half term, your children will be designing their own chocolate bars, linked to our Maya topic. Computing - Scratch can be downloaded for free online and is a Computing slots will provide time for children to great way for your child to get extra coding practice at finish off their Scratch projects from before home. Easter. We will also look into ways they can stay - Speak to your child about how they stay safe when safe online as well as creating surveys using they access the Internet at home, including knowing Google Forms. which websites they should and should not access and avoiding giving away personal details. (Reminder: social networking sites such as Facebook and Instagram should not be used by children of primary school age.) Music Music is taught every Tuesday by Penny - Expose your child to different types of music and see if Hastings. Children will get the opportunity to they can name the instruments. Describe the mood of sing, compose melodies using the school’s the music and how it makes them feel. collection of instruments, and learn the - Sing together at home or in the car! vocabulary to talk about the different styles of music that they will experience. This term, children will include the use of improvisation in music Personal, Social and Health Education - Talk to your child about your friendship groups at This term, the Year 6s will be looking forward to school. Has everyone been getting on? If not, what is their transition to secondary school. the right thing to do to try to work through problems? Sex and Relationship Education will take place for - Chat about what your child has been learning about in Year 5s and 6s in the week before the half term PSHE lessons, and how it has made them feel. How do holidays. There will be a meeting beforehand in they think it will affect their life as they grow older? which you will be able to watch the video and ask any questions (date to be confirmed). Physical Education/Dance/Gym In PE we will be developing the children’s skills in - Encourage your child to be active outside of school by striking and fielding and invasion games. As the joining clubs and playing outside. weather improves, we will also be heading outside more often to work on the athletic skills of running, jumping and throwing. Religious Education - Watch the news or read newspapers with your child, In the first half of term, children will be exploring and discuss the behaviour of any people featured in the the concept of stewardship, considering why it is stories. Do they morally agree or disagree with what important to look after the world. This will also these people are doing? Why? Does their behaviour include a comparison of different religions’ reflect the values of Highfield School? creation stories. - Talk with your child about looking after the world, Our second topic of the term will be about the particularly as environmental issues arise in the news. miracles Jesus performed, and how they relate to What can we do to prevent further damage to the the Christian idea of divinity. planet? French - Ask your child to share their new French vocabulary In the second half of term, children will be with you – learn alongside them! reading a French version of a well-known - Ask them common questions such as Comment traditional tale, which they will then develop into t’appelles-tu? Quel âge as-tu? Ça va? etc every now a play that they will perform in front of the rest of and then. the school. - Access primary websites such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primarylanguages/french/ every now and then so they can practise the basics and develop new learning. Year 5 Summer Term Spelling List.

1. interrupt In addition to your usual weekly spellings, you 2. muscle will be expected to learn these spellings during 3. necessary the Summer term. You will be tested on 4. neighbour them towards the Summer holidays. 5. occupy It is up to you how you want to divide them up 6. occur to practise them, but it is not a good idea to leave them all until the last week of term, as 7. profession there are definitely some tricky words here. 8. programme One option would be to learn 2-3 per week, each 9. swap week during the Summer term, regularly 10. recognise revisiting words from earlier in the list. Or you 11. recommend may choose to try and learn them all by the end 12. relevant of the first half of them Summer term, then go 13. secretary over them again in the second half. Talk with 14. shoulder your parents about what you think is best for 15. soldier you. 16. stomach 17. suggest 18. suggestion 19. temperature 20. thorough 21. twelfth 22. vegetable 23. yacht 24. category 25. communicate 26. embarrass 27. environment 28. queue

Year 5 Summer Term Spelling List.

19. interrupt In addition to your usual weekly spellings, you 20. muscle will be expected to learn these spellings during 21. necessary the Summer term. You will be tested on 22. neighbour them towards the Summer holidays. 23. occupy It is up to you how you want to divide them up 24. occur to practise them, but it is not a good idea to leave them all until the last week of term, as 25. profession there are definitely some tricky words here. 26. programme One option would be to learn 2-3 per week, each 27. swap week during the Summer term, regularly 28. recognise revisiting words from earlier in the list. Or you 29. recommend may choose to try and learn them all by the end 30. relevant of the first half of them Summer term, then go 31. secretary over them again in the second half. Talk with 32. shoulder your parents about what you think is best for 33. soldier you. 34. stomach 35. suggest 36. suggestion 19. temperature 20. thorough 21. twelfth 22. vegetable 23. yacht 24. category 25. communicate 26. embarrass 27. environment 28. queue