Year Five 2025 - 2026

WELCOME TO YEAR 5

Dear Year 5 pupils, parents and carers,

A very warm welcome to Year 5. I hope you and your children have had a restful and enjoyable break. I am delighted to be your child’s class teacher this year and look forward to supporting them as they continue their journey through Key Stage 2.

Year 5 is an important year of progression, where children are encouraged to develop greater independence, maturity, and responsibility for their learning. Building on the strong foundations from previous years, they will be challenged to think more critically, work with increasing resilience, and take ownership of their progress.

Religious Education (RE) continues to be central to our school life, and we follow the Come and See programme. Through this, children will explore a range of topics rooted in the Catholic faith, reflect on Gospel values, and consider how these can guide their daily lives. They will also learn about other world religions, developing respect, understanding, and empathy. Themes such as justice, compassion, responsibility, and belonging will help guide them as thoughtful and reflective learners.

Throughout the year, children will deepen their understanding across the curriculum, applying their skills in more complex and meaningful ways. Opportunities for collaboration, discussion, and problem-solving will support them in becoming confident, capable, and independent learners. Our classroom will be a positive and supportive environment where every child feels valued and encouraged to succeed.

Year 5 is a fun, action packed year with lots of exciting opportunities for the children including our residential to Ghyll Head! This is an important year for all the children and we hope they all enjoy the year and work hard in achieving their potential to become strong, independent learners.

As always, the main gate will be open from 08:45 and the children will leave school through the same gate at 15:00. School starts at 08:55 and it's important that your child is not late. After school clubs will be available throughout the year and can be booked through the Parent Pay app or by contacting the school office. Spaces fill up quickly so it is important that if you would like your child to attend one or more of these clubs that you book it as early as possible.

All pupils will have been provided with a reading pack and reading diary.  Please do try to read with your children at home and fill in their reading record when you do so. For the past number of years, we have been using Accelerated Reading in school and this allows children to take mini quizzes after they complete a book. This is an excellent resource and allows us to track and monitor reading throughout the school. We have seen a real growth in progress with reading in school with the engagement of Accelerated Reading.

Homework will be online from now on, we use the Learning by Questions (LbQ) in which the children have usernames and passwords for logging in. If you would like to do extra work at home please encourage your child to go on TT Rockstars (logins are in their reading records) do some extra reading or practice spelling words from the Y5/6 list.

It would be fantastic if parents would support us at school by encouraging children to do their homework and hand it in before the deadline. This is an excellent way for you to engage with your child and speak to them about what they are doing at school. 

Letters of communication are sent home in the reading packs so please make sure they are brought into school every day. This will help you stay organised, carry any homework and anything else you may need for a school day.

Parents, please read all letters sent home with the children so that you are aware of any events and exciting things going on in school throughout the school year. 

Our weekly routine will be:

• Friday: Homework will be set on the LbQ website and should be handed in online for the following Friday. Reading records to be checked every week.
• Tuesday and Friday: Children should bring in their PE kits to change into at school, consisting of white t-shirts, black or navy shorts or tracksuit bottoms (in Winter), and trainers or black pumps. Please ensure that they do not wear any hooded jumpers or jackets; instead, they should wear their school jumper. We are delighted to be welcoming CITC and their coaches into school to support PE lessons every Friday this year again.

A strong partnership between home and school is vital, and I welcome open communication throughout the year. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to share anything that will support your child’s learning.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support. Here's to a successful and fulfilling year in Year Five!

Mr Keegan and Miss Hamilton