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Fernhurst Primary School

Foxes (Year 5)

Spring - 2nd half term 

21/3/24

This afternoon, Year 5 and 6 continued their RE learning about Judaism with a visit from a Rabi. He told the children different stories, and brought in some objects for the children to look at. 

      

19/3/24

Today, Year 5 and 6 presented their learning to parents and the rest of the school in their class assembly. The children talked about their recent learning, and read some examples of their work. Several groups of children performed their dances that had created in PE lessons too. 

    

12/3/24

We have been continuing our learning, developing an understanding of what the Greeks did for us. Today we learnt about the different types of democracy (Direct democracy, representative democracy and Oligarchy). We then had our own debate about whether women should vote, based on the perspective of people from the Ancient Greek period. 

8/3/24

Happy International Women's Day 

During the morning, we learnt about some different influential women. We had presentations from multiple speakers about their jobs, how women's roles have changed and women are not limited by barriers. 

       

6/3/24

Today we started our new DT topic - making Mars Rovers. The first step to our making was making the chassis. Children had to cut their wood using a bow saw. Then they glued their four pieces together and to reinforce their joints using cardboard corners. 

  

1/3/24

This afternoon, a group of children from Year 5 and 6 took part in a Tag rugby festival hosted by MRC. Children got to practise skills needed for rugby, passing backwards, defence and making the most of the space. As a group, children got the opportunity to have mini-games against other schools to develop their skills. 

        

29/2/24 

This week on Monday and Wednesday Year 5 and 6 learnt about Light. During these two days we investigated how shadows are formed and what types of materials create coloured shadows. We also explored how light travelled across different surfaces and measured the intensity of the reflected ray using data loggers. During these days, we tried to understand and develop our learning about how light travels and how our eyes detect colours. 

         

22/2/24

Parents, you will have seen the fascilitated play ideas posters that have been on our playground since before Christmas.  (If not, take a look at the side of the PE shed and the fence around the top playground).   In conjunction with our Sports Leaders we have chosen a new set of games that the adults and older children will be helping the younger children to play during break and lunchtimes.   This wonderful aspect of our school is a joy to see as different age groups mix together and enjoy playing games.   Take a look at the ideas here: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/veu6fIls326JdxDg?ref=Link  Do these bring back fond memories? Maybe you could play these at home with friends and family members.   

20/2/24

Today we started our new History topic, Ancient Greece. Today we started our learning by creating timelines to show the different civilisations within this historical period. We also looked at how other historical events that happened at the same time as this period. 

   

I can't believe we are now going into the second half of the academic year.

You will have Miss Hill as your teacher on Tuesdays, and Mr Neate will teach your PE lessons on Thursdays. 

Your PE days will continue to be Thursdays (with Mr. Neate) and Friday (with Miss Goldup). You will be doing dance in the first three weeks, and cricket in the second three weeks. 

Here is a link to your RKE's for Spring 2: https://sway.cloud.microsoft/1Ey2iCf0PqwGEJQx?ref=Link&loc=play

Please find our overview of our topics and our weekly timetable below. 

Spring - 1st half term 

09/02/24 

This afternoon, Year 5 and 6 welcomed their parents to join in with our learning. We showed our parents how to play fragments taken from 'Somewhere over the rainbow' and then loop and remix them into our own performance.

06/02/24 

This afternoon, children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 had the amazing opportunity to chat with a local author, Caroline Nicholas. Her visit was to aid us and provide us with some tips about how to structure a short story for the Royal Mint's short story competition. 

Her tips for writing an effective short story: 

  • The story has to start close to the end because you only have 500 words. 
  • It needs an eye-catching opening sentence.
  • Have not too many characters (ideally between 2 and 4) so you don't run out of words 
  • Include interesting speech to develop the story and makes it more interesting for the reader.
  • Don't go overboard with the description - use some, so the reader can picture it but not too much. 
  • Use paragraphs 
  • Apply your own hobbies, interests and learning to use as inspiration 
  • Have a grabbing title and opening line. 
  • Read, write, edit and repeat 
  • Get someone at home to read your story if you need. 

06/02/25 - Safer Internet Day 

Children in Y3, 4, 5 and 6 took part in an online workshop on Tuesday 6th February as part of Safer Internet Day.

We considered how Artificial Intelligence is used already in our lives and how we can be safe with AI as we start to use it ourselves.

We decided that if using AI technology we should:

  • Always be with an adult
  • Follow the age guidance for the website you are using
  • Remember AI is not always right
  • Never enter personal information on to an AI site.

We were challenged to imagine that we were an AI site and to draw a picture of a friendly rabbit with long ears standing upright. The rabbit has a small nose and seven whiskers on each side of its face.  It's wearing a pair of trainers and has a hat on its head.  In its paw, the rabbit is holding a tennis racquet.   Have a go at home and see how different all your drawings are.

30/01/24

Today we had a visit from the River Wey trust who brought their augmented reality sandbox. In small groups, we had the opportunity to create our own river system, with some of the key features such as source, tributary and confluence. We really enjoyed this opportunity to apply our learning. 

   

19/01/24

This afternoon, we got the opportunity to take part in an athletics competition at MRC. We all completed the 4 different events: the 100m sprint, the 600m run, a standing long jump and a throw. Many other local primary schools took part and we had great fun. 

      

12/01/24

Today, in PE we spent some time developing our hand-eye coordination through skipping. This is one of the skills and qualities that we are developing during the course of our fitness unit. We managed to skip in time using a long skipping rope!

11/01/24

In Art this half-term, we are learning about interactive and immersive art. We looked at the work of Cai Guo-Qiang, who creates immersive art using explosions and fireworks. In art, we have created our own immersive space, using paint splattering, and glitter explosions!

    

09/01/24

In RE, we have begun our work on creation and exploring what that means. Yesterday, we made our own creations out of clay.

08/01/24

Today, we had a fantastic time in the Explorer Dome! We learnt all about how our planet was formed billions of years ago and how it is still changing now! Nothing can really prepare you for the immersive experience of being in the dome and our pictures do not do it justice but we have tried our best below to give you a flavour of our session.

03/01/24

How has one third of the year already passed?! Welcome back, I am looking forward to the new year and new term. 

Our PE days this half term are: Thursdays and Fridays. 

This half term, Miss Hill will be teaching foxes on a Tuesday morning and then foxes and badgers in the afternoon. 

All our RKE sheets for our subjects can be found here: https://sway.office.com/LBTl5GYV58vZMRSa?ref=Link 

Autumn - 2nd half term 

Welcome back Foxes! I am looking forward to a new half-term and some super fabulous learning. 

Our PE days are: Woodland Wednesday's and Thursdays 

On Friday morning, Mr Eyres teaches Year 5 whilst Miss Goldup has her PPA time. 

All our RKE sheets for our subjects can be found here: https://sway.office.com/1SPkMEEHBffnKmMZ?ref=Link 

13/12/23

Our Year 5 and 6 children visited Hampton Court Palace. We got to experience the palace and its grounds through drama and games along with a workshop, developing our understanding of jobs during the Tudor period. This wonderful day really embedded everything we have been learning about this half term. 

        

7/12/23 

Under 1 week to go until we go to Hampton Court Palace. We have been learning about the Tudors this half-term, and we can't wait to go and apply our learning. Photos will be posted after our visit. 

6/12/23

A super afternoon out and about on a nature walk across the fields and northwards up to Copyhold House for a spectacular view back towards Bexley Hill. Much chatting and laughter could be heard. Well done Foxes and Badgers!

23/11/23

We have had great fun in PE this week. We have been learning different types of rolls and balances. This week, we used the equipment to practice our learning.  

20/11/23

In Year 5, during week 2, we did some incredible fun learning. We started this week by starting our new writing topic and kicked off with a wow. We created our own triarama's to show a setting which would be suitable for a gothic fiction novel. As week 2, came to a close, we had great fun becoming historical investigators. We used a range of primary and secondary sources to figure out the victim of a Tudor crime. We then had to use clues to figure out how and why Anne Boleyn (our victim) was killed. 

          

16/11/23

We look forward to welcoming you to school at 2:30 on Monday 20th November for our class assembly.

6/11/23

We are delighted to share with you the 2023-24 trips and enrichment programme on this Sway link (https://sway.office.com/zdCan1CGYcbMUck0?ref=Link). The school team have been busy securing the best coach prices as well as several grants to cover or reduce costs where possible. We are delighted to have such a fabulous range of visits which will explicitly compliment learning in history, geography, DT, PSHE, RE and science.

We do recognise that asking for any contribution can feel like a lot and would like to take this opportunity to advise that if you are eligible for pupil premium funding, we will be able to cover the costs of all day visits and visitors for you. If you think you might be eligible, please apply online at https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/education-children-and-families/schools-and-colleges/free-school-meals/

As always, there is the opportunity to pay for the year or to pay per visit. You will receive a reminder ahead of visits about payment options.  We are currently swapping from ScoPay to Arbor for payments, so you will not see all trips on your ScoPay account. Details of Arbor will be sent to you next half-term and everything will be available via a single app which should make life easier for you all.

30/10/23

WOW, what a crazy first week back! We had great fun in the woodland on Wednesday afternoon. Lots of playing with mud and exploring together with friends. On Thursday, we did home learning due to storm Ciaran. Well done Year 5, you all coped very well with this change and did some excellent home learning. 


Autumn - 1st half term 

This week (week 7) we have been finishing off our final artwork inspired by David Hockney. We have all created a landscape drawing using bold colours and texture to add depth to our drawings. We look forward to sharing these with you at the art gallery. 

In week 6, we worked hard to use our perseverance to develop our addition and subtraction learning. We have been learning how to understand word problems and identifying the 2 steps involved in Year 5 word problems. Please use the home learning addition and subtraction pack if you want extra practice. 

During week 5, we explored the Linnaeus classification system. In small groups, we created our own classification system for birds using characteristics unique to each bird. Below are some pictures of some of the classification systems we have created. 

Last week (week 4), we finished our writing topic, learning to write newspaper articles about UFOs and aliens. We have now started our new writing unit. Over the next few weeks we will be writing observational poetry about everyday objects. To start this unit, on Thursday we explored objects from nature and were looking at the details of leaves, sticks and flowers which we might not normally notice. Please see our pictures of us observing the unique beauty of nature. 

During week 3, we explored different biomes to investigate why we do not have rainforests in the UK. We also found out that within the UK, we are in temperate deciduous woodland. Ask us if we can remember the features of temperate deciduous woodland. 

In week 2, we have started our new writing topic about UFOs and aliens. We had lots of discussions about our views on these. We are learning the features of a newspaper article to be able to write a newspaper about a UFO or alien sighting. 

In the first week, we got stuck into our new science learning by dissecting gladioli flowers to be able to see the parts of the plants involved in sexual reproduction.  Please see the photos below of us dissecting our flowers.

 

We have PE on a Monday and Tuesday and we have that with our HLTA Miss Stacey Allen. To ensure we are supporting our own learning, we have Remember, Know, Explore (RKE) sheets which show us what we are going to be learning, what we have already learnt which is linked and we will be building on and how we could explore and take our learning further. All of our RKE sheets for this autumn half term can be found here: https://sway.office.com/qvWCAHVABMvRTCZu?ref=Link 

If you have any questions about our learning, please feel free to speak to Miss Goldup. 

Communication is key so if there is any aspect of school life that you would like to discuss, please get in touch. 

Every half term, as a parent or carer, you will receive an email with an overview poster of what we will be learning that half term. You will also receive RKE sheets (Remember, Know, Explore) for each foundation subject we will be focusing on. These RKE sheets let you know in more detail what we will be learning about and key vocabulary which will be coming across.