Welcome to Year 5

Class Teacher: Mrs Nicol

Teaching Assistants: Miss Ellams

Welcome to the Year 5 class page!

We are delighted to welcome you back for another exciting year at school and look forward to working with you all and sharing in your successes as we move through the year. In year 5, we work hard and always try our best and together we know that you can achieve greatness and fulfil your potential.

Key information for Year 5

►Reading - Reading underpins all of the learning that takes place at Holy Family and it's at the heart of our curriculum. To support reading, please could all children ensure that they read their school reading book each evening and that their reading planner is signed by an adult. At Holy Family, we encourage children to choose their own read for pleasure book. I am really looking forward to hearing about the books and comics the children have been reading.

►Spellings -New spelling rules and spelling patterns will be taught each week. Every Thursday, all children will receive a new spelling list and then we will have a spelling test the following week on Thursday. This allows children to have a week to learn the new spelling rules. As well as recalling spelling rules, it is very important that the children understand new vocabulary and know how to apply this in a sentence. 

►Homework - All children will be given weekly English or Maths homework. The given homework will alternate from English to Maths each week. Children will receive homework each Thursday and they are required to hand this in on the following Thursday. 

►PE - PE will take place every Thursday and Friday. All children must have the correct school PE kit of white t-shirt and black shorts. (Track suits may be worn as the weather turns colder). Please ensure that all children have trainers to enable them to fully participate. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Please don't hesitate to contact me at school if you have any questions or concerns.

Mrs Nicol

Remote Learning

What happens if school is closed?

In the event of an emergency school closure, we will provide remote learning for your child from day 2 of the school closure. For information regarding remote learning, please check this page for details of your child's learning provision.

How will parents and guardians be notified abut a school closure?

Parents and guardians will be contacted through email, the school Facebook page and the school website. For more information, please follow the link below.

Adverse Weather Conditions

How your child can access remote learning?

Please see your child's timetable below. These are the lessons your child will be taught remotely.

To access the learning, your child should use the Teams login that they have in the front of the 'Reading Record'.

For further guidance on how to use Teams, please follow the link below.

Microsoft Teams Help Guides

Earth Day 2025- Art Competition

Well done to the members of Year 5 who took part in this year's Earth Day art competition. Out of all the schools in Doncaster, the art work our children created was chosen to be placed in an exhibition at Doncaster Museum, Art Gallery and Library with other winners.

Their art work was based on this year's theme of renewable energy and the children worked together to create a wonderful picture depicting this.

Take a look at our winners below!

Taking Part in Worship...

During Eastertide, members of our Chaplaincy team from Year 5 led a special Gospel assembly. They brought the scripture to life through a thoughtful dramatisation and shared the Gospel message with the whole school.

Remembering the Pope

To honour the life and work of the Pope, the class took part in a time of reflection and wrote prayers, asking God to welcome him into heaven and care for him there.

Easter Arts and Crafts

The children created beautiful Easter cards using blocks and paper crafts to make a 3D scene. It was wonderful to see the skill and care given to each card, ready to be taken home to parents and carers.

Stations of the Cross

The children created and performed a tableau representing each of the Stations of the Cross, sharing this powerful reflection with pupils and parents during Holy Week.

Our New Spotlight Author

Year 5 are happy to introduce our new 'Spotlight Author' for the half term... the amazing Cathy Cassidy!

The children were so excited to see the new books on the shelf and are already making plans for who is reading which book!

Our Class Showcase

To celebrate they learning the children have done in class, we invited parents to come and see our spectacular showcase. The children became Viking families, monks, saga tellers and women to explain what Viking life was like and sang songs and used instruments to bring history to life!

Let's Go A-Viking!!!

Shakespeare Event- Romeo and Juliet

The class were lucky enough to have a visit from a member of The Beat Goes On, who worked with the children to understand the famous Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet. By using body percussion and other percussion instruments, they were able to explore key scenes and lines within the play and express their understanding through music.

Take a look at the wonderful session below...

Maths- Angles

To familiarise themselves with using a protractor, the children explored measuring a variety of angles provided and then explored angles they could find around the classroom. Some children commented about how many right angles were around the room and discussed why that was.

Literacy- Writing a Cinquain Poem

The final writing journey for Spring 1, was to write a cinquain poem based on aspect of Asian culture. The children explored metaphor and simile to enhance their poetry and used a thesaurus to improve their vocabulary choices. Take a look at some of their work below...

Maths- Fractions and Decimals

It was lovely to see the children finish their current maths journey, learning about fractions and decimals. Take a look at their learning below!

A Special Visit!

Year 5 were lucky enough to receive a special visitor... Ed Miliband! On his visit to school to speak to the school council, he was given a tour of the school where he spoke to the children and answered questions in each class.

PE- Fitness

The children have been learning how to develop their strength using their own body weight.

Maths- Fractions and Decimals

To develop an understand of tenths, hundredths and thousandths, the children worked in groups to complete a sorting exercise where they had to match the visual representation of decimals using dienes with their number representation.

Our New Virtue

Thank you to members of our Chaplaincy and Care for Creation team from year 5 who delivered our new Virtue to Live By to each class.

Science- Properties of Materials

The children enjoyed exploring different materials and whether they were magnetic by testing items around the classroom. They then used this information to conclude the all magnetic materials were metal, but not all metals are magnetic 

Picture News Prayer

As a class, the children gathered together to explore the impact of social media- specifically YouTube- and how it can affect its younger users. They discussed whether YouTube should have more rules for younger users and took inspiration from the Bible about filling their hearts and minds with what is true, noble and pure.

Art- Sculpture and 3D Art: Interactive Installations

The children investigated the effect of space and scale when making 3D art by creating their own scaled down version of the works of Guo-Qiang's gunpowder drawing.

They used stencils to create positive and negative markings with dry powder paint and then 'splattered' paint over their designs to make a chaotic masterpiece ready to stage as an art installation.

The paint 'splattered' EVERYWHERE!

Class Celebration of the Word

The children planned a beautiful Celebration of the word, making links to our Virtue to Live By- Faith.

Science- Properties of Materials

The children explored conductivity by investigating which material would be the best insulator for a tea pot. 

Computing- i-Safety

To understand how to be safe online, the children explored the SMART concept and created posters to show their understanding.

Music- The Blues

It was so nice to hear the children performing what they had learnt about chords by playing together as a class. As they took turns, they supported their partners when changing notes and keeping to a beat.

Our Animal Visit

In the Autumn term, the children were learning about animal welfare and husbandry for animals as they moves through the process of meat production ready for cooking their own stew. We were lucky enough to have visitors come to school so the children could experience the animals and learn more about farming and how the animals are cared for.

Music- The Blues

The children learnt about chords and how they are structured from different pitches of sound. They then used this information to learn the first line of the 12-bar blues.

Music- The Blues

The children spent their first lesson of the unit learning about the genre of Blues music and its key features. They explored its history and then learnt a famous Blues song from The Simpson, with some children taking the opportunity to sing solo.

Computing- i-Safety

In year 5, we started our topic of e-safety by exploring how they use technology and discussing the risks and benefits of various modes of communication. We then discussed the difference between personal and private information and who we can share that with.

PE- Fitness

The children worked on developing their strength and improving their agility.

Our New Class Book- Asha and the spirit Bird

To immerse ourselves in our new class text, the children explored the author and other books that she has written.

PE- Fitness

The children have been working on developing their speed and stamina.

Our Christmas Party

The children had an absolute blast dancing to their favourite songs and joining in with Just Dance videos- they had an amazing time!!!

Enterprise Week

For Enterprise week this year, the class created wonderful pompom pets in the form of sprouts. Each 'Pet Sprout' was packaged up with an adoption certificate and the children decided how much each pet should sell for to make a profit.

I am proud to announce that year 5 were the winning class and raised the most money in profit! Well done!

Science- Forces

The children explored water resistance and the effects of a streamlined design on objects floating in water by designing their own boats and testing their creations...

Computing- i-Draw

In this lesson, the children learnt how to zoom in and out to add details to graphical objects using Henri Matisse' Vegetables. They learnt how to use the online tools to change the order of layers in the drawing to add detail. Take a look at their creations.

Celebrating Black History Week Through Literature

The class explored black, female authors and illustrators through the popular magazine collection, Cocoa Boy and Cocoa Girl. They enjoyed finding out the inspiration and purpose of the author and celebrating the confidence the magazine brings to children everywhere.

Science- Forces

To investigate the effects of surface area on air resistance, the children performed an experiment, timing the descent of three parachutes of different sizes as they fell to the ground.

PE- Dance

The children worked hard to develop a set choreography inspired by a Mayan god.

The Last Chapter!

To celebrate finishing our class text of Beowulf, the children wrote a book review giving a brief summary of the text and a star rating of recommendation.

NSPCC Play

The class were joined by Year 5 children from a local primary school to watch a NSPCC play. It was a fantastic performance with an important message about staying safe on online.

Science- Forces

As a class, we investigated the effects of friction when moving across different surfaces. 

Computing- i-Draw

The children had such a fun time using the computer program Sketchpad to create simple vector images out of shapes and lines and then using the online tools to duplicate, move, resize and rotate graphical objects on their pictures to create a scene of their choice.

Click on the link below to access this free online program.

Sketchpad Link

PE- Dance

The children had lots of fun working collaboratively to choreograph a dance in a Rock ’n’ Roll style and then performed these dances for others.

RE- Creation and Covenant 

In RE, we have been learning about God's covenant to Moses as he freed the Israelites and received the Ten Commandments. Exploring the Bible story of the Burning Bush and the Book of Exodus, the children have been able to understand why God's covenant is still important to us today and how we build our friendship with God through our actions. 

French- French Monster Pets

In the last lesson of the unit 'French Monster Pets', the children explored an authentic French text and identified cognates and near cognates and then checked their translations with a French dictionary.

Celebration of the Word- KS2

The children in Year 5 enjoyed taking part in a child-led Celebration of the Word focused on the 'Virtue to Live By'. Telling the Bible story of Levi the tax collector, they told others of how Jesus showed respect and courtesy to others so they could show respect and courtesy to themselves helping them live on God's path.

Maths- Factors and Multiples

When learning about factors and multiples, the children enjoyed playing a game on Enrich to put their learning into action.

If you would like to play along, click on the link below.

Factors and Multiples Game Link

RSE- Calming the Storm

After watching the Bible story of Jesus calming the storm and learning how Jesus is always there through life's storms, the children responded by writing prayers asking for help for themselves or for others and started to fill our 'prayer cross' in class.

'God cares for us and wants us to put our faith in Him.'

Picture News

For this week's Picture News the children were asked, 'How can photos shape the world?'. They learnt about the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award and its Diamond Jubilee that is being held this year. The children were invited to respond to the question, and here are some of the responses:

'Photos can help us feel inspired because I would like to take them as well.' 

'We can travel the world through our eyes.'

Science- Earth and Space

The children have been enjoying their science journey so far, learning about Earth's orbit around the Sun, the planets in the Solar System and the planets and their moons. Take a look at some of the fantastic work the children have produced!

Maths- Reasoning with Large Whole Numbers

The children have now finished their first maths unit of the year, learning to reason with large whole numbers. From identifying, comparing and ordering 5 and 6-digit numbers, to rounding to the nearest, 1000, 10,000 and 100,000, the children enjoyed challenging themselves with reasoning questions and even singing songs to learn Roman numerals. Take a look at their learning journey below!

If the children would like to teach you the Roman numeral song and show you their learning, scan the QR code below.

Art- I Need Space

The children started their art topic 'I Need Space' by exploring retrospective art work and mixed media processes. Using pastels, watercolours, textiles and continuous line drawing, they investigated which media they preferred for when they create their own pieces.

Book Talk- Beowulf

Before reading the text, Year 5 explored what they could infer from the front cover and blurb of the book and made predictions on what they were going to read. They then identified key characters and events and discussed their first thoughts and questions they had based of the text.

Take a look at some of the amazing responses the children produced when questioned on what they had read so far!

Literacy- Historical Narrative

The children have now reached the end of their first literacy journey of the year, learning how to write a historical narrative. They began by immersing themselves in the genre by reenacting an Anglo-Saxon battle and exploring ambitious vocabulary to build word banks to support their future writing. Then, they analyses a given text for its features and an effective setting description to support writing their own. Finally, using what they had learnt in their skills lessons, the children were able to plan, write, edit and publish their very own historical narratives. Take a look at their amazing work below!

Computing- i-Program

To finish off their unit on programming, the children used the computational concepts of sequence, selection, repetition and variables to program a computer game of their own using what they have learn about variables. They then tested each others games to debug their programs.

Handwriting

The children have been practising their handwriting by joining to and from the letter 'r' and ensuring letters are consistent in height and size. One of the them even achieved their handwriting pen in celebration assembly due to their hard work!

Computing- i-Program

In computing, the children were learning to program statements that make something happen in response to events on the screen. They also learnt about variables and why they are useful to make something happen in response to their value.

Reading for Pleasure

The children took the opportunity to visit the reading room to enjoy reading for pleasure and chose to listen to our new 'Spotlight Author' book, Giant. Many of the children are now enjoying this as their class reading book!

Celebration of the Word

We enjoyed taking part in a child-led Celebration of the Word about peace. We responded to the word of God by singing hymns and praying for peace in the world in response to the recent unrest across England. 

Computing: i-Program

In computing, the children have been learning that a program can do different things when Boolean variables are true or false and then programmed statements to make something happen in response to events on screen. They used this skill to make sprites interact when they bump into each other on the program Scratch.

Science- Earth and Space

To explore the movement of the Earth around the Sun, the children went outside to demonstrate Earth's orbit while it rotates on its axis. We had to take turns as we got a little dizzy!

Spotlight Author

Our 'Author Spotlight' for Autumn 1 is Nicola Skinner and the children are invited to read her new book, Giant. This book follows the story of a young girl named Minnie and her adventures where she lives. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with where Minnie lived. Nothing, that is, apart from the earthquakes, which pull buildings and schools and houses down on a regular basis. Luckily, the island’s inhabitants have found a way to fix their crumbling walls: giants. 

Computing: i-Program

The children have been learning to recognise that computer programs contain graphics that move on x and y coordinates and when graphics turn, their movement is measured in degrees. They have demonstrated this using Scratch to program a sprite to walk backwards and forwards across a backdrop and then bounce on a trampoline.

Literacy- Historical Narrative

The children had a wonderful time immersing themselves into the history of the Anglo-Saxon invasions of England by watching and then re-enacting the storming of Pevensey Castle. While performing the long journey over the North Sea, to the attack on the unsuspecting Britons, the children really enjoyed learning about this historic event that will influence their writing in the following weeks.