St Mary’s C.E. (A) School

Manchester Road

Greenfield

Saddleworth

OL3 7DW

Tel No: 01457 872264 Fax: 01457 829271

Email: info@greenfieldstmary.oldham.sch.uk

Website: www.greenfieldstmary.oldham.sch.uk

Headteacher: Mrs S M Hall BA (Hons), QTS, NPQH;

Deputy Headteacher: Mrs T Burton BA (Hons), QTS;

‘We enjoy learning and achieving in a Christian environment’

Friday 8th September

Dear Parents

Welcome back! I hope you had a very enjoyable summer break and the children are well

rested after a busy school year. It is certainly a pleasure to teach this cohort for a second time

and I am sure there is an exciting year ahead. This letter will outline the expectations for both

the school and class as well as provide some information about the work which will take place

during the first term.

Teaching in Class 5

I will be teaching Monday to Friday in Class 5 except when Mrs Barlow will teach each Monday

afternoon during my PPA time. Mrs Connor will be in class daily supporting the children’s

learning in Mathematics and Mrs Wibberley will support the class each Friday afternoon. On

alternate Wednesday afternoons, Mrs Connor will work with groups of children, outside of the

classroom, to further support Mathematics and Reading in Class 5. This group work enables

children to revisit areas where additional learning opportunities are needed to develop

understanding, accuracy or confidence. It also allows children to discuss and explore new

concepts of learning and next steps. The groups will be decided each session depending on

the needs of the children and the focus for that lesson.

What will we be learning in Class 5?

English:

In English, we will be learning about how to create impact for the reader in our writing by using

a range of different vocabulary, punctuation and clauses at the beginning of the term so that

the children can develop their use of these skills in future writing topics. As we will be learning

about the Anglo Saxons in our history topic, we will be reading myth and legend stories about

King Arthur and Beowulf. We will also be learning about different types of non-fictional writing,

including non-chronological reports and instructional texts.

‘We enjoy learning and achieving in a Christian environment’

2

Mathematics:

In Mathematics, we will be working with numbers up to and including millions. To begin, we will

spend time learning about the place value of numbers before building further on existing skills

and knowledge in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Fractions, decimals and

percentages form a large part of the Year 5 curriculum and we will be learning to find

equivalent fractions as well as converting between mixed and improper fractions. We will be

rounding decimals and working with numbers with up to three decimal places. In addition, we

will continue to learn and apply multiplication and division facts from the learnt tables but will

also progress onto learning about squared and cubed numbers as well as learning to recall all

prime numbers up to 19.

Science:

Our first topic is about living things, including humans, and we will be sensitively exploring

different aspects of life cycles of humans and animals when we answer the question ‘How

different will you be when you are as old as your grandparents?’ As we will be studying growth

changes during this topic, please can you send in a photograph of your child as a toddler and

photographs of parents and grandparents so that the children can look for similarities and

differences through different generations. These can be emailed to the school office or they

can be hard copies. If you do not want these copies to be used in your child’s science book

please include a note that you wish them to be photocopied and returned home. Our second

topic is entitled ‘Could you be the next CSI investigator?’ During this topic we will learn about

the properties and change of materials where we will conduct lots of experiments to

investigate dissolving, evaporation, filtering and reversible or irreversible changes. In addition,

we will be researching a number of famous scientists who have used properties and changes

of materials to design or adapt objects we use in our everyday lives.

Topic:

To begin the school year we will be are conducting a local History study about the

development over time of leisure and holidays in the Greenfield area. We would be most

interested to know if you and/or any of your family and friends would be willing to come into

school to discuss your memories of leisure pursuits and holidays during times past in the local

area. For instance, do you remember the Road End Fair or Whit Walks during your childhood?

Did you catch a train to Blackpool during Wakes? It may be that the information you have to

share was passed onto you by an older family member. However you came by your

memories, we would be most interested to hear them. Memories from all eras are welcome –

as recent or as distant as you like. If you are able to spare some time please complete the slip

at the end of this letter and return it to school. A time which is most convenient for you can be

arranged and we appreciate any support you can offer.

After this topic we will be learning about the Anglo Saxons when we investigate their impact

on Britain and the evidence which remains today. We will be answering the question ‘Were the

Anglo Saxons really smashing?’ where we will explore all that made this historical group great

and whether they were as fierce as they were perceived to be.

‘We enjoy learning and achieving in a Christian environment’

3

RE:

In RE, we will be learning about the Bible including its structure and why it is read by Christians.

This will lead us into our next topic where we will learn about sacred holy books from other

world religions. Later in the term we will study how Gospel writers tell the Nativity Story as well

as investigating how Christmas is celebrated around the world.

PE:

PE will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mrs Kipling will lead the lesson each Tuesday

and the children will be developing their skills in hockey, football and gymnastics during the first

term. Please see the attached uniform list for the correct PE kit requirements which are needed

in school.

Behaviour

Please see the attached document which outlines our revised behaviour system.

Home Learning, spellings and times tables

Home Learning will take a project-based approach linked to the topics we are learning about

in class, usually linking to our History, Geography or Science topic. The projects will be handed

in at the end of each half term when the children will spend time in class sharing and

presenting their project with their peers. There will be guidance given as to possible areas to

research as well as suggestions about the form the project may take including minimum

expectations. More information about this will be provided during the Class 5 transition

meeting on Thursday 14th September. The first project will be set on Friday 15th September and

is to be returned by Monday 23rd October.

Spellings will be given out on each Friday and will be tested the following Thursday. Spelling lists

will consist of words from the statutory Year 5 word list and three different spelling patterns.

These spelling patterns will be repeated for three weeks. The spelling scheme is challenging at

times but it does build on previously learnt words and patterns. To help with understanding, I

have put each spelling into context with an example sentence on the back of the spelling

sheet. It is important that these spelling patterns are learnt to support the work we will be

completing in class and to meet the expected learning objectives for the year group.

Times tables knowledge will support the work we do in Mathematics as we will be completing

mental calculations and formal written method calculations for multiplication and division

problems as well as applying these skills to fractions, decimals and percentages. Therefore it is

crucial that they can recall the facts quickly without having to count up and down. To retain

facts and increase speed, we will complete a weekly times table assessment. This will be an

unseen test, which will change tables each week, and consist of twenty four questions, twelve

multiplications and twelve divisions. The times table to be tested will be given out on Thursday

and will be assessed each Wednesday.

‘We enjoy learning and achieving in a Christian environment’

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Additional information

During each week the children will sit in a number of different places in the classroom and with

different groups of children. The groupings may change for different lessons or different weeks

for a number of reasons. The movement could be because that group of children have the

same target, to have the opportunity to work with different peers or it could simply be to sit at

a table to complete work. The children should not be concerned if they move around the

classroom and I have explained this to them.

At certain points in the year, such as the final week before Christmas, the children may watch

a film. Wherever possible these will be films classified as U but some films which are brought in

by others are classified as PG. The film will not be shown if it has not been seen by an adult in

the classroom and you will be informed by text of the film choice in advance of watching it.

However, if you would not like your child to watch a film classified as PG, please let the office

know before the end of the half term.

Please feel free to speak to me at about any concerns you may have or if you would like any

additional information throughout the year. If you would like to speak to me, please make an

appointment at the office as I may be in a meeting or running an after school club if you call

into class at the end of the school day and be unable to give you adequate time. For health

and safety reasons I need to ensure the children are supervised in the classroom at the start of

the school day so need to accompany them into class at 8:55.

I will send another newsletter out at the start of the second term and letters about any class

news or events as they take place. However, if you would like any further information about

topic areas please visit our class page or feel free to ask.

Kind regards,

Miss Wike

____________________________________________________________________________________

Greenfield local history reply slip

Name of child: ___________________________________________________________

Name of person willing to share memories:_________________________________

Relationship to child:______________________________________________________

Details of availability:_____________________________________________________