Year 5 Weekly Blog wb. 5th October 2026
We are now four weeks into the term, and it has been fantastic to see our Year 5 classes continuing to settle so brilliantly! The children are showing great enthusiasm, focus, and maturity across all subjects as we dive deeper into our autumn curriculum.
In English, we launched our exciting new unit on mythical creatures! The children put their research skills to the test, exploring the origins and traits of the Phoenix, Minotaur, Griffin, and Hydra. They also worked on upleveling their vocabulary, using dictionaries and thesauruses to find powerful, precise word choices for their writing.
In Maths, we have been tackling Roman numerals as well as factors and multiples. As we work through these concepts, we want to emphasise how important it is for children to maintain a quick recall of their times tables. Even though the Year 4 MTC check is behind them, fast multiplication recall is vital for fluency in Year 5 and beyond. Please encourage your child to keep practising at home regularly using their TTRockstars (TTRS) account!
Our wider curriculum has provided plenty of opportunities for curiosity and discovery:
Science: We took our space learning further by investigating the shape of the Earth, Moon, and Sun, learning about how these massive bodies are spherical.
RE: We were deeply impressed by the children's thoughtful and insightful questions during our visit from Rev Nick, where they explored different perspectives with great respect.
PSHE: We held some mature and important discussions around bullying, focusing on what it means to be an ‘upstander’ rather than a bystander—empowering the children to safely speak up and support others.
Spellings for Next Week
Our spelling focus for next week covers words with the suffixes ‘-cial’ and ‘-tial’ (which mean "of," "having the quality of," or "relating to" and turn nouns or verbs into adjectives), as well as associated adverbs.
As a reminder, spelling tests take place on Fridays. Please encourage your child to practise writing out the following words:
‘-cial’ suffix: commercial, financial, controversial, spatial
‘-tial’ suffix: initial, palatial, provincial
Adverbs: controversially, financially, initially
Looking Ahead & Key Notices
Learning Plan Meetings: Meetings are currently being arranged for next week. If your child has a Learning Plan appointment scheduled, you will not need to book a separate Parents' Evening slot.
Monday: The children will be using acrylic paint in art. Please ensure your child brings an oversized old top or shirt to protect their uniform—unlike our standard poster paints, acrylic paint will not wash out! Please note: Miss Jackson has a meeting first thing on Monday morning, so Hazel Class will be covered by Mrs Fox until breaktime.
Tuesday: Mr Rothwell is attending training this week and has rearranged his PPA time for Tuesday morning. Willows Class will be covered by Mrs Wade.
Thursday: Mr Rothwell is taking on an additional middle leadership course! Willows Class will be covered by Mrs Fox. Also, don't forget it's school disco day—please check the latest WPSA updates for full details!
Friday: PE day as usual. Mr Rothwell will be attending a trust-wide meeting with Computing Leads at Lift Head Office in London, so Willows Class will be covered by Mrs Carter.
Upcoming Assessment
In a couple of weeks, the children will be completing their very first half-termly arithmetic test in Year 5. To help them feel prepared and confident, we have attached a previous Year 4 paper to this update if you would like to go through some practice questions with your child at home.
Thank you as always for your continued support! Have a lovely and restful weekend.
Miss Jackson and Mr Rothwell