Welcome to Year 5
Teacher : Miss Randles
Support staff: Mrs Smith, Ms McGinley, Ms Herrero, Mrs Stalham
Welcome back!
I hope you’ve all had wonderful Christmas break and are ready for an exciting sprint term ahead!
Homework and Reading Records
Homework will be given out on a Thursday to be handed back in on a Tuesday morning along with reading records. Homework will usually consist of one Maths task and one English task; however, this can differ.
Sometimes the maths will be online on Mathletics. All children have been given their login details to take home.
As always, homework not handed in on time, or not completed to a satisfactory standard, will need to be completed during break or lunchtimes. The homework set is in addition to regular reading at home and children will receive merit points if their reading record is signed at least three times.
PE
PE lessons are on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. Please make sure your child has their named PE kit in school on a Wednesday. Each child will need a pair of trainers, a white t-shirt, and blue or black shorts. As we transition into the winter months, children can wear black tracksuit bottoms and a blue or black jumper.
Swimming
For swimming, girls need a one-piece costume, and boys need a pair of fitted swimming trunks, not loose baggy board shorts, and a towel. Please avoid light coloured swimming trunks and costumes. If they have long hair this needs to be tied up and a cap can be worn. Goggles can also be worn if they would like to. Flip-flops can be worn once they have changed to and from the pool side. As with PE, no jewellery should be worn for swimming although stud earrings can be kept in.
Adult support
In Year 5, we have Mrs Smith and Mrs McGinley in class every morning to help support the children. Every afternoon, Miss Herrero will be assisting the class and Miss Cato will also teach the class every Tuesday afternoon.
Haberdashers’
This year, Haberdashers are kindly providing science lessons every Monday afternoon for Year 5. A coach will be collecting us after lunch, and we aim to return by 3:15pm. These sessions will take place across the entire year however some Mondays are unavailable due to other commitments.
Water bottles
Please make sure your child has a named water bottle in school so they can keep hydrated during the school day. Due to hygiene reasons, it is difficult to provide cups for the children, so it is important they have their own water bottle.
I hope this information answers a few questions you may have. If you have any concerns or would like to know further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. It is important we all communicate and work together to ensure your child has the best possible experience at school.
Please have a look at our class timetable and the KS2 long term plan is available on our school website which explain in more detail what learning will be taught.
Thank you for your continued support,
Eustacia Randles
Year 5 Spring Timetable 2025
Reading in KS2
In KS2 children have daily whole-class reading lessons. At Monksmead, we use VIPERS from Literacy Shed Comprehension Plus to help structure the learning and ensure that all key skills are being learnt.
VIPERS is an acronym to aid the recall of the 6 reading domains as part of the UK’s reading curriculum. They are the key areas which we feel children need to know and understand in order to improve their comprehension of texts. The 6 domains focus on the comprehension aspect of reading and not the mechanics: decoding, fluency, prosody etc. As such, VIPERS is not a reading scheme but rather a method of ensuring that teachers ask, and students are familiar with, a range of questions. They allow the teacher to track the type of questions asked and the children’s responses to these which allows for targeted questioning afterwards.
To support the children in accurately answering comprehension questions, we use A.P.E. This stands for 'Answer', ' Prove it' and 'Explain it'.
Science Knowledge Organisers - Spring 2025
Click on the images below to enlarge the knowledge organiser for the individual topic area.
