Welcome to Year Mrs Bramble (Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri) Mrs Gordon (Weds)

School Routines Before school 8.40 gates open 8.50 Register Morning task each morning! Compulsory snack at breaktime Weekly timetable –Mrs Bramble (Mon, Tues, Thur, Fri) and Mrs Gordon (Weds in Y5) –Mrs Clare (Thursday afternoon PPA) –Class assemblies now Tuesday 9am –Shared Learning at home (more about this later)

School Uniform and Equipment Uniform/Shoes Daily warm/waterproof clothes please! PE kit Jewellery/Hair/Nails

Upper Key Stage 2 Getting ready for Year 6 and… Expectations!

Curriculum New curriculum from Sept 2014 –New Primary Curriculum published and in use from September 2014 –Higher expectations of every year group, mainly in English, Maths and Science (which you may notice at times) In North Hinksey School… –Focus on fluency and speed of number facts (started with CLIC last year) –Themes of learning led by pupil (and teacher) interest, no published schemes or rolling programme –The usual number (lots!) of special days, weeks and events –Pretty much every element of school we love!!

Shared learning at home New curriculum from Sept 2014 Shared Learning at Home –Maths will be given on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays to be completed for the same day the following week. – Big Talk (2 days later) to help children discuss their thoughts and ideas before writing. –Reading every day. Three reading questions should be answered in reading journals each week, and both reading journals and reading books should be in school at all times as you may record in it when completing reading activities in school. –Once a term a project-based piece of work will be given which will need to be put together across a series of weeks. This will include a variety of pieces of work that can be worked on as soon as it is given or completed by the deadline date. –Spellings will also be set each term with a list of words to practise at home, as well as spelling sessions in school which will focus on spelling rules and conventions. –If an activity is tricky, or takes you longer than thirty minutes, talk to Mrs Bramble or Mrs Gordon. Parental support please!

FACT: excellent readers are often poor spellers as they have missed the stage of needing to ‘sound out’ every word. Therefore, when it comes to spelling, they need to resort to using phonics as best they can eg is it t-h-a-y- or t-h-e-y? Maggie Snowling :professor of psychology at York University and a vice-president of the British Dyslexia Association.

Spelling Groups –Background: This will support KS2 children’s needs in light of new expectations in Spelling This will allow for children to work more at the pace that suits their needs This will build on the solid foundations of Read Write Inc –How Spelling Lessons will work: Children will be put in ability groups according to their ‘Spelling Age’ They will be taught by Mrs Burson, Mr Waldock, Mrs Bramble or Mrs Colucci They will learn spelling in these groups for 15mins on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday They will do fun spelling games and activities to help learn phonics, letter patters and all those rules and annoying exceptions we come across in spelling English words! Spelling Shared Learning at Home will be the Year Group’s word list that most represents what the child’s Spelling Group is learning. As with Read Write Inc, children will be re-assessed and grouped in December. At this point we will be able to review the plan’s effectiveness.

How to Support your child in Maths… it’s easier than you think! Look out for WILF lists in the classroom! Show your child maths in real life all the time, especially shopping, measuring/weighing and time – this is free 1:1 Tuition on problem solving and needs no fancy maths knowledge! Recite number facts (LEARN ITS) at every opportunity – the sooner they are learnt, the more confident a child feels in every lesson. Top attainment is almost always linked to knowledge of number bonds and times tables at the age appropriate level.

 A ‘Learn It’ is a number fact that is learnt so well that it can be recalled instantly. It includes the entire 1 digit add 1 digit answers as well as the 1 digit multiplied by 1 digit answers.  The pupils should know all ‘Learn Its’ as well as they know their own name! When they recall these facts there is no thinking time.  They should also know the opposite and inverse, e.g. is they know 2+3=5, they also rapidly know 3+2=5, 5-2=3 and 5-3=2.  When this is achieved it opens the door to a whole new world of numeracy e.g. 80 x 70 is easy to do if you know 8 x 7. Learn Its

If you’d like copies, just ask Miss Jeavons

How to Support your child in Year 5 Website and class notice board Wow wall – outstanding work WILFs – how to do something Shared Learning at home

Diary Dates and News On the Year 5 and home pages of the school website (check whole school and Y5 calendar) HSA AGM 30 th September Derbyshire (May 2015) Parent teacher meetings November Volunteers in school (especially for Forest Schools) are always welcome!

Anything else?