1. Year 5 Parent Meeting Please take a seat and we will begin soon.

2. Curriculum 2015 What are the main changes? The aim is to slim down the content of the curriculum in almost all subjects, though not in primary English, maths or science. The government says the new curriculum does not tell teachers "how to teach", but concentrates on "the essential knowledge and skills every child should have" so that teachers "have the freedom to shape the curriculum to their pupils' needs". The new curriculum covers primary school pupils, aged five to 11, and secondary schools pupils up to the age of 14.

3. Curriculum 2015 Which subjects are affected? There are changes to the content of all subjects in the national curriculum. In maths, children will be expected to learn more at an earlier age - for example to know their 12 times table by the age of nine History will take a more chronological approach than under the old curriculum In English, pupils will learn more Shakespeare and there will be more importance placed on spelling The new computing curriculum will require pupils to learn how to write code In science, there will be a shift towards hard facts and "scientific knowledge"

4. Curriculum 2015 How were the decisions on the curriculum changes made? The government appointed a panel of experts, which included subject specialists and teachers, to devise the new curriculum. Their brief was to emulate the world's most successful school systems, including those in Hong Kong, Singapore, the Canadian state of Alberta and the US state of Massachusetts, in international tests. The aim was to combine best international practice with best practice from schools in England. The government says the curriculum has a strong focus on basic skills "plus real freedom for teachers to decide how best to teach". It says it wants pupils to leave school with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the real world.

5. Curriculum 2015 Some experts have complained the new primary curriculum will require children to cover subjects, particularly in maths and science, up to two years earlier than their peers in top-performing nations. Children in England will start looking at fractions aged five or six - but in Finland they do not start using fractions until they are about nine years old. The history curriculum has also divided experts, with some academics welcoming it and others complaining it is list like and narrow.

6. What does that mean for Assessment at Balfour? Levels are no longer as they would be a guessing game and mean absolutely nothing. For example I looked at some old test questions to find some questions we are now required to teach to Year 5. It was from a GCSE paper!

7. The problem we are finding a long all the other schools in the country are that children have gaps in their understanding. As levels gave a best fit picture gaps developed. Added to the New curriculum being made harder the gap is even wider. This has been more evident in Year 5 and the gaps do seem to close the lower down the school you go, although the gaps are still there.

8. What have we done in Year 5? New vocabulary introduced - Emerging, Expected and Exceeding. On their own they don’t say much and the reason we have given them out at Parents Meetings at the end of last year is to familiarise you with the terms we intend to use. If we didn’t give you these then we would have had nothing else to give you. We have used these terms in line with the Objectives of the curriculum. If they are on track to achieve the Age Related Expectation then they would be expected. If they are not then they would be Emerging and if they are on track to achieve higher than the Age related Expectation then they would be Exceeding.

9. What have we have used in Year 5 to help us assess? We have designed grids which include all the objectives for the core subjects. Maths Writing SPaG ReadingMathsWritingSPaGReading They are then ticked off to whether the child has achieved these or understood them. A judgement is made on whether then the child is on track to meet the Age Related Expectation. These were kept in their books and they can see what the can and can’t do and they are used in their lessons and in the marking.

10. Uniform Great start, so a big thank you to you all for sending in such smart children. Remember it is now winter uniform (White shirts with tie). School shoes – no trainers Please name all uniform – as you know some children can mislay things. Also please remember they should have a school water bottle as it is important to drink plenty of water throughout the day.

11. Homework Children must read for at least 20 minutes every night. Please record this in their diaries. Times tables need to be practiced every night. Spellings to be learnt every 2 weeks. We will also set projects for them to do which will either be based on their topic they have just covered or the one they will be doing the following term. Example of Homework

12. Topics The Year 5 topics for this year are as follows:  Term 1 – Traders and Raiders  Term 2 – Stargazers  Term 3 – Alchemy Island  Term 4 – Beast Creator/Allotment  Term 5 – Scream Machine  Term 6 – Princes, Peasants and Pestilence  On our website there is a curriculum map to show what will be covered in lessons in slightly more detail. Click hereClick here

13. Medway Test  I know a lot of you are starting to think about the Medway tests, as they are approaching rapidly.  Parents often ask whether their child will pass or not. Unfortunately we cannot say either way. The only guide we can give is that Grammar schools look to take children who are working above the required standard for their age. So if your child is working at emerging level they are some way off.  There are lots of resources online and I have some older papers that can be used to help practice at home. I will also upload links to any resources or videos that can help.

14. Medway Test (continued)  If you are planning for your child to sit the Kent test then we cannot give any advice on this as we are a Medway School not a Kent one.  The test is changing. This is to move away from a test that can be coached for and will be a test designed to how the children’s true ability.  You will need to liaise with Medway and not the school when it comes to the test. Communication will be between Medway and yourselves, however if we do have any information we will let you know as soon as we do.

15. Q&A

16. Thank you all for coming!  If you want to stay and chat for a while, please do.  Please take a copy of the PowerPoint. This will also be available online for those parents who couldn’t make it.  Any questions that you wish to ask please see me afterwards and I’ll be happy to help.  Our aim is to continue to improve communication between the school and parents so please don’t hesitate to contact me with any problems or questions at the email below or just write in the diaries:  kirkg008@medwaymail.org