For those of you who have been wondering what’s been going on in Year 5…

After shaking off the cobwebs from the half term break we had to roll our sleeves up and get back down to business. Lots of the children had laboured over their homework on the Sacrament of Marriage and this stood them in good stead when called upon to write an essay on the subject incorporating some conceptual and abstract ideas and connections.

Later on, we explored some of the ideas raised in Monday’s Preferential Option for the Poor, watching a fabulous video on wealth distribution and competing in races which are rigged from the start to enable certain people to win and pull away whilst others to have no chance of catching up.

25th October

Is the Year 5 Harvest Earworm still in your head – I know I find myself humming it constantly.

A great rendition given with gusto and some Flemish Signing – which I think is a first for the school.

Meanwhile in maths we have been getting our hands on with the manipulatives and have strengthened our understanding of multiples, factors and cube numbers.

Along with a renewed focus on Catholic Social Teaching, the children are preparing and leading their own class acts of worship…

It was nice to see so many of you at Parents Consultation and I was able to discuss with you how hard the children have been working. In RE, we are nearing the end of our work on the Life of St Maximilian Kolbe and how he has inspired us. Similarly, we are finishing our work on Viking art. Here is the working wall showing some of the children’s work.

4th October 2024

So much has happened this week. Have produced some wonderful work on the pioneering ladies who feature in the film ‘Hidden Figures’ . Much of the work will go on display for our celebration of Black History Month. This will alsoset us up nicely for next week when we take the book ‘Hidden Figures’ as our class reader ( originally, I had planned for ‘Coming to England’ ). In RE we started to learn about St Maximilain Kolbe and will be continuing to focus on him next week.

27th September 2024

The week started with the Mercy Mass. We were able to say fond farewells to Jackie Harrison and Ed Behan who have been stalwarts in their devotion to the school as governors. Later, we were able to let off a bit of steam in PE with some Volleyball practice.

While some of the girls in the class were putting on a fantstic display at the Tag Rugby, the rest of the class were honing their printing skills in art.

AS part of the RE work on the Ourselves Topic, we have learnt about the Sernon on the mount , producing our own mini plays to illustrate the learning. The week was finished with a pupil-led act of worship.

13th September 2024

There has been a whirlwind start to the term and we have hit the ground running. The children are already established in their reading groups and some of them have started the YARC reading focus ( my intention is that all children will have their turn at this over the year). We have learned about Catherine McAuley in RE and also found out about our new class saint (St Josephine Bakhita). In maths, we have completed the first topic (place value) and there is some additional revision support on the Google Classroom to prepare for the forthcoming assessment. In English, we have written fables inspired by The Midnight Panther and the works of Aesop. We are now learning about the daring exploits of Philippe Petit (The Man Who Walked Between the Towers).

In art, our studies have taken us to the rather niche ‘Viking Art’ – here are some photos of us designing Viking Jewellery in the Osberg and Jelling style.

Summer Reading Challenge

In our assembly this morning, our visitors told us all about the Hertfordshire Libraries’ Summer Reading Challenge.

Over the school holidays, the children will not be bringing books home from school, so this is an ideal chance to visit your local library and join the library challenge.

You can register for the challenge in your local library and all you have to do is read six books across the holidays. The children will find a huge selection of books to choose from and earn stickers, a certificate, a medal and a special pencil as a reward for their holiday reading. You will find out more here.

Joining the library is free and children are able to borrow up to 30 items! This is a great way to try out different authors and different types of books.

We hope that as many of you as possible join in and we look forward to hearing all about your reading adventures when you return to school in September!