Staincliffe CE Junior School

Year 5/6

Year Group Leader - Miss Thomas (5T)

Teachers - Mrs M Patel (Mon, Tues & Fri) & Mrs N Ravat (Wed - Fri) (5/6PR)

Teaching Assistants - Mrs Zaman, Mrs Sheikh, Mrs T Patel and Mrs Jasat

Below is the SPRING TERM overview - this covers everything that your child will be working on throughout the spring term in Year 5. 

For the full year overview of all subjects covered across this year group, please click on the Long Term Plan link below:

Year 5/6 Long Term Plan 2025 - 2026

PARENTS' OVERVIEW - SPRING TERM 2025/26 (downloadable doc)

 

SPRING TERM 2026

Maths

In Maths, we follow a progressive approach ensuring the children get experience of mathematical concepts in blocks of a week or two weeks. They then revisit these concepts over the year to ensure they have mastered previous knowledge and understanding that has been taught.  We encourage the children to be independent learners in maths and they utilise their Maths Toolkit to support their learning when required.

This term, the children will be looking at:

• Reading and writing time to 5 minute intervals
• Reading presenting and interpreting pictograms and tables
• Reading, presenting and interpreting bar charts using scales
• Multiplying multiples of 10 and dividing with remainders
• Fractions (representing, comparing and ordering unit and non-unit fractions)

Times Table Rock Stars

Your child will be given a username and password for access to an app called ‘Times Table Rock stars’ which can be accessed by any mobile device e.g. Phone, tablet and laptop. Through this app, the children have a great opportunity to learn their times tables in a fun interactive way.

Literacy

In Literacy in the first half term, children will start by looking at the story ‘Into the Forest’ and focussing on play scripts by identifying the features, planning and eventually writing their own play script.

The children will also study Egyptian Cinderella, which is a spin on the original fairy tale. Throughout this unit, they will produce a retelling of the story and a newspaper report, using a range of fiction/non-fiction writing techniques. They will build their independence through writing by finding suitable language choices to use in their own writing by analysing previous examples.

In our guided reading lessons, the children will look at a variety of texts including both fiction and non-fiction. Where they will develop their fluency skills further and also their comprehension skills through questioning.

PE Physical Education

5T and 5-6PR will continue with their swimming lessons until February half term. Afterwards they will be developing their cognitive skills as part of their PE curriculum. They will learn to develop methods to outwit opponents, recognise and suggest patterns of play to increase their chances of success and learn how to develop their own work as well as helping others with theirs. They will do this through various small team games involving throwing and catching balls where they will work collaboratively by catching, dodging and throwing to earn points in the games. As well as this, children will be taking part in various level challenges to help improve their ball skills and co-ordination.

5D will begin spring term by developing their social skills as part of their PE curriculum. Through a range of small group activities and games, children will help organise roles and identify responsibilities to help guide each other through a task. They will be expected to develop their cooperation skills with patience and give feedback to each other. After February half term, 5D will attend swimming every week at Batley Sports and Tennis Centre where specialist swimming teachers will teach the children to swim. More information to follow.

Science

In science during the first half of the term, children will continue looking at living things and their habitats where they learn how to recognize that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

In the second half of the term, they will look at the states of matter unit, where they will compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases; observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C); and finally, identify the part played by evaporation and condensation in the water cycle and associate the rate of evaporation with temperature.

Music

In music lessons the children will also focus on singing, listening, improvising and composing as well as playing musical percussion instruments with a focus on the song ‘Lean on Me’.

MFL Modern Foreign Languages  (French)

In French this half term the children will be learning about clothing, how to talk about different items of clothing in French and describing how they look.

Computing

Throughout the term, the children will look at a range of units in computing, these being:

Logo - This unit introduces children to Logo programming, focusing on developing their understanding of basic commands and programming concepts. Children will learn to create shapes and letters using instructions that contain advanced features such as procedures.

Sound stories - Children will explore the features of effective audio books and work as a team to script, record and edit their own.

Effective searching - This unit teaches children to use search technologies effectively by selecting clear keywords, understanding how results are ranked, refining searches for accuracy, and evaluating online content to judge whether it is reliable and trustworthy.

Coding - Builds on learning from previous coding units. Children will learn to use selection, co-ordinates, looping and variables. They will use these coding skills to create their own game.

PSHE Personal Social Health Economic Education

Children will follow the ‘My happy mind’ scheme of learning. The aim is to help prepare today’s children for tomorrow’s world by building resilient, balanced and happy minds. Our topics this term include: Appreciate, Healthy Lifestyles, Relate and Friendships.

RE Religious Education

Over the spring term, the children will be exploring the big question:  Why do the lives of the Gurus inspire Sikh believers?

The unit is about the beliefs and practices of modern-day Sikhs and their origins in the teaching of Sikh leaders such as Guru Nanak and Guru Gobind Singh. These Sikh Gurus had mysterious and life-changing experiences that they explained as an encounter with God.  The unit focuses on the Gurus’ new insights into the meaning of life and the ways those insights were taught or passed on to others through their teaching and writing and finally through the Guru Granth Sahib.

Art and Design

During the spring term, our art unit will focus on craft and design skills through ‘fabric of nature’. The unit will teach children to describe objects, images and sounds with relevant subject vocabulary, create drawings that replicate a selected image and select imagery and colours to create a mood board with a defined theme and colour palette.

DT Design Technology

In DT the children will identify and learn about cooking and eating seasonally. In this unit, children will be able to explain that fruits and vegetables grow in different countries based on their climates and identify which grow where an understand that seasonal fruits and vegetables grow in a given season and that eating them in season positively affects the environment.

History

Our History topic for the term is ‘Vikings’.  

Children will contrast daily life in Viking times with modern day lifestyles and consider broader historical context, particularly with regards to the expansion of the Viking influence.

Geography

In this unit the children will be trying to answer our big question: What are rivers and how are they used?

Throughout this unit children will learn about the water cycle and why it is important. They will also look at how rivers are formed and used.

Spelling

We follow a spelling programme provided by Spelling Shed. Children can then use the website to practise their weekly spellings choosing the level of support they need. Children will be given a weekly spelling test to consolidate their spellings.

The children can then use the website to practice their weekly spellings choosing the level of support they need. Each child has a copy of the spelling lists in their school book bag. They will be given a weekly spelling test to consolidate their spellings.

Homework

Every week on Friday (due in the following Tuesday)children will be given a maths activity, either linked to their learning that week or revisiting a previously taught skill.

• be expected to read their reading book and get their reading record signed x3 weekly
• play on TT Rockstars and Spelling Shed games.
• learn their times tables up to 12 x12
• learn their weekly spellings (each week has a different list focus that the children have been practising in school that week)

Each half term, Year 5 children will:

• be set their black book homework tasks. They need to choose AT LEAST 3 activities to complete which will be shared with with their class and teacher. It could include art work, writing, computer presentations, 3D models, posters etc. 

Spring:

This is your chance to show off what you can do! Choose at least 3 activities from the list below to complete over the term and during the half term holidays (due in on Monday 23rd March).

You are going to share all your homework with your class mates and teacher. It could include art work, writing, computer presentations, 3D models, posters etc. You will have to explain to the class what you have done.