“Anything is possible. Anything can be.”

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Dear Parents / Annwyl Rhieni,

Aims of Year 5 

• Develop independence in readiness for Year 6  
• Grow in confidence throughout the year  
• Love their learning and enjoy sharing what they have learnt with you 
• To ensure progress across the curriculum 
• To have a fun and enjoyable year! 

Our Big Questions!

Autumn Term – Is our impact on the world greater now than in the past?

Spring Term – How does where we live affect us?

Summer Term – How do forces affect us?

Spring 2024:

Working Together & How you can help? 

Home and school are the two most powerful influences on children and only by working together can we ensure children get the best education. Please do not hesitate to come and see me if you have any concerns so we can tackle and resolve any concerns together quickly. Please do help us by: 

• Talking to your child about schoolwork. Show your children that you are interested and want them to do well. Regular blogs will help you engage in conversation with them.  
• Ensuring that your child comes to school alert, in good time and having had sufficient sleep. 
• Ensuring that any homework is completed by Friday and brought into school as it forms part of our Friday lessons.  
• Teach your child to respect the school and its staff. 
• Help your child to be independent at home as we will be working on this in class.  

Homework 

• The Year 5 children are set Mental Maths homework every Friday. Mental Maths books will be sent home weekly. Children will need to complete one test per week. 
• Please ensure Mental Maths books are brought in on a Friday so that they can be marked in class. 
• Children will be given a list of spelling words to learn at the start of term. These will be differentiated. The children will then be tested at the end of each term. 

Reading 

• We aim to listen to the children reading twice a week through guided reading and reading with an adult, but there will also be plenty of opportunity for the children to read across the curriculum as well.  
• Try to ensure your child reads every night, and please complete their reading diary.
  20 minutes aloud every day is the ideal! They can read from a range of sources, including Get Epic, especially if it interests them.  
• Encourage them to read a range of books including fiction and non-fiction. 
• Try to listen to your child read and ask them questions about the text. 
• Help them with the different skills of reading especially words that they may not be sure of the meaning, encourage them to use a dictionary to look the word up. 
• If your child finishes a book, please make a note in their diary so that we can get them changed as quickly as possible.  

Writing 

• Again, reading a variety of texts – the more children read, the more familiar they become with different text types, writing styles and widen their vocabulary and spelling knowledge.  
• Spelling – using learnt spellings and demonstrating a developing knowledge of spelling patterns, as well as encouraging the use of technical and subject specific vocabulary. 
• Handwriting and presentation – children are encouraged to write cursively and take pride in their work, presenting it across the curriculum to as high a standard as possible.  

Mathematics 

• Times tables are extremely important as children move towards the upper end of the school. Please use tools such as J2Blast and ‘Hit the Button’ to ensure improved recall. 
• Help your child to learn to tell the time (analogue and digital) and understand this in real life scenarios – e.g. How many minutes until… 
• Fractions, Decimal and Percentage equivalents can sometimes be a sticking point for some as they become more complex in Year 5. Practice with real life examples can again help aid this skill. 
• Ensure children attempt their mental maths homework independently before offering support if needed. The skills covered in mental maths can improve efficiency in all areas of mathematics! 

Multilingualism 

• Children are taught about their Welsh heritage 
• Children are taught incidental Welsh (commands in Welsh in every lesson) 
• We have a 5-10 minute welsh drilling slot every day. 
• Emphasis on developing knowledge of the Welsh language as we work towards achieving our Siarter Iaith Silver Award 
• Children will begin to be introduced to incidental French 

Other information 

• PE – Swimming on Tuesday mornings until further notice.  
• PPA – Monday afternoon until further notice. 
• Parent Evenings – Autumn term and Spring term, reports Summer term. 
• Keep up to date on school blog at www.pontlliwprimary.co.uk 
• sQuid Mail – I will keep you up to date with regular sQuid mails and blogs so you can keep track of what is going on in class.  
• Class Dojo – children can take pictures of their work and send to parents if they wish.   

and finally… 

Thank you for your continued support. I hope that your child will have a fantastic time in Year 5 and gain some memorable experiences. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

Miss Fowler