Welcome to Year 5 – Ruby Class!

Miss Kidd

Welcome to Year 5 – Ruby Class

Dear parents, carers and children,

Welcome to Year 5! Here you can explore the vast curriculum we will learn throughout the 2026 Autumn term. This involves exciting subject material, class routines and homework information. I’m so excited to teach Ruby Class, there’s lots of fun to be had!

Writing

Within writing, our first book ‘Queen of the Falls’ explores the life of Annie Edson Taylor and her miraculous true story. Year 5 will engage their imagination skills to deliver a fantastic diary style recount of Annie’s incredible record-breaking stunt. In order to master their diary entry, direct speech, expanded noun phrases and descriptive language will be used. After half term, we use the incredible Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘The Lost Happy Endings’ to create a traditional tale. Year 5 will encapsulate themselves in the character’s thoughts and feelings to create their own alternative ending. We will use fronted adverbials and complex paragraph structure to achieve this.

Reading

Throughout ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls’ by Eleni Favilli, we learn about the lives of 100 real role model women. We will predict events, retrieve information and summarise ideas about their experiences. This book aims to set high aspirations from the inspiring events that we explore. Following this, Year 5 delve into a version of the classic fairytale ‘Hansel and Gretel’ by Neil Gaiman. This spooky retelling allows us to investigate a broad range of vocabulary and how the illustrations effect how we feel. These brilliant books are not the only novel explored in Year 5, as we will read Harry Potter as our whole class novel!

Maths

We start the term by briefly learning about roman numerals, swiftly followed by exploring numbers up to 1,000,000 and each number’s value; we do this by ordering, comparing and rounding amounts. Place value counters and charts will make these lessons practical and engaging. Following this, we use our brilliant addition and subtraction skills from Year 4 and make our calculations even more efficient. After half term, we explore prime, square and cube numbers throughout our multiplication and division topic, concluded by fractions. Again, lots of practical resources make learning about fractions a fun and tangible experience.

Science

Our first exciting science topic is forces! Here, we examine gravity, air/water resistance and friction. We learn how these forces affect submarines, skydiving and planets! Following this, Year 5 learn all about space. We visit topics such as the solar system, moon phases and meteors. Year 5 become brilliant scientists by developing their prediction, investigating, recording and summarising skills.

History/Geography

Throughout Autumn, Year 5 explore the events throughout World War 1, the countries involved in the war and where they are on a map. We discover how The Great War affected soldiers, children and women through diary entries, videos and propaganda posters. Year 5 will immerse themselves in the lives of those who lived World War 1, concluding with a debate about the events within the war.

Computing

In order to code functional games, we learn how to introduce variables, timers and score keeping. As always, staying safe online is a key priority, so this topic is covered within our curriculum. Year 5 continue to learn how to be safe and happy users of the internet.

Art

During our first term of art, we will explore two key artists: Charlie Mackesy, the illustrator of ‘The Boy the Mole the Fox and the Horse’, and Elizabeth Catlett, an abstract portraiture sketcher. We take inspiration from their work and explore sketching in our own unique styles. After, we explore portraiture through the means of painting! Year 5 experiment with mixed media to create collage style self-portraits.

Design and Technology

Year 5 start this term by making their own wobble bots! We explore circuits and motors to design effective criterion for our outcomes. After half term, we use a series of prototypes to develop and refine an eco-gadget bike. Together, we improve each other’s designs with helpful feedback to develop a final outcome.

RE

Our first topic covers the Hindu faith. Here, we investigate various religious symbols, compare Hindu traditions to our own lives and special Hindu festivals. Following this, Year 5 explore Islam, starting with The 5 Pillars of Islam. We then cover Arabic language, Ramadan and Hajj.

Music

We start music by exploring how repetition in music can be used to make a song, also known as a ‘loop’. By doing this, Year 5 will compose their own piece of music using loops of sounds. Then, we enjoy the amazing sounds of samba music! We experiment with semibreves, semiquavers, minims and crotchets to create our own samba performances.

PE

Our PE days will fall on Wednesday and Friday afternoons and children will come in their PE kit on these days. Wednesday sessions will be led by Mr Parrish and Friday sessions will be led by Miss Kidd. Each half term will focus on a different sport, offering a variety of skills for Year 5 to learn! 

Homework

Homework will be set on Fridays to be returned by Thursdays. 

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