1. family and parenting
2. children

Upper Key Stage 2
Foxyards Primary School
Curriculum newsletter
Summer Term 2015
At Foxyards we:
Respect everybody and our environment.
Aim high in everything we do.
Year 6:
Mr Shaw
Phase leader
Year 5:
Miss
Buddan
Year 5:
Miss Chilton
Mrs Earnshaw
Support Staff:
Mrs McNaney (HLTA),
Mrs Fitzgerald, Mrs Perkes, Mr
Hughes, Mr Evans, Mrs Malpass-Rust,
Mrs Spragg.
Firstly, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter. I hope that you all had a lovely break and didn’t eat
too many chocolate eggs. The summer term is a notoriously busy term and will absolutely fly by, I hope
that you will continue to support our staff in trying to move the children forward in their learning. Reading is again a huge focus for us in years 5/6 and we ask that you please find time to hear your child read,
and fill in their reading record at least once each week. On the 15th June, we will be hosting our third and
final ‘Inspire’ afternoon, which will link nicely into our Indian themed ‘International Week’. Finally, I would
like to thank you all for your help and support that you have given us throughout the year so far, may it
continue in this jam-packed term. Many thanks, Mr Shaw.
Science
In year 5, they will be focusing on Properties and changes of materials. During this topic, the children will
be learning to compare and group together objects based on their hardness, solubility, transparency etc.
They will be learning about solids, liquids and gases, along with discussing reversible and irreversible
changes.
Year 6 they will be beginning the summer term with the topic of irreversible changes, followed by a focus
on Animals including humans. During the second part of the term they will move on to a focus on All Living
things and Forces (with a maths focus on measure and recording speed).
ICT
This term we will be using a wide range of skills in ICT. We will be using a variety of different software
to present information, sound and graphics, such as J2e which is a web page design tool. The children will
also be leaning to use Serif PhotoPlus. We will also be continuing to use coding software such as Scratch
and Purple Mash. In year 6 we will also be using Excel in a budgeting context as part of our Enterprise
project.
PE
This term in year 5 the children will again be benefitting from the expertise of our sports coaches who
will be delivering sessions on a Friday alongside the class teachers. Year 6 will be enjoying the support of
students and teachers from Dudley College, who are coming in to deliver session on a Friday as part of
their NVQ course. In outdoor P.E. we will be focusing on athletics as well as games as well as net / wall
games such as tennis, rounders and cricket.
Music
We will be focusing our music lesson on learning the songs for our end of year production, preparing solo’s,
harmonies etc. This term we will be continuing to use Music Express with a Viking focus for our new topic
this term.
RE
In R.E. this term we will be continuing to focus on Hinduism and Islam. We will also be linking our R.E. with
our new topic of the Vikings. We will begin to look at the way the Vikings worshipped, their Gods and it’s
impact on cultures today.
MFL
The year 5 and 6 staff will be working alongside a modern foreign languages expert to deliver languages
this year. They will be learning to read, write and speak a new language linked to the new curriculum. We
hope that as a result the children will enjoy gaining a wider understanding of different cultures and their
native language.
Topic
This term we will be learning all about the Vikings and their struggle for the United Kingdom. We had a
brief look at this period of history through our Autumn topic of the Anglo-Saxons and during this term
we will build on this knowledge with a sharper focus on the Vikings. We will look closely at the impact that
the Vikings had on life in Britain. We will also investigate the links between human geography and physical
geography of the areas Britain the Vikings had a significant impact on. In addition to this, we will be using
our experiences from this topic as inspiration for a series of art and design technology.
During this term we will also be having our ‘International’ themed focus week (15th June), and the focus
of year 5 and 6 will be India. During this week we aim to take a closer look at Indian culture. We will be
holding our third Inspire workshop, with an Indian art focus, we will look closely at the countries geography, culture, history, all in a fun-packed week.
Literacy
This term the children will be building on the progress they made last term by continuing to use skills ladders. These ladders have so far helped the children to take more ownership of their learning, knowing at
which APS point they are working, and the steps they need to achieve to continue to make good progress.
In year 6 this term, our main focus for the first part of the term is the run upto Sat’s week. We will be
focusing sharply on reading along with spelling punctuation and grammar. We ask that you continue to support your child with their revision in the run up to this week. Our writing focus this term will be instructional texts, explanation texts, persuasive along with revisiting balanced reports.
Year 5 will also be taught about a variety of different genres this term. These will include writing persuasive letters, poetry, instructions, explanations and Narrative. As a team we ask that you please continue
to hear your child read at a minimum once every week. This is hugely important. We ask that when you listen to your child read that you continue to ask questions about the text they are reading along with completing their reading diary so that they are able to earn points towards their ‘Reading at Home’ certificates, with some fantastic prizes to be won. Homework will continue to be set on a Thursday and will be
expected in no later than Tuesday morning. Please encourage your child to check that they understand
what they need to do on a Thursday, and bring it back into school on Friday or Monday to ask a teacher if
they are unsure. Please be aware that homework is a statutory requirement and helps pupils to reinforce
what they have learnt in class. Incomplete homework will be completed during break and lunch times.
Maths
Similarly to English, the children will continue to build on the progress they made last term using our skills
ladders. The children will be continuing to work on topics such as number and calculation, shape space and
measure and data collection. We will be working hard on place value to begin with, moving onto calculation,
shape space and measure along with data handling. We will continue to use maths across broader subjects,
such as in topic and ICT lessons, along with some other exciting opportunities. There will also be continued interventions for numeracy and literacy taking place during afternoon sessions, these are designed
again to help us enable the children to move forward with their learning. The children will continue to have
the opportunity to complete there Maths challenges throughout this term. At this point in the term, the
children should have completed challenges 1 and 2 and be working on challenge 3. For each challenge the
children have to complete three separate challenges, resulting in a certificate and a prize.
In Year 6, as in English, our main focus for the first part of the term is the run upto Sat’s week.
The children will be working hard to improve their mental maths skills along with application of the written methods. In the run upto Sat’s we will be flicking between topics quickly to ensure all gaps have been
covered, along with giving the children experience of the types of questions they may be presented with.
Homework will continue to be set on a Thursday and will be expected in no later than Tuesday morning.
Please encourage your child to check that they understand what they need to do on a Thursday, and bring
it back into school on Friday or Monday to ask a teacher if they are unsure. Please be aware that homework is a statutory requirement and helps pupils to reinforce what they have learnt in class. Incomplete
homework will be completed during break and lunch times.