Year 5
Welcome to Year 5!
5S is taught by Mrs Stone and 5R by Miss Robinson. Both classes are supported by Miss Croxton. Our 1:1 support team consists of Miss Doroz, Miss Keymer and Miss P.
Year 5 teachers can be contacted via year5@earlsfield.wandsworth.sch.uk
Autumn Term 2026 Update
Hello and welcome back to another exciting year at Earlsfield!
We hope you had a wonderful Summer holiday and are ready for some exciting topics this term. We can’t wait to have you back in the classroom and look forward to getting to know you all.
The Year 5 Team
In English lessons, we are looking forward to reading our Power of Reading book ‘The Adventures of Odysseus’ by Hugh Lupton to inspire our talk, drama and writing. This links brilliantly with Topic where we will be learning about modern day democracy and its origins, before exploring further legacies of the Ancient Greeks. For Guided Reading we will be focusing on different reading comprehension skills while we read the text ‘Eye of the Wolf’ by Daniel Pennac. We are also looking forward to exploring some new English texts in Autumn 2.
In Maths we will begin our year focusing on deepening and securing our mathematical foundations. We will start with our understanding of place value and addition & subtraction before moving onto statistics and multiplication & division. We encourage children to keep practising their times tables by rockin’ out on Times Tables Rock Stars! We also recommend using Doodle Maths at home as a great way to build confidence and improve maths fluency. Children can continue to aim for the green zone, and we will celebrate those who use it regularly.
In Topic, Year Five will be learning about Ancient Greece. As this is a broad topic, we will be working on it for the entire Autumn term! We will start by looking at the process of democracy and how this is demonstrated in our country and our school. We then move on to look at the different legacies left by the Ancient Greeks including through the theatre, language and stories. Our coverage of the Ancient Greeks will include a look at the historical timeline, myths and legends, architecture and the Olympics. We also have an exciting trip to the Royal Courts of Justice planned on the 23rd of October.
In Sceince, we will be looking at properties and changes of materials for the whole of the Autumn term in Science! We will be conducting some very interesting experiments across the unit, including experiments related to insulators and reversible/ irreversible changes.
In addition to our carefully planned lessons, we have some amazing interactive lessons planned for the Autumn term to help gain a greater understanding of our fantastic topics. Year 5 can also look forward to continuing your specialist subjects and are very lucky to have a number of fantastic specialist teachers this year including: AM Sports Coaches (PE), Madam Clarke (French) and Mrs Herz (Music).
Homework
- ‘Talking Homework’ will continue to be provided through Google Classroom. Please make sure that your child clicks on the ‘Turn In’ button by the following Monday so the teachers know that the task has been completed.
- Times Table Rock Stars will also continue to be promoted, especially where students need to strengthen their knowledge.
- Record daily reading- the title and pages read and any comments e.g. summarising what you read or any focus areas for next week.
Trips
In Autumn One, we will be going to paradise Co Op on the 8th October and visiting the Royal Court of Justice on 23rd of October.
We always welcome parent volunteers on our trips. If you are interested, please look out for the parentmail requesting support.
We value your support and encourage you to continue to work alongside your children at home. If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to email our Year 5 address.
Key Learning
You can find out about our approach to all our subjects through the curriculum page but the headlines for the year group are below.
Reading
Children can maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding by:
- I can continue to read and discuss a wide range of age appropriate fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks
- I can increase my familiarity with a wide range of books including myths, legends and traditional stories, modern fiction, fiction from our literary heritage, and books from other cultures and traditions
- I can recommend books I have read to my peers, giving reasons for my choices
- I can identify and discuss themes and conventions in writing
- I can make comparisons within and across books
- I can prepare poems and plays to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone and volume so that the meaning is clear to an audience
Children can understand what they read by:
- I can check that the book I am reading makes sense and I can discuss my understanding and explore the meaning of words in context
- I can ask questions to improve my understanding
- I can draw inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions, and justify inferences with evidence
- I can predict what might happen from details stated and implied
- I can discuss and evaluate how authors use language, including figurative language, considering the impact on the reader
- I can distinguish between statements of fact and opinion
- I can retrieve, record and present information from non-fiction
- I can participate in discussions about books building on their own and others' ideas and challenging view courteously
Writing
Writing
- I can write for a range of purposes and audiences, confidently selecting structure and organisation.
- I can describe settings, characters and atmosphere to consciously engage the reader
- I am beginning to use dialogue to convey a character and advance the action
- I can select and use organisational and presentational devices that are relevant to the text type E.g. headings, bullet points, underlining etc
- I am beginning to proofread read my work and precis longer passages by removing unnecessary repetition or irrelevant details
- I can use paragraphs that are suitably linked
- I can use the following punctuation correctly :full stops and capital letters, question marks and exclamation marks
- I can use commas to clarify meaning with increasing accuracy
- I can use a wide range of linking words/phrases between sentences and paragraphs to build cohesion including time adverbials (later) place adverbial (nearby) and number (secondly)
- I can begin to use brackets, dashes and commas to indicate parenthesis
- I can use adverbs (perhaps, surely) and modal verbs(should, could, might) to indicate degrees of possibility
Spelling
- I can spell many complex homophones correctly
- I can spell words with prefixes and suffixes correctly
- I can spell many of the statutory words for Year 5
Handwriting
- I can write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed
Greater depth (working above the national expected standard
- I can use a wide range of clause structures, sometimes varying their position within the sentence
- I can regularly use dialogue to convey a character and advance the action
- I can consistently link ideas across paragraphs
- I can describe settings and characters and atmosphere with carefully chosen vocabulary to enhance mood, clarify meaning and create pace
- I can make some use of semi colons, dashes, colons and hyphens
Statutory spellings
| Autumn 1 | Autumn 2 | Spring 1 | Spring 2 | Summer 1 | Summer 2 |
|
occur accompany according achieve aggressive forty ancient apparent occupy |
attached available average awkward bargain bruise category cemetery critic |
communicate competition conscience conscious dictionary equipped curiosity definite harass foreign |
controversy convenience correspond criticise desperate determined disastrous embarrass environment equipment |
especially exaggerate hindrance excellent existence explanation familiar amateur frequently government |
guarantee immediate knowledge experiment experience business possession disappear weight separate |
Maths
In Maths we follow the White Rose Hub. You can find out more about White Rose through our dedicated maths page
Science
Properties and Changes in Materials
Topics
What is democracy and the legacy of the Ancient Greeks?
What makes a monarch memorable?
Homework
We set homework in Key Stage 2 in the following ways:
- Spellings - bring handbook to school as usual
- Guided Reading - bring handbook to school as usual
- Literacy and Topic - Google Classroom
- Talking Homework - Google Classroom
- Maths - TTRS (Times Tables Rock Stars) and Mathletics
Students without digital access will get paper copies (need to return book)
You can access our guide to google classrooms for further information.
Days to remember
| Day | Activity |
| Monday |
Spelling test New spellings sent home
|
| Tuesday |
PE taught by AM Sports (Wear PE kit to school) Turn in Talking Homework on Google Classroom |
| Wednesday |
PE or Gym (Wear PE kit to school)
|
| Thursday |
Homework posted on Google Classroom |
| Friday | |
| As frequently as possible but at least x times per week |
Reading, Time Tables Rockstars (Optional) Doodle Maths and English (Optional) |
