Year 5

TERM ONE

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Kilve Court

The annual Year 5 trip to Kilve Court took place in October with a couple of differences - we attended for the first time ever with St. Joseph's from Portishead and we stayed in the log cabins! Both schools got on really well and it was a pleasure to see the children mixing so well. We were a little worried that the cabins might be a little cold but there was great relief when we spotted the heating in each cabin. We stayed at Kilve Court from Wednesday to Friday and the time just flew by as we took part in a variety of activities:

Climbing, Archery, Beach Visit, Mountain Biking, Low Ropes, Maze, Orienteering and a Camp Fire!

It was certainly a damp few days and there were some heavy downpours but they all seemed to happen when we were indoors and having a meal! Just the way we like it.

Environment Week

Monday 14th October saw Environment week arrive at St. Francis'. There was a great deal going on during the week including talks from Greenpeace visitors, visits to the 'Simply Green' shop in Nailsea and even soap-making! It was fascinating learning about the damage that can be caused by single-use plastics and how we can live our everyday lives in a more eco-friendly way. We hope that some of these positive messages have found their way home and are having an impact there too! We now look forward to hearing the results of our environmental review from the Eco-Council...

St. Fagan's

As part of our St. Francis' Feast Day celebrations, we enjoyed taking part in the whole school trip to St. Fagan's, the National Museum of Wales. We learned lots of interesting facts on our journey around the museum as we studied a variety of homes and buildings across hundreds of years of history. It may have been a wet day but we even managed to play in the park and squeeze into a pig sty!

TERM TWO

Home and Away

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We started Term 2 and our new topic "Home and Away" with a residential trip to Kilve Court in order to explore the Quantocks area. We had a brilliant time building dens, fossil hunting on the beach and challenging ourselves with activities such as climbing, archery, grass sledging and a low ropes course. Often we had to work as a team in order to be successful at our activities, and our communication skills have certainly improved as a result! Here are some highlights of our time at Kilve:

Here are some collages we made with the help of local artist Emmeline Simpson of Kilve Court. We looked closely at the perspective of the building and used her combination of collage and pastel techniques to create an image in her style.

Trip to Parliament

After learning about Parliament and democracy in PSHE and Topic in Term 1, we celebrated Parliament Week on the 15th November. We learned about the Votes for Women movement and held our own referendum on whether the voting age should be lowered. In January we had the privilege of visiting the Houses of Parliament at such a historic time!

I enjoyed going to the Houses of Parliament and seeing the inside. My favourite part was when we got to see the Speaker because he spoke to us and said "Hello, have a nice trip."

Liam

I learned that the Speaker is in charge of the House of Commons and can kick people out!

Jess

I enjoyed going to the Houses of Parliament because it was very interesting and I learned a lot. For example, the Queen can't go into the House of Commons.

Ed

It was very interesting finding out about what they do at the Houses of Parliament and all the laws they are trying to make.

Liam

TERM THREE

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Space Invasion!

Year 5 have really enjoyed our topic on Space this term and have worked incredibly hard on their alien invasion stories in particular. We finished our topic with a visit from the Space Dome and here are some of the comments that the children had afterwards:

I enjoyed the Space Dome because I actually felt like I was in space. I learned a lot including how astronauts live, sleep and eat in space.

Matilda

I liked how it showed the inside of a spaceship. You could see all of the controls and out of the window, the images were so beautiful!

Chloe

I enjoyed the Space Dome because it was a once in a lifetime experience! It was fantastic and I have never done anything like it before. I loved it!

Libby

It's really mesmerizing and it's like you're in space!

Luke

I enjoyed the Space Dome because it looked realistic and it answered some of my questions about space. It was a really good experience.

Matilda

We learned that some stars are a lot bigger than the Sun! We also ate astronaut food, the ice cream was a bit powdery but it was nice though.

Jamie

It really felt like I was Tim Peake! I saw Pegasus the Unicorn and Hercules from Greek mythology in the stars.

Francesco

I learned a lot of facts that I didn't know before. It was amazing to see all the stars and planets because it felt like we were actually there. Afterwards, we ate astronaut food and it was actually really nice.

Ava

I enjoyed the Space Dome because I really felt like an astronaut going into space!

Arabella

Peter Thorpe Inspired Art

The children worked incredibly hard this term to make space pictures inspired by the artist Peter Thorpe. The children noted his use of abstract backgrounds and rockets and planets in the foreground, ensuring they had the same elements in their own work. What brilliant results!

Forest School

This term Year 5 have been enjoying weekly Forest School sessions, including den building and hunting for natural "woodland treasures" as well as creating animal habitats and learning how to build a fire. It has been a great opportunity to develop our team work, communication, independence and thinking skills as well as enjoying the wonderful outdoor environment. Ellie said "I like building dens because we work as a team" and Matilda added "it has made our class's teamwork stronger with everyone, not just our friends".

Term 4

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World Book Day!

Year 5 had a brilliant World Book Day! They enjoyed dressing up as their favourite characters, writing book reviews, making "favourite read" recommendations to their classmates and reading stories to their Year 2 buddies.

Perfect Pottage!

Year 5 enjoyed working with our kind volunteer Mrs Chaplow to cook some Anglo Saxon pottage as part of our Invasion! topic this term. They carefully followed a recipe and safely used equipment to peel and chop vegetables, fry them until soft and then add them to the large pot with stock, oats and herbs to cook.

"I enjoyed everything about pottage. It was tasty, fun to make and you could smell how nice it was everywhere you went!" Nathan

"I enjoyed tasting sonething new. I also learned that Anglo Saxons used to make and eat it too." Abi

"I enjoyed making the pottage because I got to put the vegetables in the pan and it smelled delicious" Liam

"The pottage was very yummy and tasty. I enjoyed chopping the vegetables." Jamie

"I loved making pottage because it smelled really nice" Luke

"I was really excited to make pottage as I like cooking. It was surprisingly good as I don't usually like vegetable stew." Matilda

"I liked the pottage because it was something I'd never made before." Daniel

"I really liked cooking the pottage because we learnt about new vegetables and ingredients we use to cook." Liam

Computer programming
Year Five have been working hard with the kind help of Mr Haworth to make computer programmes for their Year 2 buddies. After a term of preparation, the children shared their programs with their buddies who all enjoyed playing the games or watching the performances that had been designed especially for them!

TERM FIVE

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Discovering Ancient Egypt

To start our Ancient Egypt topic this term, we had a visit from Ali, a local egyptologist enthusiast. She taught us about Pharoahs, Gods and monsters as well as bringing in models and artefacts for us to study.

Matilda "First we wrote our names in hieroglyphs on a book mark and then we made our own afterlife monsters. I learned that some slaves were killed when their pharoah died so they could serve him in the afterlife."

Ava "I liked when we got to see some of the real Ancient Egyptian artefacts. We had to guess what things were and how they were used."

Clara "Ali was very good at teaching us all about Egypt in an enjoyable way."

Francesco "I enjoyed the WOW day because we could look at real artefacts."

Abi "I enjoyed making up my own monster for the afterlife. I also learnt the Egyptian number system and how to put a cartouche around your name in hieroglyphics to show that you are royal."

Year Five have been looking at artefacts from ancient Egypt and deducing facts about what life was like in ancient Egypt

Liam "I really liked learning their number system and hieroglyphics because they look really cool!"

Zente "I liked it when you had to guess what the item that Ali gave you was and how it was used."

Sam "I enjoyed learning all about Ancient Egyptians and making my own mythical creature."

Ellie "I enjoyed the Egypt WOW day because we learnt all about gods, pharoahs and the after life."

Click here to view Term 6's Curriculum Overview