Key Stage 1 & 2

Our Year 3 Team

Miss Durston Year 3 Form Tutor

Spring Term 2023

Literacy

To progress further with their writing, Year 3 will concentrate on how to: use paragraphs to structure their ideas; write complex sentences and present dialogue. To support their learning, they will be exploring information reports, narrative, and persuasive texts. As part of Literacy the children will continue to have lessons on grammar, spelling and punctuation. They will continue to have their weekly spelling tests before completing handwriting tasks linked to phonics. They will be developing our grammatical knowledge and will be looking at inverted commas, homophones, ‘a’ and ‘an’, paragraphs and prepositions.  

Mathematics

In Numeracy, the children will continue to consolidate their learning of the four operations using both mental and written methods, involving measure and money. They will use their understanding of division to move forward with using fractions and continue to practise their 3, 4- and 8-times tables. We will also be learning to tell the time using both analogue and digital clocks. 

Topic 

Our new topic, for this term, is titled ‘Tudor York’ and this will involve investigating the links between the Tudors and the city of York as well as learning about the key events in this period of history and completing a case study of York using maps as a key source. Alongside this, the children will develop skills in creating portraits using a variety of media and evaluating, designing and making their own bread. 

Science

Science lessons will firstly concentrate on forces and magnets; investigating friction, the strength of magnets and discovering the meaning of magnetic poles along with investigating everyday objects which are attracted by magnetic forces. After half term, the children will investigate plant growth and life cycles and the roles that different plant parts play in making this happen. 

Computing 

During the spring term the children will be building upon the coding skills previously taught in Year 2.  They will be using Kodu, a program developed for children to learn key coding skills. The class will be taught key skills including planning and executing a series of commands, or algorithms. They will use logical reasoning to explain how some of these simple algorithms work in Kodu and detect and correct errors in their programming. 

Year 3 will also be taking a trip to the theatre in January and later in the term a trip to discover Tudor York and York Minster. 

Year 3 Homework

Each night homework will consist of 20 minutes of homework and 15 minutes reading:

• Mondays: Spellings and spelling sentences
• Tuesdays: Mathematics
• Wednesdays: Reading activities
• Thursdays: Topic homework grid

Regular spelling and tables practice is also required.

Head of Chapter House and Queen's Kindergarten, Karen Kilkenny and the rest of the Key Stage 2 staff can be contacted by phone on 01423 333310 or via email at: chapterhouse@qe.org.

Our Year 4 Team

​Miss Catton		Miss Wise Learning Development and Pastoral Senior Teacher	Mrs Kilkenny Head of Chapter House

Spring Term 2023

Topic (Humanities) 

This term, our topic begins by looking at the Romans focusing on their success and impact on Britain. Following this, we will explore the geography of modern Italy by identifying it’s human and physical features.  

Literacy 

Firstly, the children will use the story ‘Leopard in the Golden Cage’ as a stimulus for narrative writing from a character’s perspective. Following this, the children will explore Italian travel destinations through writing their own holiday brochure. Other non-fiction writing will include identifying the main features of an explanation text while working towards writing one of their own about an invention. Our whole class reading will focus on chapters from ‘Leopard in the Golden Cage’ and a whole text titled ‘Operation Gadgetman’ by Malorie Blackman. 

Mathematics 

Fractions and decimals will form a significant focus in mathematics this term, as will multiplication. In addition to this, we will continue to use and embed a range of mental and written methods for all four number operations. We will also review place value – including using negative numbers and Roman numerals and cover objectives linked to time, shape and space.  

Computing 

We will learn how to stay safe online and the importance of this. Following on from this we will write stories about how to stay safe online. We will also begin to look at programming. 

Science 

We will be investigating electrical components - including cells, wires, bulbs, switches, buzzers and motors – and using these to construct their own circuits. We will also carry out investigations with sound, experimenting with how sounds are made, how they travel through different media and investigating the relationships between distance, vibrations and volume. 

Art & DT 

In Art, we will be experimenting with the techniques linked to Roman mosaics before making our own. In DT, to link with our work on Italy, we will be researching, designing, making and evaluating recipes for healthy vegetable pasta salads.  

Year 4 Homework

Homework will be given on the following evenings:

• Mondays: Literature Circles
• Tuesdays: Spellings and spelling sentences
• Wednesdays: Mathematics
• Thursdays: Topic homework grid

Head of Chapter House and Queen's Kindergarten, Karen Kilkenny and the rest of the Key Stage 2 staff can be contacted by phone on 01423 333310 or via email at: chapterhouse@qe.org.

Our Year 5 Team

	Mrs M Ensor	Miss B Ransome

Spring Term 2023

Literacy

We will be using the text ‘The Land of Neverbelieve’ to inspire our writing at the start of this term: we will begin by exploring non-chronological reports. Through our writing, we will be practising using a variety of sentence structures and advanced punctuation accurately. The children will be thinking carefully about the audience and purpose of their writing, and how this affects the style and formality needed. Grammar sessions will be linked to our writing, where possible, and spelling will be on-going with a weekly set of spellings to learn and a weekly test. In our VIPERS session, we will explore a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts to develop our reading fluency and comprehension skills.  In addition, all pupils have a levelled reading scheme book and can choose a ‘free reader’ book. We appreciate your support in reading with your child at home and ask that this is noted in their planner.  

Mathematics

We will be following the National Curriculum, following a spiral format, so topics from last term will be covered again and taken further. Mental maths strategies and problem-solving skills will be a continued focus in lessons. Being able to quickly recall times tables and related division facts will greatly support the children in their maths lesson and the programme ‘Times Tables Rockstars’ is excellent to develop confidence in this. All pupils have login details which can be found in their planners. 

Science

Science this term will be based around the biology elements of the Year 5 curriculum. The children will be exploring habitats and developing their understanding of the life cycles of animals and plants, including green plants and how a flower’s structure enables them to reproduce. 

Topic – Settlers 

The children will be studying the journeys and cultures of Vikings and Saxons, exploring where they came from, how they settled and what were the effects of their settlements in new countries. They will continue to become more familiar with world maps and locations. 

Computing 

The children will be continuing their learning through the Teach Computing units. We will start the term learning about vector drawings before the children develop their programming skills, looking at selection in physical computing. 

Art & DT 

Children will research, design and test their own model Viking longboats. In addition, they will be designing, making and evaluating Saxon cake recipes. We will be maintaining our links with the QE kitchen. 

Trips and Visitors  

Yaar 5 will be taking a trip to the theatre at the end of January. We are also hoping to welcome more visitors this term. If you are interested in speaking to the children or presenting about your career development in a way which would be inspirational to them, please get in touch via the school email address. We would greatly appreciate your support. 

Year 5 Homework

Each night will be 30 mins homework and 15 minutes reading. Homework is set on the following days:

• Mondays: Spelling sentences 
• Tuesdays: Literacy
• Wednesdays: Numeracy 
• Thursdays: Project night

Regular spelling and tables practice is required.

Head of Chapter House and Queen's Kindergarten, Karen Kilkenny and the rest of the Key Stage 2 staff can be contacted by phone on 01423 333310 or via email at: chapterhouse@qe.org.