Year 5 Curriculum Content

During the Autumn term, the children in Year 5 explore the overarching question of ‘Who shaped the world we live in today?’. Their class novel is An Elephant in the Garden written by Michael Morpurgo, which allows the children to look at various themes including navigation, refuges, morals and good vs evil. This class novel lends itself perfectly to the teaching of the curriculum as a whole, with Year 5 pupils studying World War 2 and learning all about locating the main countries in Europe in Geography. Living Things and Animals Including Humans are the focuses of their Science work. In Art, Year 5 pupils look at the work of Henry Moore as a basis for developing their own drawings for sculpture skills and in DT, they further their cooking skills. The children acquire knowledge surrounding being human, specifically focussing on the religion of Christianity in RE and in PSHE explore the areas of ‘Being me in my world’ and ‘Celebrating Differences’ through the Jigsaw scheme of work. Computing lessons allow the children to develop their awareness of sharing information and vector drawings. In Music, Year 5 pupils learn how to use their voices expressively and creatively and focus on developing their Basketball and Gymnastic skills in PE. In MFL, they further their ability to use shapes and colours in French.

The overarching question during the Spring term is ‘Where could we go?’ and the children in Year 5 read the class novel of The Nowhere Emporium by Ross Mackenzie. Key themes for exploration throughout this term include inventions, responsibility, relationships, trust and imagination. Year 5 pupils learn all about their geographical area of focus, which is The United Kingdom and Europe, specifically looking at environmental Geography and trade between the two areas. Through looking at the work of Peter Blake, they are able to create their own printed artwork of an imaginary world. They study the Science topic areas of Forces and Earth and Space, looking at the work of Isaace Newton as their key scientist. The DT project for Year 5 pupils requires them to use knowledge taken from their Science topic to create a moving fairground ride. In RE, the children study a big question that allows them to think about how beliefs are expressed through the arts. Music lessons provide the Year 5 pupils with the opportunity to play tuned and untuned instruments as well as listen with understanding and concentration to a variety of music. The children are able to explore and develop skills based on flat file databases and selection in physical computing in Computing and Football and Hockey skills in PE lessons. Through Jigsaw, Year 5 pupils think about their dreams and goals for now and the future as well as relationships in PSHE. They further develop their French skills in MFL lessons by learning how to talk about themselves and others.

The Summer term’s overarching question asks the children to think about ‘Has our world always looked this way?’. Through the study of their class novel Secret of the Tombs by Helen Moss, the Year 5 pupils explore the key themes of archelogy, journalism, companionship and quests. They study Ancient Egypt and develop their ability to identify the position and significance of latitude and longitude in Geography. The Art project for this term looks at the work of Paul Cezanne as a way of developing their photography and painting skills. The Science topic for Year 5 in this term is Properties and Changes in Materials. In PSHE, the children are asked to explore the areas of ‘Healthy Me’ and ‘Changing Me’, and in PE lessons the children are able to acquire skills required for playing Cricket and developing athletic skills. Computing lessons allow the Year 5 children to develop their skills surrounding video editing and selection in quizzes and DT looks at furthering their textiles skills to create purposeful bags. RE lessons look at the religions of Hinduism and Islam, specifically looking at being human. MFL lessons allow Year 5 pupils to acquire the ability to talk further about animals in French.