Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back. We hope you all had an enjoyable and restful half term.

This week we began our new topic – Victorians – by reading the first couple of chapters of the novel Street Child by Berlie Doherty. The children have already met the protagonist, Jim Jarvis, and have responded imaginatively to the early stages of his story, including his struggles to find food and the impending eviction of him, his siblings and his ill mother. Next week, we continue our journey through the Victorian era alongside Jim with some writing in role of a character and understanding the impact of new characters on the story.

Maths has seen us apply our times tables knowledge to multiply numbers by 10, 100 and 1,000, and the children have also shown a good grasp of square and cube numbers. They also linked their previous work on factors to the concept of prime numbers. Next up will be a chance to hone their division skills when dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of our week has been today’s trip to the Milestones Museum in Basingstoke. By now we are sure that you will have spent time listening to tales of an authentic Victorian experience, such as a tour of various shops and buildings of the high street including a live demonstration of a Victorian record player, a Victorian school lesson, trips to a factory and an arcade, and a surprise discovery in an outbuilding! Overall, a great experience for the children, who were full of enthusiasm and represented themselves and our school brilliantly. Thanks to those parents who gave up their time to share a wonderful day with us.

On a final note, we will now be outside for PE on Mondays as well as Fridays for the remainder of Term 2. This is because we have finished our unit on dance and will be now be doing some outdoor circuit training.

Have a great weekend,

The Year 5 Team