Welcome to Herons

Academic Year 2023-24

We are a mixed-aged class of year 5 and 6 children who just simply love to learn! We work extremely hard, giving maximum effort as we do so, to complete every task set for us. Challenges excite us! Please see the below list of the adults who support us with our learning journey.

Class Teacher: Mr Richardson

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Laud

PE Teacher: Mr Mooney (Monday & Wednesday morning)

Cleaner: Mrs Spriggs

Academic Year 2022-23

Term 3 - Houston, We Have a Problem

     Last term was kicked off with our new overarching theme… Space! This galactic subject became the children’s influential backdrop, which was evidently seen woven within our curriculum.

     Firstly, to Literacy. Children began the new term by using a short film trailer to create a piece of writing which contained suspense. This was a fantastic write where children used everything that they had learned in previous terms to totally smash the ‘audience and purpose’ objective! These were photocopied and sent home, so if you didn’t receive your child’s writing, please get in touch. Once finished, we used our Space theme to compose an information text around a fictional animal. Did your child choose a powerful metarax? A deadly kenite? Or a cheeky repna?

     In our Numeracy lessons last term, it was time we moved on from fractions, and into decimals and percentages to see how they all closely linked together. Who knew that they were the same thing, just represented differently? And the children did brilliantly! This tricky concept was certainly not easy to learn, but with great perseverance and determination, they soon got their head around it and developed their mathematical skills beautifully.

     No term would be complete without having to learn about our new overarching theme, and this term was no different, bring on Space. The children’s key target was to learn all about Earth, the Sun and the Moon. It is here where they were able to describe the movement of the Earth in relation to the Sun in our solar system, and the movement of the Moon in relation to the Earth. We went on to describe the Sun, Earth and Moon as approximately spherical bodies, before discovering the Earth’s rotation to explain day and night.

     Finally, for our History topic, the children looked at the history of Space travel and how technology had advanced since the early invention of the telescope. The children discovered which countries were the driving force behind technological Space advancements which led to the Apollo 11 Space mission by putting the first man on the moon. This subject pushed every child’s curiosity button! So much so, that the term wouldn’t be complete without watching Tom Hanks feature in the factually-based Apollo 13 film. Not only could you hear a pin drop throughout the entirety of the film, but it got a raucous round of applause once finished… becoming an astronaut is much better than playing video games anyway!

Term 2 - Bombs Away

     Following on from a superb term studying the historic events of WWII, we decided to use the wonderfully written book, Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll to influence both our reading and writing. This book (set in February 1941) follows the lives of a young girl named Olive and her brother who are evacuated to Devon to live in a lighthouse. We decided to focus on the facts surrounding the evacuation process to write a discursive piece on whether it was a good idea for children to be evacuated during WWII or not. We looked at vital evidence which supported both sides of the argument to produce an incredibly informative piece of writing. 

     In our Numeracy lessons last term, the majority of our time was spent on the wonderful world of fractions. We ordered them, compared them, added them, subtracted them, multiplied them, divided them and simplified them. In fact, there weren't anything we didn’t do with them! This tricky little concept was soon picked up by the children, who by the end of the term can consider themselves fraction wizards!

     Let there be Light! Science was a cracker this term. Children were taught about the whole concept of how we actually see! They demonstrated their knowledge by making and starring in their own television programmes where it was noted that a few budding characters may be destined for the big screen in a few years' time. Children were then given the opportunity to make periscopes, finding out about mirrors and the angles of reflection before working scientifically and collaboratively to investigate the magic of refraction.

     The term was finished off with plenty of Christmas-themed activities which the children had a lot of fun taking part in. Christmas card designing, calendar making and Christingle decorating to name a few. We even squeezed in enough time to enjoy a Christmas film and adopt our very own polar bear! Everyone, meet Snowy... 

Term 1 - We'll Meet Again

     This term has been heavily influenced by the historical events of WWII. We have learnt a lot of information including: what life would have been like as an evacuee, how rationing was introduced, as well as what caused WWII to both start and finish. From the very first lesson, each child was gripped by this extraordinary time, showing a genuine interest in each fact that was discovered. 

     Science has been entirely about the world of electricity. The children have had a fantastic time making circuits and experimenting with different investigations. Using a cell (battery), we have been leading tests with electrical conductors and insulators. We have been using wires to transfer power to a range of lightbulbs, motors and buzzers. Plenty of hands-on practical work!

     The children have been working incredibly hard in both numeracy and literacy lessons. We have learnt many news skills and techniques which we’ll take with us into next term. In our literacy lessons, there has been a strong focus on sentence structure and how this can be varied to produce creative writing. The stimulus for this writing was heavily influenced by Aiden Gibbons’ short film clip, The Piano. A thought-provoking piece which tugged at every heart string going.

     In our numeracy lessons, place value has been our overarching theme. We have discovered that before we even contemplate getting stuck into the world of fractions, co-ordinates and shape, we need to build a concrete understanding on the value of a digit in a given number; something which we’re all doing beautifully.

Tune in next term to see where our learning takes us next!