St Mellons Church in Wales Primary SchoolWelcome to Class 5!
Croeso i Dosbarth 5!
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| Teacher: Mrs Lawley | Learning Support Assistant: Mrs Pascoe |
Communication
Contact us on class5@stmellonsprm.cardiff.sch.uk
X (Twitter) - @stmellonsprm
Our School ID: 13339
Google Classroom Code:
Overview of the day
8.45 Classroom door will be opened and pupils to complete their Morning Activity
8.55 Register
9.05 – 9.25 Worship
9.30 - 9.45 RWI spelling session
9.45-10.45 Literacy, Languages & Communication
10.45 – 11.00 Snack / Break Time
11.00 – 12.00 Mathematics & Numeracy
12.00 – 1.00 Lunch
1.00 – 1.25 Guided Group Reading
1.30 – 2.30 Topic work (focusing on Humanities, Science & Technology, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, including PE)
10 minutes daily mile
2.30 - 3.00 RE/ ICT/ Welsh or FIT
3.00 Daily Welsh Activities
3.20 Home Time
Important Dates for the Half Term
Christian Value – Thankfulness
1st September– INSET Day - School Closed for Pupils
2nd September INSET DAY – School Closed for Pupils
3rd September - INSET DAY – School Closed for Pupils
4th September - Children return to school
7th September – Whole School Christian Values Day Celebration - Thankfulness
7th September - After School Clubs begin tonight 3.15pm - 4.20pm
9th September – 1-3 pm - Family Learning Sessions, ‘Bright Sparks’ Years 4 -6
9th September - Meet the Teacher sessions for Parents (2 sessions)
Session 1 at 3:30pm, Session 2 at 4pm
16th September - Judaism Faith Whole School Celebration Day
17th September - Individual and Siblings Photographs
21st - 25th September - Fairtrade Week
24th September – European Languages Day Celebrations in School
25th September - Macmillan Coffee Morning (families welcome)
28th September - Harvest Assembly for pupils and Food Bank Collection
1st October – Black History Month
5th October - Flu Immunisations Reception - Year 6
9th October - World Mental Health Celebration Day
15th October – Autumn Disco - Rec-Y3 (3:30-4:40pm) & Y4-Y6 (4:45 – 5:45pm)
19th October - Rags to Riches Collection
19th -23rd October - Scholastic Book Fayre – opening times to be confirmed
19th and 20th October – Parents Evenings, 3.30-6pm (in person)
23rd October - Last Day of term
26th- 30th October - Half Term Break
Classroom Routine
Please bring a bottle of water to school daily, clearly labelled with your name.
Healthy snacks can be purchased from the snack trolley (ordered via ParentPay) or brought in from home.
Our PE day is Friday - please wear your PE kit to school.
PE kit is a white polo shirt (or your house colour) and grey or black shorts/joggers & trainers. Plain kits please, no patterns or large logos.
Children should wear school uniform each day (apart from PE day) and please ensure that all clothing is clearly labelled with the child's name.
Current Learning
This term our inquiry title is 'Our World, Our Future - Space Explorers'.
While exploring our new topic at the end of last term, pupils thought about what they would like to find out more about and these are the inital questions they want to investigate…
How far is the furthest we have traveled into space?
How do people survive in the solar system?
What is a rocket made out of?
Why is there no gravity in space?
How many planets are there?
What is furthest we’ve traveled in space?
How do rocket reenter earth?
Who is the first person to go on the moon?
Who found the planets first?
How do people go to space?
Why do people go to space?
Why can't people like us go to space?
How do rockets have enough power to go to space and come back to the earth?
As a result of these questions, pupils will explore how scientific discovery and technological innovation have transformed our understanding of space and the wider universe. By investigating the Solar System, gravity, air resistance, rockets and the history of space exploration, pupils will discover how human knowledge continues to evolve through curiosity and achievement. We will study astronauts such as Tim Peake and exploring STEM careers, and pupils will challenge stereotypes and consider how determination, creativity and innovation can drive future change. We will do practical investigations and design challenges to help develop resilience, problem-solving skills and a deeper understanding of how science shapes the future.
Maths and Numeracy - As Mathematicians will be focusing on measuring, recording and comparing data, interpreting graphs, charts and tables. Identifying patterns and trends and applying reasoning to solve problems.
RVE - As Philosophers we will be considering the question: What is God?
Humanities - As Active, Informed Citizens we will explore historical achievements and discoveries continue to influence modern technology and future developments. As well as looking at how humans must adapt to different environments, including the challenges of living and working in space.
STEM - As Scientists we will investigate gravity, air resistance and thrust and how they affect how objects move and make space travel possible. And as engineers we will apply our knowledge of forces, materials and technology to design, test and improve products and solutions.
HWB - As Happy, Healthy Citizen we will be thinking about how physical fitness, mental preparation and resilience are important for overcoming challenges and achieving goals. Exploring how teamwork, communication and cooperation are essential in scientific, technological and engineering careers.
Expressive Arts - As artists we will creating artwork, models, posters and animations to share our knowledge and show our understanding.
Planning
Planning to be uploaded shortly ...
Homework
class 5 homework grid autumn 2026 space explorers.pdf
Weekly homework – Numeracy / Literacy alternated each week. Usually based on something we have learned that week. Set on Friday, due in on Wednesday. Please submit via Google Classroom or send to our class email.
The Four Purposes
The curriculum for Wales is based on four core purposes.
The four purposes are that all children and young people will be:
Ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives.
Enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work.
Ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the world.
Healthy, confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.
Our Christian Value
We follow the ‘Values for life’ scheme this term and our value is ‘Thankfulness'.
Please discuss our termly value with your child at home and encourage them to share how they have been ‘living out’ the value in their daily life.
Literacy
In our Literacy sessions we will be working on developing our reading, writing and oracy through a range of genres. Each session will feature the following format:
- An engaging warm up (Consolidating past skills or developing new skills)
- Concrete learning (Development of Literacy skills)
This half term we will be reading Curiosity: The Story of Mars Rover by Markus Motum
Through it we will continue to focus on the reading skills of vocabulary, inference, prediction, explanation, retrieval, and summarising. As well as focusing on writing skills such as a proposal to NASA, information labels, short explanation, NASA log of Mars landing, news report and expanded explanation for a new rover.
Reading continues to be an extremely important part of your child's learning. We take part in Guided Group Reading sessions daily. These sessions aim to not only develop their reading skills, but also broad their exposure to to different literary genres, continue to develop their vocabulary and grammar knowledge and support reflections and inference skills. Please help to support these sessions by regularly reading with your child at home.
Numeracy
In our Numeracy sessions we will be working on developing our maths and reasoning skills to become confident Mathematician . Each session will feature the following format:
- An engaging warm up (Consolidating past skills or developing new skills)
- Concrete learning (Development of Numeracy skills)
In Numeracy this half term, we will be focusing on place value up to million and addition and subtraction. We will continue to build on our knowledge of written calculations and will be answering problem solving questions linked to each area to consolidate our learning.
We will be using Magma Maths in school to support our learning, please encourage your child to log on at home to continue their learning.
We will continue to use TTRS regularly. Please encourage the children to use this regularly at home; it really does make a difference to the children’s confidence and ability in maths if they have a secure grasp of their times tables.
- Times Tables Rock Stars - click here for information for parents.
Times tables games - Learn them all here!
Times Tables Games for 7 to 11 year olds (topmarks.co.uk)
Times tables games and songs 1-12 - BBC Bitesize
Welsh
The Welsh language is very important to us. We encourage both staff and children to use incidental Welsh both inside and outside of the classroom. We enjoy our daily Helpwr Heddiw sessions to support children in learning new phrases by playing fun Welsh games.
Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
MFL is under review at the moment. It is a section of the 'Languages Connect Us' in our Literacy Curriculum.
Internet Safety
At St Mellons, we promote the use of 'SMART' rules, as we know how important it is to stay safe online.
Please encourage your children to use these 'SMART' rules at home too.
For more information please visit https://hwb.gov.wales/zones/online-safety/key-information/primary-learners/
Health and Wellbeing
The Curriculum for Wales is now a statutory requirement since September 2022 for all schools in Wales. It has a key role to play in helping children and young people navigate the world safely. Welsh Government wants education to help our children to develop as healthy, confident individuals, ready for the next chapter in their life after school. Relationships and Sexuality Education (RSE) encompasses the knowledge, skills, dispositions and values that will empower learners to:
• support their health and well-being
• develop healthy, safe and fulfilling relationships of all kinds, including those with family and friends, and in time, romantic and sexual relationships
• navigate and make sense of how relationships, sex, gender and sexuality shape their own and other people’s identities and lives
• understand and support their rights and those of others to enjoy equitable, safe, healthy and fulfilling relationships throughout their lives.
Please click here for more information curriculum-for-wales-relationships-sexuality-education-code.pdf (gov.wales)
Healthy Schools
We are very proud to be promoting a healthy school. We encourage all children to eat healthy during snack and lunch times.
We are able to provide snack for your children in school at a daily cost of £2 per week / £14 per term. Please pay via ParentPay.
Please ensure that your child has a labelled bottle in school daily, containing water only. We have fresh drinking water fountains, where the children can refill their bottles.
For advice on how to make a healthy packed lunch, please visit: https://www.nhs.uk/healthier-families/recipes/healthier-lunchboxes/
Active Travel
WOW is a pupil-led initiative where children self-report how they get to school every day using the interactive WOW Travel Tracker. If they travel sustainably (walk, cycle or scoot) once a week for a month, they get rewarded with a badge. It's that easy!
Please support us on our Active Travel mission by encouraging your child to walk, cycle or scoot to school, or use Park and Stride. This will help keep our bodies healthy and help reduce our carbon footprint!
Picture News
Picture News turns news stories into engaging weekly talking points and activities for our assemblies and classroom sessions. We discuss current affairs during worship time on Mondays and relate them to our Christian values.
Useful Links
HWB: https://hwb.gov.wales - Hwb Collection of online tools provided to all schools in Wales by the Welsh Government
Ask your teacher for your HWB password. On Hwb you can...
- access your personal Hwb email
- use online Microsoft software (Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc)
- use J2e
- and much, much more.
Giglets offers your child the ability to read books online and answer questions abouot what they have read to show their understanding. Books will be allocated to your child by the teacher for them to enjoy at home or as part of GGR sessions:
https://pupil.gigletsedu.com/landing
BBC Bitesize is free and has many activities to practice all aspects of the Literacy and Numeracy framework.
Practise coding skills on Scratch
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ - Great online games for curriculum areas
https://www.bbc.com/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn - BBC Bitesize
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html - Lots of online games linked to different areas of the curriculum
https://www.learn-welsh.net/welshgames - Online Welsh games
https://corbettmathsprimary.com/5-a-day/ - Corbett Maths - 5-a-day Challenges
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/ - White Rose Maths - Reasoning Challenges