Latchmere School

Year 5

Spring Term

We hope that you had a lovely Christmas break. Welcome to the spring term where we look forward to the continuing partnerships between home and 
school.

Reading
Our goal is to create confident, fluent, independent readers. We prioritise reading at Latchmere School and have very carefully chosen the texts your child will study this term. We focus on word reading to develop fluency and encourage the whole class to join in through strategies such as choral reading (the whole class read together) and echo reading (the teacher models the reading and the class echo back). We also have the Latchmere Reading skills. These are based on comprehension skills such as retrieval, inference, summarising, making links, prediction and vocabulary.

In Year 5, we will be studying Street Child and The Adventures of Odysseus - as class texts, and Frankenstein, Oliver Twist, The Iron woman and The Daydreamer (a selection of the stories within the book) as our guided reading books (on a carousel – 2 of these per class this term).

Maths

Our curriculum is based on the White Rose Maths programme. Its research-based learning strategy ensures that the skills and concepts children are taught are fully embedded before progressing. As well as being taught traditional abstract (numbers) methods of calculation, children will also use strategies such as bar modelling and have opportunities to use physical tools where it is supportive to learning.

This term we will be focusing on multiplication and division, fractions, decimals & percentages, perimeter & area and statistics.

Children should also use Times Tables Rockstars to increase their speed of recall of multiplication.

Curriculum Highlights

This term, we continue to learn about life in the Victorian era and then we will focus on Ancient Greece.  In Science, we will focus on forces and how to care for our world.

You can find out more information about the spring term learning by looking at the overviews and programmes of study on the website.

Home Learning

Reading books and reading journals should be brought to school every day. The reading records have space for keeping a record of books read, and every third or so page has a creative space where your child can make a response to the book they are currently reading. The teacher will have informed the children which day their record should be handed in. We encourage you to listen to your child read at this stage and also for you to read to them. We would really value a parental comment in the book each week as this shows the children that we have a partnership with you and take reading very seriously. 


Starting this term, children will receive 2 pieces of homework per week. These will focus on consolidating work done in class and will be reviewed weekly. We encourage all children to use Century, an online learning portal, at home as much as possible. Century uses the White Rose Maths scheme of learning for maths and also offers children an opportunity to progress their English and foundation subject knowledge.

Kind regards,

The Year 5 Team

Mr Maguire, Mrs Williams, Mr Cooper and Mrs Board


Key dates

Hindleap Warren Residential

21st January 2026 - 23rd January 2026

NSPCC Number day

6th February 2026

Class Assemblies

Coelho - Thursday 15th January 2026

Shakespeare - Thursday 29th January 2026

Wilson - Thursday 12th February 2026


Updates and reminders

  • The children should arrive at school at 8:45 (gates open). At 8:50, children will line up on the playground to come into the classroom.

  • Any break-time snacks should be healthy and not include crisps or sweets.

  • Please ensure that all medication is within date. Please speak directly to the main office regarding medication that is kept in school.

  • Class teachers liaise with their class reps on a regular basis. Please keep an eye out for emails or Whatsapp messages they may send regarding dates, PE kit etc.

  • Please ensure that as the weather gets colder your child comes to school with a coat, hat, gloves etc. They will be allowed to wear these items of clothing in addition to Latchmere PE kit for outdoor PE lessons if it is cold.