This half-term, Year 5 have been building up their cricket skills — and what progress they’ve made! We started with the basics: throwing, catching, batting and bowling. Week by week, we improved our accuracy, power and teamwork. Once confident, we moved on to small games, learning how to field as a team, call out for runs and bowl with control. All of this led up to our exciting final match — and what a game it was in the lovely sunshine!

Everyone has had a turn to bat and field, showing off the skills they’ve developed. Mrs Powell even managed to get a few surprised players out with her sneaky fielding. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capture any photos this time as our camera iPad wasn’t working — but trust us, the cricket action was fantastic!
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Well done Year 5 — you’ve truly hit it for six this half term!

Today in Art we have been taking some time to learn how to use water colour paints properly so that we are able to make a choice about the type of paint that we want to use when we are creating our Lowry inspired masterpieces. The children were excellent at using the watercolours, showing attention to detail and thinking carefully about the depth of colour they could get when using these paints. 
We will have to wait and see how many choose watercolour paint to complete their final piece.

​Today we have been learning about the importance of stories and history in understanding faith. We began by recapping the story of Abraham, which we learnt last term, and reflected on the message behind it. We then explored the story of Jonah and the Whale, thinking about the lesson it teaches.
As a class, we discussed thoughtful questions such as:

• What message can we take from this story?
• What might this story teach Jewish people about their faith?
• Did anyone in the story do something to help others?
• Do Jewish people believe in helping others?

We then explored how helping others is a key part of Judaism, looking at some of the ways Jewish people support their communities and the wider world:

• Tzedakah – Giving to those in need through money, food, or acts of help.
• Gemilut Chasadim – Carrying out acts of kindness, such as visiting the sick or helping the elderly.
• Welcoming Guests – Hospitality is very important, especially during special times like Shabbat.
• Community Volunteering – Supporting food banks, schools, and charities.
• Tikkun Olam – Aiming to ‘repair the world’ by making it a better, fairer place.
• Mitzvot – Doing good deeds and following God’s commandments with kindness and respect.

To finish the lesson, we reflected on how it feels to do something for the common good – something that helps another person or benefits the whole community, we then made a class paper chain with our ideas. Take a look at our class photo below.
It was a thoughtful and inspiring lesson and I was so proud of how everyone reflected so thoughtfully.

Today, Year 5 ventured boldly onto the playground—not for a game of tig or a sneaky extra break, but in the name of science. Armed with chalk, tape measures, and an enthusiastic sense of curiosity, our young scientists set out to investigate the mysterious ways of… shadows.
Every hour, on the hour, pupils marked and measured the shadow of one of their classmates. 
The aim? To observe how shadows change position and length as the sun moves across the sky. The results were fascinating and not at all what some of the children predicted. 
The children made observations about the position of the shadows and the position of the sun alongside measurements of the shadows. They then used these to try to explain what was happening. Next Science lesson we will be looking at these ideas and determining how scientifically accurate they are.
​All in all, a sunny day of hands-on learning, with just the right amount of chalk dust and science magic.