Welcome to Mercury class 2026-2027
Autumn Term 2026
Welcome to Year 5!
The Year 5 team are Mrs Barnes, Mrs Appleton, and Mrs White.
Mrs Harney will teach Year 5 on Thursday mornings.
Year 5 is a brilliant year in which we develop our independence, resilience and perseverance! We are really looking forward to an exciting year learning together.
The most important way that you can help your child is to read with them.
Have a look at this great website for inspiration for books you may like to read: https://www.booksfortopics.com/year-5
This term, we are looking at place value and the four main operations. We use resources from White Rose Education, as well as other sources to support fluency, reasoning and problem solving. A crucial part of maths is always times tables and it is important to keep these skills sharp. Therefore we recommend spending a minimum of 10 minutes on TTRS at least 3 times a week.
We will also spend focused time on maths fluency, which means quick and accurate recall of facts. Please support your child with any opportunities to build fluency and confidence. You can use online games such as these:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zd2f7nb/articles/zn2y7nb
Writing: We use Jane Considine’s ‘The Write Stuff’ when we learn to write. We will write across a wide variety of genres including narrative, fiction and poetry.
Spelling: We use Emile spelling which is a comprehensive, progressive and detailed scheme for teaching and learning spelling effectively.https://emile-education.com/
Reading: We use a range of different texts for our whole class reading, to develop fluency in reading aloud and developing prosidy and automaticity. We also have a termly class reader – our first one is ‘Who Let the Gods Out?’ by Maz Evans.
Throughout the autumn term, we will be looking at Forces and Mechanisms and Space. These are two exciting topics, which enable us to learn more about the world around us in terms of pushes and pulls, movement and how this can be affected by different forces. Our Space topic allows the opportunity to discover more about our home planet and the solar system, with hopefully the chance to get an evening of stargazing with a hot chocolate!
Get ready for the Groundbreaking Greeks! We will take a step back in history to the time of the Ancient Greek world, starting off with the Minoan and Mycenaeans and progressing to the Hellinistic and Classical periods. On our way, we will learn lots about Greek culture, philosophy, the arts and mythology.
A tale of two settlements – In this project, children use maps, data and geographical skills to explore Barcelona’s location, climate, human and physical features and culture. They will then compare it with the settlement of Alquézar, before investigating other world settlements.
Our RE units this term will be Christianity and Islam.
Christianity – Why is the Gospel good news?
Islam – What does the Qur’an reveal to Muslims about Allah?
Our first computing topic this term is ‘Computing systems and networks – systems and searching.’
In this unit, learners develop their understanding of computer systems and how information is transferred between systems and devices. Learners consider small-scale systems as well as large-scale systems. They explain the input, output, and process aspects of a variety of different real-world systems. Learners discover how information is found on the World Wide Web, through learning how search engines work (including how they select and rank results) and what influences searching, and through comparing different search engines.
What do artists achieve by using line, light and shadow in their work?
During this project, children learn how artists use line, light and shadow to create form, mood and dramatic effect. They explore continuous line drawing, shading techniques and the use of black and white in drawing, photography and digital media. Through practical experimentation with pencil, ink and digital tools, children apply their learning to create detailed artwork and reflect on how effectively they have used light and shadow.
Our DT topic will take place in the latter part of the Autumn term and is linked with our Space topic. This project teaches the children about pneumatic systems. They will experiment with pneumatics before designing, making and evaluating a pneumatic machine, based on a space rover, that performs a useful function.
PSHE is taught using the SCARF scheme and is taught by Mrs Harney. This term we will cover the topics, ‘Me and my relationships’ and ‘Valuing difference.’
We use the Dorset Music Service’s Charanga curriculum to listen to, appraise, improvise and create music using instruments and singing. This is taught by Mrs Harney.
We use Language Angels to teach our French units. This is taught by Mrs Harney on a Thursday morning. Our units this term are
Our PE for the first half term will be football and netball. Please ensure you have football boots as we head towards the winter months, as we will still use the field when wet.
Our PE days will be Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Home Learning
Although we don’t officially set homework, we still expect children to read regularly at home. Reading with your child is recommended so that you can hear their fluency and accuracy, it also a good chance to ask them questions about the text to check their understanding, summarise events, give the meaning of words from the text and make inferences.
Additionally, frequent practise of times tables and division facts will help your child improve fluency and recall of facts. Ten minutes daily on garage will help them in so many areas in maths and you can check their heat map to see their progress.
Keep up to date with what’s happening in Mercury class by visiting our class Dojo.