Year 5 & 6 Newsletter 24/02/2025

Spring Term:
​When do I? Where do I?

 Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back! We hope you all had an enjoyable and restful break! Last half term, we worked incredibly hard across the curriculum! Our clever clogs have continued to work
their socks off and we are so pleased with the work they have produced and the enthusiasm they are showing in their own learning.

When do I? Where do I?
This term, the children have taken on a very important role as Junior Ministers to help support the Government in making decisions for our country. Year 5 have been Transport
Ministers, looking into our railways and water systems. Year 6 have been Equality Ministers, looking into fair and equal rights for all, by delving into history to look at how unfairly children, women and people of different ethnicities were treated. This role will continue into the next half term.

Reading
As always, reading is a very important part of learning at Norbury Hall. We encourage children to develop their reading skills and want to inspire their own reading for pleasure.
To benefit your child, we are asking children to read at home at least three times a week and for this to be recorded in their reading records. This will be checked daily, during
the school day.

Book Fortnight
As we return to school, it is the start of our whole school Book Fortnight. We will start the fortnight with the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This year, our theme is food poverty and hunger. Each year group will look at a range of age appropriate books to help
develop an understanding of the importance of eating a balanced diet to keep healthy, why food is important and how we can reuse and repurpose food items.

Read dating
We would like the children to bring in their favourite book from home, into school to share with their peers. Please ensure the book is labelled with your child's name and class. Children will have the opportunity to share their book and discuss why and what it is they enjoy about their book. ​Please see the table below for the date of read dating for your child.

​Reading den
As in previous years, our Library will be transformed into a magical reading den. All children across the school, will get the chance to reading in the den with their class, across the
fortnight. This year’s den will be The Bucket’s house from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Once children step inside, they will be transported to the inside of the chocolate factory.

Cooking
Alongside our reading focus, each year group will be looking at an aspect of Design Technology (cooking and nutrition). Year 5 and 6 will be exploring seasonality and dietary requirements, modifying recipes, and looking into cost effectiveness.
We will do this through designing and making our own pasta sauce, using our a range of techniques and skills. Each class will get the opportunity to design, prepare, taste and make a pasta sauce dish. School will be providing the ingredients for these lessons. Eat your heart out Jamie Oliver!

Please speak to your child’s class teacher if you have any concerns about allergies whilst cooking.
​
Home Learning Competition
For home learning, we would like to ask the children to create their own book character from a repurposed or unused healthy fruit or vegetable. Also, we would like the children to write a label for their book character, telling us who their character is and also display their name and class on it. Once the competition is over, the fruit and vegetables will be put into our school composter, which with then in turn be used to grow more fruit and vegetables.  entries need to be in school on Monday 3rd March.  Please see Mrs Adnett's newsletter for ideas.

Please see the grid below for key dates for Book Fortnight for Year 5 & 6.

Miss Garrett
KS2 Phase Leader

Key Dates:
Monday 24th February 2025
Book Fortnight begins
Tuesday 4th March
Parent Teacher meetings
Wednesday 5th March
Dress up day for World Book Day
Thursday 6th March
Parent Teacher meetings
Friday 11th April
School closes for the Easter Break