de Vere Primary School

Welcome to Year 5- Attenborough Class

Attenborough class is taught by Mrs Eaves, and Mrs. Westrop, and supported by Mrs Blake. We might be a small class, but we have the biggest heart -making up for our small size with our super kindness, care and support of each other! 

Year 5 is an exciting year as we move into Upper Key Stage Two. Central to all of our learning is our focus on My Happy Mind: our character strengths, our brain, our attitude for gratitude, relating to others and engage with school life and community life. We aim to develop our ability to self-regulate our learning, to develop an independent drive to learn. 

We have some brilliant topics this year.  

Autumn 1 City Life  

Autumn 2 The Tudors  

Spring 1 Earth and Space  

Spring 2 The Industrial Revolution: buildings and bridges 

Summer 1 Early Islamics  

Summer 2 Rivers  

Please contact me via email: n.eaves@devere.essex.sch.uk or telephone via the office.

22nd March 2024

In the past fortnight, we have enjoyed finishing our Geography unit on Trade, beginning our unit on the Industrial Revolution and Science week! In Geography, we ended with a study into how the cost of one banana is divided between the supply chain. We decided that we did not feel this was fair on the plantation owner or the banana worker. We were pleased to hear about the positive impact Fair Trade products have on the beginning of the supply chain, their quality of life and financial stability.

To commence our study into the Industrial Revolution, we have explored what Victorian life was like. We are building up to writing our own non-chronological report about the Victorians. With this background knowledge, we will be ready to begin learning about the inventions and rapid progress made in industry during this time.

In Science week, we enjoyed talks with visiting and virtual speakers. We learned about Trees for Change and how they are making a positive impact on replanting the rainforest. We look forward to beginning fundraising where 20p can buy one tree. We had a visitor who talked about birds of prey, as well as the Science Dude leading an assembly at the end of the week. We researched a famous Scientist in each class. Our Scientist was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who was a huge figure from the Industrial Revolution. We enjoyed turning our learning into dioramas, 3D models and Top Trumps cards. We had to select which of Brunel’s creations and inventions we thought had the greatest legacy in selecting and creating these.

An update on our enterprise project – we had another sale one break time, and we have raised over £110. This has been combined with a generous donation of £50 from a local businessman and another £600 from the Friends and fundraising. This will contribute to providing a trip to the children, free of charge to parents. We are excited to spend some of this money on a trip to Colchester Zoo, and we plan to have another outing later in the year!

8th March 2024

Attenborough class have been so busy! We have been enjoying finishing our crafts and delivering a sales pitch to the school. We are hoping to make a lot of profit to put towards our school trip this year!

In Maths, we were learning how to use long multiplication. We have now moved onto decimal numbers, and we had good fun using the Number Stacks resources to help us understand the value of decimal numbers.

In English, we have moved onto our new text of The Street Child. We have been using our English as an opportunity to explore Victorian life, especially what school was like for Victorian children – when there was a real threat to school with being caned or publicly humiliated by the dunce’s hat!

In Geography, we are finishing our Trade unit, which has linked well with our craft enterprises! We have learned about the supply chain, UK’s exports and imports and Fairtrade.

16th February 2024

As you are possibly aware, the school is prioritising raising children’s aspirations through building awareness of a variety of different careers and the skills they require. As part of this, we have been working on a Career Aspirations programme created by Ductu provided by Hobbycraft. The children have been watching videos of employees, who work in a variety of roles within Hobbycraft, so that we can learn and imitate the roles needed in marketing, designing, stocking, creating and selling an item for profit. The children have worked in groups to complete this process with a budget given by the Friends of de Vere of £25. We have looked at the costs of the product, the time required and suitable pricing to forecast profit we could make. Our hope is that we can sell these items to parents and children after school once we are ready, and the money we make will be put towards the cost of a trip during Year 5. This would ensure that the costs of a trip will be reduced as much as possible as we appreciate that parents will be paying for the Year 5’s residential in October. This programme has been a brilliant opportunity for children to work together and apply their knowledge and skills to a scenario with real results at the end.

In PE, we have continued to work on circuits, and in particular, developing upper body strength. In English, we explored the book Tuesday by David Wiesner. We were able to infer and deduce from the picture book in order to use emotive language to write a diary entry of the poor man who witnessed flying frogs from his kitchen window! In maths, we have moved onto written multiplication methods. We are working hard to master the process for multiplying up to 4 digits by 1 or 2 digit numbers.

2nd February 2024

This week in Attenborough class we have been able to complete our art project inspired by Peter Thorpe. We were able to create an abstract background, which we painted, before creating, collaging and cutting out a rocket as a foreground. See the photos for our finished pieces!

In English, we really enjoyed creating persuasive travel brochures for the setting of our class book, Philip Pullman’s Clockwork. We explored the text type, collected vocabulary and persuasive language before writing our own persuasive brochures. We look forward to sharing these with you at Parents’ Consultations!

In Maths, we have finished our first fractions unit, and worked so hard to ensure we can find equivalent fractions, add and subtract fractions and convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions. We think you’ll be impressed with our work in our books.

19th January 2024

Attenborough class had great fun putting their plans into action when making their biscuits. We were able to follow the instructions, learn new skills and make brilliant biscuits (even if a couple of batches did need remaking after burning!).

15th December 2023

Attenborough class has had a great fortnight! We showed great resilience applying our learning to some tests last week. We have continued writing with varied sentence structures to interest the reader – in the past week, that has been through writing a diary based on our Rooftoppers book. In Maths, we have continued working with fractions, adding and subtracting and finding equivalent fractions. Our DT topic is sweet baking. As part of this, we have focused on biscuits. We started by creating our own questionnaires to carry out market research on the opinions of adults and children around school. We enjoyed going around school to find answers to our biscuit-related questions! A taste test was the final part of our research – I think we all enjoyed exploring the textures, tastes and appearance of biscuits. After the Christmas holidays, we look forward to using our own selected recipes (based on our research) to bake. 😊 I’d like to take this chance to wish you all a brilliant break. The only homework we are setting will be reading over this festive time, but I will send some fun festive activities home if your child wishes to complete them.

1st December 2023

In Attenborough class, we have had quite a variety of activities keeping us occupied! We have started our fundraising for our residential. We enjoyed designing and making our own cross stitch designs for decoration day. In History, we have been able to top copy our explanation texts about the Tudor monarchs, and we have created diaries of a character that switched from being a rich Tudor to a poor Tudor or vice versa! We have also been learning to recognise equivalent fractions through a variety of activities, using our times table knowledge to help us!

3rd November 2023

In Attenborough class, we had a great week before half term – filled with poetry and art! See the photos of our poems being copied up. We had a wonderful time with a ‘My Happy Mind’ session outside, listening and being mindful to collect ideas. We used the Night Walker poem as a model for our own poems. What a brilliant display we have produced with the poems on tracing paper and our watercolour artwork to illustrate and enhance the poems.

In art, we applied our learning of the vanishing point to our own copy of the Norwich market scene. We sketched the scene and then painted with watercolours. We look forward to holding a class gallery to show all our art work off to parents after school on Friday next week (10.11.23)!

In English and Maths, we have been revising basics – word classes and main clauses in English and multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000 in Maths.

We have also begun to study the Tudors and learned about how the Tudor dynasty began at the Battle of Bosworth.

13th October 2023

What a great fortnight we have had in Year 5! We have moved from place value to written methods in Maths. We started reminding ourselves how to use written addition by completing these in chalk on the playground.

One very exciting addition has been starting to read with our Year 1 buddies! What a highlight to the week that is turning out to be.

In our theme, we have moved onto art. We have been exploring local artists’ art on the markets of Norwich. We have enjoyed learning the skills for drawing in perspective with a vanishing point.

English has seen us focusing on poetry and the structure of a cinquain. We chose our own animals to write a cinquain about, and if we had time to present these in best, are on display ready for us to show you at Parent Consultation next week. 😊

20th July 2023​

We have brought our learning based around the Amazon in ‘The Explorer’ story to a close by writing a narrative in the style of the author and a non-chronological report about an unusual rainforest animal. The children’s books are looking fantastic and ready for you to view on Tuesday after the Sports morning.

We have also continued our learning about Rivers by looking at how and where people and rivers interact – be it for drinking water, sewage or even leisure. We have also been challenging our potential misconceptions about Africa in Geography by finding out about the huge variety of countries and landscapes that exist on Earth’s second largest continent.

In Computing, we have been studying different types of shots and editing skills used in video production. In this week’s photos you can see the children trying out different filming techniques on the field.

Thank you for your continuous support this year – it’s been a busy and memorable one!

16th June 2023

In Year 5, we have returned to some very seasonal learning about Rushing Rivers in Geography and a Katherine Rundell novel called ‘The Explorer’ in English. Rundell’s story features four children who find themselves stranded in the Amazon rainforest and we are learning to write effective contrasting sentences and hope to pick up some best-selling author tricks!

This week has been Healthy Eating Week, run by Mrs Westrop and Mrs Mills. Amelia, Molly, Misty and Marnie volunteered to be ‘Taste-testers’ and tried a range of plant-based meals. This is what they had to say:

“There were four meals to try, a range of curries and chillies, and a favourite – the chickpea, lentil and sweetcorn burger. The thai curry was popular and even had home-grown at school new potatoes in it.”

“The chilli had sweet potato in, instead of meat, and it really absorbed all the flavour. Amelia enjoyed the sweet potato and lentil curry as it was still spicy but it had a mashed potato texture that was easy to eat.”

25th May 2023

The photos say it all in this update as we have had the luxury of not one, but two specials days to compliment our exciting curriculum. Firstly, along with Thunburg Class in Yr 6, we had visitors come from the World War I Heritage Trust to see us with World War I flight simulators, historic photographic presentations, war poetry and art, and a quiz! The children were fascinated to interact with the simulators and our visiting co-pilots for the day. Thank you to Mrs White for organising this extra-curricular day.

Then, we visited Daws Hall Nature Reserve to learn all about Rivers ahead of our new topic next term, and to participate in a number of field experiments and scientific testing. The children experienced ‘kick sampling’ in a brook off the River Stour, unearthing all kinds of larvae and even freshwater shrimp. They tested the river water quality in a number of ways utilising a range of digital equipment, Ph testing strips and charts, and seeing a flow-rate meter in action. The weather was beautiful so we had a whole day of outdoor learning in the local area.

12th May 2023

Continuing with The Ways of the Wolves, we have explored expanded noun phrases and more advanced ways of organising detailed information. The children then wrote and performed presentations to each other on Wolves, concentrating on clarity and accuracy. They did an amazing job of engaging their audiences!

In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of shape and angle facts to enable us to solve angle problems. This was hard work, but we persevered. In Art, we are exploring the beautiful, geometric designs that originated in the Early Islamic Civilisations, and have been learning how much of modern medicine has those early scholars to thank.

In PE, we have been developing our team working skills and tactics, competing in various Handball activities.

28th April 2023

​Welcome back, Attenborough Class!

We have been rediscovering shape in Maths, learning about different types of angles, perimeter and area. In English, we are reading a beautifully illustrated non-fiction book called ‘The Ways of the Wolf’ and learning different language and layout techniques from a gifted author and illustrator. This has linked to our work in Science comparing animal life cycles.

In PE, we are refining our passing and teamwork skills in Handball. In History and Art, we are studying the Early Islamics; all about their love of books, learning, technology and architecture ahead of travelling the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that linked our worlds in the past.

We are looking forward to the Coronation celebrations next week too. So much to discover!

31st March 2023

In our last two weeks of this busy Spring Term, Attenborough Class have been investigating the animal life cycles of a dog, a frog and a ladybird in Science, discovering just how varied and surprising nature can be.

We have also been using a visual text to inspire some narrative poetry around JK Rowling’s ‘The Tale of The Three Brothers’, learning to write similes and metaphors. These poems are designed to be performed so you may find yourself on the receiving end of a verse or two!

In Computing, the class have been challenged to use coding and programming tools to create simple musical pieces on keyboards.

Finally, we attended a whole school Easter service and shared our learning and art work about The Easter Story and the significance of this time of year to Christians.

17th March 2023

Science Week 2023 has been a week of ups and downs,mainly because Attenborough class have been making parachutes! Working in small teams, they researched, designed and made parachutes out of a range of materials and used them to pass a message to Year 6. Sadly, it wasn’t very windy that day but many successfully floated down as planned. We were also lucky enough to take part in a visiting workshop from Gridserve, who brought an electric car with them to much excitement.

We have been studying the life and innovations of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He was both a pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, and an example of a brilliant engineer, mathematician and scientist. The children have written his biography, and designed and built ‘Brunel in a Box’ (linking to our learning about frame structures in DT).

In Maths, we have moved on to decimals and the children are building on their learning about fractions.

We spent today cooking, ready for the mums and family members to enjoy treats after our Mother’s Day Wellbeing Walk.

3rd March 2023

Attenborough Class have really embraced the new topic of the Industrial Revolution in History and English. They already know so many facts about how Britain rapidly changed due to the innovation and invention of the early Victorian Era. A lot of our learning is thematic; we are reading Street Child in English following a poor boy’s journey through a workhouse, learning about what life was like for children at this time, and all the inventions that forced change.

World Book Day was a great success. Thank you to all the children and their families for creating such wonderful, imaginative costumes. We heard from author Sarah Oliver on the day and she inspired many A to Z’s on a range of interests, in a non-fiction writing activity.

In PE, we had a basketball day and practised lots of skills before matches of mini basketball. In Design and Technology, we are learning how to spot frame structures and looking at how they are joined to inspire our own joining skills. In the photos, you can see us experimenting different joining and strengthening techniques.

Finally, in Maths, we have been exploring division and fractions of amounts.

10th February 2023

In Year 5, the children have spent time in the last two weeks working really hard to develop their written methods for multiplication and short division in Maths. There has been some head scratching, frowning and then cheering as they have begun to master each method. I’m really proud with how much dedication they have demonstrated.

In English, they have been exploring persuasive writing, designing leaflets and working on their sentence construction. Using a slightly creepy thriller-style animation, they have surprised themselves with their sinister sentence creations! Parents will have had a chance to read these as Parent Consultations continue.

In Art, they have been painting in an abstract style with a collaged rocket or planet in the foreground as part of our Space Art project. A few of our proudest artists can be seen in this week’s newsletter photos.

27th January 2023

Attenborough Class have been really busy developing their methodology for written multiplication. We explored  area (or grid) models to learn how crucial place value is to the process and began applying it in different size calculations.

In English, we have been focusing on developing vocabulary and persuasive devices. In Geography, we have been learning all about Global Trade and how good are transported around the world. We have also looked at how trade has developed over time to the trillion dollar industry it is today, realising that some brands and logos would be recognisable to children around the world.

13th January 2023

In Attenborough Class, the children have worked hard to be able to convert fractions by finding a common denominator, and learning how this can help to order fractions. We have also explored which numbers some up regularly and which are more rarely used.

In English, we have begun a new tale by Philip Pullman called ‘Clockwork’, defining new vocabulary and the devices an author uses to create tension.

As part of our Science topic on Earth and Space, the children have created beautiful solar system diagrams using pastels.  They also took part in a practical lesson, recreating the movements of the planets around the sun.

9th December 2022

We are using a visual text in English to explore a distant moon call Pandora, filled with six-legged creatures called hexapods. This has led to some detailed, technical writing and amazing insect-based creations which they children loved developing. 

In Maths, we are getting to grips with Fractions as well as exploring larger multiples in practical ways (see photos). 

Our biscuit designs are ready to be mixed, baked and decorated; a Christmas sweet treat to take home next week. 

In History, the children have been exploring the different lives of Rich and Poor Tudors and been practising teamwork in PSHE and RE. We would also like to thank families for coming to hear our Reading for Fluency lesson this week. We appreciate your support.

25th November 2022

In Maths, we carried out investigations into special numbers. The children worked in groups to find square, cubed and prime numbers in a variety of ways. This exploration is so important, even as the children get older.

In DT, we are exploring biscuits – which are the most popular? What makes them popular? What is it about the texture or taste people love? As part of our research phase, we taste-tested some chocolatey biscuits and some Xmas specials to inform our designs.

In Science, we discussed how babies grow inside the body and how doctors monitor their growth and development after birth. The children had lots of insightful questions and really enjoyed learning just how clever our bodies are.

11th November 2022

Attenborough Class have been learning about poetry in English. We explored ‘Cinquains’ which are a similar to Haikus as the have a set syllabic pattern in a five-line shape.  In the photos you will see proud children sharing their colourful poems on a topic of their choice. This led to the exploration of a narrative poem called ‘Night Walker’ by Philip Gross. The children read the poem to fluency, learning about the structure from the original piece, and wrote their own walker poems, including Desert Walker, Rainforest Walker, Day Walker and Sunset Walker, to name a few. The children then used a text called ‘Here We Are’ by Oliver Jeffers to inspire their illustrations.

In Maths, we are learning about multiples, factors and special numbers. The children are particularly proud of their work in this area of the curriculum and the progress they are making.

Finally, you can see some of the finished Norwich market paintings and a special piece for Remembrance Day, which captures imagery from both recent losses in the pandemic (rainbow) as well as the iconic soldiers in the poppy fields of World War II.

7th October 2022

Attenborough Class have had a busy couple of weeks full of exciting learning opportunities. Last week, we were visited by ECC’s ‘Abbie Ayre and the Shed of Science’ who delivered a fantastic performance around Air Pollution and the little changes we can all make to help improve Air Quality. This was a great compliment to our learning about Materials and the visitors were impressed by the children’s Road Safety awareness.

In English, the children used their knowledge of the ‘Cogheart’ story so far to write impassioned diary entries for the main character, Lily. Many are displayed on our ‘Proud Wall’ which parents will be able to visit at Parent Consultations. Next, we have been looking at news reporting. The class took part in a Think, Pair, Share activity, role-playing as reporters and witnesses to a terrible airship crash that happens in the book. You can see photos of the event below.

In Art, we are taking inspiration from a recent Norwich city painting competition piece to sketch out a scene showing the iconic covered market stalls. The photos show Before and After sketches where the children were learning about perspective.

23rd September 2022

Welcome to Year 5! The children have started back really well and are starting to get to grips with the challenges that Upper Key Stage 2 brings.

We have dived straight into a new adventure by reading, analysing and creating writing around ‘Cogheart’ by Peter Bunzl. It is a thrilling tale set in Victorian London, but with a few differences to our world. Humans live alongside ‘mechanimals’ like Malkin, a mechanical fox, and his humans, Lily and John. The children have got to know these characters well and will soon be writing diary entries in character as Lily, and a newspaper article detailing an airship crash.

In Maths, we have been exploring numbers up to 1 million and they particularly enjoyed sorting top footballer salaries into groups this week.

Our theme is ‘City Life’ and we have begun looking at village life around our school and comparing it to Norwich, as a nearby historic city. In Science, we are exploring how to separate mixtures. Swimming is going well: the children have been assessed and put into appropriate groups and started a range of activities in the water. I am really pleased with how they have behaved going to and from school on the minibuses.

I look forward to sharing more of their learning with you as the term continues.

Mrs Hutchings