Year 5
Teacher: Mr Crowther
Teaching Assistants: Miss Sheppard, Ms Smit, Mrs Burnett
Welcome to Year 5!
- In order to help with the smooth running of lunchtimes and to help children settle in the mornings, wherever possible order school lunches at home. Whether your child has a school or packed lunch, do ensure they bring a healthy snack (such as a piece of fruit) for them to eat at break time.
- Children should bring the correct equipment to school each day (pencil cases and reading book). Pencil cases can be left in your child's locker overnight, rather than taking them home, if they will not need them. Children should have a coat in wet weather, and a water bottle every day (containing water only).
- Ensure all personal possessions (stationery, school uniform, water bottles, lunchboxes etc.) are named - this will make it easier to reunite pupils with their lost property.
- Our PE sessions will be on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit. Ideally, earrings should be removed before school, but if this is not possible, please cover them with tape.
We are very much looking forward to a successful school year!
The Summer Term.
This half term, we will begin a term-long study of the Caribbean. This will have a Geography focus in the first half term, and focus in on the Windrush generation in the second half term.
To supplement this learning, we will be reading the story Windrush Child written by Benjamin Zephaniah. This text gives an insight into the experiences of a young person at the time. Zephaniah uses some language and experiences which are quite challenging. Below is the author's note from the start of the book:
Warning: This story contains strong language that some readers might find offensive. In reality, when you are on the receiving end of some of these words you are very offended, but I think I would be cheating readers if I were to gloss over some of the language that is used by racists. As a young boy in school, I remember people saying, 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never hurt me,' and I didn't believe them. Names hurt me. I was called names because of the colour of my skin, because I was dyslectic, even because of the way I spoke, and those words really hurt. Fortunately, I used words to fight back, and I became a writer. Now I use my words to give voice to people like Leonard, the main character in this book. He's just doing what people have been doing for thousands of years, moving around the planet. When people move they always have to deal with the trauma of leaving the country of their birth, and then struggle to fit into their new home. I've heard adults talking about this for years, but I wanted to explore what it was like for children. So mind your language, and please understand that the language contained in this book is here because the author, a Windrush child, is keeping it real.
When these issues arise in the story, they will be addressed sensitively with the children, but they may have further questions when they come home. If you have any questions about the text, please let me know.
Mr Crowther