St. Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, Birtley

Christ is Our Light and Our Life

Dear Parents/Carers,

This booklet has been designed to give you information about the schemes of work we follow,

based on the National Curriculum, and the formal assessment carried out to measure

progress and attainment.

At the end of Key Stage 2, children sit SATs (Standard Assessment Tests) which are

externally marked tests, and are graded as either having achieved or not achieved the

standard expected for the end of Key Stage 2. Pupils will also receive a grading based on

Teacher Assessment, which will identify whether they are working towards the expected

level, at the expected level or at greater depth within the expected level.

At St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, we aim to provide schemes of work and planned units

of study to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum but, more importantly, provide

exciting and engaging learning opportunities for your children.

The curriculum is challenging, but with the outstanding teaching our children receive we are

confident that they will more than rise to the challenge. Please note that these end of year

expectations as designed by the Government - we are aware that your children are individuals

and we will always adapt the curriculum to provide support or challenge where needed.

How you can support your child at home

This booklet outlines some of the work we will be covering in school and anything you want or

can do to support your child’s learning is a great addition.

We also send home reading and maths homework and spellings to learn each week, and it is

important that you encourage your child to be increasingly independent in completing this and

ensuring it is returned to school on time.

However, the most important homework you can do with your child is reading. We encourage

parents to read to children throughout their time at primary school, so that they can learn to

enjoy books with someone else. You should encourage your child to read as much as possible.

This does not need to be just the books that we send home, but also newspapers, magazines,

websites, recipes, leaflets and art and craft instructions. We appreciate that children are

always tempted by screens and books are more demanding for them to read; children will

often need considerable encouragement from an adult to turn to a book! However, the more

children read, the more they are exposed to language, vocabulary, grammatical features,

different genres and text types, learning and ideas. And the more they learn to love reading!

Kind regards,

Mrs R Nutton

Acting Head Teacher

English

We use Collins Treasure House Literacy, Literacy Shed Plus and other quality teaching

resources to support your child’s learning in English.

The end of year expectations for Year 5 are as follows:

Reading

Use knowledge of morphology and etymology to read aloud and understand new words –

morphology – structure or words, etymology – where words come from

Make comparisons within and across books

Read a range of modern fiction, fiction from literary heritage and books from other

cultures and traditions

Identify and discuss themes and conventions across a wide range of writing – e.g.

compare how schools are talked about in different stories

Discuss understanding of texts, including exploring meaning of words in context

Ask questions to improve understanding of texts – can children ask you a question

about what they are reading?

Summarise ideas drawn from more than one paragraphs, identifying key details

Predict future events from details stated and implied – What do you think will happen?

Why?

Identify how language, structure and presentation contribute to meaning

Discuss how authors use language, including figurative language, to affect the reader –

Why did the author choose that word?

Make book recommendations, giving reasons for choices - Do you think I should read

the book? Why? Why not?

Participate in discussions about books, building on and challenging ideas

Explain and discuss understanding of reading

Participate in formal presentations and debates about reading

Provide reasoned justifications for views.

Class readers include: Street Child by Berlie Doherty, Varjak Paw by S. F. Said, Kensuke’s

Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, The Phoenix Code by Helen Moss and Boy at the Back of the

Class by Onjali Q Raúf, as well as a range of non-fiction books and poetry. We also use

beautifully written and illustrated picture books to stimulate writing, including How to Live

Forever by Colin Thompson, The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman and Counting on

Katherine by Helaine Becker.

Writing Spelling (see spelling list over page)

We use the Spelling Shed scheme of work. Pupils can log on to the website from home and

from school to practise their year group’s spellings.

Spell some words with silent letters

Recognise and use spellings for homophones and other often-confused words –

homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings – two, too, to;

which, witch

Use a dictionary to check spelling and meaning

Handwriting

We continue to model and encourage neat, joined, cursive handwriting, which is essential to

achieve writing at the expected standard at the end of Key Stage 2. Children use the

appropriate handwriting joins and choose the writing implement that is best suited for a task

(based on New Nelson Handwriting scheme).

Writing

Identify the audience and purpose before writing, and adapt accordingly

Select appropriate grammar and vocabulary to change or enhance meaning

Develop setting, atmosphere and character, including through dialogue

Précis longer passages

Use a range of cohesive devices

Use advanced organisational and presentational devices

Use the correct tense consistently throughout a piece of writing

Ensure correct subject and verb agreement

Perform compositions using appropriate intonation, volume and movement

Use a thesaurus

Use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely

Use modal verbs or adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility

Use relative clauses

Convert nouns or adjectives into verbs

Use adverbials of time, place and number for cohesion

Recognise vocabulary and structures that are appropriate for formal use

Use passive verbs to affect the presentation of information

Use the perfect form of verbs to mark relationships of time and cause

Recognise difference in informal and formal language

Use grammatical connections and adverbials for cohesion

Use ellipsis - …

Use commas to clarify meaning or avoid ambiguity

Use brackets, dashes and commas to indicate parenthesis – ( ), -,

Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity -

Use semi-colons, colons and dashes between independent clauses - ;, :

Use a colon to introduce a list - :

Punctuate bullet points consistently.

Power Maths is a whole-class mastery programme from Pearson Education and is the

only mastery programme perfectly aligned to the White Rose Maths schemes of learning. It

is designed to spark curiosity and excitement and help nurture confidence in maths. Power

Maths is recommended by the Department for Education, having met its criteria for high-

quality textbooks, and has been judged as “fully delivering a mastery approach”.

Teaching maths for mastery is a transformational approach to maths teaching which stems

from high performing Asian nations such as Singapore. When taught to master maths,

children develop their mathematical fluency without resorting to rote learning and are able

to solve non-routine maths problems without having to memorise procedures. Power Maths

focuses on developing real mathematical fluency through reasoning and problem solving.

A mastery approach ensures maths is fun, collaborative and engaging. Running through the

scheme are core growth mindset principles, so children approach maths with confidence and

begin to realise that mistakes are an essential part of the learning process.

Religious Education At St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, we use Come and See - a Catholic Primary Religious

Education programme for Foundation and Key Stages 1 and 2. We work closely with the

Education Department of our local Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle to ensure we offer

high quality Religious Education, which is a rigorous academic subject in its own right.

Themes for Year 5 include:

• Domestic Church - Ourselves

• Baptism/Confirmation – Life Choices

• Advent/Christmas - Hope

• Local Church - Mission

• Eucharist - Memorial

• Lent/Easter - Sacrifice

• Pentecost - Transformation

• Reconciliation/Anointing of the sick – Freedom & Responsibility

• Universal Church – Stewardship

The children also learn about ‘Other Faith’ groups with a special focus on Judaism and Islam.

The Aims of Religious Education as stated in the RE Curriculum Directory are:

To present engagingly a comprehensive content which is the basis of knowledge and

understanding of the Catholic faith;

To enable pupils continually to deepen their religious and theological understanding and

be able to communicate this effectively;

To present an authentic vision of the Church’s moral and social teaching so that pupils

can make a critique of the underlying trends in contemporary culture and society;

To raise pupils’ awareness of the faith and traditions of other religious communities in

order to respect and understand them;

To develop the critical faculties of pupils so that they can relate their Catholic faith

to daily life;

To stimulate pupils’ imagination and provoke a desire for personal meaning as revealed

in the truth of the Catholic faith;

To enable pupils to relate the knowledge gained through Religious Education to their

understanding of other subjects in the curriculum;

To bring clarity to the relationship between faith and life, and between faith and

culture.

Relationships Education and P.S.H.E & C

Ten:Ten’s programme, Life to the Full, teaches Relationships Education, incorporating Health

Education, within the context of a Christian understanding of human sexuality rooted in the

wisdom and teaching of the Catholic Church. Through teaching the programme, Life to the

Full, we aim to give pupils knowledge “that will enable them to make informed decisions about

their wellbeing, health and relationships” (DFE Statutory Guidance). We will deliver this

teaching through the prism of Catholic RSE.

The framework of Ten:Ten’s programme is taken from the Model Catholic RSE Programme by

the Catholic Education Service, which has been highlighted by the Department of Education

as a work of good practice.

Life to the Full has a spiral approach to learning, in which pupils will revisit the same topics at

an age-appropriate stage through their school life. The programme includes teaching about

personal health, physical and emotional wellbeing, strong emotions, private parts of the body,

personal relationships, family structures, trusted adults, growing bodies, puberty, periods,

life cycles, the dangers of social media, pornography, where babies come from, an

understanding of the Common Good and living in the wider world.

The entire teaching is underpinned with a religious understanding that our deepest identity is

as a child of God - created chosen and loved by God. The programme is fully inclusive of all

pupils and their families: the Ten:Ten website has a parent hub which enables parents to

access information on how the programme is taught and provides examples of some of the

resources used.

Life to the Full is a scheme of work which gives our teachers access to an entire platform of

creative resources, including interactive video content and story-based activities, employing

a wide range of teaching tools, original worship music and an accompanying programme of

classroom prayers.

Science

Science at St. Joseph’s aims to teach our children the skills and knowledge they need to

question and understand concepts and phenomena that occur in the world around them, and to

equip them with the motivation to seek explanations for these. Sequences of lessons are

planned by teachers to meet the national curriculum objectives for science, and to ensure

that all pupils have a solid grounding in science and a positive attitude towards scientific

knowledge and experimental processes. Over the course of the academic year, children will

carry out several investigations which involve the 5 different types of enquiry approaches:

Observation over time

Identifying and classifying

Pattern seeking

Research

Comparative and fair testing.

As well as develop pupils’ scientific enquiry skills, Science at St. Joseph’s will ensure children

develop knowledge and understanding in the areas of physics, chemistry and biology.

Teachers will ensure pupils understand associated vocabulary for each topic, so that children

can use this vocabulary with confidence.

Topics covered in Year 5 include:

Earth & Space

Forces

Properties & Changes in Materials

Animals including Humans (changes as humans develop to old age)

Living Things and their Habitats (life cycles & reproduction).

As well as science-themed educational visits, science days and educational outreach in school,

we use a range of high-quality science resources to engage and inspire children.

Year 5 - Foundation Subjects

Subject Termly Topics

History Ancient Egypt

A Local Study based on Victorian Gateshead

Kings and Queens of England - From Edward VI to George IV (1547-

1830)

Geography Russia and Europe

Investigating Rivers

Art Surrealism

Ancient Egyptian Art

River Landscapes

Computing Newsroom

Interactive Art Exhibition

E-safety

Code Breakers - algorithms, directional language and programming

Using Microsoft Office

Touch Typing

P.E. Basketball/Netball Skills

Swimming

Gymnastics

Hockey

Dance

Football

Cricket

Athletics

Rounders

Music Sing in solo and ensemble contexts

Learn to play the violin (taught by a specialist music teacher)

D&T Design and create a Victorian house (with electric lighting)

Cookery – Russian dishes

Relationships

Educations &

P.S.H.E.

Taking Part – House elections & voting

Children’s Rights - refugees

Developing Thinking Skills – Values for Thinking & Growth Mindset

Choices - Financial capabilities

Drug, alcohol and tobacco education

M.F.L

(French)

The Solar System

Sports and hobbies

Around town