With all the excitement of the start-of-term elections over, we had a week of focusing on War Horse and beginning our learning about the Spanish Armada. We have had some wonderful discussions about Queen Elizabeth I the ways in which she positioned herself as a force to be reckoned with.

This week we turn our attention to poetry as we celebrate #nationalpoetryday on Thursday 5th October. We will spend the week exploring some narrative poems, picking out features and making a bank of potential rhyming words before attempting to write our own, with the Spanish Armada battle as our stimulus.

In maths, we will be continuing our rather large units on addition, subtraction, multiplication & division. Both year groups have been working through these operations and becoming increasingly fluent in using them.

Please encourage the children to log into their Times Table Rockstar accounts and have some regular practise of multiplication facts. The multiplication fact knowledge is incredibly important for both the year 5 and year 6 maths curriculum - it reduces cognitive load when approaching new learning and really helps the children's confidence.

Just to remind you that this time each year we donate to foodshare in Henley, run by Nomad. Please could the children bring in a donation towards our joint donation that will be collected Friday. Please ask children to take donations into their classrooms from Monday to Thursday and thank you in advance for anything you are able to donate towards this worthy cause.

Parents Evenings – 3rd and 5th October

I am looking forward to seeing you next week for parent consultations. You should all have your appointments so please speak with Mrs Sedwell in the office if you are not sure about your appointment or need to rearrange.

That leaves me to wish you a wonderful week ahead.

Mrs Burbedge