Autumn 2026
Dear Parents,
September 2026
Welcome to Buzzard Class!
Welcome back to the Autumn term!
For some children, the move into Year 5/6 can feel huge but they all settle very quickly. Expectations rise necessarily and so they may feel as if they are being pushed more than before.
In the mornings our focus will be reading, writing and maths and in the afternoons we will cover the rest of the curriculum. On Tuesday it will be will be art and music, on Wednesday afternoon it will be PE - hockey this term so remember your gum shield, shin pads and boots; and on Friday afternoon we will do Bury Rangers.
In English, we will be basing our work on the superb book Azizi and the Little Blue bird by Laila Koubaa. Please don’t run out and it until we have finished the unit though – I need to keep them in suspense until the end! We will also dip into a lot of other books that support and supplement our whole class text
Mrs. Barnes will be teaching Maths this year.
Our spellings will be introduced on a Monday and we will focus on a pattern each week. The children will be asked to find it in their reading, use it in their writing and look for the root words and etymology (the history of the word and how it is made- for example if the word comes from Latin or Greek and what the prefixes and suffixes mean) to help learn them too. We will continue to use the Sounds and Syllables scheme and will be having a daily spelling lesson. We will also be learning (and sending home) ‘statutory Y5/6 spellings’, which the children are required to know how to spell by the end of Year 6.
Our ‘home learning’ will include times tables, reading and optional maths and spelling tasks.
Times Tables Rock Stars for 5 minutes a day. The curriculum tells us that our children should know all (up to 12) of their times tables by the end of Year 4, and so we really want them to be confident and fast at recall of these. Please make sure your child plays on the ‘studio’ part of Times Tables Rock Stars several times a week – the more regularly they play, the better they will get.
Please hear your child read for at least 5 minutes a day too. We ask you to hear your child read 5 times a week. I know how difficult this is – but there are often little slots of time when they can read to you – while you are cooking/ironing/ washing up or of course snuggled on the sofa or in bed. When children get to year 5 and 6, they often prefer to read to themselves, which of course we encourage, but reading to an adult helps them in so many ways. You can pick up incorrect pronunciation, question their understanding, discuss the story.
Every Friday we will send home some maths questions via the Freckle app which will support the learning from that week.
On a Friday I will send home the statutory spellings that we have be learning that week
Homework can often be a bone of contention at home so please remember that it is NOT compulsory and it is your choice if your child completes it or not. There will not be any sanctions if your child does not complete the homework. It simply serves as another way for you to see what your child is learning in school and for them to practise the skills that they are learning.
In maths we will continue to cover the year 5 and 6 curriculum and will be incorporating regular investigations and problem solving. This term’s focus will be place value, calculation and fractions.
Initially, we will be studying a unit called Brilliant Bury- Farms. This will be a whole school unit with each class looking depth at the history and geography of farming in the area.
We will be spending the rest of the term learning about :
Geography - Should wolves be introduced to the South Downs National Park?
Science- Light and Forces
Bury Rangers – Retrieval of Earth and Space unit 1 week + Star Dome
Bury Rangers – Cooking seasonal food on the fire and collaborative Green Man sculpture with felt
Art – 2D Drawing to 3D Making and Activism
RE - Why do humanists say happiness is the goal of life? How do questions about Brahman and atman influence the way a Hindu lives?
Computing - Computing systems and networks and Communication Creating media – 3D Modelling
PE – hockey – please ensure your child has a fitted gum shield, shin pads and boots in school every day
Music –Rehearsing and performing simple songs and rounds using a wider pitch range and variety of notation
Relationships and health education - Physical contact & appropriate touch, Challenging the impact of feelings on self, Body changes and puberty, Media influences on masculinity & femininity, Types of relationship (love and commitment)
Timetable
On a Friday, the children will have Bury Rangers and will need to come to school wearing their Bury Rangers clothes.
On a Wednesday the children will have outside PE and will need to come to school wearing PE kit including dark blue or black jogging bottoms or leggings and their school jumper or Bury Rangers hoody.
Mr Gatrell will be shared across Key Stage 2
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Morning |
Afternoon |
Notes |
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Monday |
Mrs Braun (Mrs Barnes for Maths) |
Mrs. Braun |
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Tuesday |
Art and Music Mr Mott |
Mrs Braun (Mrs Barnes for Maths)
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Wednesday
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Mrs Braun (Mrs Barnes for Maths)
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Mrs Braun and Coach Joe for PE
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Wear PE kit and bring mouth guard, shin pads and hockey boots/shoes |
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Thursday
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Mrs Braun (Mrs Barnes for Maths)
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Mrs Braun |
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Friday
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Mrs Braun (Mrs Barnes for Maths) |
Mrs Braun
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Wear Bury Rangers clothes |
Class organisation
Please ensure that your child has a named water bottle in the classroom everyday – they are emptied at night, so don’t need to take them home until a Friday. They will need an additional water bottle in their lunchbox if they are having packed lunch.
School starts at 8.40 - please bring your child to the big side gates by the hall to drop them off. At the end of the day, please wait by Buzzard class’ outside door at 3.15 and I will send the children to you. At each end of the day, please be prompt.
Some children will take part in extra sessions with either a teacher or one of our TAs. These will take place in school and may be for only 1 or 2 sessions or may happen over a longer period.
Behaviour
We will be using a new behaviour policy which will be shared with you and the children in September. It is not very different from our existing one.
Year 6 children will be completing their SATs in May and we will be talking to you and them about preparing for these later in the year. If you would like to spend some extra time at home before then preparing for the tests, then the CGP books are really useful and can be bought cheaply on Amazon. There are both revision and work books.
This term we will also be holding our KS2 camp that has been postponed from the summer.
As always, if you need to speak to me about anything, please either catch me before or after school or make an appointment with through Mrs. Clark in the office. It always best to sort out little niggles as soon as possible.
Many thanks,
Mrs Braun