Welcome to Year 5!

Your teachers are:

Mrs Chappell:     carolinechappell@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk 

Mrs Drew:    hannahdrew@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk

Weekly Update: Friday 23rd October 2026

Important Dates:

26-30.10.26 Half term

2.11 and 3.11 INSET days (no children in school)

26.11.26 Eden Project Day

15.12.26 UKS2 carol concert

16.12.26 Christmas Dinner day

18.12.26 Christmas Party day

21.12.26 First day of Christmas Holidays

Firstly, and most importantly, please don't forget to pay for the Eden Project trip which will be on 26th November.  Please get in touch asap if you need support with this.  Also, if you are able to help on the day - we might still need volunteers.  

Thank you for ensuring your child attended school today, particularly given the dramatic weather conditions that brought the first half of term to such a memorable close. Storm Austen certainly made its presence felt.

In English, the children have nearly completed their final extended writing task of the half term: a diary entry written from the perspective of Lucy upon the discovery that Mr Tumnus's cave had been ransacked. The children have produced thoughtful and evocative pieces, demonstrating strong descriptive writing and an ability to convey emotion effectively. The class continues to thoroughly enjoy the novel, and we have now begun viewing the film adaptation. This has prompted considerable discussion, as the film differs from the book in several respects. It is fair to report that the majority of the class favour the book.

In Maths, we have finished our unit on addition and subtraction. The children have applied their skills to a range of word problems, including multistep problems that required careful reasoning and sustained thought. We witnessed a great deal of resilience and independence!

In Art, the children's donut sculptures are being constructed with considerable enthusiasm and are beginning to take shape nicely. We will have to continue these after half term as they need more work to create the effect of icing and spinkles - we're sure they'll look good enough to eat.  Please accept our apologies for the white dust produced by the Modroc during these sessions!  It's an unavoidable consequence but it does wash out easily.

This week marked our final tennis lesson of the term. The children participated in a variety of different matches and demonstrated excellent enthusiasm and sportsmanship throughout, particularly when outcomes did not go their way. This was a pleasure to observe.

In Science, the children have been exploring reversible and irreversible changes. They tested their theories as to whether a salt solution is reversible or irreversible through the process of evaporation. This topic has been thoroughly enjoyed by the class, as it lends itself to a wide range of scientific enquiry alongside simple yet engaging practical experiments.  After half term, we move onto a more biology-focussed unit and will be studying life cycles, adaptation and classification which will be great for all the animal lovers in year 5.

I wish you all a restful and enjoyable half term break. Please do ensure the children get plenty of rest and perhaps exercise a little restraint when it comes to sweets if they're trick or treating!

Finally, please remember homework is set on a Friday and due the following Friday. Many children are fully back in the swing of this routine now, and we hope more and more of the children will consistently complete theirs! 

Mrs Drew and Mrs Chappell

CHRISTMAS CARD COMPETITION

Here are the details about the Christmas Card Competition from Ben Maguire (MP):

I am writing on behalf of Ben Maguire MP for North Cornwall, to invite your pupils to take part in his 3^rd Annual Christmas Card Competition, which is open to all primary school pupils. Every pupil at your school is invited to submit a design, and I’ll send a certificate to everyone who takes part.

The winner will win a prize, and the winning design will be used for Ben’s Christmas card this year, which is sent to people across North Cornwall.

I have set out below a few competition details:

• Please send us the original design, not a photocopy.

• Send your designs on A4 paper (although the winning design will be reduced in size and printed on A6.)

• Everything fun, creative, and vibrant is encouraged! (Avoid glitter, glue, cotton wool and other stick-on items – they’re great, but don’t reproduce well once we send the design to print.)

• Please remind pupils to write their full names, school and school year with their age on the back of their designs – otherwise we won’t know who the winner is!

• Name, age, year group and school will be shown on the winning card.

All designs must be received by Thursday 5^th November (but please send them before the deadline, if possible)   Please send all entries to Ben Maguire MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA.

HOMEWORK

Reading:
Please can your child read 5 times a week, preferably out loud. They have a reading log which will be checked every Friday morning so please make sure their reading has been logged. Please ensure their reading book comes in every day.

Maths:
Mymaths.  This will be checked on Friday.  All children should now have log in details but please get in touch if you're struggling to locate them!

Spelling:
We will check the Spelling Shed online logs every Friday. This assignment involves them playing 10 spelling games (there are 10 questions per game) linked to their learning in school. If you encounter any difficulties, please let us know as soon as possible.

Important messages/information:

SPARE SHOES:
Please put spare trainers in your child’s bag. In the event of rain, wet play and PE are result in wet, damp shoes. Thank you.