Year 5

Year 5 (9-10 years)

Year 5 is a year to embed all of the knowledge, skills and understanding learnt in Years 3 and 4. We then challenge the children with new learning goals. It is the year we start their preparations for the transition to Secondary. Our children grow in maturity and develop a greater independence from being given more responsibility in their own learning; preparing them for bigger things to come.

The fantastic topics in Year 5 from the International Primary Curriculum provide a great focus point for the learning in class. Your child may be studying Fairgrounds, Myths and Legends or maybe A Wonderful World. We use these topics as a way to engage your child while they learn important Maths, English and other subjects needed to succeed. In English, the children will be tackling grammar, for example, relative and subordinate clauses. In Maths it will be geometry, fractions and multiplication. Both subjects are benchmarked National Curriculum of England and Wales.

The main focus for Year 5 at NIS is to grow the students’ independence and encourage them to become reflective learners so they can start to plot their own pathways. Our students learn a lot from each other and bring their knowledge of their part of the world to the class to enrich everyone.

Space Case Study.

Our students enjoy studying space. They research the history of space exploration and how the astronauts and countries cooperate on the International Space Station. Science and technology are at the forefront of this module as the students build 500 metre scaled models of the solar system and create moon buggies. Parents are then guided around the solar system while their children explain the facts and how it all works. To develop their debating skills, our students recreate the trail of Galileo by the Catholic Church in 1633.

Every week Leva and Karen write a blog for the parents so they can see what the students are studying. It covers the subjects and lists the home learning for the week. In Year 5 children are expected to read and study by themselves every day after school. To keep parents updated on progress, Ieva and Karen write two reports every year in December and May. Parent consultations are arranged for September, January and June.

We use Doodle Maths online learning platform and Razz, our online learning programmes, to facilitate the home learning together with project assignments. Public speaking skills are developed through regular presentations to the class.

As with the other classes, Year 5 undertake a couple of overnight trips. In the autumn term, the children spend a night away and develop their teamwork skills.

With their growing independence comes a longer trip for the children in Year 5 when they visit Kerteminde in Fyn. They stay at a youth hostel for 2 nights and visit the Aquarium and the house of Danish artist Johannes Larsen. These trips foster teamwork, friendship and cooperation among the class.