The Grove Primary School

What an incredibly busy term we have had in year 5! The children have risen to the challenge of becoming upper key stage 2 learners, and have responded with determination and hard work aplenty! It has been a calm and positive start to the year.

Our topic about the Vikings and Anglo Saxons has been all-encompassing and has provided us with numerous learning opportunities and interesting facts. Early in the term, we enjoyed our visit to the Trowbridge Museum, where we found out about Anglo Saxon life. This included workshops to discover more about their hierarchy, food and clothing, learning about the role of the warriors and taking our turn on the weaving loom.

All of this knowledge has been put to great use in our writing units this term. Consequently, the children have completed some impressive descriptive writing in the form of a diary entry, and in recent weeks, a retelling of a Viking myth. We have been delighted with their engagement, enthusiasm and love for this topic.

In art and design, we have created Viking longships out of modelling clay and designed  and decorated a sail, which we have sewn, as rigging, to our mast. These boats look formidable – particularly in great numbers, and when lined up in formation together! Our thoughts of the Norsemen have continued throughout our music lessons where we have listened to Viking war marches and worked in groups to recreate our own rhythmic beats on the Djembe drums.

In R.E., we began our journey into the life of a Hindu, and we explored what it means to show commitment. Finishing our term with the creation of our own personal spiritual mandala, we are looking forward to continuing this learning about Hinduism in later terms throughout the academic year.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the children in Willow and Cedar classes for their hard work and positive learning choices so far. They have led themselves well this term – we are excited about the year ahead!