Autumn

English

The children will begin the Autumn term with a baseline writing task, giving the children an opportunity to write creatively using their prior knowledge of creative writing techniques and grammatical choices.

Then there will be a period of a month where the children will focus on their grammatical and punctuation understanding through the Grammarsaurus Place Value unit. This will allow the children to gather the English language skills which they will need within their writing across the academic year.

The children will apply their knowledge of grammar and punctuation into their creative writing opportunities. They will also follow the Read-Write-Ink Spelling program across the year, applying the new language they come across within their creative writes.

The children will explore writing a range of genres. The genres covered in this term are:

Recount

Narrative

Explanation

Maths

Units covered:

Unit 1 – Place Value within 1,000,000 (1)

Unit 2 – Place Value within 1,000,000 (2)

Unit 3 – Addition and Subtraction

Unit 4 – Multiplication and Division

Unit 5 – Fraction (1)

Unit 6 – Fraction (2)

R.E.

To begin the academic year, the children will fully immerse themselves in the catholic social teaching and catholic values of St. Thomas’. They will explore the true meaning of our school mission, reflecting on how they will ‘act out’ this mission within this new academic year.

Unit A – Creation

Content covered:

Compare/contrast the 2 creation stories
Every human person is made in the image and likeness of God and is called to reflect God’s love
God calls his followers to uphold human dignity in all nations and cultures
The Canticle of Creation is a special prayer written by St. Francis to praise God the Creator
Jesus taught his disciples to use their gifts and talents for the service of other people

Unit B - Miracles and the sacrament of the sick

Content covered:

Jesus performed miracles because He is the Son of God
Through Jesus’ teaching of the Good News, His miracles changed people’s lives
Pilgrimage is a journey Christians undertake to pray and seek healing in response to God’s Call
Lourdes is a special place of pilgrimage for those who are sick
We are the Church, the people of God
The seven sacraments are the living signs through which Jesus works today

Unit C – Advent

Content covered:

During Advent we prepare to celebrate both the first coming of Jesus and the second coming
The prophets of the Old Testament spoke of the coming of the Messiah
The birth of John the Baptist was unexpected, including for Zechariah
Being attentive to the needs of others and responding in solidarity is preparing for Christ’ second coming

Science

Forces

Children will question and investigate throughout this topic, exploring different forces practically. The children will work collaboratively whilst planning and carrying out their own investigations where they need to consider a range of variables. The children will learn the following:

Gravity is the force that pulls all objects towards each other
Friction is a force created between two surfaces when they rub together
Working scientifically to investigate which shoes create the most friction
Questions can be answered through planning and carrying out scientific enquiries
Friction can be a useful force
Air resistance acts between a moving object and the air molecules around it
Water resistance acts between a moving object and the water molecules around it
Leavers and pulleys allow a smaller force to have a greater effect
Gears allow a smaller force to have a greater effect

PSHE

Children will take part in open discussions about the world around them. They will explore their own emotions and will be tolerant of other views and beliefs. The following statements will be explored:

Laws are necessary to keep societies civil
Freedom of expression should not harm others
Failure helps us build resilience
Reducing our use of materials and energy helps the environment
Everyone has a responsibility to contribute to their community (which should be valued and recognised)

Advent 1(Autumn 1)

The Catholic Social Teachings we will be exploring this half term: Human Dignity, Dignity of the Worker and Stewardship.

Advent 2 (Autumn 2)

The Catholic Social Teachings we will be exploring this half term: Solidarity and the Common Good.

History

The Victorians

The following knowledge will be acquired by the children:

The Victorian era was a period of significant change in Britain. Queen Victoria reigned from 1837 to 1901
Working in a factory was harsh and demanding, but for many people there was little alternative.
In the Victorian Era, people’s lives differed depending on where they lived.
The Victorian Era saw rapid changes to transport both on land and at sea.
The 1870 Education Act meant that both rich and poor children were able to attend school, however many poor children still went to work.
Many buildings in our town were built in Victorian times.
Mary Howitt was an English poet, best known for her poem the Spider and the Fly, written in 1829.
The history of Bamfords Ltd. It Started in 1871 with the founding of the company creating agricultural machinery by Henry Bamford and his son, Samuel.

Geography

Coasts

The following knowledge will be acquired by the children:

A coast is where the land meets the sea. It has a unique set of features.
A grid reference is a set of numbers used to find particular places on a map.
Headlands are formed when the sea erodes a section of coast.
Hydraulic action and abrasion are types of erosion.
Waves along a coastline can move sediment in a variety of directions.

Dessert

The following knowledge will be acquired by the children:

They have a dry climate and less than 250 mm of rainfall each year.
The animals that live in deserts are adapted to its extremely dry climate.
Plants have adaptations to conserve water.
Natural resources are mined from deserts.
Deserts are also used for recreation, renewable energy and military testing.
An oasis is an isolated fertile area in a desert, normally around a spring or other water source.
Desertification is when an area of land becomes so dry it becomes a desert.

Art

L.S. Lowry

The art process – Research, Experimentation, Design, Make and Evaluate

The children will first research L.S. Lowry by completing a double -page spread about the artist in sketchbook. This will be a chance to gain artist insight and develop personal artistic preferences. They will learn about L.S. Lowry’s life, style and influence. The will the complete the see, think, wonder process – looking at and thinking about art whilst developing the double page spread.

Within the experimentation stage the children will complete the following learning objectives:

To make observational drawings (human form)
To make observational drawings (landscape) and consider perspective
To create watercolour landscape studies

The children will then use everything that they have learnt and explored to complete their own design based on L.S. Lowry. They will make their piece and will then evaluate its success and impact.

D&T

Bridges

The following knowledge will be acquired by the children:

An arch bridge is a bridge that’s main structure is composed of arches or reinforced arches.
A beam bridge consists of a horizontal beam that is supported at each end by piers.
A truss bridge is an interconnected framework of beams. The beams are usually arranged in a repeated triangular pattern.
truss bridges use multiple tessellated beams in a triangle formation, which help to share the weight across the length of the bridge evenly, as a result, truss bridges are strong.
There are two main types of wood: hardwood and softwood.
Wood is a light material that can handle considerable compression and tension stresses, excellent for building.
When building structures, it's important to remember that triangles are stronger than squares. Using triangles in a structure to make it stronger is called triangulation.
Testing and evaluating the strength of a product is important to ensure that it meets the user's needs.

P.E.

Outdoor/Indoor P.E. - Netball

Indoor P.E. – core strength and the basic physical skills

Music

The children will gain an understanding of music through regularly listening and responding to music, This Autumn they will explore the song Ghost Parade, playing instruments and well as developing the instrument of the voice.

The children will exercise effective singing, knowing that good posture and breath control is important when singing. The children will develop their skills from each other by giving constructive comments on their own and others’ music, developing performances.

The children will then compose. Composing can show sensitivity to mood, time and location. They will then look at how a piece is performed, and how this affects the impact on the audience.

MFL

Spanish

Content covered:

Words ending in ‘o’ are usually masculine, and words ending in ‘a’ are usually feminine
The ending of words tells you if it is masculine of feminine
Pronouns for the third person singular are él – he, and ella – she
The beginning of the verb me gusta changes depending on the person
A cognate is a word that is the same or similar in English and Spanish

Computing

The following units will be covered in the Autumn term:

Online safety
Coding
Spreadsheets