Six big questions. One exciting year.
Year 5 learning is built around rich questions, memorable experiences and purposeful outcomes. Across the year, children become scientists, historians, geographers, designers, campaigners and global citizens.
Explore each half term below to discover where our learning takes us.
Space Roamers
Is there anybody else out there?
Your mission begins...
Explore the science and technology behind planetary exploration. Children investigate Earth and space before developing their design engineering skills to create a robot capable of exploring a planet in our Solar System.
Ask the big question
“Is there anybody else out there?” A day of investigation exploring how big questions can lead to scientific discoveries.
The NASA Pitch
Children present their planetary rover design to their peers and answer the ultimate question: is your robot mission worthy?
Enter the Astrodome
Children experience the Astrodome as part of their exploration of space and the universe.
01 What will I learn?
- Use scientific research and existing technology to help create a design specification.
- Understand the Sun, Earth and Moon as spherical bodies.
- Describe the movement of the Earth and other planets relative to the Sun.
- Describe the movement of the Moon relative to the Earth.
- Understand how the Earth's rotation explains day and night.
- Use CAD, Computer Aided Design, to create a three dimensional final design.
- Evaluate designs to make sure they are fit for purpose.
02 Explore the curriculum
Explore the movement of the Earth, Moon and planets and investigate how the Earth's rotation creates day and night and the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky.
Use TinkerCAD to develop a final three dimensional planetary rover, viewing designs from different rotations and testing them against a specification.
Take a design initially developed on paper and recreate it digitally using computer aided design.
Respond to The Planets, creating music that reflects a given intention and using notation to record musical ideas.
03 Literacy and mathematics in action
Applied Literacy
- Summarising and retrieving information from non-fiction texts.
- Developing an explanatory speech.
- Researching and communicating scientific and technical ideas.
Applied Mathematics
- Accurately measuring length.
- Exploring relative distances within the Solar System.
- Breaking a robot design into its three dimensional components.
04 Building on previous learning
Before beginning this journey, children already know how to:
- Create designs which meet a design brief and specification.
- Draw a final design from three different angles.
- Use a zoom element to show detail within a final design.
Ask questions about space and the universe, set high expectations and work towards meeting your own design specification.
A Kingdom United?
Has Britain always been united?
Britain after Rome
Journey back to the period from around AD 400 to 1066 and investigate the societies that shaped Britain. Children use historical sources to examine how society changed after the Romans left and consider the legacy this period has left on Britain today.
Portchester Castle
Explore a remarkable building shaped through Roman, Anglo-Saxon and Norman history.
Become a documentary maker
Create a documentary for parents using historical evidence to answer: has Britain always been united?
Handle the past
An Anglo-Saxon artefact box supports pre-teaching and allows children to investigate evidence from the period.
01What will I learn?
- What Britain was like when the Romans left and why.
- Who the Anglo-Saxons were and how they lived.
- How Anglo-Saxon society was structured and how this affected people's lives.
- Why raids, invasions and settlements took place and the impact they had.
- The struggle between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons through Britain's kingdoms.
- What everyday Viking and Anglo-Saxon life was like.
- The importance and legacy of Wessex and Alfred the Great.
- How Christianity contributed to changes within society.
02Explore the curriculum
Investigate settlements, invasions, kingdoms, Alfred the Great, Christianity and the social structure of Anglo-Saxon Britain.
Learn how Boolean searching can be used to produce more specific and useful research results.
Make Anglo-Saxon oatcakes, investigate diet and apply the principles of a healthy and varied diet.
Develop clay joining techniques to produce a three dimensional pot, then evaluate and adapt the design.
03Literacy in action
- Analyse The Ruin by Kevin Crossley-Holland.
- Develop a historical conclusion paragraph.
- Create documentary scripts using historical information.
04Building on previous learning
- Sequencing events chronologically through previous work on Egyptians and Romans.
- Comparing similarities and differences between life in different historical periods.
- Understanding the impact the Romans had on Britain.
- Understanding how Egyptian and Roman societies were structured.
Use the skills of a historian to question evidence, compare societies and draw conclusions about Britain's past.
There is No Planet B!
Why must we look after our planet?
Our planet. Our responsibility.
Become an expert on the polar regions and investigate the effect human activity is having upon them. Children consider their own role as global citizens and discover that individual and collective choices can make a difference.
Our World Today
Begin by examining a challenging question: what is our planet facing today?
SJS World Climate Summit
Use evidence and geographical conclusions to make the case for change at a final world climate summit.
Explore the Polar Regions
Virtual reality gives children an opportunity to investigate polar landscapes and physical features before studying them in greater depth.
01What will I learn?
- Use different maps to investigate the features of a region.
- Describe the physical features, climate and terrain of polar regions.
- Understand latitude, longitude, the Equator and Arctic and Antarctic Circles.
- Use maps, globes and digital mapping to locate polar regions.
- Begin using six figure grid references.
- Understand human impact upon polar regions.
- Draw geographical conclusions and consider possible next steps.
02Explore the curriculum
Investigate polar landscapes, climate, topography, location and the impact of climate change over time.
Create climate change video content and select appropriate digital programmes to record and interpret environmental data using charts and graphs.
Develop sketching techniques and the use of shade and light through a polar landscape artwork.
Explore the responsibilities children have within their community and the choices they can make to improve the world around them.
03Literacy and mathematics in action
Applied Literacy
- Biography of David Attenborough.
- Information writing: What is Climate Change?
- Geographical conclusions.
- A persuasive speech for the Climate Summit.
Applied Mathematics
- Interpret graphs and statistics.
- Explore regional climate data.
- Identify evidence of change through data.
04Building on previous learning
- Knowledge of the world's major climate zones.
- The characteristics of tropical, arid, temperate, mountainous and polar climates.
- The location of the Equator and the world's continents.
- Physical features of rainforest regions.
- Previous understanding of human impact upon rainforests.
Eco-footprint week and the Minstead residential encourage children to consider practical, achievable ways of living more sustainably.
The Boy at the Back of the Class
What shapes our identity and sense of belonging?
Identity, belonging and community
Inspired by Onjali Q. Raúf's The Boy at the Back of the Class, children explore identity, belonging, diversity and stereotypes. They investigate migration and consider how people from different backgrounds contribute to and shape our communities.
Who am I?
Begin by exploring our own communities, heritage and the many things that help to make each of us who we are.
An immersive exhibition
Create an exhibition taking visitors on a visual and auditory journey through the experiences of a refugee character.
A lesson in Somali
Experience a lesson taught in Somali and begin to understand how it might feel for a migrant child arriving in a new country and a new school.
01What will I learn?
- What living within a community means.
- The different groups that can make up a community.
- The benefits of belonging to a diverse community.
- How and why we should value diversity.
- The importance of respecting differences and similarities.
- What people from different backgrounds may have in common.
- What a stereotype is and how stereotypes can negatively influence behaviour.
- Why people migrate and the difference between voluntary and forced migration.
- What it means to be a refugee and how push and pull factors affect migration.
02Explore the curriculum
Explore community, diversity, respect, commonality, stereotypes and the importance of positive relationships.
Investigate migration around the world, different types of migration, refugees, push and pull factors and the way migrants shape communities.
Develop the use of colour to communicate emotion and create a thought-provoking piece of artwork.
Compose music using leitmotifs to represent important characters and ideas.
03Literacy and mathematics in action
Applied Literacy
- Reading retrieval and inference.
- Comparing information and viewpoints.
- Newspaper writing.
- Non-chronological writing.
- Geographical conclusions.
Applied Mathematics
- Interpreting graphs.
- Examining statistical data.
- Understanding data relating to migration patterns.
04Building on previous learning
- Recognising and using respectful behaviour.
- Understanding different features of family life.
- Managing disagreements through assertive rather than passive or aggressive communication.
- Understanding the characteristics of positive friendships.
Reflect on personal identity and recognise how people from different backgrounds contribute to the communities we all share.
The Power of Water
What impact does flooding have on people around the world?
Follow a river from source to impact
Become an expert geographical reporter. Children investigate the physical features of rivers and discover why settlements develop around them, before exploring how flooding can affect people and communities in very different parts of the world.
River Day
Get out into the field and explore the physical features of a real river using geographical observation and fieldwork.
WaterAid Fair
Put global citizenship into action by raising awareness and supporting a cause linked to access to clean water.
Can we hold back the water?
Work scientifically during a STEM investigation exploring how dykes can be used to reduce flooding.
01What will I learn?
- Recognise and explain the physical features of rivers.
- Understand how rivers affect both land and people.
- Use maps to locate countries and describe geographical features.
- Compare rivers and flooding in different parts of the world.
- Study the Severn, Ganges and Mississippi river systems.
- Investigate how and why settlements develop near rivers.
- Examine access to clean water and the effect of flooding upon communities.
- Use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present geographical information.
02Explore the world
Explore human and physical geography within a region of the UK.
Investigate river geography and its relationship with people and settlements.
Examine the effects of major flooding and compare them with other parts of the world.
03Literacy and mathematics in action
Applied Literacy
- Newspaper report about flooding on the Mississippi.
- Report examining flooding in Bangladesh and the need for aid.
- Emotive narrative exploring the experiences of a child affected by contaminated floodwater.
Applied Mathematics
- Analyse geographical data.
- Compare trends across different parts of the world.
- Create and use data representations within reports.
04Curriculum connections
Compare human and physical geography and use maps, fieldwork, observations, measurements, sketch maps, graphs and digital technology.
Investigate the effectiveness of dykes in controlling water during a practical STEM challenge.
Connect physical expression and movement with the wider river theme.
Consider clean water, fairness, global inequality and how communities can campaign to support others.
Children consider the unequal effects of flooding and access to clean water, then use their learning to support and promote a global cause.
All the Fun at the Fair!
How do fairgrounds capture the imagination?
Welcome, design engineers
Research, design and make a working fairground ride for children aged 7 to 11. Investigate real rides, mechanisms, forces and fairground history before responding to feedback and refining a final design.
Paultons Park
Explore what makes a theme park work and take part in a scientific workshop examining forces and mechanisms used on rides.
Create a Theme Park Mini World
Design and build miniature working rides and present the finished theme park to its target market.
Design for a real audience
Use market research, product research and consumer feedback to create something that genuinely appeals to 7 to 11 year olds.
01What will I learn?
- Use product research to inspire design ideas.
- Use target market feedback to create a specification.
- Draw working designs from different angles.
- Include enlarged zoom details within technical designs.
- Strengthen joins and cut wood accurately.
- Understand cams, gears and pulley systems.
- Create movement using mechanisms and forces.
- Evaluate and adapt designs following consumer feedback.
02Explore the curriculum
Research successful rides, create technical designs and use cams, gears and pulleys to build functioning mechanisms.
Investigate gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction, and understand how mechanisms can allow a smaller force to have a greater effect.
Explore the history of fairs and engineering, comparing Victorian fairs with modern entertainment and examining why attitudes have changed.
Compose and notate an original advertising jingle for a newly designed fairground ride.
03Literacy and mathematics in action
Applied Literacy
- Information page exploring rollercoasters through time.
- Historical conclusion: why have fairs changed over time?
- Persuasive advertising for a final ride design.
Applied Mathematics
- Measure accurately to the nearest millimetre.
- Apply accurate measuring during practical construction.
- Work precisely enough for mechanisms to operate successfully.
04Travel through fairground history
- Discover the origins of fairs.
- Explore how science and engineering changed fairground entertainment.
- Consider how ethics and human rights influenced entertainment.
- Investigate why fairs were popular in the past.
- Consider why fairgrounds continue to appeal to people today.
- Use historical sources to explore some of the darker aspects of fairground history.
05Building on previous learning
- Designing for a target market.
- Selecting appropriate ways of joining materials.
- Showing small details using enlarged zoom elements.
- Evaluating finished products against design specifications.
- Sequencing historical events chronologically.
- Understanding cause and consequence within history.
- Using historical sources as evidence.
Great designs rarely arrive fully formed. Children research, create, test, listen to their audience and improve their work before producing a finished solution.
Question. Explore. Create. Reflect.
Across the year, children don't simply learn about the world. They investigate it, question it, design for it and consider the part they can play within it.
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