A great week that ended in a delightful way - Year 5 returned from the Easter holidays ready and raring to go.
The new English unit, What a Wonderful Word', seems popular, with the children creating their own definitions of uncommon words or definitions of their own imagined words. 
In maths, decimals have returned and after the massive success that Year 5 had with them last term, I am not surprised at all that they have hit the ground running with many pupils attempting Year 6 level decimals.
In Art, we began looking at how artists use their sketchbooks to take snapshots of the world they see. The children had 30 seconds to sketch an object or person in the class - then they had 30 seconds to add further detail. After this we moved on to look at drawing people and animals specifically, in a sketched cartoon style. To finish, the challenge was to turn a randomly drawn squiggle into a vehicle or animal of their choosing. As you can see from the photos below, the class produced a brilliant range of ideas and styles!
What is crowded, noisy and unendingly heartwarming? No it's not Paul McCartney's Glastonbury set; it's the Year 5 and Year R buddy system! On Friday afternoon, the Year Rs dropped by to meet their buddies. Each Year R has a Year 5 buddy who will read with them and look out for them at lunchtimes. Year 5 were accommodating, gentle and all round fantastic and the adults in the room were extremely proud of how they welcomed the Year Rs and showcased the school's SCARF values.
You have done yourselves proud this week Year 5 - a huge well done to you all!

Mr Pester, Mrs Bonnett, Mrs West, Mrs Dunn and Ms Watts

As the children cheered to celebrate the end of another term, I took a moment to reflect upon the work of the past week and the past term as a whole. What a hard working class Year 5 are! In just the last week they have completed the last of the termly assessments, written a companion piece for their haikus in English and finished the science unit with a playscript-style write-up. And that is far from all. Just today, the class created their own "through the portal" style stories, where an intrepid, and sometimes unwilling, adventurer is thrust into a magical voyage through all six of the biomes we have studied! Some extracts of pupil work are below (a quick apology that some have appeared sideways) but everyone could have had their work presented! Some children opted to attempt the (far less interesting) essay option - an example of which is also below.

It hasn't all been hard work and no play though. This morning Ms Watts hid 29 mini Easter eggs around the playground. The children then scampered around trying to find all 29. Every child found at least one, although some eggs were extremely well hidden - well done Ms Watts and well done Year 5!

The school wished a fond farewell to Reverend Mark during assembly today. he has done so much to support the school and will be missed. Good luck to him in his new parish.
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Thank you for all your hard work Year 5 (and Year 5 parents); have a fantastic Easter break and we will see you in two weeks time!

Mr Pester, Mrs Bonnett, Mrs West and Ms Watts