Upcoming events for Year 5
Here’s what you’ve got to look forward to over the next few weeks.
INSET Days for this term are:
- Monday 1st September
- Tuesday 2nd September
- Wednesday 3rd September
The first day back for pupils after the summer break is Thursday 4th September 2025.
The first day back after half term for pupils is Monday 3rd November 2025.
Bank Holidays – 2025/26
Christmas Day: Thursday 25th December 2025
Boxing Day: Friday 26th December 2025
New Year’s Day: Thursday 1st January 2026
INSET Days for this term are:
- Monday 5th January
Pupils should not attend school on this day.
Tower Hamlets has advised the provisional date of Friday 20th March 2026 for school closures for the celebration of Eid Ul-Fitr.
The first day back after the Christmas holidays for pupils is Tuesday 6th January 2026.
The first day back after the February half term for pupils is Monday 23rd February 2026.
Bank Holidays
Good Friday: Friday 3rd April 2026
Easter Monday: Monday 6th April 2026
May Bank Holiday: Monday 4th May 2026
The first day back for pupils after the Easter holidays is Monday 13th April 2026.
The first day back after May half term for pupils is Monday 1st June 2026.
Tower Hamlets has advised the provisional date of Wednesday 27th May 2026 for school closures for the celebration of Eid Ul-Adha.
Bank Holidays
Good Friday: Friday 3rd April 2026
Spring Bank Holiday: Monday 25th May 2026
Summer Bank Holiday: Monday 31st August 2026
Year 5 Curriculum
At KS1 and KS2 we follow a two year sequence:
2024/2025 and 2026/2027
Autumn 1 – Textiles – batik
Autumn 2 – Painting
Spring 1 – Mechanical Systems: Pneumatics
Spring 2 – Collage
Summer 1 – Portraits, including mixed media
Summer 2 – Food Technology
2025/2026
Autumn 1 – Printing
Autumn 2 – 3D: Metal
Spring 1 – Electrical Systems
Spring 2 – Mechanica | Systems (axles and wheels)
Summer 1 – Portraits, including mixed media
Summer 2 – Structures
Each year through KS1-2 we cycle through the following units at increasing depth:
- Productivity
- Programming
- Computational Thinking
- Creativity
- Networks
- Communication/collaboration
Reading to Learn
Once children have been carefully assessed as having met the requirements of the phonics program, they should be able to decode any age appropriate text. At this point, children move onto our ‘Paradigm Literacy and Language’ program.
The program allocates 3 weeks to ‘fiction writing’ such as stories and poetry, one week to ‘journalistic writing’ such as biographies and non chronological reports and 2 weeks to a ‘non fiction writing’ program in which specialist teachers across the Trust have worked together to create and provide high quality texts in The Humanities and The Sciences.
Children in Year 5 learn about the following subjects:
The living world
- Biomes
- Hot and cold climates
- Rainforests
The economic world
- Food, water and energy
- The changing economic world
- Tourism and ecotourism
- Case study: Cambridge
We cover 2 topics a year for History in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. In Year 5 we take an in-depth study on the Significance of the Tudors, then Compare and Contrast Islamic World and Medieval Christendom.
Our school uses Maths Mastery to teach the subject.
In Year 5 we cover:
- Reasoning with large whole integers
- Integer addition and subtraction
- Line graphs and times tables
- Multiplication and division
- Perimeter and area
We study Spanish at Key Stage 2, through a system called Early Start Spanish Programme.
Autumn 1 – Rock
Autumn 2 – Big Band / Swing
Spring 1 – Piano Music
Spring 2 – Opera
Summer 1 – Indian Raga
Summer 2 – Reflect, Rewind and Replay
- Striking / fielding (e.g. rounders, cricket)
- Gymnastics
- Invasion Games (e.g. hockey, netball, football)
- Athletics
- Swimming
- Dance
We follow a 3-year cycle (see below) covering the major world religions as well as worldviews.
The programme is designed so that each previously taught religion is reviewed and comparisons are drawn between the content. Over 6 years, each child will have studied each identified religion/non-religion twice, studying in greater depth and making connections between religions.
Pupils are taught key substantive knowledge for each religion and worldview and each lesson is broken down into one of 3 disciplines: Theology, Philosophy and Human/Social Science.
2024-2025: Christianity and Islam
2025-2026: Judaism and Humanism
2026-2027: Hinduism and Sikhism
Parents/carers have the right to withdraw their child from all or part of RE – please contact the principal if you wish to explore this as an option.
The Paradigm primary schools follow the Jigsaw programme.
From September 2019 we have allocated 45 minutes per week to PSHE at KS1 and KS2.
- Being Me in My World
- Celebrating Difference
- Dreams and Goals
- Healthy Me
- Relationships
- Changing Me
We teach Science on a two year cycle.
25/26 and 27/28
Autumn 1 – Animals including Humans
Autumn 2 – States of Matter
Spring 1 – Plants
Spring 2 – Electricity and Energy
Summer 1 – Living Things and Their Habitats
Summer 2 – Environmental Issues
26/27 and 28/29
Autumn 1 – Earth and Space
Autumn 2 – Living Things and their Habitats and Classification
Spring 1 – Rocks / Evolution, Inheritance and Fossils
Spring 2 – Forces and Magnets
Summer 1 – Properties of Materials
Summer 2 – Light and Sound