Dear Parents, 

Welcome to Class 5 and a new school year at St. Joseph’s School.  This letter is to give you some information about the topics being covered during the Autumn term. 

This term, our History topic is Growing up during the Second World War.  We are hoping to have a visit from staff at Exeter Museum which I hope will bring our work alive, and I shall send further details of this as soon as I have them.  Our Geography topic this term is Japan, and we shall be focusing on what it is like growing up in Japan, and some of their customs. 

We are continuing to follow the national strategies in both Literacy and Numeracy, and I would like to take this opportunity to ask you to continue to hear your child read at home and to practice their tables with them.  Thank you for your support with this.  In Science, we shall be focusing on gases and the changing states of materials. 

In RE, schools in our diocese are trialling a new scheme of work, and our first topic is Ourselves.  The focus of this topic is ourselves as part of a family, and what it means to belong to different groups or “families”, which include our homes, our school, our churches and local communities.  I shall give you details of further topic areas in RE as soon as I have them available.   

Our focus of work in Art is containers and our design focus will be looking at the way in which tea is marketed and packaged.  We shall be exploring the concept of Databases in ICT, as well as using software to create maps and models of places.  Music this term will be taught by Mrs Jepps, and PE will be taught by Mrs Little, both on a Wednesday afternoon.

The children have been given a home/school book, in which they will record what their homework is, as well as keeping a record of what they are reading.  Class 5 will be getting homework twice a week, usually on a Tuesday and a Friday.  These will mainly consist of  work we are covering in English and Maths, but may from time to time include work from other subject areas.

Finally, if you have any questions, queries or concerns about your child, please do not hesitate to come and see me. 

Yours faithfully,  

Robert Hoare.