Our Learning

Welcome to Year 5 – a year full of exciting challenges where we face more complex concepts in preparation for our final year in primary school and begin to look towards secondary school.

During the autumn term, we become experts on one of the most fascinating civilizations – Ancient Greece. We learn all about ancient Greeks and how this civilisation still has an impact on our society today. We learn about the ancient Greek gods and goddesses, the foundation of democracy as well as the Olympic Games. We absolutely love reading and discussing a collection of Greek myths and using them to inspire our writing. We also learn about the Earth, Moon and Sun in science and develop an understanding of complex phenomena such as the phases of the moon and why the sun appears to move across the sky.

In the Spring term, we learn about Victorian Britain. We explore a range of sources and imagine what life would have been like in the workhouses. We discover the jobs children were expected to carry out and learn all about Queen Victoria and her reign. This term, we visit the Ragged School Museum where we are transformed into Victorian school children and meet a slightly terrifying school mistress!

We also learn about trade around the world in geography and develop and understanding of what Fair Trade means and how it impacts communities around the world. In this unit, we make links to the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Summer term takes us as far as the Arctic and the Antarctic! In our Geography lessons, we learn about the similarities and differences between the North and South Poles and we discover how polar bears and penguins have adapted to living in these harsh conditions. We research some famous Antarctic explorers, including Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, and we investigate the role today`s scientists play in the polar desert. Inspired by David Attenborough`s Frozen Planet documentary, we bring the Antarctic landscape to life with the power of our pens, writing beautiful descriptions of this remarkable biome. We have a fantastic time designing and building our own volcanoes, not to mention the spectacular eruptions that follow!

Our final history unit takes us to Ancient Benin. We learn about the achievements of this civilization and why the Benin Bronzes are still a matter of debate today.

Year 5 is an incredibly important year. It is a special time when we grow in maturity. We gain a greater independence and confidence from being given more responsibility in our learning. At Springfield, we believe that the ‘growth mindset’ is absolutely vital to enable us to achieve success. We recognise that hard work and effort are the real key to success. Mistakes provide opportunities to learn and move forward and we are keen to embrace difficulties and challenges in our learning to develop a resilience that will result in success.

Take a look at the Year 5 – Yearly Learning Overview  to find out more about learning in each subject across Year 5.