This Term
Below you will find information about what the classes in Year 5 and 6 are learning about this term. You might also like to view our Homework page for ways that you can support learning at home.
Autumn 2026
English
Our first Talk for Writing unit will focus on a story unit based on a Greek legend ‘Icarus’. The children will study the given text and focus on three areas; imitation, innovation and invention. This will include learning about writing a diary entry, adding detail and description to narrative writing, and carrying out short drama activities. The unit finishes with the children writing their own escape story based on the story of Icarus. Following that, the children will then move on to a newspaper report based on the Battle of Marathon. The children will learn about the features of journalistic writing, generate questions a reporter might ask and write a diary entry for Pheidippides. Finally, the children will create their own newspaper report about the Battle of Marathon.
In the second half of the term, we will study a story focusing on the use of speech and its’ related grammar and punctuation. Children will produce their own story applying the genre features learnt throughout the unit. Our final unit for the Autumn term will be focussed on a non-fiction information text related to what the children have learnt in other areas of the curriculum e.g. Science, History or Geography. The children will learn about the key features of non-fiction writing, then research, plan and produce their own text.
Maths
The Year 5 and 6 children will study a range of concepts and calculations focused on number over the term. These will include; place value, different methods for addition and subtraction, reasoning problems, methods for multiplication and division, identifying different fractions and reading and writing decimal numbers. In addition to the number focus; children will also work on their knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes, identifying angles, converting units of measure, solving data problems and presenting data.
Science
Our Science topic for the first half of the Autumn term will be ‘Life cycles and reproduction’. The children will observe and compare equivalent parts in different flowers, research the life cycles of different mammals, compare the life cycles of different birds, describe the life cycle of an amphibian and an insect and use data to describe a relationship and make predictions.
In the second half of the term, our Science unit of work will be ‘Forces and space: Unbalanced forces’. During the unit of work children will describe gravity and its effects, the relationship between mass and gravity, and learn about air resistance and its effects, friction and its effects and water resistance and its effects. The children will investigate the relationship between surface area and air and water resistance and explain how to make an object aerodynamic or streamlined. They will also describe the effects of levers, pulleys and simple machines on movement.
History
During the first half of the Autumn term, the children will be learning about the Ancient Greeks – considering the learning question ‘What did the Ancient Greeks do for us?’. Each lesson each week will focus on answering the following questions: How Ancient were the Greeks? What did the Greeks believe? What was the impact of the city states on Ancient Greek society? Did the ancient Greeks give us democracy? How did Greeks change sport?
The unit of work will end with an assessment task, where children can demonstrate the knowledge they have gained throughout the half term.
Geography
During the second half of the Autumn term, our Geography learning will focus on climate, answering the unit question: What do maps tell us about climate? The unit of work will give the children the opportunity to gain locational knowledge They will learn that climate zones are areas of the world with similar climate; know the world’s different climate zones (equatorial, tropical, hot desert, temperate and polar) and know that countries near the equator have less seasonal change than those near the poles. They will also review key geographical concepts such as knowing that the Equator is a line of latitude indicating the hottest places on Earth and splitting our globe into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, that lines of longitude and latitude are invisible lines on the globe and the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn are lines of latitude and mark the equatorial region; the countries with the hottest climates.
Computing
Computing lessons will use the learning platform Kapow. In the first half term, the children will apply programming skills to create a soundtrack. Children will learn that Scratch is a coding application with music elements, predict the effects of different code blocks and explain discoveries from tinkering, code a soundtrack using sound blocks, loops and nested loops to enhance a scene, use loops to simplify a program and understand that nested loops can repeat a rhythm or pattern, decompose a program into smaller parts and remix existing code in new projects and identify errors in a program, debug them and evaluate the effectiveness of a program.
In the second half of the term the learning in Computing lessons will focus on data handling - identifying some of the types of data that the Mars Rover collects and learning how the Mars Rover transmits the data back to Earth. Children will also identify input, processing and output on the Mars Rovers, read binary numbers and grasp the concept of binary addition and relate binary signals (Boolean) to a simple character-based language, ASCII.
PE
During the first half of the Summer term, the children will spend their PE lessons learning the skills needed to play football. They will learn how to control a football, develop dribbling, passing and shooting skills and learn the rules and scoring of a match. The PE lesson in the hall in the first half term will be dance. Children will explore moving in time to different beats, follow simple steps and movements and choreograph a dance in small groups to perform together. During the second half of the term, one of the PE lessons will be following the Real PE scheme and the other will be netball. Children will learn how to control a netball, develop dribbling, passing and shooting skills and learn the rules and scoring of a match.
RE
In R.E, we will spend the first half term learning about the question: ‘What do different Hindu people believe about God?’ This unit builds on knowledge children have already learnt about Hindu Dharma in KS1 and lower Key Stage 2. This unit of work focusses on Hindu belief in God and how Hindu people worship in different ways at home and in the Mandir. Children will be given the opportunity to identify similarities and differences in belief and worship in different traditions in Hindu Dharma and compare these to other beliefs.
Following this unit, we will move onto the unit of work answering the question: ‘What values do people live by?’ Children will identify how religions / worldviews provide guidance for their followers on how to live a good life, and to think about their own values. The focus is on the ways in which values make a difference to our lives, including the golden rule of all religions and the non-religious worldview, Humanism. The unit works towards an understanding of the values peoples share, and the fact that there is disagreement about what is desirable in life.
Art
Learning in Art in the second half of the autumn term will be focussed on Pointillism and methods of applying paint and the work of George Seurat and Van Gogh. Children will use a range of brushes and tools to make marks matching technique to purpose, create different effects and textures, mix and match colours creating tonal affects, enhancing the mood of a piece of art, begin to develop their own style using different brushstrokes, effects and textures and develop a personal style of painting drawing upon ideas from other artists.
Design Technology
Our DT unit of work in the first half of the autumn term will be: ‘What are the key elements of Greek Cuisine?’ This is a cooking and nutrition Design Technology unit and will explore healthy Greek food. Children will learn about what comprises a balanced diet, name nutrients – protein, carbohydrates, fat, fibre, vitamins, minerals, water and basic food preparation techniques – cutting, chopping, slicing, peeling, boiling, mixing, grating. They will learn that the Mediterranean diet is a healthy diet and name some Greek food – e.g. Greek salad, humous, moussaka, (souvlaki) meat kebabs, tzatziki, olives, keftedes (meat balls). The unit of work will end with the children planning and preparing a healthy kebab and hummus to eat at a Greek celebration.
Life Curriculum
For the Autumn term, our Life curriculum learning question will be: ‘How can we keep healthy as we grow?’ Over the term, children will learn how to make choices that support a healthy, balanced lifestyle; how mental and physical health are linked; how positive friendships and being involved in activities such as clubs and community groups support well-being; how to recognise early signs of mental ill-health and what to do about it, including whom to speak to in and outside school; that health problems, including mental health problems, can build up if they are not recognised, managed or if help is not sought early on; that anyone can experience mental ill-health and to discuss concerns with a trusted adult and that mental health difficulties can usually be resolved or managed with the right strategies and support.
Music
In the first half of the term the children will use the online platform Charanga to develop ensemble skills. Our music in the second half term will be Bucket Drumming: using bucket drums to learn drumming techniques and creating rhythm patterns for songs to perform together.
French
Our focus for the first half of the term will be learning vocabulary and phrases around the topic of This is me – C’est moi. During the second half of the term, children will learn vocabulary related to The Weekend – le week-end. The children will be encouraged to read, write and speak in French and expand their vocabulary knowledge and understanding