Contrary to winding things down for the end of term, Year 5 have truly been winding things up! 5NM enjoyed their trip to the farm, despite the drizzly weather, and really made the most of the opportunities available to them during their visit to Slade Farm on Monday. In topic, the children have enjoyed a maths-themed week where they were able to use their digital skills (despite the challenges posed by the internet connection!) to create a bar graph showing World coal production in 2025. We also used a Venn diagram to help us understand how mining has evolved from the Past to the Present day.  

The PTA offered an opportunity to Year 5 to enter a competition with the chance to win a visit from the ice Hockey Team the Cardiff Devils. As predicted, our Year group were keen to take up the opportunity. The competition involved watching a CPR video and then sending the photos back to the PTA.  The children were enthusiastic to not only watch the video but also to try out their new skills on some nearby teddy bears! Da iawn pawb!

We also enjoyed Shwmae day yesterday and it was lovely to see the children taking part in the Welsh language themed activities and to hear them keen to speak our beautiful Welsh language. 

Thank you so much to those of you that could bring donations in for our food bank collection, these donations really do make a difference to families in need and we are incredibly grateful for them.  During our Harvest assembly, the children will be able to see the items collected and hear about the impact these donations will make. 

In Talk for Write, the children have had a chance to use all the ‘literacy tools’ they have been learning about over the last six weeks in order to take part in a ‘shared write’.  As a whole class, the children have written their own versions of the story ‘Hansel and Gretal’ with very creative results. In Mathematics, we rounded off our work on Place Value with an investigation and have moved on to a recap on how to use the column method of addition to solve problems.  

2. Important information for next week 

•  On Monday 19th October 5CH will be going on their trip to Slade Farm to begin our Outdoor Literacy programme. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. Please can you ensure that your child has suitable footwear (wellies preferably) and a waterproof coat for the trip. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear 

3. How you can help at home 

Next Wednesday (weather permitting!) we will be holding a Year 5 netball tournament in the afternoon to give the children the opportunity to flex the Netball skills they have been learning with Mrs Cho during PE. In order to help prepare them from the tournament, you could watch a netball match (links to Wales netball games are here) or even have a look at the rule book together https://walesnetball.com/2024-rules-of-netball-update/ . This is nothing for the children to worry about, just a fun tournament where children can show off the skills they have acquired over the last few weeks. 

As always, please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents  

Continue to practise quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random What’s 10-2? What’s 7+3?   

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize 

This week, Y5 have had another amazing week which was kicked off with 5KH’s visit to Slade Farm. The class got to experience what it’s like on a real-life working farm and even got to ride in a trailer! But it was the piglets that stole the show.

On Monday 12th October, 5NM will be doing the same trip so please remember to ensure your child has the appropriate clothing: waterproof coat and wellies. Not forgetting a packed lunch!

5CH will be going on the same trip on Monday 19th so please ensure permission is given on Parent Pay if you haven’t yet done so. 

Year 5 visited Slade Farm as part of a year-long Food Literacy Programme, exploring where our food comes from, how it is produced and the importance of sustainable, locally grown food through hands-on learning experiences and funded by Vale Food a Local Authority initiative.

In literacy, we have been starting to do our shared write in literacy. This is where we put all the objectives that we’ve been learning over the last week into our writing. These objectives include personification, adjectives, using a sentence of 3 and show not tell. Why not ask your child to explain these to you?  

In maths, we’ve just about come to the end of our place value until and we’ll be moving on to addition, subtraction followed by multiplication and division. Your child has been working hard to learn their times tables and division equivalents at speed, but some children have a little way to go until they’re secure. Please check your emails as later today, you’ll receive an email form us with helpful websites and tricks to help children learn and remember their times tables. 

Thank you for those who came to parents evening. It was a lovely opportunity to meet so many of you. If you couldn’t make it but want to speak to your child’s teacher, please contact the school to arrange an appointment. 

What you can do to at home: 

• 20 minutes of reading a day (novels, comics, non-fiction and newspapers all count) 

• Times table/ division equivalents  

• If your teacher mentioned presentation, then handwriting practice 

This week has been another busy week for Year 5! We kick started our learning with a very successful trip to Big Pit. The children were a credit to Romilly as they donned helmets and head torches for a trip down the mine, enjoyed a valley-side lunch view and took in the wider sights and sounds of the living museum. May we add a thank you to the parent helpers who came to support us on this trip, without your support, trips like this would not be possible. 

We also enjoyed a visit from the fire service on Tuesday who spoke to the children about what to do if a fire starts at home. They also gave the children the opportunity to try on the uniforms that Fire fighters wear – we even had time for a race to see who could get dressed into the uniform the fastest! 

In Talk for Write, the children have been looking at personification and how to effectively use it in their writing. In mathematics, we have been continuing to explore our understanding of place value by comparing and ordering numbers both with and without a number line.   

Important information for next week 

•  On Monday 5th October 5KH will be going on their trip to Slade Farm to begin our Outdoor Literacy programme. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. Please can you ensure that your child has suitable footwear (wellies preferably) and a waterproof coat for the trip. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear 

How you can help at home 

Please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents. 

Practise quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random “What is 10-2? What is 7+3?” 

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize 

Another busy week was had by Year 5! In preparation for their trip to Big Pit next week, the children learnt about the formation of coal and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of using coal as an energy source. We also spent a session investigating the role that children played in Wales’ early mining history – we were all quite grateful that our visit will be a luxury rather than a working trip after what we learnt! 

The organisation “Bullies Out” ran two workshops with Year 5 on “Kindness Matters” and “Changing Attitudes” this week. The children certainly seemed to enjoy the hands-on sessions and we hope that the content will help support and build on the work we have been doing with Year 5 to make sure that everyone feels safe and respected at Romilly. 

In Talk for Write, the children used actions (to humorous effect!) to help them learn the next paragraph of our story “Hansel and Gretal”. They then, used their writing skills to ‘set the scene’ by using descriptive vocabulary. In mathematics we have been putting the children’s knowledge of place value in to practice by arranging values on a number line. The children learned how to round numbers to the nearest 10, 100 and 1000. We discussed rounding numbers in real life contexts and gave them practical opportunities to practise and apply this skill in our rounding carousel! 

  Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear and long hair tied back. 

• 5KH are due to go on their visit to Slade Farm on the 5th October, please ensure that Grab bags have been ordered if needed and that consent is authorised on Parent Pay (the trip is free so no payment is requested!) 

3. How you can help at home 

We are aware that although most children are excited for our trip, some are a little nervous about what to expect. In order to help them prepare for our visit, you could show the children what to expect by visiting their website: https://museum.wales/bigpit/ 

Please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents  

Practise continue quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random What’s 10-2? What’s 7+3?   

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize 

This week, year 5 have been introduced to our Autumn term topic, Pits and Ponies. Each class explored the chronology of coal mining in Wales by making a human timeline of events. We also introduced a cold task where we asked the children what they know about Coal mining already and most importantly, what they would like to find out… 

In Talk for Write, the children became literary detectives as we explored inference and how it can be used to create suspense in our writing. In mathematics we have begun by revising the children’s understanding of place value. 

2. Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay and that a grab bag has been ordered if required. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear. Please ensure long hair is tied back. 

  How you can help at home 

Please ensure that the children are reading when at home, ideally all children should be reading for enjoyment for a minimum of 20 minutes per day. 

Please continue with times tables and their division equivalents  

Practise quick fire subtraction and addition mental maths with your children for example, asking at random What’s 10-2? What’s 7+3?   

Useful home learning websites: 

• Top Marks, Hit the button  

• BBC Bitesize  

1. This week’s learning 

This week, we have really enjoyed getting to know the children and helping them to settle into their new classes. You should be very proud of how well their first week in Year 5 has gone! This week Year 5 have continued our Health and Wellbeing topic on self-regulation. The children have learnt about emotions, empathy, the hand model of the brain and have even had the opportunity to take part in a self-regulation strategy carousel! They then evaluated strategies to help support them and their friends during situations when they feel overwhelmed. They have then used this week’s learning to create a shared space in our pod area for the children to use as they need throughout the year, should they be feeling overwhelmed.  

Throughout our Health and Wellbeing topic, we have focused on behaviour and play at break times and lunchtimes to help remind the children that play should be a time when all children feel safe, respected and happy. 

2. Important information for next week 

• Our visit to Big Pit will be taking place on Monday 28th September. Please ensure that consent is given on Parent Pay. 

• PE will be on Wednesdays, please ensure that the children come to school in their PE kit on this day, including appropriate footwear