Autumn term 2026

Welcome back to Year 5!

We hope you had a lovely summer!

Here are a few important notices for the beginning of the term:

• PE will take place on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so please come into school wearing your PE kit, including appropriate footwear. For this term, the children will be swimming on Wednesdays so will need to bring their swimming kit into school. 
• Spellings: We will be continuing to use Spelling Shed this term; all the children will have login details in their reading records (new records have been ordered). New spellings will be online every Wednesday. The expectation is for the children to complete activities during the week. The children will have a Homework book in which to complete additional tasks. These will need to be returned to school for us to check. 
• Maths: we are no longer using  Maths Shed. Instead, homework will be given to the children to complete in their Homework books every Friday. The expectation is for the children to complete the work. Again, please speak to us if you have any questions. 
• Reading Records: All children have a reading record and a reading book appropriate for their current reading age. It is an expectation for the children to read every day, at home and at school. Children must ensure that they remember to bring their reading record and reading book to school every day. Also, please can an adult look to sign your child's reading record every week. All reading records will be checked and signed by a member of staff during the week. The children are required to complete a quiz on accelerated reader when they have finished their book.  This will be monitored by a member of staff.
• Personal welfare: All children should ensure that they bring a water bottle to school every day, along with a healthy fruit snack for play time. Please can you ensure that all items of clothing, including coats when required, are clearly named.

We are looking forward to the term ahead!

☺ Mrs Russell, Mr Johnston, Mr King, Mr Lock and Mrs Paish☺

Mr Musk - musk.n1@welearn365.com

Mr Mason - mason.j@welearn365.com 

Meet the Troops!

Mrs Russell is entering her tenth year at TJ and has a great love of History and DT! She also works as a Phase Leader for KS2 so works with all Junior classes. At home, Mrs Russell is busy with 2 young daughters and 2 energetic spaniels and loves a quiet moment reading a book. 

Mr Johnston has been teaching for a long time, having taught in a broad range of schools previously.  He is Interim Deptuy Headteacher and leads on Curriculum, Behaviour, Well-being, Maths and Computing.  He is also a member of the Safeguarding teams.  Outside school, Mr Johnston loves cricket, reading, chess, the beach and spending time with his very active children.  He is also learning a lot - having recently become a dog owner for the first time. 

Mr King is a die-hard Villa fan! He follows them at home and away. When not watching football, he divides his time between both classes, working diligently with small groups and 1;1, supporting children in their learning. 

Mrs Paish works as part of our Nurture Team as well as in Year 5.  Having previously spent many years living in different countries around the world, she has formed an important part of the staff team at TJ.  She loves running, is another dog lover in our team, and brings a real positive energy to the classroom. 

Reading

It is the expectation in Year 5 that children read for approximately 25 minutes per day at home. It is important that after finishing each book, the children are quizzing independently to demonstrate how well they have understood what they have read. Quizzing can be done either at school or at home (login details can be found in your child’s reading record).

Times Table Rock Stars

We are also continuing with our Times Tables Rock Stars programme, which children can access at school and at home using the link above.

Email Communication Statement

As a school we recognise the value of providing email addresses for parents to communicate non-urgent issues with members of staff - especially this year where face to face contact is rare. At Thomas Jolyffe teachers are free to check their emails as they wish in order to fit to their own preferred work pattern but are not expected to check while they are teaching, while they are at home, or at weekends - so response times may vary. We believe that up to 48 working hours is a reasonable length of time to receive a considered reply. However, children who are self isolating or quarantining will be given priority. Urgent matters are best discussed via the school office, who will ensure the message is delivered as quickly as possible.
 

As with all messages, the meaning and tone may vary depending on who is reading it. Please consider this before choosing to email any member of staff. We would also encourage all parents to consider information sent to teachers regarding other children very carefully as this can be requested by other parents under the rules governing GDPR.