Autumn term 2024

Welcome to Year 5! We hope you had a great summer. Here are a few important notices for the beginning of the year:

• PE will take place on a Thursday, so please come into school wearing your PE kit, including appropriate footwear.
• Swimming will start on Wednesday 11th September and will continue every Wednesday up to the final week of the Autumn term. Swimming is part of the curriculum and is a core subject. All children are expected to complete these lessons. Communication from home must be received by the school and a reason given should your child be unable to participate.
• Spellings: We will be continuing to use Spelling Shed this term; all the children will have login details in their reading records. New spellings will be online every Thursday. The expectation is for the children to complete activities during the week. On Wednesday, there will be a quiz for the children to complete online from 4-8pm. Please speak to us if you need advice or clarification on your child's login details.
• Maths Shed: the login details are the same as Spelling Shed. New tasks will be online every Thursday. The expectation is for the children to complete 12 questions. Again, please speak to us if you have any additional 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 every Friday. 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 a super year ahead!

☺ Mr Musk and Mr Mason☺

Mr Musk - musk.n1@welearn365.com

Mr Mason - mason.j@welearn365.com 

Meet the Troops!

Mr Mason has been teaching for 5 years and can't wait for another year at Thomas Jolyffe! He is passionate about sport and is delighted to be continuing as PE Leader at TJ. He is excited about organising more opportunities for children to compete in a variety of different sports.

Mr Musk has been teaching for slightly longer! He is looking forward to working alongside both Mr Mason and Mr King for a second year. He is continuing in his role as Music Leader in the school and hopes to develop singing and the use of instruments. 

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.

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.