Years 5 and 6

Welcome to Years 5 and 6!

Everyone in our phase loves learning – adults as well as children. We have an amazing group of children and adults, who are both curious and kind, and experts in many different areas. Everyone works hard and challenges themselves to be the best they can be – there is no limit to what we can learn!

Our termly research projects are engaging and fun. We explore the history of life on Earth, from the earliest life to the current day, and then consider what will come next. Through looking at fossils, information books, the internet and religious stories, we explore the different theories of evolution and inheritance, through the subjects of PSHE, science and religious education.

In our project on Ancient Baghdad and Arabian Nights we learn about the ancient civilization of Baghdad, finding out more about Islam and learning some of the stories from ‘Arabian Nights’.

In recent years we have joined in Oxford Art Weeks by holding our very own art exhibition in school along with a local artist and producing a video prospectus of our school to send to a school we are linked with in Albania!

Previous projects involved:

Setting up class museums in each classrooms, complete with entertainment, refreshments, tour guides and curators in a project about ourselves called ‘This is your life’. We then learnt about Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest where we became actors, scenery and costume designers and music technicians to put on a fantastic production of ‘Robin Hood’. After Christmas, each class in Year 5 and 6 met a representative from a local charity, found out how they could help and raised huge amounts of money in a charity fundraising event in school. We then visited the Winchester Science Centre and were amazed by the planetarium show. Children made incredible space models and created individual story books about going into space which they shared with younger children. Towards the end of the year, all the pupils participated in a fantastic ‘Macbeth’ workshop and enjoyed learning the dark and fascinating Shakespearean tale. Year 5 pupils then held an event dedicated to Macbeth which involved short performances, games and facts about the story. Our final project of the year involved learning about rivers – ‘What tale does the river tell?’ – we learnt about the Thames and contrasted this with learning about the Amazon river, as well as other rivers around the world. We visited the ‘River and Rowing Museum’ in Henley-on-Thames and went on a great boat trip in the centre of Oxford!

Year 5 and 6 is also home to the Wood Farm School Choir. The choir have performed in some amazing places including the 02 Arena, Dorchester Abbey, Headington and, recently, Christchurch College. A few years ago, they had the chance to visit a professional recording studio to record our school song “We Stand Tall” with our partner school in South Africa.

As well as this, year 5 and 6 take a lead in our School Council. Thanks to this leadership by Year 5 and 6 children, the School Council have made a number of changes to playtimes and been key to the planning for our new playground; they have even presented their exciting ideas to governors. Most recently, the School Council have re-introduced fruit bar for the KS2 morning break, so that every child can pay for a piece of fruit, a carton of juice or a smoothie if they would like.

Many children have had the opportunity to regularly compete in football matches against local schools - our boys and girls teams have definitely been going from strength to strength! Teams from our phase have previously won the Oxford Spires Public Speaking Competition running, wowing the judges with their confidence, clarity and inspirational speaking and will soon compete in a Maths Competition at Magdalen College.

Trips are a huge part of our learning; from our annual residential trip to Kilvrough in Wales (where children cave, canoe, climb and explore the coast, to a trip to the world famous Natural History Museum in London and even enjoying watching the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing a “Classical Spectacular” at the Royal Albert Hall! Year 6 have also get the opportunity to learn how to stay safe from the Fire Service and Police during our Junior Citizens trip and will soon become even more prepared for anything, during first aid training with IMPs at the John Radcliffe.

We have been very lucky to have many visitors to speak to us about their lives and experiences, as well as giving us tips about how to succeed in the future. Last year, we had a marine biologist visit coming in to talk to the children, a range of representatives from local charities, the famous author Michael Morpurgo, the radio DJ and author Matt Brown, local artist Will O’Connor, and the Lord Lieutenant of Oxford! All of them really inspired the children.

We hope you enjoy looking at these photos of all the amazing learning we have been doing – and we hope to see you at one of our outcomes soon!

Click here to see the video we created for our last project outcome, which shows off some of the learning which Year 5 and 6 pupils did as part of our 'Where have we come from and where are we going?' project.

Click on the gallery below to see photographs taken at the Year 5 and 6 Art Exhibition:

Click on the gallery below to see some pictures taken at our 'Who Do You Think You Are?' outcome event: