Owl Class
Year 5+6
Welcome Owls 2025-26!
Key information
Class teacher
Monday - Thursday - Miss Kirby
Friday - Mrs Lines
Activities
PE - Monday and Wednesday
Ukulele - Friday morning
PE
Monday and Wednesday afternoon with Activ Sport.
As before, please come into school in your PE kit (trainers, black short/leggings/joggers, school blue PE TShirt, school jumpers/cardigans are fine as top layer, hats/sunglasses/coats depending on the weather).
Ukulele
Year 5 and 6 will have ukulele lessons with Joe on Friday mornings. Please make sure that your child practices their ukulele at home and brings it back to school on Friday mornings for lessons.
Reading:
In Owls Class, we aim to develop a love for reading through Reading for Pleasure. This term we are participating in the Shropshire Bookfest Competition, where the class are expected to read multiple high-quality books published within the last year and vote for their favourite. The children will compete against other schools to produce artwork, poetry, film trailers and letter inspired by their chosen book. The winners are then announced at a live event at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, which the children will attend.
The children have regular opportunities to talk about books and take part in a range of class reading challenges, including a 'Fill the Door with Book Spines' challenge by the end of the year.
Our English curriculum is planned around high-quality texts which the children read and explore in class. It is vital that you child is read to and with on a daily basis. Reading is one of the strongest indicators of future success.
All children have a Nessy login which supports spelling, reading and writing. Children should complete some Nessy tasks daily.
Talisman
If your child takes part in the Talisman scheme as part of their literacy, they will be working on each book in school sessions. Your child will be given the next book once all of the class-based work for that book is completed (this might be over a number of weeks). Repetition is important to build recall of sight vocabulary and we really need your support with this. Each day: Please get your child to read the words in the front of the book and then read the book aloud to you. Your child will also have a reading for pleasure book (see above).
Timestables and Maths Support:
Times tables knowledge is at the core of mathematical understanding. Children regularly compete with each other on TTRS (Times Table Rock Stars) and are encouraged to practise daily.
Children also complete Speed Tables (a one-minute times table challenge) daily to improve the speed and accuracy of their multiplication and division facts.
Children are encouraged to use Mathletics daily - a Maths website that provides personalised questions adapted to each child's personal level.
Homework:
English homework is due on Monday mornings and Maths homework on Fridays.
Please support your child with their homework where possible, as this helps to create a positive dialogue around learning and reinforces key skills taught in school.
Water
Please bring a water bottle into school each day, especially during hot weather. If your child forgets, we will offer cups for water in class but they need to let us know as all the water bottles are stored on the sink so we won’t know unless they say.
Breaktime snacks
Your child is more than welcome to bring in a healthy snack such as fruit for breaktime.
Dojos
Dojos is the main way we will be communicating with you. Please check dojos works and let us know if you are having any technical issues and we will try our best to help. We can also be contacted via email at the following:
kirby.g@hinstock.school lines.s@hinstock.school
Best wishes
Miss Kirby and Mrs Lines
Year 5/6 crucial Knowledge: These show the key learning and knowledge the children should know when working on a topic:
Art_Monet_Crucial_Knowledge.pdf
RE_What_does_it_mean_to_be_a_Muslim_in_Britain_today_UKS2.pptx
The_Americas_Crucial_Knowledge_.pptx
Reading_Crucial_Knowledge_2_Pages.pdfMap_Skills.pptx
Mental_Health_Crucial_Knowledge.pdf
Online_Safety_Crucial_Knowledge.pdf
RE_Why_do_Christians_believe_Jesus_was_the_messiah_Crucial_Knowledge_pptx.pdf