Lower School
(Years 5 and 6)
This mixed age class enjoys an outstanding range of subjects taught by subject
specialists. They benefit from having one main Primary school specialist (Fiona)
who teaches English, Maths, History, Geography, R.E. and some ‘Happiness and
Wellbeing’ lessons. They are taught the other subjects by teachers who are
specialists in their field. Below you will find a general paragraph about each
subject and Overview Plans detailing the concepts and topics taught during our 2
year rolling programme.
ENGLISH -
The Love of Reading
At T.P.S., we passionately believe in the importance of reading and strive to help
our pupils to see it as both pleasurable and purposeful. Through regular reading of
a wide range of genres, our pupils develop their language, their ability to write well
and their understanding of the world.
Our Foundation Class is full of quality non fiction, fiction and poetry books. These
are changed regularly and book excerpts and reviews are shared weekly to
encourage our pupils to try different genres and authors. We also have a school
library.
We often enjoy sharing and discussing the same texts together. (Details of these
‘Shared Class Texts’ can be found in the Foundation Class Learning Overview.)
Writing -
Our pupils are taught at least 4 English lessons each week. These include
spelling, grammar and punctuation and writing lessons. All lessons are designed
to suit our pupils’ interests and the range of abilities in the class.
During our writing lessons we study the key features of different text types and
finish each week with a our ‘Big Write’, which is an opportunity for extended
writing.
There are also regular Speaking and Listening opportunities to build confidence
and the ability to communicate respectfully with others.
Maths -
At TPS we firmly believe that Maths is for everyone. Many students, on entering
TPS, express dissatisfaction with their prior experiences of Maths in school. Some
have developed a fear of making mistakes, others are convinced ‘they can’t do
Maths’ and some have become disengaged through lack of challenge. Our small
classes and passionate teachers allow students to develop a positive relationship
with Maths, that has a beneficial effect on their self esteem and learning in
general.
Our class receives 4 lessons per week. We embrace a Mastery[1] approach in the
Foundation Class and in Key Stage 3. We develop new concepts using concrete
(physical) and pictorial resources such as Bar Models before progressing to the
abstract, to deepen understanding. Lessons are carefully differentiated to suit all
abilities within the class. We follow the ‘White Rose Hub’ mastery based Scheme
of Work for our class and Key Stage 3. (Please see the White Rose Hub website
(Mixed Year 5 - 6) or the WRH Overview below or Fiona for more details).
We recognise the key to progress is Responsive Teaching. Our small groups
allow teachers to give ‘on the spot’ personal feedback as students are working.
This is ideal for learning and preventing misconceptions. Written feedback is
regularly given as well.
History -
The Foundation Class are taught using a topic based approach that makes links
between the subjects where appropriate.
The Foundation programme of study for History forms the centre of this. Our
pupils study 12 topics, arranged in chronological order from ‘The Big Bang’ to ‘The
Vikings’. (The Key Stage 3 work follows on from this.) They are encouraged to ask
questions about the truth of what they are shown, be intrigued about the past and
use their discoveries to make deductions. We use a range of teaching methods to
inspire the pupils and cater for different learning styles: from hands on activities,
such as designing an iron age hillfort; to trips to the Roman Baths; to written
activities that give our pupils opportunities to practise their writing skills.
Geography -
Our Geography lessons link to the History topic for each term. The Foundation
Class explores the world and its wonders. For instance, in our History lessons we
find out about trading between Britain and Europe during the Iron Age and this
leads us to exploring the countries that we traded with. In addition, we learn a
range of Geography skills including measuring distance using the scales on
atlases and maps, comparing a variety of map projections and reading latitude
and longitude coordinates. Studies of the local area are included and comparisons
are made with different places.
Religious Education -
While T.P.S. is not a religious school, we do believe that it is important to respect
other people’s beliefs and L.A.R.S. (Love Acceptance Respect and Safety) is a
central part of our ethos. One of the first steps towards this is to have a basic
understanding of what beliefs a person or group may hold. Our class learn about a
range of different beliefs and note some of the similarities and differences
between them. We have feasts marking some festivals - we love an excuse to
share delicious food! We are able to share our own beliefs if we wish and are
encouraged to respect one another while doing so.
