Orca Class

Our Learning Environment

Learning in Orcas

As a school, we follow the Cornerstones Curriculum. Each ‘long’ term, the topics change. There is always one main topic (driver project) and several companion units.

In Terms 1 and 2 the driver project is a History unit called ‘Dynamic Dynasties’. This project teaches children about life in ancient China, particularly during the Shang Dynasty. It also explores the lasting legacy of the first five Chinese dynasties, some of which can still be seen in the world today.

In Terms 3 and 4 the driver project is a Geography unit called 'Sow, Grow and Farm’. This project teaches children about the features and characteristics of land use in agricultural regions across the world, including a detailed exploration of significant environmental areas.

In Terms 5 and 6 the driver project is a History unit called ‘Ground-breaking Greeks'. This project teaches children about developments and changes over six periods of ancient Greek history, focusing on the city state of Athens in the Classical age, and exploring the lasting legacy of ancient Greece.

English

Children in Orcas continue to develop their reading and comprehension skills through whole class guided reading sessions. These sessions will focus on a variety of texts over the year, ensuring a range of fiction, non-fiction and poetry is covered.

Our main English lessons are driven by the principles of The Power of Reading – a whole school learning and teaching approach which engages teachers and children in the English curriculum through the use of high quality texts and proven teaching approaches. These texts will vary and change across the terms.

We have regular handwriting sessions, following Letter-Join's handwriting scheme. On Mondays, we will also have a focus sessions on key aspects of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPaG).

Reading

Orcas are given regular opportunities to read independently throughout the week, with the aim to foster both fluency and enjoyment. To support their choices, we use Accelerated Reader (AR) which provides a reading level for them to read within.

Maths

We use White Rose Maths to plan our maths learning at Bethersden, supported with a range of practical activities to ensure that each child has a secure understanding of the concepts taught. We will be teaching each year group in isolation across the year, with Year 5 taught by Ms Heaton and Year 6 taught by Mrs Masters/ Mrs Osborn.

They will both cover a number of topics, including place value, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, time, measurement and data handling.

Home Learning

Bethersden Bingo - Home learning will be set termly for children and their families to work through over a number of weeks. These tasks will cover several curriculum topics areas and include physical activities, discussions, questions to explore and longer projects. You can find more details on Google Classroom.

Reading, spellings (via Spelling Shed) and times tables (via TTRS) will continue to be set. Reading is a priority and children should be encouraged to read and share stories regularly, recording this in their reading record.

How can you support your child?

There are many ways that you can support your child to have a happy year in school!

Please make sure that they are on time, have the correct uniform and have had a healthy breakfast.
Reading, reading and more reading! In any form, this will help foster a love of books – something that we are passionate about at Bethersden Primary.
Please ensure that they have the correct PE kit. Our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday, so please ensure your child comes into school on these days wearing their PE kit.
Provide a water bottle, making sure these are filled with water only and not squash/juice.
Please provide appropriate clothing, specifically for OPAL, as we will not let the weather stop us! Ensure wet weather clothing and wellies are clearly named and labelled.

Contact us

We are always available after school if you need a quick catch up. If you need a longer or more private meeting, please book this in at the office and we will be happy to accommodate.

If you have a non-urgent message for the team, you could contact the school office and the message will be passed on to the class team.

With warm wishes,

Team Orcas