Our Curriculum

Here, at St. Catharine’s, we teach our own bespoke curriculum which has been tailored to meet the needs of all our children. Each unit has been created by the teaching team at school to promote an independent, life-long love of learning, which is inspired by the children’s interests. We hope the children will be as excited as we are! Please click on the button below to see what Year 5 will be learning about this year.

P.E.

Year 5 have PE on a Thursday and Friday. Please ensure that your child has a full P.E. kit in school, including pumps, so that they can participate fully. When the weather is warmer, please ensure that you send a hat as the children will often be outside for P.E. and that sun-cream is applied in the morning before school.

Reading

Reading is a central part of our curriculum and plays a key role in developing children’s vocabulary and understanding. In Year 5, pupils participate in five 30-minute reading lessons each week. Our reading scheme is thoughtfully designed to include regular daily, weekly, and monthly review, ensuring that new vocabulary, concepts, and knowledge are securely stored in long-term memory.

The scheme is introduced once pupils have a strong foundation in phonemic awareness and phonics. If needed, children will continue on the phonics programme until they are ready to fully engage in whole-class reading lessons.

We use an adaptive teaching approach to support all learners, particularly those who may find phonics more challenging. This may include targeted small-group support, additional phonics practice, pre-teaching of key vocabulary, and carefully scaffolded tasks to build confidence and understanding. Through ongoing assessment, teaching is tailored to meet individual needs, ensuring every child is supported to make progress and develop as a reader.

Each unit offers a range of activities focused on fluency and vocabulary to strengthen comprehension skills. These are supported by additional reading opportunities within English lessons and across the wider curriculum, helping pupils develop a deeper understanding of narrative structure and character development, while also engaging with non-fiction texts to extend their knowledge in different subjects.

In addition, Year 5 pupils spend 15 minutes at the start of each afternoon reading a class novel. This encourages a love of reading while supporting language development, literacy skills, and cognitive growth.

We kindly ask that you support your child by ensuring they read at home at least four times a week.

Homework

In Year 5, at the start of each term, a Learning Log will be sent home to each child. This log will consist of a variety of engaging activities linking to the children’s learning over that term. From this learning log, the children will be able to select six activities that spark their own individual interests. Alongside this, weekly spellings will be sent home and a spelling test will be completed in school.