Oak Class 2025 - 2026

WELCOME TO OAK

Class teacher - Mr M Heathcote

Mr Parrish teaches PE and Miss Graves teaches English and MfL every Friday morning.

Learning Support Assistant - Mrs K Shapland

Learning Support Assistant - Mrs J Metcalf

Oak class is the final chapter in your journey at Whitegate. In Oak you will have every opportunity to shine and demonstrate just how much you have grown along your Whitegate journey. You are the role models that everyone else in the school community looks to. It is you who we are looking to for how to treat each other as we would wish to be treated. I am excited for all that is in store for us this year! It will be a year of challenges and successes. A year where, together, we can strive to be the very best we can be to reach the God-given potential that we all have. I look forward to growing our confidence, maturity and most importantly, wisdom.

Our proposed plan

We will be focusing on the history, achievements of the Ancient Islamic Civilisation of the Middle East in our history work. We will be looking at the ‘Golden Age’ of the empire and what life was link within the empire. Before all that, we will learn about how Islam spread within the area and how it reached from Asia, to Africa and into Europe.

Our key text will be “A story like the wind,” by Gill Lewis. This beautifully illustrated and even more beautifully told story book will provide ample opportunity for developing our knowledge key SPaG skills and chances to write setting descriptions and poetry before completing our flashback narrative.

Our maths focus will be on Place Value this term before we shift our focus to multiplication and division. We will be looking at decimals, fractions and percentages also and focusing in on written and mental methods for these topics.

Within our RE, we will explore what we can learn from the stories of Abraham and Joseph and see how Islam and Judaism understanding both of these central figures. We will then explore advent and its deeper meanings.

Our science will lead us into exploring the nature and behaviour of light and how it behaves in different circumstances. We will then explore the theory of evolution and see what history and science tells us about where we have come from.

Across our creative subjects, we will become conductors through the inspiration of Fingal’s Cave by Mendelssohn, explore how art can be used as a form of activism, design and create our own book bag in DT and most excitingly develop our dance and drama skills as we perform Aladdin!

Reading

Reading is at the heart of successful learning and we will immerse ourselves in a range of quality texts over the course of the year. As Reading is a priority across all subjects, we regularly use a range of fiction and non-fiction texts in our guided and whole-class Reading lessons to help inform richer learning across the curriculum. In addition to this cross-curricular learning, a single day might also see us exploring the motivations of characters in our gripping class novels or simply allowing children time to develop a love of reading through our provision of high-quality fiction books. Wherever and whenever possible, we will prioritise developing the skills and positive attitudes towards Reading that will enable Oak class to become confident, informed and engaged learners.

Home reading expectations are detailed below, but should your child express an interest in a particular author, series or genre, please let us know and we would be delighted to order books from our library partners free of charge. Visits to your local library are also encouraged!

PE days will announce shortly. Please can children come into school on those days already dressed in their PE kits.

Homework

Please ensure your child reads at home at least 4 times per week for 15-20 minutes. In Years 5 and 6, they are expected to record their own reading in their Home – School contact books; parents just need to sign each time.

TT Rockstars should be practised at least 3 times per week also for a minimum of 5 minutes each time.

For Year 6, Mental Maths will be sent home twice per week; both sheets will be given out on Mondays. The first sheet will be due on Wednesday and the second on Friday.

Both Year 5 and Year 6 will also have a weekly SPaG sheet. This will be given out on Mondays and is to be returned the following Monday.

All Oak children will be given their own personal spelling lists to practise at home. These are linked to the statutory spelling lists for each year group available at the bottom of this page. There will also be a statutory spelling list for each half term: these will be different for Year 5 and Year 6.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me using the Home-School book We love to celebrate any out of school learning or achievements by our children so please email to the office or send in anything your child would like to share with us.

Our proposed timetable is attached below.