History - Ancient Greece

Children will encounter Alexander the Great and will learn about how he built a vast empire.  They will use their knowledge of world geography to recognise the size of Alexander’s empire and will begin to understand how culture, religion and language can spread as an empire grows.

Children will learn about the development of Athenian Democracy and will contrast the values held by the citizens of the Athens with those of the war focussed Spartans. Importantly, children will see how long held hatred between enemies can be put aside when an outside threat, King Darius and his Persian Army, requires the city-states to unite to defend Greece from invasion.

Studying this period of History provides children with a fascinating insight into how Greeks from different city states lived, the Gods they
worshipped and the stories they told of monsters, heroes, challenges and bravery. It equips them with an understanding of what a legacy is; how there are things in our lives, such as how we vote, words we speak, sports we participate in, stories we tell, that remain from an earlier time.

Art and Design - Light

This unit introduces the children to how artists use light. It starts by connecting the concept of light to the concept of form, exploring how form is shown by how light falls on an object. Children learn through the work of Caravaggio how artists can use extremes of light to create drama. They create still life drawings using graphite, chalk and charcoal to show tone.

The children then look at the work of Vermeer, another master of light, considering how he used extremes of light to create a calm realism. They compare this with the drama of the work of Caravaggio.  The children then develop their skills using acrylics to paint a still life using tone to create form. They learn how painters traditionally used a ‘ground’ and 'underpainting’ as a basis for their paintings and use the same techniques. They revise how, with opaque materials artists work from dark to light. They continue to develop their colour-mixing techniques.

The unit concludes by exploring how 20th century artists have used light. Goncharova makes light the subject of her work (‘rayonsim’) and the sculptor, Rana Begum uses light as one of the materials from which she makes her work.

Computing - The Internet

The children will apply their knowledge and understanding of networks, to appreciate the internet as a network of networks which need to be kept secure.  They will learn that the World Wide Web is part of the internet, and will be given opportunities to explore the World Wide Web for themselves in order to learn about who owns content and what they can access, add, and create.  Finally, they will evaluate online content to decide how honest, accurate, or reliable it is, and understand the consequences of false information.

Geography - Spatial Sense

Children will learn more about the globe and the lines geographers draw around it to help locate places. They will learn that lines of latitude are lines that measure the north-south position between the poles. They will also learn that lines of longitude measure the position east or west of the Prime Meridian line, a line that runs from pole to pole and is used as 0 degrees. Children will revisit the equator line.

This unit will also revisit grid references, this time taking children on to using four figure grid references. Previously they were introduced to grid references using a single letter and a single number. In this unit they will use four-digit grid references.. Children will be using grid references to locate places on a map, and also calculating grid-references for identified locations.

Moving on, children will apply their knowledge of grid references to maps of their local area. They will look at local landmarks, places of interest and physical features, familiarising themselves with local geography and building their knowledge of the local area. Children will look at maps and images from the past and will look for changes in their local area over time.

Science - States of Matter and The Water Cycle

In this unit, children will learn about the main parts of the Water Cycle including evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection.  They will learn about each part in detail before piecing them all together to complete the cycle.

Within this unit, pupils first reconnect to their prior learning about states of matter. Using the example of water, they consider its different forms, as a solid, liquid and gas. They will learn that When you boil water in a kettle, it turns to a gas called steam, which is invisible. When steam moves away from the kettle where it had reached boiling point, it condenses into water vapour, which we can see. They will work scientifically to monitor the temperature of melting ice.

Later in the unit, children focus upon another process within the water cycle, condensation. They will learn this is the reverse of evaporation. Condensation occurs when water vapour within the air changes state, it cools and becomes liquid, water. Within a cloud, water droplets become too large for the cloud to hold and gravity brings the water back down to the surface of the earth as precipitation, often this takes the form of rain.  They will work scientifically to observe condensation appearing on the side of a cold drink can.

After learning about evaporation and condensation, children will learn about precipitation. They will learn about clouds and will learn that certain types of cloud bring rainfall.  They will learn that collection is a part of the cycle, and will learn that water collects in rivers, lakes, in areas of vegetation and also seeps into the ground through soil and permeable rock.