Southborough Church of England Primary School
Southborough Church of England Primary School
Sussex
Welcome back Sussex!
Thursday 11th September 2025
Dear parents and carers,
In English, the children have been introduced to our new class text: Danny Chung does not do maths by Maisie Chan. The main event in the story is Danny’s surprise visit from him grandmother from China, which disrupts his life and forces him to share a room with her. We have delved deeper this week into the character of Danny and his feelings and emotions about his situation. We have also recapped fronted adverbials and the importance they play in giving more information to a sentence.
In Maths this week we have been focusing on place value, in particular reading, writing and partitioning numbers to a million. The children have enjoyed using manipulatives such as place value counters and dienes to further their understanding. Next week, we will be comparing and ordering numbers as well as rounding numbers within a million.
In Science, we have been learning about gravity. Sussex were fascinated to recreate Galileo’s experiment of dropping two identical shaped bottles of different masses and finding they reached the ground at the same time! The children can’t wait to discover more about our topic about forces..
PE will usually be on Thursdays this term, so please make sure that your child brings in their labelled PE kit in a bag at the beginning of every week. Forest School is on Wednesdays. The children had a great first session yesterday - photos below.
Lots of children and parents have been remembering to record their reading on Boom Reader and have been rewarded with class dojos each time they have read at home. Please ensure you read with your child at least 3 times a week and record their reading on Boom Reader so they can be rewarded too.
We look forward to seeing you at our open classroom next Tuesday 16th September from 3:15 until 4pm.
Have a wonderful week.
Mrs Townshend
Forest School
Year 5 curriculum map
Home Learning
Multiplication Tables
Weekly practise of multiplication tables is vital in supporting mathematical development. Below is a chart of the 36 essential facts to learn. This is especially helpful for children who are almost fluent.
Times Tables Rockstars!
To keep practising the multiplication taught in class, and challenging yourself to keep the ones you already know fresh, don’t forget to log into your Times Tables Rockstars account.
Challenge yourself to beat your score and build your knowledge as you become a Rockstar!
Please ask your class teacher if you need replacement log in details.
To continue to learn times tables, this website is useful:
Times tables games - Learn them all here!
Reading
Children should bring their Accelerated Reading Book to and from school each day. When they have finished reading, children are asked to complete a quiz before changing their book.
https://global-zone61.renaissance-go.com/welcomeportal/6704864
Parents please log your child's reading on the BOOM reader Parent Portal or by using the BOOM reader parent app on your tablet/mobile no more than once a week.