For older children, why not encourage them to use the events of the festive as inspiration for some Christmas creative writing? Or challenge their crafting skills with a range of paper craft activities? Alternatively, they could always knit their own polar pug…

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Christmas can be a great time to spark ideas for writing. Read these top Christmas writing tips from Christopher Edge.

Welcome to Year 5

In schools in England, Year 5 is for children 9–10 years old, and is the third year of Key Stage 2. Children will be encouraged to take on more responsibility and become more independent. In this year schools will often start to focus on getting your child ready for transition to secondary school. This is often a year when children grow in maturity – sometimes even more so than in their final year in primary. They gain greater independence and confidence from being given more responsibility in their learning – encouraging independence in preparation for bigger things to come.

Although there is no statutory test at the end of Year 5, your child’s teacher will assess your child throughout the year to make sure that they’re at the expected level in English and maths. Whilst writing, there is a greater emphasis on grammar and the more technical aspects of the subject. In Maths, children will start to explore broader mathematical concepts such as percentages, negative and positive numbers and, depending on ability, may develop an early understanding of algebra.

Recommended books for Year 5