Year 5 English: Roleplays - Journey to the River Sea
Year 5's English lessons have been brought to life by Eva Ibbotson's captivating novel, Journey to the River Sea. Students explored characterisation through a dynamic role-play, recreating Maia's significant first encounter with the twins. They focused intently on using their actions and facial expressions to communicate the characters' emotional states. Following this, they independently crafted compelling letters from Maia's point of view, sharing her Amazonian adventures and personal feelings with her friends back in England.
Forest School Training
Forest School learning is an inspirational and specialised approach to outdoor education that focuses on developing confidence, self-esteem, and holistic growth in learners through hands-on experiences in natural environments. This week our teachers have been on a Forest School adventure. Learning all the different skills to become Forest School leaders. Bringing back to school the philosophical understanding, practical skills, and confidence to unlock the vast educational potential of the outdoors, ultimately creating richer, more engaging, and more beneficial learning experiences for our pupils.
Year 5 Science - Leapfrog Game: Facts about Frogs
This week, our Science lesson hopped into the fascinating world of amphibian life cycles, specifically focusing on frogs. Year 5 thoroughly enjoyed discovering diverse frog life cycles, including the intriguing South American tree frog, which uniquely lays its eggs on leaves rather than in water! To consolidate our learning, we then took our studies to the playground for a lively game of 'Leapfrog Life Cycle'. Students answered questions about frog development on their whiteboards; a correct answer meant a fun leap, with the number of jumps determined by a dice roll! This highly engaging and active session led to much correct recall and, consequently, a lot of enthusiastic jumping!
Year 5 Music - Responding to Music with Art
This week in Music, Year 5 engaged in a wonderfully creative exercise, listening intently to various pieces and translating their auditory experiences into abstract drawings. Their artwork beautifully captured both the sounds they heard and the emotions the music evoked, resulting in a collection of truly interesting and unique interpretations.
School Games Gold Award Winners!
We’re proud to announce that Darwen St James has been awarded the GOLD School Games Mark! This brilliant achievement is a reflection of the perseverance, courage, and hope shown by our pupils—and the dedication of our PE and Extra-Curricular Sports Team, who work tirelessly to promote sport and physical activity across our school. This year we have participated in netball, football, cross country and cricket to name a few! The School Games Mark is a national award that celebrates a school’s commitment to PE, school sport, and competition, both within and beyond the school gates. It also supports schools in reviewing and strengthening their provision. A huge thank you and well done to Mrs Cookson and all the staff for making sport such an exciting and important part of life at Darwen St James. We’re incredibly proud of our pupils for stepping up to every challenge with determination and team spirit. Keep going, keep growing! ???? #TeamDSJ #DSJFamily
Year 5 Science - The Life Cycle of a Bird Roleplay
This week in Science, as part of our 'Living Things' topic, Year 5 embarked on an interactive journey through the life cycle of a bird. The classroom was transformed with various 'nests,' each representing a distinct stage of development. Children enthusiastically role-played each phase according to instructions, from carefully 'incubating' a tennis ball to taking tentative 'fledgling' journeys from their nests. This immersive and highly enjoyable activity significantly deepened their understanding and recall of each life cycle stage.
Year 5 DT - Sharing our Pop Up books with Year 1
In Design and Technology, Year 5 students have been busy creating captivating pop-up books specifically for our Year 1 children. Earlier this week, their hard work culminated in the completion of these books, which are ingeniously designed with various levers, mechanisms, and delightful moving parts. The highlight was undoubtedly sharing these creations with Year 1, who were thrilled to explore the interactive elements and enjoy having the stories read to them.
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Online Safety - Violent Content Online
Around 70% of teenagers say they’ve seen real-life violence on social media in the past year. Violent content online isn’t just something young people are occasionally stumbling across – in many cases, it’s becoming a routine part of their digital world. From fights and stabbings to toxic ideologies , disturbing videos are often just a click away on social media or group chats. This week’s #WakeUpWednesday guide highlights the unseen risks this poses to children’s mental health , sense of safety, and social behaviours. With insights from a leading expert , it offers practical ways for parents and educators to respond with empathy and support – not punishment or panic.
Year 1 - Story Time - Year 5 Sharing Their Books
What a fantastic learning experience! Our Year 5 students recently shared their incredible D.T. moving mechanism books with an eager audience of Year 1 pupils. It was wonderful to see the older children proudly demonstrate their designs and explain how their mechanisms worked, while the younger children were captivated and full of brilliant questions. A truly inspiring example of collaboration and creativity across the year groups!
Online Safety -Minecraft
With its limitless opportunities for building, exploring and collaborating, Minecraft remains a global gaming phenomenon. Its broad appeal lies in how open-ended it is – but this also means it’s not without risk. From chatting with strangers on public servers to the grief of having a beloved creation destroyed, young players can face challenges if left unsupervised. Minecraft can also become a time sink for enthusiastic players, with late nights spent crafting and constructing, potentially impacting school and social lives. We’ve created this free guide to help parents and educators understand how to keep young gamers safe – from choosing age-appropriate game modes to setting boundaries around screen time and spending.
Year 5 Fluency - Fluent in 5 Arithmetic
Through daily Fluent in 5 arithmetic sessions, Year 5 are demonstrating impressive concentration as they strive for accuracy and consistently improve their scores. Well done Year 5!
Year 5 History: Collaborative Learning Making Inferences about Photographs of the Blitz
This week in History, Year 5 delved into the devastating impact of the Blitz, specifically the relentless bombing of British cities and towns throughout 1940. They explored the vital role of air raid shelters and examined the poignant destruction of Coventry Cathedral. Through analysis of six powerful photographs depicting post-bombing ruins and people seeking refuge in shelters and the London Underground, the children made insightful inferences. They considered the emotions, sounds, sights, and smells experienced by people during those moments. This collaborative activity sparked rich discussion as they moved around the room, thoughtfully recording their observations.
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