Eagles - Year 5 & 6


Welcome to Eagle class! Our teacher is Mrs Thomas, who is really good at maths and sport (especially football), and is really keen to make the whole school as active as possible!     

Home learning ideas:

  • All of the maths we’re doing this term is dependent on quick recall of tables facts, so it would be brilliant if you could work on this. Focus on one table at a time and try: 
    • Making-up rhymes to help remember number facts (“4 x 6 is 24, bears growl and lions roar!”) 
    • Looking for numbers in that table in the world around you - on doors, car number plates, in phone numbers or when you’re out shopping. 
    • Writing-out tables with finger paints, chalk or water-on-tarmac, or make them from playdoh. 
    • Chanting, singing, whispering... Say tables out loud together whenever you have the chance.
  • Each week we are set spellings to learn. Click here for guidance on strategies you can use to support your child in learning these at home.  
  • Our history topic might be within living memory of some of our family members - if so, it would be great to share their memories of life during WW2. Were any great-grandparents evacuees? What do you know about any family members who fought or worked during the War? There are loads of movies, video clips and archive materials available online to support learning about life during the War - the BBC Class Clips site is a great place to start: www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-world-war-two/zjnyscw
  • There are loads of great children’s books set during World War 2 that would be great to share - Goodnight Mr Tom by Michelle Magorian, Letters from the Lighthouse by Emma Carroll and Arctic Star by Tom Palmer are all excellent places to start.

Our latest news:

  • We rounded-off the year with our Leavers Trip. On Wednesday morning we headed down to the leisure park for a fun bowling session, followed by lunch at Bella Italia. There were lots of laughs and lots of memories shared, and it was a great way to spend our final full day of primary school. We ended the term with an emotional final assembly, reflecting on all that we have achieved during our time at Bedwell and looking forward to the amazing adventures that lie ahead!
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  • On 19th June, a group of 34 intrepid Year 6s set-off on this year’s PGL expedition. We spent 3 days at the Marchant’s Hill centre, trying out a huge range of activities that we would never be able to experience at home. Over the weekend, we took part in climbing, trapeze, survivor, zip wire, archery and the challenge course - and it was great to so many of us taking on challenges and overcoming fears to make the most of every session. You can find out more about our trip here. 
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  • The whole of Key Stage 2 came together this term to perform The Lion King, and we were all incredibly proud of the show that we managed to create. With Year 6 taking on the lead roles, Y5 playing hyenas (and the grasslands), Y4 as African singers and Y3 dressing up as a variety of animals, it was a huge project - and we have to say a huge thank you to Mr and Mrs Humber, who made some incredible, professional quality costumes and headdresses for the lead characters.
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  • To celebrate World Book Day, we transformed the classroom into a courtroom for a dramatic retelling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We were split into two teams: the defence, determined to prove Goldilocks’ innocence, and the prosecution, equally determined to send her straight to bear-jail! Everyone had a proper role to play - judge, lawyers, witnesses, jury members, even a very serious-looking court clerk. Goldilocks herself (played by Ayo) delivered an Oscar-worthy performance, complete with dramatic pauses and even a few tears to win the jury over. The Bears also gave powerful evidence… though Baby Bear did seem very upset about that broken chair. After a lively debate and much pointing of fingers, the jury reached their final verdict… and poor Goldilocks was declared guilty! The activity was a huge hit, filled with laughter, drama and some impressive acting talent that really brought the story to life! Bedwell School News : March 2026 
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  • Lots of us took part in the Young Voices project, which gave us the chance to sing at the O2 in front of an audience of 10,000! You can find out more about our experiences here.   
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  • A group from Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed throwing themselves into a series of workshops linked to STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The project, organised by local charity STEMPOINT, has seen us working with scientists and engineers from companies like Airbus, GSK, Unilever and Thames Water. We have learnt how to use real world lab equipment, built boats, explored risk, carried out lots of tests and even designed fuel tanks for spacecraft (with a real rocket scientist!) It has been great fun to take part in these sessions, and it has also introduced us to lots of careers that we never knew existed.
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"Pastoral care for pupils and their families is strong. Pupils feel well cared for because leaders and staff go out of their way to help and support them."

Ofsted report, 2022

We have been learning about... 

Maths - In Year 6, once SATs were out of the way our attention turned to problem solving and some practical challenges. We have carried out surveys and presented our findings using pie charts, extended our understanding of algebra, explored nets for complex 3d shapes and investigated scaling by creating a one-tenth scale model of our classroom! 

Science - This term we have focused on exploring electricity, finding out where it comes from, how it travels and how circuits really ‘work’. We’ve carried out an investigation to find out what affects the brightness of a lightbulb, and were lucky enough to take part in a work shop as part of this year’s Science Week, which taught us more about static electricity and the role of electrons.

English - In English, we have been writing stories in the style of Greek Myths and Fairytales as well as producing persuasive speeches which we presented in the style of the TV Show Room 101. We worked on balancing believable detail with the rhetorical tricks that make our arguments really convincing, in order to win-over our audience. 

This term's topics

English - We will begin the half-term by completing our Planetarium unit, exploring report writing. We will develop our use of conjunctions to link ideas together and explore different levels of formality that authors use, depending on who they are writing for. We will then finish by writing reports about planets we have invented. After that, our next unit is based around the novel Wisp: A Story of Hope by Zana Fraillon. Telling the story of a young refugee, born into a world of tents and fences, this beautiful book is full of magic and hope. We will be focussing on the use of figurative language and dialogue to introduce new characters and settings, and will then use it to inspire our own work.

Maths - Our key focus for the next half-term will be fractions. We will use diagrams, models and practical tasks to ensure we really understand what a range of fractions mean and ‘look like’, and will then use these models to help us to compare and order mixed groups of fractions. From there, we will learn to add, subtract and multiply fractions, before beginning to explore mixed numbers and improper fractions (fractions worth more than 1). Finally, we will be linking fractions to their decimal and percentage equivalents and using all these skills to solve problems. Later in the term, we will also be learning to calculate the area and perimeter of shapes and investigating the properties of quadrilaterals.

Science - We will continue to investigate our circulatory system. We will start the half-term by carrying out experiments to find out how our pulse rate changes when we exercise, and will develop the way we draw conclusions from results. After that, we will learn how to keep healthy, the impact that diet and exercise have on our bodies and the damage that drugs and alcohol can cause.

Humanities - We will continue to learn about World War 2 and the Battle of Britain. After investigating which countries were involved on each side, we will be exploring how the War affected the lives of children and experiencing what life was like for evacuees. We will also explore the impact of the Battle of Britain, identifying the location of air bases on each side, the tactics used and the reasons why the attack was ultimately unsuccessful.

Take a look at our curriculum map for more information on our topics.

Early Years Admissions  

If you're looking for a place in Nursery or Reception, you can find out lots more about our school in our Early Years Prospectus.

We're always keen to show potential new applicants around - just get in touch with the school office to arrange a tour. 

Once you're ready to apply, head to the admissions page to find out more about the process - we run Nursery admissions ourselves, but from Reception upwards, these need to be made via Herts County Council.