Year 5 Term 4 Newsletter 

The Teaching Team

5A - Emma Harper (PLC Leader)

5B - Julian Gordon

Welcome to Term 4

Welcome back to the final term of 2026!

We hope everyone enjoyed a restful holiday break and some special time with family and friends. We’re so pleased with how smoothly the children have settled back into school and the positive attitude they’ve brought into the classroom.

This term promises to be an exciting one, filled with engaging learning experiences and memorable events. Highlights include our community visits to Arcare Cheltenham Aged Care, the Year 5/6 Music Concert, leadership speeches, and meeting the 2027 Foundation Buddies.

We’re looking forward to a rewarding term ahead, one filled with growth, learning, and many memorable moments together.

Warm regards,

The Year 5 Team

 Specialist Timetable

Important Dates

Friday 30th October - Whole School Assembly

Monday 2nd November - Curriculum Day

Tuesday 3rd November - Cup Day Holiday

Monday 9th November - ARCARE visit

Wednesday 11th November - Remembrance Day Assembly

Thursday 12th November - CEPS 70th Anniversary Carnival

Friday 13th November - 3 - 6 Assembly

Monday 16th November - ARCARE visit

Thursday 19th November - Special Food Day

Tuesday 24th November - 5/6 Concert

Thursday 26th November - Meet the 2027 Foundation Buddies

Friday 27th November - 3 - 6 Assembly

Monday 30th November - ARCARE visit

Wednesday 2nd December - Health Education

Wednesday 9th December - Health Education

Friday 11th December - Class Party

Friday 11th December - 3 - 6 Assembly

Monday 14th December - Curriculum Day

Wednesday 16th December - Health Education

Friday 18th December - 1.00pm, Whole School Assembly (outside)

Friday 18th December - Last day of the term, early finish at 1:30pm

Daily Roll Marking

Student attendance is recorded twice daily (AM/PM)

Our electronic rolls are legal documents; therefore, we must be accountable for any absences. Please assist with this by informing the office of any absences as early as possible via phone or Compass.

Teaching and Learning

Reading and Viewing 

Students are encouraged to choose novels that match their reading level and personal interests. As a class, we will continue exploring our shared novel, Because of Mr. Terupt. Working in pairs, students will analyse each chapter through meaningful annotations, sharing their thoughts and ideas. They will then write concise chapter summaries and examine key aspects of the text to deepen their understanding. This approach strengthens reading comprehension and critical thinking, helping students connect more deeply with the story and its themes.

Writing

This term, students will explore a range of writing styles, including Persuasive Letters, Poetry, and Information Reports. Using quality literature as inspiration, they will refine several key writing skills:

• Vocabulary and Precision: Students will practise selecting strong adjectives, verbs, and adverbs to make their writing vivid and engaging.
• Structure and Purpose: Through clear frameworks, students will learn to organise their ideas effectively to suit their purpose and audience.
• Punctuation: We will focus on correct use of commas, quotation marks, and apostrophes to ensure clarity and expression.
• Tone and Voice: Students will learn how tone changes across different text types and how to develop a distinctive voice for each genre.

English Orthography

This term, students will deepen their understanding of how English words work. Each student will select a Word Family to study in detail, exploring its morphology (word parts), etymology (word origins), and phonology (sounds). Using a variety of resources, they will research how words in their family are connected. This hands-on investigation helps students appreciate the complexity of language and strengthens their spelling and vocabulary knowledge.

Mathematics

This term, students will continue their learning through the Ochre Mathematics Scope and Sequence for Year 5, focusing on three key units: Data Investigation, Fractions, Decimals and Percentages, and Operations. Students will also continue to strengthen their number fluency and recall through regular Ninja Maths sessions.

During Data Investigation, students will collect, represent and interpret data using tables, column graphs and dot plots to identify trends and make informed conclusions. In Fractions, Decimals and Percentages, they will explore the connections between these forms, learning to convert between them and apply their understanding to practical contexts such as money and measurement. The Operations unit will consolidate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division strategies, with a focus on efficiency and reasoning when solving multi-step problems. As the term progresses, students will complete end-of-year assessments to demonstrate their growth and understanding across key mathematical concepts.

Humanities

This term, our focus is to compare the continents of Europe, North America and Australia. Throughout this Geography unit, we will be focussing on:

• Specific countries in these continents, and their flags and capital cities.

• Climate and living conditions in these continents and comparing them to Australia

• How to think of our own areas for investigation to compare two countries

Wellbeing

CEPS VALUES

COURTESY    RESPECT    CO-OPERATION    RESPONSIBILITY 

This term, we will continue exploring Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships, with a focus on help-seeking and developing leadership skills. We will also support students in strengthening their growth mindset, helping them understand that challenges are opportunities to learn and grow.

To further support the school values, CEPS follows a SWPBS framework, which we refer to as CEPS Positive Behaviours Support. This framework encourages acknowledging positive behaviours displayed by students within the school. 

 Friday afternoon assembly awards will be given to children who have shown personal growth specific to the school's values. Parents will be informed if their child is receiving an award. Your child may receive a CEPS raffle ticket for displaying the expected positive behaviours! Award winners will be drawn and announced during assembly on Friday afternoons. Please note that Friday assemblies are now run fortnightly, with grades 3-6 being every 2nd Friday (see 'important dates' above for our Term 4 assemblies).

Supporting Learning from Home

Homework

Homework is important for establishing routines in preparation for secondary school. Students are expected to read daily, record this in their diaries and have a parent sign this off. They should also practise their number fluency (e.g. times tables).  In addition, they have a choice of projects they can work on over the month.

Communication

If you have any queries along the way, please feel free to contact us via email through Compass. If any more urgent concerns arise, please organise a time to meet with your child’s teacher.

We use Compass to communicate School and Year 5 Information and Class Dojo to celebrate the children’s daily learning. 

Whilst we endeavour to get back to you promptly, please understand that we are often unable to check these messages until after 3:30pm. If you need an important message to be passed on to your child, we ask that you communicate this via the office (e.g. to advise that your child will be collected early or by another family member). The office will then pass the message on to your child's classroom teacher.

Compass: Compass is the formal tool for communication regarding attendance, payments, excursions, camps, permission forms, school reports, etc.

Please use Compass to advise the school in a timely manner of all student absences.

Early Pick Up: If you need to pick up your child early, please collect them from the office area and be sure to sign them out. You will require an Early Leaver's Pass, provided by the office staff, before we are able to dismiss students. 

You can also keep up to date by using the school website and weekly newsletters:  http://www.cheltenhameast.vic.edu.au