Year 5 and 6 Learning Highlights

Year 5 have have been captivated by how the ancient Islamic civilisation flourished from the 7th to the 14th century, showcasing significant contributions in architecture , astronomy, education and science. Islamic art is known for intricate geometric patterns and calligraphy, seen in mosques and manuscripts. Year 5 created their own geometric patterns, learned about Mimar Sinan (architect and engineer) and were inspired to sketch and evaluate their own Islamic buildings. In science, scholars made strides in astronomy, medicine and mathematics, preserving and building upon knowledge from a diverse cultures. We explored the importance of the house of wisdom and talked about figures Al-Razi and mathematicians like Al- Khwarizmi who influenced algebra. Our book for the term ‘The Golden Horsemen of Baghdad’ shaped our understanding of the Islamic Golden Age even further by taking us on a journey of culture

and adventure within the key moments of history. In writing, children wrote diary entries expressing empathy and emotions on the viewpoints of some of the characters as well as a setting description that created an image of a bustling city of Baghdad.

As part of year 5's high stakes project, children put together an exhibition to showcase their work to the whole school. The Islamic Civilisation Exhibition had a variety of work that Year 5 had created over the term as well as an experience zone where children from other Year groups got to dress up as a caliph and sip 'Gahwa' and mint tea while listening to Arabic melodies. They also got to scribe their name using their names in Arabic using decorative handwriting- calligraphy. They also showcased a time line using freeze frame to explain the rise and fall of Baghdad.

This term Year 6 have been looking at the significance and the impact of the Windrush Generation.

In reading, we have been studying the text- Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah - and have explored what it might have been like for people from the Caribbean to come over and settle in the UK and the effects of racism. This has helped us create in our Writing lessons newspaper articles showing the need for the Windrush generation but also the different feelings people had towards them along with creating our own short stories where the children were able to show empathy for them.

We then used this knowledge (along with what we had found out in our topic lessons) to give an assembly to our KS2 children showing all aspects about the Windrush Generation including why they cameover, why they were needed and the aspects of their culture that they brought to the UK.