Croeso  i Dosbarth Pump

Here you will find the newsletters for the children in Dosbarth Pump. 

16.01.2026

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda 

I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks for the thoughtful and kind cards and gifts. Your generosity and support are truly appreciated. We have returned to the Spring Term full of enthusiasm and excitement for our new topic: Scented Garden, which forms part of the whole-school theme Wonders of the Earth. To launch the topic, our classroom was transformed into different habitats and natural wonders, including a volcano area! The children were given passports and explored each area, discussing their findings and sharing fascinating facts. They were thrilled to enter the classroom through a hidden cave, which created a real buzz of learning throughout the day. As part of our mini-topic launch, the children worked in teams to match pairs of garden plants using their sense of smell—an activity that encouraged teamwork, problem-solving, and curiosity. In Maths, we have continued developing place value skills by solving multiplication and division problems in a variety of ways, including short and long methods, the bus stop method, and using counters and grid methods to visualise number values. In Literacy, we have started our new text, The Curious Garden. The children have explored ways to uplevel sentences using expanded noun phrases and figurative language to create vivid imagery. They wrote diary entries as the character, Liam and confidently edited and self-assessed their work using a success criteria. Within PE, our focus is on developing netball skills. The children have listened carefully to the different types of passes and are beginning to understand the rules of the game. Finally, as part of our ongoing STEM project with LEGO Spike, the children worked in teams to build a LEGO Hopper. They showed perseverance and teamwork, and the classroom was filled with shouts of “Yes, we did it!”—a wonderful celebration of achievement and a love of learning. We have lots more LEGO Spike projects planned for the term, and I look forward to sharing more soon! 

19.12.2025

Over the last two weeks’, Year 5 have been exploring the fun and creative world of limericks! The children enjoyed writing their own versions and sharing them with the class. Their creativity and Christmas spirit really shone through. In maths, the children have been working hard on their multiplication skills, using the long formal method to calculate costings for our Enterprise Craft Project. A big thank you to everyone who supported us by purchasing the products, it means so much to the children! They have now started making suggestions about what they would like to buy with the profits. 
As part of our enterprise tasks, we discovered that tying knots was a tricky skill for many. To overcome this, we headed to the Forest School area and practised together. It was amazing to hear, 'Mrs. Sulway, I did it! Such a proud moment for me as their teacher. 
The children have also begun exploring LEGO Spike, an incredible resource that develops problem-solving, teamwork, and confidence. It’s wonderful to see them succeed in these challenges and grow in independence. On Tuesday, Year 5 participated in the Carol Concert. At first, there were a few nerves, but with encouragement and support from each other, they absolutely shone like the stars they are. What a fantastic performance! 
This has been Year 5’s very first term, and we have accomplished so much together! The children’s attitude towards learning has been nothing short of amazing, their thirst for knowledge is truly infectious. I am so proud of each and every one of them and cannot wait for the next adventures in the new term. 

 

Nadolig Llawen from Year 5. 

05.12.2025

What an exciting and productive week we’ve had! The children have been showing incredible creativity and teamwork across all areas of learning. In Literacy, they planned and wrote alternative endings for one of the chapters in our class book, and their ideas were amazing, full of key features, rich descriptions, and imaginative twists. In maths, they applied their perimeter skills to plan our parental art sharing event by measuring the sizes of easels, tables, and the hall, which was a fantastic real-life application of their learning. The class also continued their wonderful Belonging Project by creating their own inclusive community map and then working in groups to build a 3D version, using a range of skills such as communicating ideas, problem-solving, and measuring buildings accurately. To top it all off, we were lucky to have MonLife join us for a full day of leadership training, where the children designed their own team games and taught them to the rest of the class, developing leadership, collaboration, and presentation skills along the way. Thank you for your continued support when attending the Art gallery sharing event, the children were so proud to show you their learning and the skills they have acquired. We hope you enjoyed it too!  

21.11.2025

Following the recent flooding in Monmouth, I hope you are all safe and well. Our thoughts are with everyone affected. It has been truly heartwarming to see the community spirit shine through during this challenging time. 

Over the last two weeks, Year 5 have reconnected with their class text Framed through a variety of engaging activities. The children explored character personalities and compared the main character, Dylan, with Turner’s famous painting The Fighting Temeraire. They expressed emotions and feelings inspired by both the image and the character, showing impressive insight, da iawn, Year 5! Taking their learning further, the children planned and recorded group podcasts featuring the characters as guests. They demonstrated excellent communication, teamwork, and editing skills, using Adobe tools to create scripts, make adjustments, and design podcast names and logos. Each group generated a QR code to link their podcast to their Literacy book, a fantastic example of digital creativity and cross-curricular learning. 
As part of the topic, the children developed their drawing skills by creating detailed portraits. Inspired by Andy Warhol, they photographed their work, cropped and edited images in Adobe Express, and applied vibrant colours to produce their own pop art pieces. These will be proudly displayed in our Gallery Exhibition next week—don’t miss it! 
In mathematics, Year 5 have been exploring inverse operations and using multiplication skills to estimate and check answers. Their problem-solving and reasoning skills continue to grow as they apply these strategies in different contexts. 

 

Diolch yn fawr for your continued support! 

07.11.2025

Welcome back! This week, the children have been busy planning and writing their own exciting adventure stories for the BBC 500 Word Challenge, using their ICT skills to publish and then peer assessment of each other’s work to give constructive feedback and suggestions for praise and improvement. In maths, the class have been investigating decimals and their positions within the place value system, challenging themselves to match decimals with fractions—a tricky but rewarding skill! To end the decimal topic, the children have been using recipes to mix their own fascinating drinks, a fantastic opportunity to develop their skills in an engaging and real-life context. In RVE, the children reflected on the importance of Remembrance Day and creatively expressed their thoughts by building three symbolic poppies in Minecraft. They’ve also continued to develop their swimming skills and have been excellent role models whilst representing the school. As part of developing the Welsh language skills within the class, we have completed several tasks using our reading and oracy skills based on a class text, Diwali. Here, the children looked for familiar words and sentences and had lots of fun building new words and phrases.  

Wishing you all a restful weekend. 

17.10.2025

It has been another busy and exciting two weeks in class! We have been working hard on rounding numbers up and down, including higher numbers using a range of methods. The children used number stops to help identify the numbers before and after, supporting their understanding of rounding to the nearest 10, 100, 1,000 and even 10,000! 
We also explored fractions of shapes and numbers, with a variety of fun activities. The children shaded fractions on shapes, played a memory game, tackled real-life word problems, and used pictorial methods to find solutions. They showcased their fantastic fraction skills by creating beautiful fraction portraits, a creative highlight of the week!  In Literacy, we continued reading our class text, Framed. The children used a QR code to research an eyewitness account of the hiding of artwork from the National Gallery during World War II. They answered some very challenging questions that tested their scanning and retrieval skills. I was extremely impressed with their curiosity and determination! In PE, the children are nearing the end of their sessions with County in the Community. They have worked so hard to develop a wide range of skills and demonstrated wonderful teamwork throughout. We also started our exciting swimming sessions, which the children have been eagerly anticipating. I can’t wait to share more about their progress in the next newsletter! As part of the “Shocktober” campaign, delivered by the Welsh Ambulance Service, the children have been learning invaluable CPR skills and had the opportunity to discuss what they should do and who they should call in an event of an emergency. Finally, we have enjoyed a calm and creative session in the forest school area this week. The children made incredible 3D self-sculptures using natural materials. It was lovely to see their imagination and individuality shine through their creations. 

It’s been a week full of learning, teamwork, and creativity — well done to all the children for their enthusiasm and hard work! 

Wishing you all a restful weekend. 

03.10.2025

It’s been very busy in Year 5 and the children have been working so hard across all areas of the curriculum. In science, we’ve been busy exploring the immune system and investigating how germs spread. The children carried out some fascinating experiments and then wrote a wonderful explanation piece to share their findings – we were really impressed by their scientific thinking! In literacy, we’ve continued reading Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce. The children loved diving into the story and even used their maths skills to plan the journey to Manod, the setting of the book. It’s been a great way to bring different subjects together! As part of our whole school topic, the children have been working so hard on writing their own autobiographies. This is such a tricky piece of writing to complete due to finding the information/memories and ensuring they include the key features. When writing their autobiographies, the class went silent due to concentration, and they all gave 100% effort into their writing. I was immensely proud of all the class for this and look forward to parents reading their hard work next week. The children have been learning the Harvest song and performing beautifully in St Nicholas Church. I was so proud of them, they sang with such confidence and joy. Year 5 have also started their forest school adventures. Last week was their very first session, and it was wonderful to see how well they supported each other as a team when challenges came up. In maths, we’ve been brushing up on our time skills by reading real-life timetables. The children looked at bus and pool schedules from Trellech to Monmouth and worked out which bus to catch and how long journeys would take, all in preparation for going swimming soon. 

Diolch for all of your support. 

19.09.2025

Over the past two weeks, Year 5 have been extremely busy developing their routines and roles within the class. In literacy, we have continued to explore the text It's Only One! Here the children have written about the morals in the story using a newspaper format. They delved into the formal features of a newspaper and worked hard to present their work thoughtfully. In maths, we've tackled real-life word problems, using our addition and subtraction skills to sift through important information and solve challenges successfully. As part of our assessments, the children completed GL Assessments, which we've affectionately named 'Have a Go jobs'. I’m proud to report that every child gave it their all, showcasing their reading, spelling, and maths capabilities. In Science and Technology, we’ve been focusing on safe searches and assessing the reliability of information online. Using Britannica Education within the HWB, we had a great time exploring the resources, videos, and links in a safe way. To launch our new text, Framed by Cottrell- Boyce, the children entered the class to find a crime scene. The children then went on a mission to solve the problem, Who took the House Captain Bears? The class went around the school looking for suspect alibis, including interviewing Mrs Peacock and Mrs Appleton. Once the children had collected their notes and shared their thoughts they then presented their findings and wrote down who the main suspect was. Using fantastic reading and oracy skills the children then found out it was indeed ........... Mrs Appleton. This week ended on an exciting note, as we introduced our Science topic on the immune system and cell functions. The children illustrated germ transmission using crumpled paper, creating a memorable experience that truly enhanced their understanding.  

Thank you for your continued support! 

5.9.25

Welcome Back to the New School Year! We are excited to welcome Year 5 back to a brand new school year! It has been a fantastic start, and the children have settled in brilliantly. This week, we have been exploring the text Health and Wellbeing based text, It’s Only One. This wonderful book encourages the children to think deeply about how their actions impact the environment and influence those around them. It has sparked some thoughtful and positive discussions, with many insightful responses from the children. Additionally, the children have completed their entries for the Usk Show Art and Handwriting competition. We were truly impressed by the time, effort, and care they put into their work—it’s clear they took great pride in these tasks. Next week, we will begin our new topic titled ‘Guess Who?’. The children will dive into the story Framed, stepping into the role of investigators to solve the mystery within the text. They will use a variety of skills to research the story’s setting and make predictions about what might happen next. In Numeracy, we will focus on place value and understanding the value of numbers. These skills will be applied within our topic as the children calculate distances between the story’s location and Trellech. As part of our outdoor learning, the children will also have the opportunity to create pictures using natural materials, which they will transform into unique bookmarks—combining creativity with nature! We look forward to another exciting week of learning and discovery.