year 5���������������������������������������

Teachers Jude Griffiths, Laura Hadfield and Moana Tautua work together with shared unit plans to reach term goals. They love the fact that now the girls are a little older, they can start to teach them in a way that taps into their interests and accelerates the learning outcomes. Ms Hadfield has taught at St Cuthbert’s in Year 5 for four years and she shares, “What I love is that the girls are becoming their own person, they are starting to question who they are. It’s just lovely to be part of that development and to witness the girls work out who they are, as well hear them voice who they’d like to become. Throughout each school year I see amazing personal growth, particularly as the girls focus not just on their academics but also identify their personal values and goals”. As well as teaching Year 5 Mrs Tautua is instrumental in building the school’s base of Te Reo Māori saying, “I love this age so much. The girls are really finding their unique voice and it’s wonderful to see them more able to articulate their ideas. At this transitioning age they are developing good behaviours which set them up well to exercise these next year as Junior School leaders. While I enjoy watching them grow in Year 5, I really love watching them shine in Year 6”.

Mrs Griffiths is new to our school having freshly arrived from Singapore. As well as being a Year 5 teacher Jude also holds the role of Dean for the Huia Whānau spanning Years 4 – 6. Jude says, “I feel I can give the students more agency in the classroom at this year level as they’ve come through with a strong skill set. For example, in our PEACE inquiry lessons girls choose the particular tools they want to use to make a presentation, or choose their own topics for writing – I love to see their creativity coming through”. Year 5 is a great opportunity for growth for the girls. Their curiosity is brimming over which is one of the reasons why it was decided to introduce the girls to Science at a deeper level from this age. We understand that St Cuthbert’s is the only school in the country teaching Junior girls (in Years 5 and 6) Science. Lessons are led by Senior School Science teachers and held in the Senior School laboratories. The display of greater responsibility from our students at Year 5 lends itself to the introduction of learning a brass or wind instrument, as well as bringing in their own devices for the first time. On many fronts they are stepping up to take greater care of their belongings each day, which is a big part of being a Year 5 girl. The team is supported by Birgitta Hartinger, who not only teaches them French, but is also a fourth teacher for Year 5 for 13 periods a week. Birgitta supports small group work to enhance learning and literacy. Girls also benefit from the additional Mathematics support provided by Lenore Clark who has been an expert in this field for many years. Girls are well supported in their literacy not only from the lessons taken by their teachers, but also with the top-up assistance of the PLC specialists, who come in to support literacy with the learning programmes of Lexia, Nessy and Steps. In STRETCH lessons the girls are building on their inspiration from a trip to Stardome, looking at rockets and aerodynamic principles. The teachers thread this interest into other areas ensuring it is integrated into Mathematics lessons through the measurement of angles and geometry. In Term 2, the girls were able to complete a task they’d greatly been looking forward to when they launched their parachute-carrying water rockets.