Mrs Barton, Mrs Plant and Miss Horsley would like to welcome year 5 back and looking forward to a great summer term.
Our class Saint is Oscar Romero
Oscar Arnulfo Romero was born into a family of ten on 15th of August in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador. His father was in charge of the local telegraph office. Sometimes the young Romero helped his father to deliver telegrams. Oscar learned to be a carpenter, making tables, chairs and doors. When he was 14 years old, Oscar wanted to be a priest so he went to study at junior seminary. Some years later, Oscar went to Rome to study and stayed there during World War II. His father and brother died while he was in Rome.
Oscar was ordained a priest and returned to El Salvador. He became famous for his sermons. He also did a lot of parish work like visiting prisons, organising catechism classes and working with others in the Church to provide help and food for the poor. Oscar Romero became Archbishop of San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador.
Violence increased in El Salvador by the mid 1970s, as the government and army began killing poor people who stood up for their rights. When the army killed three people in the village of Tres Calles in Romero’s diocese, he comforted the families and wrote to the President to protest about the murders. Sadly, his friend Fr Rutilio Grande was shot and killed, along with two companions. The following Sunday, Romero allowed only one Mass in the whole diocese - at the Cathedral - where he spoke out against the murders.
As the violence in El Salvador continued, Romero continued to speak out. Every Sunday his sermon was broadcast by radio,the whole country listened. In his sermon on the 23rd March, Romero ordered the army to stop killing people: “In the name of God, and in the name of this suffering people whose cries rise to heaven more loudly each day, I beg you, I implore you, I order you, in the name of God, stop the repression!” The next day, a shot killed Romero as he said Mass.
Oscar Romero’s feast day is the 24th March.
Our Catholic Social Teaching focus this half term is Options for the poor and vulnerable.
Options for the poor and vulnerable reminds us of God’s preferential love for the poorest and most vulnerable people. God’s love is universal; he does not side with oppressors, but loves the humble.
Our virtues for this half term are Loving and Compassionate
The word compassion comes from two Latin words, the first meaning ‘with’ and the second meaning ‘to change’, especially in the sense of suffering adverse change.
To be compassionate is to experience suffering or change alongside someone else – to listen to their cares and concerns and to share their joys and sorrows, to see the world through their eyes, to step into their shoes, to empathise.
Being able to empathise is a virtue very necessary for being a good human being. To live successfully in a family, or a school community, or workplace, or in wider society, means being able to see, understand and feel things from other points of view, even ones to which I may not be particularly sympathetic. In the Christian tradition, it is never enough simply to be attentive: we must allow ourselves to be moved by what we see, especially by the plight of those who suffer or are less fortunate than we are.
Jesus’ great commandment is “Love one another.” (John 13:34) The more we love others, the more we are truly human and most truly ourselves.
Love is something that is learned not by being taught but by having first experienced it for ourselves. Parents are the first and best teachers by what they say and do. The most important lesson they teach their children is love. It is by being loved that we learn to love.
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Topics Summer 1 - 2025
English - Writing a report
Maths - Shape and Fractions
RE - Easter
History - The French Revolution
Geography - Local Area: Birmingham
Art - Print and Print Making
PE - Invasion Games
Class Notices
Please ensure that all children have a water bottle in class
Please ensure that your child reads each evening for at least 10 minutes and sign their diary.
Thursday
PE Kit
Friday:
Spelling test
Times table test
Homework given out
Teaching Staff in Year 5
Monday
Mrs Barton
Tuesday
Morning : Mrs Barton Afternoon: Mrs Plant
Wednesday
Morning: Mrs Barton Afternoon: Mrs Plant
Thursday
Morning: Mrs Barton Afternoon: Mrs Plant
Friday
Mrs Barton
