What your child learns in Year 5 maths, English and science

Children in Year 5 will be expected to be confident enough with addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to know which one to use in what situation.They need to be confident in their methods for using all four operations with larger numbers (three digits and then four digits). They should also be able to see how maths fits into everyday life, and other areas of study. 

Children will be learning about fractions, decimals and percentages. They will need to calculate the area and perimeter of different shapes.  Children will need to solve measurement problems that involve converting between units of measurement. They will learn to draw and measure angles and also calculate the size of missing angles. They will need to interpret information in line graphs and tables.

In Year 5, children will read a range of different genres. They will continue to use their skills of inference of characters' motives and feelings and will start to think about figurative language and how it is used. They will learn to spell a variety of more sophisticated words with different prefixes and suffixes. 

When writing a text, they will carefully select vocabulary (including adverbs) and use a variety of presentational devices to structure text (including time connectives). They will use a range of punctuation correctly, including brackets, dashes and commas.

Read more about the Year 5 English curriculum in our introductory guide.

Help your child with spelling, punctuation, and even writing poetry by downloading our free Year 5 English worksheets.

This year, children will learn about:

Living things and their habitats, including lifecycles of a mammal, amphibian, insect and bird.

Animals including humans, focusing on changes from birth to old age.

Properties and changes of materials, including dissolving, separating and reversible changes.

Earth and space, looking at the movement of the sun, earth and moon.

Forces, including gravity, air resistance, water resistance and friction.

Our free Year 5 science worksheets can help your child consolidate what they're learning in class; the Year 5 science curriculum is examined in more detail in our guide for parents. Download and print them for free today!

Know what to expect with SATs and more in Year 6 with our helpful summary, and make revising for Key Stage 2 SATs easier by running through the highlights of what your child learned in Year 3 and Year 4. Or, go all the way back to the beginning to see how far your child has come by reviewing curriculum targets for Reception, Year 1, Year 2.