Summer 1
This term, the children have been working extremely hard in order to prepare for their Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in reading, maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling which were completed in May. Everyone did their best and we are very proud of their resilience. As a celebration, we treated the children to a fun day with outdoor games and activities in the sunshine, a movie, board games and mindfulness activities. The children had such a wonderful day and had a well-earned break as a reward for their hard work.
In history, our World War Two unit has been completed. Children have gained a thorough understanding of the impact of war on the home front, including producing a non chronological report on the rationing of food and clothes. The children enjoyed measuring and weighing typical ingredients that were rationed during the war. It surprised everyone how little food people had to survive on each week. Through the emotive story of Rose Blanche, we learned about the horrors of the holocaust. Children wrote diary entries and setting descriptions followed by beautiful artwork to depict the scenes. Alongside this, we have been reading Letters from the Lighthouse which has generated interesting class discussions about issues that children faced during World War Two.
Each Wednesday afternoon, some of our children have had the opportunity to team up with students from Wingfield in an oracy project, designed to develop the skills of grammar to create imaginative piece of writing. It has been wonderful working with different older students, who have been superb role models, and have helped us to discuss and generate new ideas in our writing.
In PE, we have focused on the Movement and Balance unit using large and small apparatus to create sequences which have been refined and evaluated. Sequences have been completed individually, in pairs and larger groups. For team games, the skills of tag netball have been used with the focus on accurate passing of the ball and using spacial awareness for success.
For the Spring 2 term, SATs preparation has been the main focus of school time to ensure the children feel confident and equipped to do their best during the May exams.
Spring 1
It has been an excellent start to the Spring Term- the children have come after Christmas being ready for learning and willing to accept any challenges that they are faced with.
We have been lucky enough to work with The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust this term, completing drama tasks linked to WIlliam Shakespeare’s famous last play, The Tempest. With knowledge of the play, children have produced some excellent 1st person narratives from the character viewpoints of Caliban and Prospero.
We have continued to learn about various aspects of grammar, punctuation and spelling including colons and semi-colons, progressive and perfect forms and modal verbs. The children have shown a good understanding of this and have applied it in their own independent writing.
In maths, the focus this half term has been calculating with fractions. The children are now competent in adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing proper fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers. They are also able to use their understanding equivalent fractions to compare and order.
We have continued to complete weekly arithmetic papers and the children’s scores are definitely heading in the right direction as well as their confidence in using the methods.
We have started our World War Two topic which will continue into the second half of the Spring Term. We have discussed how the war started and which countries were involved in the conflict (allies and axis power). We have started to look at the impact that this had on people’s everyday lives including evacuation.
In science, we have completed a unit on electricity. We have learnt the scientific symbols for drawing circuits and have investigated how to change the brightness of bulbs by changing the number of bulbs and the voltage in the circuit. We have also found out about famous scientists who have been linked to electricity over the years.
Thank you for your support in encouraging your child to complete their home learning revision tasks. We are really starting to see the impact of this in their most recent assessment scores.
Autumn 2
Year 6 have continued to work hard and have enjoyed the challenges in all areas of the curriculum.
In mathematics, we have improved our knowledge and understanding of the four operations and have grown in confidence when applying knowledge to reasoning questions. We have become more familiar with using factors, multiples, square and cube numbers. We have started learning about calculating with fractions which will continue after the Christmas break. The children are starting to become increasingly familiar with the processes required to add/subtract fractions with different denominators.
In English, we have looked at the discussion toolkit and used the features of this text type to debate and write balanced arguments across a range of topics including ‘Should Christmas be banned?’ The children suggested valid reasons for both sides of the argument and produced some effective pieces using a formal tone.
In GPS, we have been focusing on prepositions, adverbials and main and subordinate clauses along with continuing to reinforce previous learning on tenses and using accurate punctuation in our writing.
In History, we have been investigating the Maya civilisation including who they were, where they came from and why their civilisation was so successful. We learnt that they were skilled farmers, architects, scientists, astronomers and mathematicians. A Maya archaeologist, Dr Diane, came to visit and informed us about various aspects of Maya life that made their civilisation unique as well as giving us the opportunity to discuss and examine artefacts. We particularly enjoyed closely investigating what each artefact was used for.
In Art, we have been inspired by the work of Jim Dine- an American artist, who used Pop Art to create abstract creations. We have experimented with various techniques to produce a final piece- a calendar which has been sent home for parents to enjoy looking at in 2024!
In P.E. we have been focusing on elements of stretching, concentration and breathing in Pilates and refining these movements. It has given us the opportunity to use peer coaching to perfect these skills.
This term in RE, we have continued to work on the topic – Beliefs and Actions in the World: Can Christian Aid and Islamic Relief Change the World? We have developed an understanding of the main aims and purposes of these charities including comparing their good work.
We very much look forward to a wonderful spring term and a huge well done to all our children for their hard work in autumn. We are pleased that children are taking their revision timetables and home learning seriously. If any child does need further support to complete any tasks, they can attend homework help sessions.
