Summer 2 – Green Planet

This half term we have continued to learn about our Geography topic of our changing planet. We have been learning about natural resources – renewable and non-renewable – and how we can use them sustainably. This has been timely as the children have been coping well with the extreme heat in class and have shown fantastic resilience in our hot classrooms.

This has all been happening whilst we have been busy rehearsing and performing our summer production of Rock Bottom. The children have shown fantastic dedication in learning their lines, lyrics and dance moves and we were so impressed with their dress rehearsal and final performances! We will never forget the sea of cave people in front of us.

In Science, we have been learning about plant and animal reproduction. This has then led us into our Jigsaw unit topic about Changing Me. The children have engaged with these topics maturely.

We also have been enjoying lots more final memory moments such as: preparing for our Leavers Assembly, a silent disco for our Leaver’s treat and Miss Lyddon’s famous Hide n Seek for the Year Sixes, across the school. As part of remembering our time at Great Binfields, the Year Sixes have been creating ‘Zines’ in Art. These are little folding books with different art techniques on each page such as self-portrait sketches, printing, digital art and continuous line drawing. The children have created a lovely memento to take home.

It has been lovely to reflect on our year. We hope you all have a lovely summer and wish you all the luck for the next step into secondary school.

Summer 1 – Green Planet

We have been blown away with how hard the children have worked this half term as it’s been another busy one for Year 6.  Firstly, the children impressed us with their incredible attitude towards their SATs tests; it was great to see their determined approach when giving all of the questions a go. They celebrated the end of SATs week with a day of fun, taking part in a range of activities that they had chosen.

Aside from preparing for the statutory tests, the children have enjoyed using Roald Dahl’s ‘Matilda’ to take on the perspective of Matilda or Miss Trunchbull to complete a diary entry about an embarrassing classroom event. As well as this, they wrote a short narrative which included dialogue between the characters.

In Science this half term, we have been exploring the concept of evolution by looking at the difference between inheritance and variation. The children then went on to learn all about the famous palaeontologist Mary Anning who wasn’t recognised at the time for her amazing discoveries. We explored how fossils are made and how they allow us to gain unique insights into what life may have looked like hundreds of thousands of years ago. The children also enjoyed spotting the similarities and differences between fossils and modern-day species in order to analyse and predict how they have evolved over time.

During our Art sessions this half term, the children have really enjoyed learning about Nancy Wolff then creating their own embroidered artwork in her style.

These are just a few of the highlights from this half term; we are sure the children will enjoy discussing the themes we have been focussing on within Maths, Geography, PE and our Computing sessions with you too.

We are now very much looking forward to our final half term in Year 6, where we will continue our The Green Planet theme.  We will be working hard to prepare and rehearse our end of year production and leaver’s assembly ready for you to enjoy!  We hope you all have a wonderful half term and thank you as always for your support.

 

 

Spring Term 2 – The Rainforest

Although this half term has been a short one, we have managed to squeeze lots in!

 

Within our English lessons, we have focused on a book called ’The Misadventures of Fredrick’, where they wrote one letter in a formal tone and another in an informal, chatty tone. We have also watched a video clip called ‘Alma’ and have written a suspense narrative from this.

During our Computing sessions, the children gained a new insight into the importance of technology within our everyday lives, including discussing how crucial it is to keep our privacy and security settings secure when using online devices. As we continue to rely on technology more and more in our daily lives, we have encouraged the children to remain curious yet sceptical when working online. We also discussed how important it is to remain vigilant to the possibility of scamming and hacking and the use of AI.

Within PE, the children collaborated to explore rhythmic dance moves inspired by Westside Story, and have also developed their tennis skills by building up to a full match with correct scoring by the end of the half term.

Our PSHE (Jigsaw) sessions have focused on ‘Healthy Me’ whereby we explored a vast range of ways in which we can make healthy lifestyle choices both now at a Year 6 level and also beyond, into adulthood.

 

In Maths, we have explored our data handling unit, started looking at algebra and converted units of measure in our shape topic which also touched on concepts such as volume. We have also been working hard to revise our mental arithmetic skills and have practised solving fractions questions involving the four operations. 

Our Geography lessons have involved a comparison study of Basingstoke and Manaus (Brazil). We have used a variety of maps and online resources to help us.

 

Please take a look at the pictures below to see just how much fun we’ve had this half term.

 

We hope you enjoy a wonderful Easter break and would like to thank you for your continued support this half term.

Spring Term 1 - The Maya

 

This half term the children have absolutely loved learning about the Maya. The children’s high level of intrigue and love of learning around this topic has simply blown the adults in Year 6 away! Throughout the half term, we have managed to weave our Maya topic into a wide range of subject areas including History, Computing and Art. This has meant that the children have been able to thoroughly absorb themselves within this time period and therefore answer the big question of, 'why did the Mayas decline?'

In History, we have explored how skilled the Maya's were as: mathematicians (through their number system and calendar), architects, farmers and warriors. We then explored a number of sources and arguments as to why the Maya's eventually declined. 

During our English lessons, we used the beautiful picture book ‘The Errand’ (Leo LaFleur) to inspire us when writing instructions for the Errand boy. We would really recommend this as a book to share with your children. The children were able to capture the vocabulary and tone of the story beautifully. They then built on this and wrote very persuasive estate agent adverts for the Warlock's Mansion, in the book.  

Our Science lessons have been electrifying this half term as the children became circuit experts, investigating the causes which affect component performance and also conducting their own experiments based on an enquiry of their choice. During our Computing sessions, the children developed great independent research skills as they gathered superb facts for their Keynote presentations on the Maya, which included a wide range of multimedia.

 

Within Art, the children have sketched, designed and sculptured Maya masks. The children explored the different Maya masks and their purposes, for example warrior, death or ceremonial masks. We then constructed our designs out of cardboard, using the artist Darrell Wakelam as our inspiration. As you can see, the children have certainly been busy and loved immersing themselves in this wonderful topic.

 

Unbelievably, we also managed to squeeze in our Bikeability proficiency sessions which helped us to gain confidence on the road and understand more about the rules of the road for cyclists. Please see our latest news update about how we got on during this week :)

 

Please take a look at the pictures below to see just how much fun we’ve had this half term.

 

Next half term is incredibly important for our Year 6 children as they prepare for their end of year statutory assessments. It is essential that the children are regularly reading and recording at home, practising their spellings and times tables in and out of order. By continuing to focus on these skills at home, it will ensure your child feels confident when applying their knowledge with increasing accuracy during lessons. Thank you for your continued support with this.

Autumn 2 – Volcanoes

What a busy half term we’ve had! Not only did we have our Year 6 residential to Avon Tyrrell in November but we have also been working incredibly hard in the classroom with a particular focus on our topic – Volcanoes.

Within our English and Blended Reading sessions, the children have been reading and inspired by the true stories from the Survivors book. The children created their own survivors diary and story based on the experience of Sue Ruff and Bruce Nelson, who survived a volcanic explosion on Mount St Helens. Throughout these pieces, we revised our knowledge of different sentence structures, definitions of different clauses and word classes too.

During our Maths lessons, the children have revised their knowledge of fractions, measured and drawn a variety of angles and built our own nets for 3d shapes. We have also been refining our mental arithmetic skills and have had a real focus on building our quick mental strategies to enhance our efficiency and accuracy as mathematicians. Being able to confidently recite our times tables remains a real focus so please be sure to encourage the children to continue practising these daily.

Within our Art sessions, we were inspired by Indonesian batik artists. These fabrics inspired is to explore using glue to create a ‘resist’ piece of art. This new media required to us to use our resilience and patience. We also enjoyed exploring Volcanoes in Geography including identifying what’s known as Earth’s Ring of Fire. We focused on the country of Indonesia and learnt about the active volcano Anak Krakatoa, which only recently erupted in 2022.

Finally, Year 6 ended on a Christmas high watching a Panto, enjoying Christmas lunch altogether and learning about the Magi during the true meaning of Christmas day! We truly hope the children have enjoyed this busy half term as much as the adults have! Looking ahead to January, we will be starting our New Year learning about the Mayans. At the beginning of February, the children will also be involved in gaining their cycling proficiency with the Hampshire Bikeability team.

We look forward to welcoming the children back in the New Year as we have lots more fun and learning up our sleeves. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas break!

The Year 6 Team

Autumn 1 - Ancient Greece

We have reached the end of our first half term in Year 6 and what a jam packed seven weeks we’ve had! The children have made a fantastic start to their Year 6 journey and have shown great curiosity and interest in our topic – Ancient Greece. We have been blown away by the level of in-depth discussion from the children and how interested they have been in this period of history. 

 

During our History sessions, the children have learnt about many aspects of Ancient Greek life such as The Olympic Games, Alexander the Great and daily life in ancient Greece. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed performing a ‘play-in-a-day’ where they took on different roles and brought our Ancient Greek topic alive through drama.

A highlight of the topic was definitely designing, cooking and tasting a variety of Greek-inspired dishes in their DT lessons. The standard of cooking was brilliant and the rest of the school's mouths were watering when the aromas of chicken kebabs and burgers were wafting down the corridors!

 

In English, we designed our own mythical creature using an AI tool. From this, we wrote a non-chronological report about our creature, followed by a myth starring the creature. 

In Maths lessons we have focused on consolidating our place value knowledge, revising the column methods necessary for solving calculations using the formal operations and we explored finding the area and perimeter of compound shapes.

 

During our Art sessions, the children used wax crayons to create some scratch art of an Ancient Greek amphora. They then used this design to make their own clay pot, using the coiling technique. The pots were admired by parents, carers and grandparents in a Year 6 afterschool art gallery. 

 

We have been so impressed with the children's efforts this half term and have loved watching them embrace challenges and demonstrate real passion towards our topic. We know that the children will love their volcanoes topic next half term, and will equally enjoy all of the challenges Avon Tyrrell has to offer. 

Welcome to Oak and Maple Class (Year 6) 2025-2026

Wow, what a start to Year 6 we have had! It has been fantastic to welcome the children back after a long summer break and hear all about their adventures over the holidays. The children have all settled in brilliantly and have shown great resilience to adapt to their new classes. They have certainly impressed us with their focus and determination to succeed in lessons so far and have been able to enjoy the perks of the exclusive Year 6 common area. All of the children have certainly adjusted to Year 6 life incredibly well!

Just to inform you, Year 6 PE will be on a Monday (Indoor) and Thursday (Outdoor) this year. The children will need to wear their PE kit into school to be worn for the duration of the day. 

Please feel free to drop us an email or call via the office if you have any queries or concerns, we are always willing to help where we can. 

Our current Year 6 staff team.

Mrs Osborne (Oak), Mrs James (Maple), Mrs Bush (LSA), Miss Menard (LSA), Mrs Browne (LSA)