Spring Term 2 - Amazingstoke

Wow, we have managed to squeeze SO much into this half term! The children and adults are certainly ready to put their feet up after all of the exciting things we have been up to. In just six weeks, we have been on a trip into Basingstoke Town centre, painted a wonderful Kev Munday inspired canvas and explored reversible and irreversible changes in Science through lots of exciting experiments. These activities are just a few of the key highlights from the half term but there have been many awesome opportunities along the way!

Within our English lessons, the children focused on the traditional heritage text, ‘The Borrowers’. Having been inspired by Mary Norton’s imaginative world, the children wrote their very own non-chronological reports detailing all of the information a reader may need to know about the miniature menaces (Borrowers). We then wrote a descriptive story of the journey of a Borrower, starting beneath the floorboards and exploring the passageways up to the human world. We finished off the half term by writing our very own suspense stories, trying to create an ominous effect on the reader. Furthermore, our Science lessons have been jam packed with a multitude of different experiments as the children explored whether substances are soluble or insoluble as well as examining reversible and irreversible changes. The children certainly enjoyed ‘The Expanding Bag’ experiment, where we mixed vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. Why not ask your child how we knew these substances were reacting with one another and what this resulted in?

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. Within PE, the children collaborated to explore rhythmic dance moves, including looking at the Hakka, and also developed their tennis skills by building up to a full rally 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. 

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 Terrible Tudors

This half term the children have absolutely loved learning about the Tudors. The children’s high level of intrigue and love of learning around this topic has simply blown the adults in Year 6 away! This was abundantly apparent when we visited Hampton Court – a primary source of evidence from the Tudor period – where the children were awe-struck with the magnificence and grandeur that the palace had to offer.

Throughout the half term, we have managed to weave our Tudor topic into a wide range of subject areas including English, History, Computing and Art. This has meant that the children have been able to thoroughly absorb themselves within this time period and therefore empathise with some of the most famous monarchs in our English history. During our English lessons, we used the text ‘The Thief, The Fool and The Big Fat King’ (Terry Deary) to inspire us when writing our very own historical stories, as the children wrote their own ending to the exhilarating story. In addition, the children also chose to take on the role of either Anne Boleyn or Catherine of Aragon in order to write persuasive and heart wrenching letters which aimed to convince Henry not to execute or divorce them!

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 Tudors, which included a wide range of multimedia.

Within Art, the children sketched and painted beautiful Tudor portraits. The children explored the work of Hans Holbein, asking 'was he the first 'filter' in art?' and based their work on his Tudor portraits. 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 times tables in and out of order and also growing in confidence when reading the time on an analogue clock. 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 – Space

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 – Space. The children have been captivated by our Solar System and it has been wonderful to see so many of them intrigued to find out even more in their own time too.

Within our English sessions, the children created their own, beautifully presented and informative non-chronological reports about the mythical moon Pandora. We also wrote an emotive letter to an inhabitant of the Moon, which was inspired by the John Lewis’ 2015 Christmas advert, and a short description of Earth’s appearance from Space using the famous H. G. Wells’ ‘The First Men in the Moon’ text. 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 and calculated a variety of missing angles, including within triangles. 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 and Topic sessions, we were inspired by an incredible cosmonaut turned artist called Alexei Leonov. His work allowed us to explore different shading techniques and carefully consider how light can be represented on the page in order to create a more 3D effect; we used this technique when sketching our own astronauts. As part of our DT sessions, the children also enjoyed a day of cooking which saw us produce sausage rolls, snowball cookies and Christmas cupcakes. We taste tested each other’s food and evaluated the taste, appearance and texture of our food, mimicking the Come Dine With Me programme. 

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. Once we had learnt more about volcanoes themselves, we considered how safe we would be on our school grounds if there were to be an eruption in close proximity of Great Binfields (purely hypothetical of course!). We conducted a field study around the school to consider the safest location depending on a number of factors. Why not ask your child about where they considered to be the safest location should an eruption occur?!

Finally, Year 6 also managed to squeeze in solving a murder mystery in Science using their working scientifically skills, alongside watching a Panto 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 Tudors. We will be looking at the trials and tribulations of Henry VIII’s reign during the Tudor period and will be eagerly anticipating our Hampton Court visit. In the second full week back, 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 - World War II

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 – World War Two. We have been blown away by the level of in-depth discussion from the children and how well they have empathised with different viewpoints during the war. They have raised some incredibly insightful viewpoints surrounding the moral conflicts the country would have experienced in the face of such adversity and enjoyed participating in a balanced argument answering the question ‘should we always do as we are told?’.

During our History sessions, the children have learnt about: the key dates and important facts from World War Two, some of the famous faces involved in the war and how the events impacted British History. All of the children thoroughly enjoyed our World War Two themed day where they were invited to wear evacuee style clothing and took part in a range of war time activities such as: an Anderson Shelter experience, sewing and a Treehouse Theatre drama workshop. In the afternoon, the children performed a ‘play-in-a-day’ which reflected the key events throughout Britain during the war. Furthermore, a local veteran delivered an informative presentation about his experiences of being a soldier and living through the post-war years.

In English, we have been writing own outbreak of war diary entry, war themed poem and a letter from the perspective of a World War Two soldier. The children worked hard to up-level their language choices and sentence structures to evoke emotion in their reader. 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, we were inspired by the work of Roy Lichtenstein. He created a number of pieces which reflected his time in the military. Using his work as a model, we designed our own WWII themed, pop art creations. The children also produced their own propaganda posters to help persuade civilians back at home to help with the war on the Homefront. They used their knowledge of blocking and mixing colours to create an eye-catching piece. 

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're very much looking forward to next half term where we will be delving into the mystery of outer space and attending our residential (Avon Tyrrell) on November 14th.

Welcome to Oak and Maple Class (Year 6) 2023-2024

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(despite the unexpected heat) 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 Wednesday (Indoor) and Friday (Outdoor) this year. The children will need to wear their PE kit into school to be worn for the duration of the day. An added bonus this year is that the children get to wear the t-shirt colour of their House Point Team on PE days - Green (Emerald Team), Blue (Sapphire Team), Red (Ruby Team) or Yellow (Topaz Team).

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. We can’t wait to meet you soon.

Our current Year 6 staff team.

Left to right: Mrs Shillito, Mrs Mardell, Mrs Roberts, Mr Wood and Mrs James

Maple Class teacher - Mrs James    Oak Class teacher - Mrs Roberts

Mrs Shillito - VI LSA to support in Oak Class

Mr Wood - LSA who works across both classes

Mrs Mardell - LSA who works across both classes

We look forward to working with your children this year.