Year 6

Natural History Museum

Year 6 enjoyed a day out at the Natural History Museum recently. We enjoyed following up our ‘Natural Disasters’ theme by looking around the Volcanoes and Earthquakes exhibition.  We did some research on Human Evolution to fit with our current theme and explored the rich diversity of mammals, from polar bears to pygmy shrews.  We saw fossils and skeletons of extinct animals alongside specimens of their living relatives.

Drugs and Alcohol Workshop

This week, Year 6 had a visit from the brilliant people at A Life to talk about the facts and dangers of drugs and alcohol. The children heard about not only harmful drugs, but also drugs which we use for medicines and how many drugs have benefits to us. They were able to take part in a debate about whether smoking should be banned, see the effects that drugs and alcohol had on people who use them in the wrong way and even experience how drugs and alcohol can affect someone’s vision, through the use of special goggles! The children found the session engaging and informative and we are thankful to those at A Life for taking the time out to come and visit us this week.

Natural Disasters!

We have continued to look at our current theme of ‘Natural Disasters’ this week in Year 6. Although there has been a strong focus on earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis, the children were tasked with researching and mind mapping different type of natural disasters which can occur. As well as this, they needed to find different places around the world where they have taken place over recent years. From the 2011 tsunami in Japan, to tornadoes in Texas, the children were able to understand the way in which these natural disasters form along with the destruction they can cause. Below are some examples of their mind maps!

Children In Need!

This week, Year 6 have worked hard to host 2 Children in Need fundraising events in school. The children thought of fun ideas and activities that they could ask the other children in the school to take part in and also donate to this worthwhile charity. Malala Class hosted a range of activities on Thursday which included making and decorating Christmas cards and creating a ‘Where’s Pudsey?’ game. Barnardo class hosted a Joe Wicks fitness workshop which involved the children taking part in a 20 minute workout. A brilliant couple of days which raised over £700! Well done Year 6 and thank you to all for your generous donations!

Y6 Glenthorne Visit- Anna James

Year 6 were lucky enough to get an invite to Glenthorne High School this week for a talk from author Anna James. Anna has recently completed her second book as a follow on from her first (below) in the Pages & Co series. The children enjoyed a very useful session with not only Year 6 children from our school, but also the whole of Year 7 from Glenthorne! They were able to take part in an interactive session with Anna, as well as ask her any questions about what inspiration she had to become an author, where she gets her ideas from and what challenges there are to write and publish your own books. The books are thoroughly recommended for children aged 10-15, so if you want to add to your collection, go and treat yourself!

Y6 Science- Refraction

This week, Year 6 studied refraction in science when continuing their topic of ‘Light’. The children learned how different surfaces/materials are able to shape rays of light in order to make them appear different to the naked eye. The children had the chance to complete their own mini investigation- The Amazing Arrow! In order to do this, they used glass beakers, water and a drawn arrow. They turned their arrow to point in the opposite direction using the laws of refraction to do so- a great way to conclude a busy but very enjoyable half term! We wish all of you a great week of rest ready for the next one!

Victorian Day

Our Year 6’s were treated to a brilliant Victorian-themed day this week! We were lucky enough to have 2 guests with us for the day to give us more details about what life was like in Victorian London, both as adults and children. The children were able to learn more about the Victorian Empire, had a taster of what life was like in Victorian schools, took part in a Victorian quiz, learnt traditional songs from Victorian times, played with toys (hoop and stick) as a child would have and found out more about famous medications and treatments! Unsurprisingly, the murder mystery activity was a particular highlight for the children also! The children had a brilliant day and, as you can see below, found their activities enjoyable and informative.

Junior Supremos

Last week, 10 year 6’s became Junior Supremo’s. They spent the morning learning key leadership skills to become the new young leaders of the school. They learnt how to instruct other children, how to listen, how to plan activities and how to make sure children have fun whilst doing physical activity! They took lead on Pepys classes PE lesson and this week, the Year 6 Junior Supremo’s have started to put their training into practise in the infant playground. Each day, two of the Supremo’s will go into the infant playground and will work with small groups of children from reception to year 2. They have been really enjoying themselves and here are some pictures from their training!

William Morris Art

This week, Year 6 have been learning about artists from Victorian times. In particular, we have learnt about William Morris his famous printing technique to produce detailed and imaginative images. From our studies, we learnt that he used floral designs and we attempted to create our own designs based on his. We first thought carefully about the layout of our design, before going through the process of transferring the design from our books onto a lino tile. We used lino cutters to carefully carve our designs. Although still a work in progress, you can see below the great developments the children have made in their work!

PGL/British Film Institute!

It has been quite a week for the children of Year 6! Those who went to PGL left last Friday and, after being incredibly fortunate with the weather, had a fantastic weekend! The children were fortunate enough to take part in activities such as rifle shooting, climbing, raft building and giant swinging to name but a few!! Whilst this was happening, those who did not attend PGL were lucky enough to visit the British Film Institute in London- another amazing experience. The children there were able to take part in activities such as planning, designing and making their own animations. All in all a busy, tiring yet brilliant week in Year 6! A taster of the photos from these events can be found below- be sure to check back to this page as we update them over the coming days!

Year 6’s first science experiment!

During science, year 6 have been looking at light. How light travels and reflects and how we see. This week we carried out an experiment to look at how light bounces off an object and creates a reflection ray. We used torches as our light source to create the incident ray, we then shone a thin ray of light through a cut-out in a piece of card, this ray of light then bounced off a mirror and created the reflection ray. We experimented with angles of light and then drew up our recordings! A great first of the many science experiments we will carry out over the course of the year.

Year 6 Book Week- Zoo

During the first week of Year 6, we read and studied the book ‘Zoo’ by Anthony Browne. As well as thinking about the language, story line and images in-depth, we also went on to create a piece of abstract art based upon the theme of the story. We used skills including self-portrait techniques, pencils and mediums to create tone and depth and also used pastels effectively to create our designs. The children should be proud of their work (shown below) as it incorporates a mixture of their own features linked to that of a zoo animal- very much in keeping with the theme of the book. A great job!

WELCOME TO YEAR 6!!

The Year 6 staff would like to wish you all a huge welcome back to school after what was hopefully a restful and relaxing summer for you. As you will know, we have an incredibly busy year ahead, packed with amazing learning opportunities as well as engaging themed days and school trips. We always urge you to get in touch should you have any concerns or general queries and we look forward to a great year working with you. Here’s to a fun, busy hard-working school year!