What a Friday! What a week! The children, like the teachers, showed their resilience today with getting down to task, even though the snow didn’t deliver! To test their persuasive powers, the teachers tasked them to write a letter to Mr Cunningham, demanding that the school be closed at midday, due to ‘forecasted’ heavy snow for the afternoon. It was great fun hearing all their arguments and reasons, tenuous or not, as to why or why not the school should be closed – this built on their persuasive letter to MI6 earlier in the week.

Thank you to all parents and carers who attended the Year 5 and 6 Mass on Tuesday. Well done to all children who practised their oratory skills to a large audience – they read clearly and concisely.

As we enter the final third of the half-term, please continue to support your child as you have been with their home learning activities, as we have already noticed a difference in their reasoning and application. Hopefully the SATSBootcamp website has been beneficial to both parents and children.

For science we are commencing our unit on evolution and inheritance. To kick this off, we request that your child bring in a photo or photos to compare likenesses between them and close family members.

Thank you,

The Year 6 Team.

Having spent this week deepening their knowledge of decimals and fractions, Year 6 children should be able to explain that we are now 1/3 or 0.333 through our six week term! In addition to our daily arithmetic, we have applied our understanding of place value to solving problems involving decimals, explaining our reasoning.

Our English lessons have focused on crafting persuasive paragraphs that communicate the skills and strengths children have that make them suited to the position of an intelligence officer in MI6. During the week we read a current advert for such a position which helped identify the skills and attributes required and the specific vocabulary to be used. To develop our use of repetition for effect, we watched and evaluated excerpts from speeches made by Donald Trump – someone who adopts this technique for their own benefit.

In R.E. we continued to focus on Saul and considered the impact Jesus’ revelation had on him as he was journeying to Damascus. Next week we are going to learn about a well-known celebrity and their revelation moment. Who could it be?
Thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support with home learning, particularly with reading and maths. It is good to see that children are making use of the CGP books purchased last term.

We have a SATS parent meeting this Tuesday, 22 nd January at 5:30pm. We look forward to seeing you then.

Year 6 Team.

We hope that you all had a fun and restful Christmas break. Year 6 have come back to school in fine fettle and have already shown a high level of commitment to their learning this week – this has been exciting to witness!

The children have started a writing unit analysing and unpicking Anthony Horowitz’s Stormbreaker novel, and they have been thinking creatively about the attributes they possess to also become a spy, like the main character, Alex.

In R.E. the children have commenced their ‘Revelation’ unit where they have explored the role of Saul in the Bible and his remarkable, unlikely Conversion. Attached are a couple of examples of a ‘Wanted’ poster for Saul – the children really enjoyed completing the posters.

On top of this, the Poetry Competition 2019 has been unveiled to the children, and they should all have a copy of the booklet at home to practise their chosen poem. We strongly recommend this process as it not only promotes a love and enjoyment of poetry, but it also instils the element of perseverance and resilience – qualities that will serve them well in other facets of their life. Therefore, please endeavour to help your child/children learn their chosen poem. They have five weeks to learn it!

Thanks, and enjoy your weekend.

The year 6 team.

Well that week flew by and Christmas is fast approaching; hopefully you are all feeling well prepared.

Between singing practises for the Carol Services in school and at Sacred Heart Church, the children did manage to continue their learning. In English, to tie-in with our Wolfbrother topic, we learnt about how to prevent bears from entering your property. Children have been allowed to choose their viewpoint for writing from: TV reporter, Park Ranger, Neighbourhood Watch Leader or Bear Protection Organisation. We spent time thinking about how each organisation may present their writing differently and are looking forward to seeing a good range of outcomes next week.

In maths we have been revising and deepening our understanding of geometry – particularly angles in shapes. It has been nice to move away from the four operations after a long term!

In RE we have continued to explore Advent with a focus on why Christians believe in the second coming of Christ and how this means we must always be ready. With that in mind we’ll bring this short blog to a close and allow you to continue with your own preparations!

Christmas wishes,

The Year 6 Team

For the second time in two weeks, Year 6 made the long walk to Sacred Heart Church to join in with our whole school Advent Mass celebration. Alough they are well used to this journey, this time pupils were tntrusted with the care of Year R children. We were very impressed with the mature and caring way in which they carried this out, getting to know their new charges as we walked along.

In other news, Year 6 have been applying their learning to some SATS quizzes during the week. As expected, they have been keen to have a go and test their knowledge and understanding in reading, grammar and maths. We are proud of the determination and resilience children continue to show.

Today (Friday) was dedicated to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning – a reward for pupils’ efforts all week. In Year 6, we became bridge engineers. After exploring different approaches to spanning a gap in the land, children worked in small groups to design and plan their own solutions to Mrs Pelling’s daily commute across the Solent from the Isle of Wight. Again, the children impressed with their application of learning. Many had clearly identified the shapes that help make strong structures, with good use made of triangles and arches within their own ideas. Communication and teamwork were key in the task and those who managed this well were also generally more successful.

It was good to meet so many parents at the recent parents’ evenings and we would like to thank you for your continued support. If you didn’t manage to order the CGP revision books by the Thursday deadline don’t worry – there will be another opportunity in the new year.

Have a relaxing weekend

The Year 6 Team

Good evening!

It has been yet another jam-packed week at school for year 6 – we have had the pleasure of hosting Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service in year 6 on Tuesday, where the children learned about a number of important aspects to do with Fire and Safety, such as: staying safe in the home, what to do in a hazardous situation such as a fire in the home and the children also analysed risky and dangerous hazards in the home. It was a very informative day, and remember to check your fire-alarms once a week and to change your batteries for the alarms once a year!

On top of this, the children participated in their Junior Citizenship morning at Fort Purbrook where they learned about a whole range of activities to do with the wider community and keeping themselves safe in real-life scenarios. The children were a credit to St Peter’s and they responded really well to the new information that was presented to them.

Looking to next week, the adults and children of year 6 are looking forward to seeing any parents or carers at the Year 5 & 6 mass on Tuesday 20th November at 10:30 a.m.

Thank you

The year 6 team.

What a busy first two weeks back to school after a restful half-term!

Year 6 have been applying all of their memory skills to their writing over the past fortnight where they have been creating a Non-Chronological Report about their Activity Week that took place before half-term. The children thoroughly enjoyed recollecting their experiences and anecdotes during their writing process, and they were successful at delivering their reports during a school assembly last Friday. Again, the children did themselves proud as they were able to articulate clearly to the school their successes and conquests during the week, particularly at Fairthorne Manor.

Aside from English, year 6 have been creating their own scientific questions relating to Light. They have been able to refine their questions so they are more accurate and measurable, being able to identify what they are going to change and measure. We all look forward to investigating a whole variety of questions! As a side note, if any children have a torch they are willing to use for their investigation, then please bring it in for the start of the week.

Children have been working hard in Maths where they have developed their thought processes in choosing the most efficient methods for all four operations in arithmetic. This is a key aspect of their development as the more they can quickly decide and apply their chosen strategy, then the quicker they can work through the problem. Year 6 have also been working on ‘seeing’ the relationships between numbers in number sentences – another ‘lateral’ skill that will embed key learning for them.

For those parents and carers that would like to attend the Year 5 and 6 mass at Sacred Heart Church, it takes place on Tuesday 20th November 2018 at 10:30 a.m. The more parents, the better!

This week we have been developing our problem solving skills by tackling this tricky problem:

Here is a bar model

631,255
A      B

A is an odd number which rounds to 100,000 to the nearest ten thousand.
It has a digit total
of 30.

B is an even number which rounds to 500,000 to the nearest hundred thousand.
It has a digit total of 10.

A and B are both multiples of 5 but end in different digits.

Find possible answers for A and B

Together we learnt how to unpick the problem, identify key information and decide on strategies. One of these was working systematically to find all possibilities for A and B. We then used our reasoning skills to identify pairs of numbers that A and B could be. Sounds simple written down but we were really impressed with the children’s resilience and willingness to struggle through to the end. It was obvious when someone had solved the problem as shouts of ‘I’ve got it!!’ or ‘We’ve done it!’ filled the room. Developing these skills will support the children well in all areas of maths.

In English we have moved on to writing character descriptions for either Fagin, Bill Sikes or Dodger from Oliver Twist. Although it can be relatively easy to describe what someone looks like, it is much more difficult to communicate what they are like in personality and mannerisms; this has been our focus during the week. We hope to have these finished soon to display in the hall alongside our sketches of the same characters.

R.E. has seen us complete our Creation unit by interpreting the meaning behind the story of Cain and Abel. Why did God prefer Abel’s offering? Why did Cain murder Abel? Why did God punish Cain to a life of wandering? We learnt that jealousy, bitterness and anger can destroy us so it is much better to forgive.

Fairthorne Manor is now just around the corner! Just a reminder to drop children in the north playground as normal on Monday morning. Remember that medication needs to be named with clear dosage instructions and that children can bring a named purse with up to £5 spending money. We are looking forward to having a very exciting week – hopefully with some unseasonably warm weather.

The Year 6 Team

Welcome back to the new school term which also marks the beginning of the final year at St Peter’s for our Year 6 pupils.

We have been extremely impressed with the way in which the children have quickly settled into their learning-they have definitely benefitted from the transition lessons set up at the end of the summer term.

Our English driver text is Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, and we have enjoyed watching the musical and then developing our writing skills to describe Fagin’s hideout from Oliver’s viewpoint. By blending action, description and emotions we are confident that the Year 6 pupils will be able to craft some engaging writing that can rival that of Dickens himself.

Maths lessons have focussed on building our understanding and ability to reason with numbers up to the tens of millions. Pupils have been  revising how to round to any given number and solving puzzles linked to this. Next week we will look at negative numbers and then combine all the skills in tackling real-life problems.

As is customary at this point of the year, RE is focussing on Creation – in particular the sacrifices that we make as followers of Jesus. The children examined the work that Moses undertook for God and reflected on what both he and the Hebrews had given up in order to follow Him.

Many thanks for all of your support with the children’s learning. You should have seen their Home Spelling Journals in which they are to practise their weekly spellings, and  their Home Learning Diaries in which they can record the homework tasks they are undertaking during the week. From Monday we will be issuing maths homework which will consolidate the learning from previous weeks. Please encourage children to read for 15 minutes daily and allow them to ‘play’ on Sumdog for 10 minutes at least 3 times per week; we know  this has a measurable impact on their progress.

Don’t forget we have the Year 6 Welcome Meeting/Fairthorne Manor Residential briefing at 5pm this Monday 17th September.

Until then, have a relaxing weekend.

The Year 6 Team

This week saw the Year 6 perform their ‘Annie’ production. So much work has gone in to this event – from props, to dancing, acting and staging. The children have been fantastic and have committed to each stage without exception. The emotional conclusion of Wednesday was testament to how much they enjoyed the whole process and the Year 6 team could not have been prouder of their achievements. Compliments from everyone during the end of the week showed how much the children put in to the whole experience. A great way to end year 6!

During this busy week, Year 6 children also organised and ran two fun lunches for the whole of the school to fundraise for the production. Great fun was had by all especially as children sponged Mr Cunningham and Mr Pratley with lots of water… and playground grit! A final fundraising total will be calculated this week.

Our final week sees our Year 6 Leavers Mass and afternoon tea on Tuesday 17th July at 1.30pm and the Year 6 Fun Day on Wednesday 18th July. Drawers will be cleared and PE kits sent home this week in the final preparations for the end of the term.

Have a good week,

The Year 6 Team