Dear Parents and carers,

Happy New Year!

A short week but a good start to 2017.

We welcome Mrs Pearson to our teaching team. She is taking over Mrs Fleming’s classes in the morning and doing targeted small group work in the afternoon.

We are studying Stormbreaker as our text in English and the children are really enjoying it so far. It links with our topic on Spies and we are looking forward to some good quality home learning from the pyramid they have taken home today. This term they can choose to put their work into a folder rather than a school scrapbook if they wish. We will continue to look for good presentation as well as content, and expect the work to be in school every Friday.

We are looking forward to our trip to Beaulieu next Friday, which is also linked to our topic. Can we just remind you that permission slips are required, even if you have made a payment online. Also, the journey will take approximately an hour and a half, so, if needed, travel sickness pills should be taken in the morning. Any required for the afternoon should be provided in a named envelope.

If you happen to have any shoe boxes, could you please send them in for our Science project? Thank you.

This week we have been checking that children remember their spelling work from last term. Next week they will be getting a new spelling list, but could you please ensure that they continue to revise work they have already covered.

Next week in maths we will be applying multiplication and division to fractions and measures.

Have a lovely weekend,

The Year Six team.

Our last week has definitely had a festive feel! Christmas lunch was a great success with the Year 6 assisting the younger children with their lunch, great fun was had at the Pantomime – Peter Pan and it was great to see so many Christmas jumpers today.  Also, a huge thank you to all of the cards and gifts that were brought in for staff – it is never expected but so greatly appreciated.

No formal homework has been set for children over the Christmas period. We have spoken to the children about maintaining regular reading for comprehension as well as increasing vocabulary choices. Maths opportunities are available online if required. Any encouragement of home learning is welcome if your child has a opputune moment.

The first part of next half term sees our English based around Anthony Horowitz’s Stormbreaker and in Maths we will be looking at fluency, problem solving and reasoning across all four operations.

All that is left to say is have a wonderful Christmas holidays and a happy new year. We look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday 4th January 2017.

The Year 6 Team

…only a week to go! It has been a full and busy penultimate week.

As we approach the end of our first term in Year 6, it has been wonderful to see how far the children have already come, not just in their learning but in how they are continuing to mature into wonderful citizens.  On Monday, in preperation for the walk to the Advent service, the children chose a reception partner to escort to the church. Such kindness and tenderness towards the younger children was clearly evident in the class and this continued during the walk to and from the church on Tuesday. Many staff commented on how thoughtful and loving the behaviour of the Year 6 children was during the 90 minute round trip; encouraging  and supporting the younger children to keep going even when tired.

This selfless attitude continued today during 6C’s day through supporting the younger year groups in the activities and running the Mile for Maisie as well as organising a stunning cake sale to raise further funds for the Hampshire Air Ambulance. We are so very proud of the personal and learning goals the children have achieved so far.

Home Learning – Maths and Bug Club reading have been set. Plus an extra Maths task was given yesterday for a ‘Bring and Share’ lesson on Monday – could children please bring in an example of a % reduction in a real life context. With a plethora of sales online and in supermarkets – an advert in a leaflet, newspaper or magazine or a print-out of a instore promotion showing a % reduction would be gratefully appreciated so we can apply our learning to a real life context. It is also the final week for the learning pyramid and RE homework to be completed.

After Wednesday PE can be taken home to be washed. Please check your child’s PE kit and if there is anything missing please check in the class or lost property.

Next Week Events – Christmas lunch is on Tuesday and the Peter Pan pantomime is on Wednesday. Don’t forget Christmas Jumper Day on Friday.

Have a lovely weekend. Only 16 sleeps to go…

Year 6 Team

Dear Parents and Carers,

The big event of this week was our Year 5 and 6 Mass. It went very well, with excellent behaviour from the children and lovely readings. Thank you very much to those family members who attended, and special thanks to those who walked with us to and from the church. We would not be able to do it without you.

Another thank you for your support in encouraging your children in their job applications. We received 38 in all; successful applicants will be notified as soon as possible. The standard was very high and children have obviously made huge steps towards a valuable life skill.

Next week we will be moving on to subtraction in maths. In English we are continuing to think about Frankenstein and will be writing a newspaper report. If you would like to share some suitable news articles with your children over the weekend, this would help them develop their journalistic writing style.

Please bear in mind that we have only three weekends left to complete the Home Learning Pyramid. Please encourage your children to work on it. Far too many children are still not submitting any work.  My Maths and Abacus have been set, as well as a new book on Bug Club.

Useful preparation for next week’s R.E. would be to read Matthew 25:1-13, the parable of the bridesmaids and Luke 12:35-40, the parable of the servant waiting for the master to return.

Enjoy your weekend,

The Year 6 team.

As this is National Anti-Bullying Week, we have been discussing with the children ways to keep themselves safe on the internet and social media. The children had interesting discussions around this topic and asked thoughtful questions to deepen their understanding of how cyber bulling occurs, what to do if this happens to them and the emotional effects that words can have on people’s feelings in both the short and long term.

This message was also part of their morning trip to Fort Purbrook to take part in a variety of activities in how to stay safe in different scenarios. Workshops included: safe fun at the beach; keeping the environment clean; what to do in a fire emergency; domestic abuse and social media/chatroom/stranger safety.  Evaluating the activities with the children afterwards showed that they found these sessions of great value and learned many things that they had not been aware of beforehand. Please feel free to speak to your children about their morning.

Just to remind you again, following the letter earlier this week, about the Year 5 and 6 Mass at the Sacred Heart Church next Tuesday (22nd November). Everyone is welcome and we would love to see as many people as possible to support the children. Please send in the acceptance slips by Tuesday morning. If anyone is able to accompany us on the walk to and from the church, please let us know by Monday.

A big thank you for supporting us in home learning. It is so important that you encourage to complete daily reading and weekly tasks. Just a reminder that we would like Home Learing Adventure books by Friday each week. Abacus, My Maths and Bug Club reading have been set.

Enjoy your weekend.

Year 6 Team

Dear Parents and Carers,

Our focus this week has been preparation for our Remembrance Day assembly.  The children enjoyed reading and analysing poetry and used different poetic devices to write their own. The results were impressive and many have been published in a book which was offered in assembly. Five children read out their poems and others have been included in our Spirituality book.  We would also like to thank those children who made an effort at home to produce something for Remembrance. A PowerPoint was included in assembly and other offerings added to the sense of occasion. It is very heartening to see children applying their school learning to their independent home activities.

Children have come home today with their new home learning pyramid. We hope that this term all children will make a big effort to complete work weekly. We have ensured that all of the tasks are achievable. Although the tasks can be completed independently, could we ask you to check that they are completed to a high standard of content and presentation before pages are stuck in? Also, the scrapbooks get damaged very easily, so transporting them in a plastic wallet would be very helpful. Thank you for your help with this; we want the children to feel pride in the work they produce.

Yesterday we were involved in a workshop about bullying, which the children found both enjoyable and thought provoking. We will be following this up next week.

Next Friday, 18th November, Year Six will be spending the morning at Fort Purbrook, taking part in Junior Citizen activities. We will be collected from school at 9.05 and will be back by lunchtime, so the children won’t need to bring anything extra. Please make sure they are wearing warm coats as some of the activities will be outside.

Please make sure you check your child’s Home Learning Diary regularly. You may be pleasantly surprised and find a silver or gold sticker if your child has demonstrated excellent learning behaviour; we may also communicate other issues.

Thank you for your attendance at Parents Evening. It was good to see so many of you and we appreciated your supportive comments. We will continue to support your children in achieving their targets at school and hope that you will encourage them to apply them in their home learning. We are sure you know how important your support is and the positive effect it has on your children’s progress in school.

We hope you have a lovely weekend,

The Year Six team.

Dear Parents and Carers,

Back at school after half term holiday for only four days, but still a lot achieved this week.

We have been enjoying our work on poetry related to Remembrance and World War I. Next week we will be writing our own poems and practising them for inclusion in our Remembrance service on Friday. You might like to help your child find and read more poetry on the subject this weekend so that they further develop their ideas and vocabulary for their work next week.

We have finished working on fractions in maths – for the moment, at least – and will be turning our attention to measures. Look out for opportunities to use these at home, as maths in real life contexts is always more meaningful. Maths homework has been set on Abacus and My Maths.

You should have received a letter today about the use of social media by children under the age of 13. If you haven’t, please ask for one. It is important that you have a discussion about this with your child to ensure they fully understand the issues. Also, please remember that Mr Austin is running an e-safety workshop for parents on November 10th at 2.30  in the school hall. If you haven’t already signed up for this, there is still time.

We have had some rain this week and many children have had no coat. With a coat, they are able to stay outside when the weather is a bit wet; without a coat, they are more likely to be brought inside for wet break. They really need the fresh air and time to run around, so please encourage them to wear a coat to school.

You will know about the accident suffered by one of our Year 6 pupils yesterday. We have been holding her in our thoughts and prayers, and all children will have the opportunity to send her cards and messages early next week.

Many of you will be attending firework celebrations this weekend. Have a wonderful time and stay safe.

Looking forward to seeing you at Parents evenings,

The Year Six team.

Our final week of learning has ended with a fantastic 6Cs Day! The children really enjoyed the opportunity to work in house teams across the year groups. Year 6 especially relished the opportunity to support the younger children with their learning and a chance to develop positive learning behaviours across the whole school. Well done Year 6; we are proud of you! 🙂

Home Learning Update –

Abacus and MyMaths homework has been set for half term.

Our current R.E. unit is Prayers, Saints and Feasts and explores the concept of Heaven and the church’s belief in Mary and the feasts celebrated in her honour. The children will take a more detailed look at the lives of the Holy souls and the saints and their significance in our lives today.  Please encourage your child to produce a piece of work (writing/art/poetry etc) to reflect an aspect of this unit they wish to explore in greater detail.

Please finish any home learning on the Child vs Wild topic before Friday 2nd November as we will be beginning a new topic after half term – ‘Frightening Fiction’ – which will be based around Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If your child is enthusiastic/at a loose end over half term, then please feel free to start investigating Mary Shelley’s life and works and visual images of Frankenstein.

We hope that you all have a happy, fun and safe half term holiday and look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 1st November.

Year 6 Team

Dear Parents,

We have had a productive week, completing our Just So stories ready to share on Monday, working very hard to develop our understanding of fractions and learning about Mary Anning.

Next week is set to be a busy one. On Tuesday the NSPCC will be delivering  assemblies to KS1 and KS2, and Year 6 will be taking part in a workshop in the afternoon. Friday, of course, is 6Cs day.

A reminder that Drink Drive posters should be in school by Wednesday. They are being collected on Thursday and we need time to make sure they are correctly labelled.

We are very pleased with the work happening at home to support spelling. Spelling test results reflect this. Please continue to encourage your children to read daily and make sure they are reading a range of books, including non-fiction. There are lots of fun diary-type or graphic novels out there, but they need variety and challenge too to improve their vocabulary and inference skills. This message is being communicated through our Guided Reading sessions.

On Monday, we will be looking at inheritance as part of our science unit on adaptation and evolution. It would be lovely if we could have some family photographs so we can spot similarities through the generations. You might prefer to send photocopies rather than original photos which are precious to you. Don’t worry if you don’t have any, we just need a small sample.

Have a lovely weekend,

The year 6 team.

Dear Parents,

We have been working hard this week, studying Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. The children have been using their creativity skills to plan their own Just So ‘Giraffe’ story, which we are looking forward to writing next week.

We have spent some time investigating fractions this week. The year 6 teachers are getting very excited about continuing fraction work next week, however we have received a mixed reaction from the children – some smiles, some groans!! If you feel like doing a fraction related investigation of your own this weekend, this could make your child feel more confident for next week.  Thank you.

At the beginning of the week, we had a visit from local PCSOs who delivered a session about Drink Driving and invited children to design a poster for a local community competition to discourage drink driving as we go towards Christmas. Children have brought their poster home this week to complete as part of their homework tasks.

Maths activities are available for your child.

As part of our CAFOD fundraising event today, the children enjoyed the challenge of designing, planning and resourcing their team’s activity. A good time was had by all and were very proud to have contributed to the total raised.

Have a great weekend (especially if it includes fractions 🙂

The Year 6 Team