Thank you to all parents and carers who attended our Online Parents Evening – it was very well represented and we hope that you left feeling like your child is working hard and is settling in to year 6 life – we believe EVERY child is.

We will be in contact over the next week with what we advise your child would benefit from when purchasing the CGP books. On top of this, hopefully you have been shown by your child the SATSBOOTCAMP website that year 6 have subscribed to, and they have their username and password somewhere safe for some top-up learning at home during the school term and the holidays! The teachers of year 6 cannot stress enough what a beneficial tool the SATSBOOTCAMP website is as a learning and revision platform – the PITCH of question and the RANGE and VARIATION of question and question style is very similar to that of SATs, so your child will grow in their composure, confidence and resilience all of the time as they navigate the website and its questions. Mr Pratley and Mr Land used the website on their year 6 cohort of children three years ago and they absolutely bounced off the challenge of the questions and their knowledge and ‘test-fitness’ grew comprehensively. What’s not to love?!!!

Maths sees us deepening our strategies for solving division problems, and the possible ways we can go about this. The children have enjoyed the challenge of long division and have built their resilience to this method! It is hoped that they will end the week with a range of different ways to go about solving division arithmetic questions, including the partitioning method and using factor pairs as the number you are dividing by…It has been some number-crunching work so far, but they are seeing the fruits of their labour.

Our English and Reading unit sees the children over the next couple of weeks exploring a poem by Siegfried Sassoon – ‘The Hero’ – which delves in to World War 1 life in the trenches and at home, and the mother’s reaction to this. Marrying up with this text driver is a video extract which complements the poem uncannily, and so the children have a unique platform to write a poignant story from, when the mother receives the news of her son passing. The children have explored the feelings and thoughts of the mother so that they can compose a story that captures the emotional scene and the differing and hidden views of the Brother Officer delivering the news.

Finally, we would like to extend a big thank you to Rachel Mason from the Havant branch of the Two Saints Charity for giving her time to share her experiences of working with homeless people for over fifteen years. The children are now well informed and ready to take action to help this charity in the valuable work they do.

The week has seen the children take a very objective view of their writing and they have really had the time to reflect upon their Fairthorne Report – editing, reflection and adaptation have been central to their role as ‘Writer’ and ‘Reader’.

On top of this, Year 6 have immersed in the film ‘Hidden Figures’ as part of our Black History focus, which explores and offers a deeper insight into the lives of the ‘Computers’ – the women who worked at NASA during the Space Race of the 1960s. A key figure the children have delved into is that of Katherine Johnson, and they explored the barriers and obstacles she faced as a young black woman in 1960s America. Children really demonstrated a mature and empathetic outlook which they should be proud of. This has allowed them to have the thinking space to see what learning values of the school Katherine exhibited. Furthermore, children have made links between the qualities Katherine showed and the core values Saint Oscar Romero displayed during his lifetime. The month of November is synonymous with the idea of Reflection, and the children’s learning has aligned with this.

Please see below an example of the Report writing…

Stewardship Project

This Monday we are delighted to be welcoming Rachel Mason from the Two Saints charity into Year 6. She will be explaining to the children the work that her organisation carries out in our local area and giving further insight into the problems faced by rough sleepers. We are all looking forward to this and the children have armed themselves with some very thoughtful questions.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 6 Team

Year 6 pupils have had a very thoughtful and reflective week this week, as you would expect at this time of year.

In addition to their wonderful poems and artwork for the Remembrance Service at Cowplain Shopping Centre, the children have also been learning about the issue of homelessness within our local community. This is in preparation for a visit from Two Saints – a charity focused on assisting rough sleepers in rebuilding their lives.

See below for excellent thinking around this topic from Johan John.

Have a wonderful weekend

The Year 6 Team

What a busy week! The children have not stopped and have worked hard to adjust back into school life and behaviours following a two-week hiatus from the classroom…

We hope the children really prospered from their week at Fairthorne and it is without doubt that the adults witnessed every child grow within that time – it was a pleasure to be with them outside of the school environment and they really did show their own qualities and personalities.

Weaving the experience of Fairthorne into the school curriculum has meant that children have drawn upon their own experiences and conclusions of activities they enjoyed the most. This will culminate next week when they pen a report to Year 5 parents about the value the trip represents and the benefits to the real world for the children.

Year 6 were very grateful to have been asked to create a collection of poems relating to Remembrance Day and World War One. The chosen children drilled in on the real life experiences of Harry Patch, who served at Passchendaele, in the Third Battle of Ypres. They were able to connect emotively to what he was saying and from this, the children portrayed the horrors of war through the form of a poem. The remaining Year 6 pupils created numerous poppies for display in the Prayer Garden and for the Co-operative Funeral Parlour in Cowplain, which is where children will go next week to read and distribute their poems to the public.

In other work, Year 6 have made a start on their Homelessness Project, which will culminate in them fundraising for the Two Saints Charity by collectively walking or jogging, as a Year Group, one thousand kilometres in one morning! More to follow on this soon…

The Year 6 Team

Well – we were certainly blessed with the weather today! It wasn’t looking good overnight but thankfully we woke up to blue skies full of excitement for the day ahead. The day culminated with joke telling and a good sing-song around the campfire. Some photos below:

The children have enjoyed a fun-filled day of activities and continue to surprise us with the enthusiasm and energy they put into each new pursuit! As I write this they are busting their moves on the dancefloor, well fueled by a delicious dinner and tuck-shop treats! Some photos of the day are below – more to follow when we return home.

A fantastic day of challenging themselves and making memories has been had by all. The children have arrived at the team building challenges and are impressing all with their co-operation and communication skills. They are also enjoying the food – don’t take it personally! Some photos of the day can be found below:

Until tomorrow!

The Year 6 Team

Just a quick blog this evening to assure parents that we have arrived and settled in well to our new surroundings. As I type this, the corridors are eerily quiet – the children have packed a great deal into the afternoon and evening and seem more than ready for a lie down and sleep…

The Year 6 children have put in some extra effort this week, safe in the knowledge that next week we shall all be enjoying the outdoor environment at Fairthorne Manor!

They all worked well to incorporate the writing skills we have been working on in a detailed description of Lucy finding the wardrobe that would lead her to Narnia. In maths they applied their addition and subtraction skills to solve problems involving perimeter in a range of contexts. We completed our science investigation into lung capacity, drawing conclusions from our results and suggesting next steps, while in RE we learnt how hard it is to bring about harmony in places in the world where there is disharmony, looking at the work of CAFOD and other agencies.

So a busy week! But we are now all looking forward to Fairthorne Manor. Please read below for some last minute reminders which have also been communicated via Parentmail:

We are very excited to be leaving for Fairthorne Manor on Monday and are sure the children are too. We thought you might welcome some last minute information as you prepare over the weekend.

Drop-off and pick-up timings

Monday 18^th October Drop-off

– Please drop-off in the normal fashion from 8:30am at the north gate. Children will then place their bags in the Unity Building and wait in the playground. Wear outdoor clothing suitable for the prevailing weather conditions.

Friday 22^nd October Collection

We will return to school between 2:00 and 2:30pm and would appreciate it if arrangements can be made for the children to be collected ASAP upon arrival.

KIT LIST REMINDERS

• ROLL-ON DEODORANT ONLY PLEASE! Spray deodorants will set off the smoke alarms in the rooms.
• AT LEAST TWO-PAIRS OF SHOES. Preferably 2 pairs (1 for wet activities) AND a pair of wellies.
• A ‘WATERPROOF’ COAT IS ESSENTIAL. The weather is looking changeable and children will have a great time if they can remain dry. Waterproof trousers are useful too.
• You do not need to provide a wetsuit!
• A pair of water shoes (like you may use down the beach) can be brought.
• HAIRDRYERS – We will provide a room with hairdryers for those children who may need them.
• NO MOBILE PHONES
• BRING A TORCH as we will be outdoors in the evenings
• NO SWEETS TO BE TAKEN. Children can have £5 of tuck shop money (in change please) that they can learn to ration across the week.

ALL PACKED IN A BAG THAT YOUR CHILD CAN MANAGE ON THEIR OWN.

Many thanks

The Year 6 Team

Another week has flown by with the Year 6 children enjoying a varied and challenging set of learning opportunities.

Our maths has focused on finding efficient and accurate ways of adding numbers, through rounding and adjusting, redistribution of one number to another or through most people’s favourite – the column method. We have been impressed with the lateral thinking that took place in class and the explanations and reasoning children were able to give to support their choices of method. Maybe you can ask your child if they can add up your shopping bill mentally as you make your way around the shops this weekend?!

English has seen the children continue to develop their ideas and sentence structures for their upcoming retelling of how Lucy found the wardrobe in C S Lewis’ ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe’. They are all making good progress in combining action, description, thoughts and feelings into their work.

We are continuing with running in our weekly class PE sessions, and are glad to be able to confirm that the children are doing well, running further and for longer. This practice will stand them in good stead when we are having to move between activities at Fairthorne Manor.

Many thanks to all for returning your meal choice forms. We hope you are managing to find items that are required on the kit list. If you are finding it difficult to secure any items, do let us know as we may well be able to find what you need from within the school community.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

The Year 6 Team