Summer 2 2023

Welcome back! It’s our last half term together so let’s make the most of it. Please check this page regularly to see what your child has been up to at school.

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Year 6 are building on work from last half term about what it means to be a disciple and how they respond to the invitations. This unit links really well to work they have previously done in Y6 around what the Kingdom of God is like and about justice.

The children studied Jesus’ Ascension and how Jesus said that he would send the Holy Spirit, just as God had promised, to be there helper. Jesus told the disciples to go out and tell the whole world about him and the good news of forgiveness. Here is a video to watch to share this message together at home.

Year 6 also studied the story of Pentecost and how God sent the Holy Spirit to the believers. This was the beginning of the Church so very special like a birthday! We discussed how exciting birthdays are and how Pentecost is a reminder of how the Apostles continued the work of God inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Year 6 considered how the gifts and talents they’ve been given can be used to serve God’s kingdom. We looked at 4 different scenarios where mistakes had been made, and the children suggested ways to improve this, inspired by sources from the Bible. The following cartoon is a really easy way to help the children learn about this at home too so they can remember to use their talents/gifts in the most ordinary ways, serve God’s kingdom, rely on God and take a risk:

Year 6 also studied many different verses from Mark’s Gospel and thought about how the first disciples might have put these words into action. The children then thought about what these verses mean to them today and how they might be inspired to be a disciple through these words and putting them into action right here, right now! Before writing their ideas, they looked at what a bad one looks like (WABOLL) and discussed what was missing for it to be a good one (WAGOLL).

• Follow me (1:17)
• Come away to some lonely place (6:31)
• Forget self (8:34)
• Take up your cross (8:34)
• Be a servant (10:44)
• Be on your guard (13:33)
• Stay with me (14:32)
• Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Gospel (16:15)

Y6 also led Key Stage 2 Worship, planning readings, reflections, songs and prayers completely independently. The children were so keen to do this well and set up the prayer table with artefacts of their choice. Well done Y6.

The children have also been enjoying their class collective worship with a particular focus on listening to the Word of God linked to talents, friendship, serving and trusting in God. At this time of year, it’s important that we are inspired by the Word of God for strength as the children prepare to move on.

We have reflected on how the seed of faith is planted inside us and that we must nurture that seed to help it grow just like you would if it was a seed and we were trying to grow a plant.

We have reflected on how to remain proud and true to our faith as we move onto pastures new, and how we can look after each other in our new schools even if the children are no longer in the same classes. We will always be a family so the children have listened to the Word of God for inspiration to ensure that we continue to serve one another.

Science

This term we have been finishing off our work on Evolution and Inheritance. Year 6 conducted their own individual research on ipads to find out about how certain animals have adapted over many generations in order to survive and thrive in their environments. We particularly looked at animals such as polar bears, woolly caterpillars and orcas, which can survive and flourish in extremely cold polar environments. Each class member also investigated an animal which has special adaptations to help it survive in the opposite situation – an extremely hot or desert environment. We were all amazed at the wonder of the natural world and the clever ways that animals have survived and passed down the most successful characteristics to their offspring. We discussed the term ‘survival of the fittest’ and the process by which animals with the best adaptations have been able to pass down their genes by reproducing.

As part of our work on animal adaptations, the children enjoyed a lesson in which they designed a new species with special adaptations to help it survive in extreme environments. Some of the new species were adapted to survive in space, others could thrive in multiple environments and all the children’s creations had great adaptations in order to fend off their predators. Some of the children’s work will be posted shortly.

English

Year 6 are currently working on learning their lines for their end of year production. They are very excited to be taking part in this and I’ve been super impressed by how well they are picking up their lines already.

Not only have they picked up their lines, but they have been writing their own characters into the stories and developing completely new story lines too. This has been super to see and quite a dynamic process which has evolved as they have been rehearsing.

We are now working on how to bring a character to life through the use of body language too. How can we make our character more imposing, humourous, tired, etc.?

We are also working on using expression and improved volume for impact on the audience. So far, it’s going well and they will soon be starting to pull all this together and think about stage directions, props, etc.

As well as the production, Year 6 are using their writing skills in history to demonstrate their historical understanding. Please see the History section for full details.

Guided Reading

Year 6 have been enjoying finished the book The Hound of the Baskervilles which we started last term. They love a good mystery story so this ticks all the boxes! We looked at all the potential suspects and reasons why. We used a visual of a map to help to understand the location of significant places in the story too which really helped. I won’t tell you what happens just in case you read the book!

To finish off our mystery theme, the children had a Harris Burdick themed day which is based on the ideas from the book called The Mystery of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsberg. We read the book and looked at the amazing illustrations, captions and titles, and then made predictions about what we thought actually happened to Harris Burdick. The children then had a range of mysteries to work on over the day to solve which would reveal where the answer was to reveal exactly what did happen to Harris Burdick! it was an exciting day, but the mystery remains unsolved as we think the badgers got hold of the final reveal and shredded the ends so we couldn’t quite read the full details!! The mystery continues…

We have now moved onto our new book for this final half term which is called The Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah. Before we read the prologue and looked at the book, Year 6 went for a trip down memory lane as they have learnt about the Windrush in history. They recalled the meaning of key vocabulary and knowledge to bring this learning to mind before we started reading the book.

After this, we moved onto reading the prologue, blurb and looked at the image to predict what the story is about. The title of the book suggests somethings slightly different to the prologue so this was good for discussion. Year 6 wrote their predictions using high standards in writing, making sure they backed up their ideas with evidence. To find out a little bit more about the story, you can watch this.

Summer Reading Challenge

As part of our vision to encourage children to read widely and for pleasure, we invited Angie from Wetherby Library to deliver an assembly all about the Summer Reading Challenge 2023. We are one of only two schools the Wetherby and Boston district that have close links with Wetherby Library and Angie is always happy to come and visit us! As well as taking part in lots of fun activities, Angie told us that the challenge launches on Saturday 8^th July and runs until September. We learned that to complete the challenge, we have to read 6 books or more over the Summer and there are medals, prizes and stickers to help us keep motivated. The Summer Reading Challenge this year has an active theme so Angie brought lots of books that were about sport and athletes to show us. The children loved the assembly and are inspired to take part in the challenge! You can sign up at Wetherby library or visit www.summerreadingchallenge.org.uk for more information. 

Maths

Year 6 are keeping their arithmetic skills polished with regular sessions across all 4 operations and different maths topics like fractions, decimals, percentages, etc. They have done so well over the year and now that SATS are over, we still want to keep these skills fast and fresh ready for Y7.

We have also focussed more this half term on division as it’s the operation that the children tend to find the hardest. We have looked at using multiples and divisibility tests to estimate and predict if a number is divisible exactly or whether remainder will be in the answer. In addition, we have looked at which methods are the most efficient for the calculation.

Art

We are continuing our work on landscapes this half term and experimenting drawing a range of landscapes with similar features in and using our value scale skills more. The children are doing a great job of this, and giving each other feedback to help improve the next try. Photos will follow shortly.

French

In French lessons, we have been building on the topic that we started last half term about sports and hobbies. In our last lesson, we focussed on new vocabulary about hobbies that are not sports and how to say them. This can be tricky as the children need to know a few different verbs. The class focussed on their favourite hobbies and how to say them. We then linked this new vocabulary to the phrases we already know for expressing likes and dislikes about different activities.

Some of the vocabulary and the verbs we have been learning can be seen in this video:

History

Y6 are getting absorbed in their history topic ‘The Mystery Tour’ where they are learning all about Britain since 1948. We are applying learning from last half term all about different types of sources and the importance of a range of evidence and checking how reliable sources are.

Year 6 have also been looking at the experiences of women in the past and we focussed on 1950s as this was a period of great change due to the impact of appliances like vacuum cleaners, fridges, washing machines, etc.  The children enjoyed gathering information from a range of sources and comparing to ensure reliability. Then they made a Venn diagram to compare and contrast life for women in 1950s compared to today. Pictures to follow soon.

Year 6 have also been learning about the experiences of Black, Asian and minority ethics in the 1960s when they came to England to help rebuild the country after the WW2. The Bristol Bus Boycott is a really interesting event which helped to draw national attention to racist discrimination in Britain.

The children used role-play to act out the issues facing the black and asian people at that time. They then came back into class and collected group ideas about how the experiences will have felt to those affected.

Later, they wrote a letter to a friend as someone experiencing racial discrimination and made links back to the 1950s Windrush and WW2 where many of these individuals had served the British Military. It was super to see the children applying their writing skills and demonstrating excellent understanding in history too.

PSHE

Year 6 have been learning about a hard hitting subject of grooming. The children completed a cold task first to assess their current understanding of grooming, and it was clear that we had a lot to learn.

We started with a list of things that you would consider features of a healthy relationship, linking back to prior learning in previous years about what a healthy relationship is. The children were able to confidently tell me lots of different things that show a relationship is healthy, and therefore, features that were unhealthy. For example, if a healthy relationship makes you feel confident, an unhealthy relationship makes you lose your confidence, etc.

When we have compiled our lists, we then looked at how grooming can actually at first feel like a healthy relationship, giving you many of the positives/benefits you would expect from a healthy relationship, yet it is a process to gain your trust to then take advantage. Y6 found this a hard concept to grasp so we watched a really useful video called ‘Alright Charlie’. Throughout the video, we watched for things that might make Charlie feel like this was a healthy relationship, and we spotted the red flags that indicate that the relationship is actually unhealthy. The children are now more able to keep themselves safe and handled the subject with great maturity.

If you would like to revisit this topic with your child at home, please watch the video below:

Year 6 have also completed lots of transition activities in preparation for their days at secondary school so that they can make a good impression with new teachers and be open to making new friends. It’s important that they recognise signs of worry and how to deal with these, and that they are perfectly normal in new situations.

In addition, Y6 have been learning about body image, what this means and how the media manipulate the images we see. They watched some interesting clips to highlight this aimed at both genders as this isn’t just an issue associated with girls anymore.

Here are some useful videos to watch at home together if you would like to discuss this topic more with your child:

Water Safety

During the summer term, when the children often do more water-based activities, we feel it is important to have a lesson about water safety. Year 6 learnt about safety particularly around rivers, canals, lakes and reservoirs. We discussed our experiences of getting in different types of water and swimming in places that were not swimming pools. The children had lots of ideas to share about how they could stay safe and which kinds of water were safe to swim in.

After we had discussed out ideas, we watched a series of videos showing scenarios where something could go wrong in the water. The children had to show what the people in the videos should have done. Examples of dangers included: jumping into water where you don’t know the depth, going in inflatable boats without buoyancy aids and getting into reservoirs to rescue dogs.

Our final task was to design posters showing messages about water safety aimed at other children. Year 6 really showed that they had understood the messages and some of the posters are attached below.