Autumn 2
‘Men Wanted: for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.’
Does this appeal to you?
This was an advert sent out by Ernest Shackleton before his third expedition in 1914. You might be surprised to know that more than 5,000 people responded with a willingness to join him on his dangerous journey to the ice, displaying the true hero and leader he was. Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed exploring Shackleton’s adventures this term. They have produced a number of high-quality, emotive diary entries in role as Shackleton and have spent time developing their language choices and writing style.
In line with this, the children have taken part in a number of scientific lessons based on Antarctica as part of their WE ARE Antarctic Explorers project. They have learnt about adaptation and evolution and have taken part in a number of thought-provoking discussions as part of this. We were really excited to have received a postcard and bookmark each from the British Antarctic Survey, as well as taking part in a webinar during The Antarctica Week Festival.
The children have continued to engage in all lessons, including maths where we have done lots of Geometry learning. We are very proud of the progress they are making across the curriculum and are certain this will continue in the New Year.
Well done Year 6!
Autumn 1
WOW! What an amazing start to the year our Year 6 children have had! I don’t know if you've heard, but there was an annoying virus that resulted in a lockdown back in March, meaning our pupils were busy working from the comforts of their homes for a while. However, you would never have guessed they had been out of school for so long, as from the first day back, they have shown nothing but an eagerness to learn, excellent behaviour for learning and kindness towards others. They transitioned into using the new school rules smoothly, with regular hand washing, taking responsibility for their individual equipment packs, and of course, social distancing! We couldn’t be more proud of their mature and settled approach to returning to the routine of school life.
Our year began with one of our favourite projects yet- ‘We Are Illustrators’. This term gave our pupils the chance to become sketching experts, using only a pencil and rubber to create marvellous master pieces! We learnt and practised a range of sketching techniques, such as smudging and cross-hatching, which were then used in the process of creating our final view finders. The final outcome was inspired by the thought-provoking book from our English lessons- ‘The Viewer’. Through the stimulating illustrations by Shaun Tan, we were able to produce many high-quality English outcomes, such as poems, descriptive paragraphs and alternative endings.
Maths lessons have been successful due to the children’s hard work and determination. We have learnt a lot of new skills, particularly with fractions, as well as developing our Reasoning skills! The children have used their growth mind sets to rise to the challenge on a daily basis. In addition, we have had lots of fun with our book in Whole Class Reading- ‘There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom’. As you can probably tell from the title, it has been extremely humorous, but also touches on some current and relevant issues.
We can’t wait to see the children grow even further into independent, determined and persistent learners next term!