6GP

Week commencing 10th July 2023!

This week has been fantastic! We have faced our fears by swimming through gallons of mud and climbing to the highest heights! 

We have worked as a team all week, encouraging one another to reach new heights and conquer each activity we have been given.

There are plenty of pictures on our twitter feed, but here are some of Mrs Wilson’s favourites!

Week commencing 3rd July 2023!

This week has been Transition week for most of our Year 6s and we hope that they have all had a great time settling into their new schools. We have had some of our children still with us and they have been spending the week completing some fun activities related to their foundation topics. Here is one example, in which the children coloured their butterflies to blend into their habitats. In total, 24 butterflies were stuck around the room – how many can you spot in the pictures?

Week commencing 26th June 2023!

This week Year 6 had their WWII enrichment day! We spent the day imagining it was VE day (Victory in Europe). The children began by looking into rationing (what impact this had on the people of Britain and why this was necessary during the war). They then followed ration recipes to try a rationed version of a vegetable pie and, for dessert, a bread-and-butter pudding. The children then tried to ‘make do’, decorating their classroom by creating rag rugs from old material. They also looked into the different fighter planes, an area that came up of great interest from our lessons on The Blitz. To end the day, we set up the classroom as a street party, listened to music played on VE day and tasted our delicious rationed recipes!

Week commencing 19th June 2023!

This week Year 6 have spent the week becoming entrepreneurs! They have spent time working in small groups to come up with a team name and a plan to make as much money as possible! From slime to sweet stalls, to ‘soak the teacher’ and a car washing service, I was so impressed with all of their creative ideas. On Friday they spent their time selling to the different year groups, working on their sales skills! Well done to each group – the winning team will be revealed at graduation!

Week commencing 12th June 2023!

This week in year 6 we have spent a day looking at Victorian artists and trying to recreate some of their most famous works!

In the morning we looked at Lowry and his famous depictions of the industrial towns including ‘matchstick men’. We then spent the afternoon looking at William Morris’ artwork and his wallpaper designs.

In the afternoon, we did a gallery walk and discussed whose artwork was effective and why – here are some of the children that were chosen by their peers and their artwork that was selected!

Week commencing 22nd May 2023!

This week, 6GP had the joys of a DT day! They spent the morning designing their waistcoats, picking their prints and completing their templates. The afternoon was then spent attempting to sew their front and back materials together to form a waistcoat!

Whilst there were a few hiccups along the way with tying knots in our threads, correctly completing the needlework and stitching together our arm holes, we all had so much fun and we all ended up with a miniature waistcoat fit for a cuddly toy!

Here are some photos of our completed waistcoats, as well as Shahid who managed to stitch his waistcoat to his school jumper (we look forward to adding this in as a sketch for our end of year performance).

Week commencing 15th May 2023!

This week, our enrichment day focussed on Pop Art. 

We learnt that Pop Art came to the forefront of the art world following World War Two.

As part of the day, we explored the work of Lichenstein and Warhol and then used these methods and ideas, combined with our own, to create our own pieces.

See what you think of what we created!

Week commencing 9th May 2023!

This week in history, the children were learning about how the Blitz impacted Britain. To help them experience what life in London would have been like during the Blitz, the classroom was set up to replicate an air raid, through the use of sound and light. They then spent time looking at sources to piece together how the Blitz affected Britain’s morale, the devastation it caused and the impact it had on war effort.

Here are some pictures of the children during the ‘air raid’.

Week commencing 2nd May 2023!

This week, year 6 have been looking at sonnets in English. They have looked at the life and work of Shakespeare, focusing particularly on Sonnet 18, ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’

Using iambic pentameter, the children have learnt how to read sonnets, ensuring they are using the correct rhythm within the poem. They have also done well to identify and understand its key features such as rhyming patterns, number of lines, stanzas and key themes.

Here are some photographs of the children attempting to perform Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 – it was so pleasing to see all children stand up and perform in front of their peers!

Week commencing 24th April 2023!

This week we have been learning all about micro organisms. 

After looking at micro organisms and how they can be helpful and harmful, we planned an experiment to see whether or not we could grow our own bacteria.

Using bread, we thought about which surfaces might have the greatest amount of bacteria on them and then wiped them!

Each piece of bread is in a sealed plastic bag so that we can see what develops. We will let you know our findings in a few weeks time! 

Week commencing 17th April 2023!

This week in Year 6, we have started a suspense unit called Francis. The class loved watching this video clip and learning the story by acting out certain scenes as shown in the pictures below!

They have done brilliantly to effectively describe the main character (a rebellious teenager) as well as select some really effective descriptive language ready for retelling the story next week!

Week commencing 13th March 2023!

Over the last two weeks, Year 6 have started a brand new geography unit Antarctica!

I have been really impressed with all of their knowledge so far on this continent. A big shout out to Sara, who conducted lots of additional research at home, and Ammara, who brought in two huge books relating to Antarctica and all of the animals that live there (your animal book was particularly beautiful).

Once we had spent a lesson discovering Antarctica’s key physical features and climate, we then spent a lesson debating whether or not people should reside in Antarctica. There were some amazing reasons why we shouldn’t as well as some interesting ways suggested to overcome its cold climate!

Many of their ideas and suggestions will be feeding into our future lessons, but here are just some of our initial ideas as well as Qasim’s very detailed work about Antarctica’s physical features!

Week commencing 6th March 2023!

Over the past week, Year 6 have focused on retelling the story of Hansel and Gretel, forming their own twisted tales. Whilst the whole class have found creative ways to incorporate horror throughout their narrative, I was particularly impressed with Mariam’s writing that had a very tragic end! Here is her rather lengthy version below, but a huge well done to everyone in the class for being so enthusiastic with this unit!

Week commencing 20th February 2023!

This week in science, Year 6 have been looking at Darwin’s study of Finch’s and how this supported his theories of evolution. The children took on the role of becoming ‘ducks’ and recreating different variation of beaks to see which ‘island’ they would survive on!

We had such a fun afternoon and discovered that our investigation supported Darwin’s theories!

This week in science year 6 have been carrying out experiments involving light and refraction! As you can see from some of their faces, they were surprised by some of their weird and wonderful findings!

This week, Year 6 have been taking part in a TTRS competition! Well done to all of the pupils that spent some of their break and lunchtime continuing to play to help our school beat all of the other CAT schools. Although there is still time, we are currently in the lead! Go 6GP!

This week year 6 had a Victorian enrichment day during which they experienced what life was like for a Victorian school child. When the children arrived, their nails were inspected, they were lined up in height order starting with the boys and were made to sit in silence in rows. They spent most of the day learning 8 key rules for the classroom (such as standing up as soon as an adult enters the room, bowing or curtsying for the register and only speak when given permission). They then experienced traditional Victorian lessons such as elocution, handwriting, arithmetic and drill class; tried gruel for the first time; and played some traditional Victorian games such as ‘The Hokey Pokey Man’.

Whilst many of the children struggled with the style of a Victorian classroom and its strict teachers, many did well to complete the tasks and empathise with those children who faced this!

Here are some photos from the day. A huge shout out to Leo and Ben who tried really hard with their homemade costumes!

In science this week, the children have continued to investigate their topic ‘Light’. After learning about how light travels in straight lines last week, they used this knowledge to build a periscope. The children loved using these in class to see their friends through it and here are some pictures of them using their periscopes!

During our English lessons, Year 6 have been writing a historical narrative about Pompeii. Well done to Tamara who has worked really hard to develop her vocabulary this week to effectively describe the events that unfolded. She is currently top copying this work to be displayed on the Golden writer wall in the hall!

This week, Year 6 started their new topic in history ‘The Victorian Era’. To start the lessons off, they have spent time learning about Victoria and the impact she has made. Here are some photos of the timeline created in class after looking at a range of sources. The children were amazing at piecing together the puzzle of her life and were particularly surprised to learn that she faced 9 assassination attempts!

In year 6 we have been looking at balanced discussions in English this week. The children have chosen a topic that they feel strongly about, such as whether screen time should be limited to 30 minutes a day for children, whether books are better than movies, and whether children should be able to choose their own subjects in school. They have created their main arguments for and against it and have conducted research to ensure that their arguments are developed and persuasive on both sides

Before their writing next week, they have spent time using ‘phrases of debate’ to put their ideas together. They then stood up and had an open debate using their research!

This week, year 6 were lucky enough to go on a school trip to the cinema! We watched a modern-day version of Anne Frank’s story called ‘Where is Anne?’

This week in science, we have started our new unit ‘Electricity’ where the children have been using some of their knowledge learnt in year 4 to create simple circuits. I am pleased to say we have many electricians within the class who were able to look at the scientific diagrams and create a circuit, understanding which ones would and wouldn’t work and why!

This week, year 6 were fortunate enough to have a ‘Voices for Equality’ workshop. Within this lesson, the children continued to explore the life of Anne Frank and learnt about what antisemitism is and what they can do to help prevent this from happening!

Well done to all the children as they worked extremely hard within the workshop and were able to present their new knowledge at the end!

This week, 6GP have thoroughly enjoyed sinking their teeth into Black History Month! They have loved trying to guess the ‘who am I?’ on their way into school and have also enjoyed researching a significant figure who has impacted their lives today! Linking with our science topic, Nabiha has created a fantastic poster about Charles Drew.

6GP have spent the last two weeks looking at Anne Frank in English. We have learnt all about her story and have read snippets of her diary. Well done to Chloe, who did lots of fantastic research at home and was able to incorporate this into her writing!

This week, 6GP took a trip down to the Gurdwara in Grays (our local Sikh temple). During our visit, the children learnt how to show respect to people of this faith and did well to follow the rules within the temple. They listened carefully to the priest, who spoke to the children about Sikhism, and they had a chance to look closely at the holy book. Afterwards, the children were lucky enough to be a part of the Sikh Langar (a free kitchen and communal meal believed to have been set up by Guru Nanak). Every member of the class were really thankful for the hospitality of the volunteers at the Gurdwara, and enjoyed learning about the importance this holy space has on its people. Here are some photos from our visit:

6GP have had a lot of fun this week in our science lessons! We delved further into the circulatory system, focusing specifically on our blood. The whole class were fantastic at recalling all of the four components of blood and could explain all of their functions. Once we learnt about each component, we then had a go at using food from our cupboards to make our own version of blood!

This really helped when writing our non-chronological reports! Well done to all of 6GP who produced some fantastic writing.

This week the Year 6 children have been learning about the Battle of Bosworth. They looked at a range of primary sources to see what weapons and artefacts were found in the field of Bosworth and then pieced together the events. The children thoroughly enjoyed re-enacting the battle, taking the sides of Richard III and Henry Tudor. I was really impressed to see them piecing together how the battle unfolded, as well as their fantastic drama skills!

This week, it has been so lovely to welcome 6GP into the classroom after a well-deserved break! We have had the pleasure of selecting many of our children for new job roles including our new school councillors – well done Arrafi and Liza!

We have also had the pleasure of nominating children to become our wellbeing ambassadors! From our class, Tamara, Ammara, Zack and Andrew have been selected for the role!