Year 6
🌈Welcome to our Year 6 page. 🌈
Welcome, everyone, to Year 6. Here, you will find out what we have been learning about in class and any special events or visitors we may have had.
A Right Royal Do
We were so very lucky to be invited to take part in ‘A Right Royal Do’ at the Gala Theatre, an event organised by Durham County Council to give thanks for the Queen’s 70 years of public service and to recognise her impact on both the UK and the Commonwealth. Our pupils in Years 5 and 6 were coached by April Olatunji from Gem Arts to learn a medley of gospel songs. Even though they have only had 5 weeks of training, all pupils performed beautifully and, if we dare say it, stole the show during the performances. As well as singing together, some of our pupils sang a solo part too. Not only did they have the chance to sing with April in front of an audience, they also performed with the Voices of Virtue Gospel Choir and had the opportunity to be flag bearers at the beginning of the show. Everyone had a marvellous time, including all of the staff who helped with the event.
The Duck Factory
Year 6 took part in the ‘Duck Factory’ as part of their enterprise work. Each member of the group had a specific job that they had to do to ensure their company ran smoothly. The purpose of the task was to make and sell a variety of paper ducks. However, it wasn’t as simple as that. Each new working day brought a different type of duck that needed to be made. Everyone in the group needed to work together and the sales negotiators had to barter at the Duck Trading Post to get the best price possible for their ducks. Everyone had a great time learning new skills.
Year 6 Athletics
Some of Year 6 pupils took part in an athletics competition at the Riverside Ground. They all gave their very best and we ended up with 4 of our pupils making it to the athletics finals. Our pupils’ behaviour was exemplary and they were a credit to our school at all times.
NSPCC Number Day Year 6
In Year 6, we started off the day by watching the virtual assembly by the NSPCC. This showed us how to speak out so we could keep safe. We considered who we have around us to keep us safe and who we could talk to. In mathematics, we carried out different activities including 'The Mystery of the Olympic Ringer' which involved carrying out different maths challenges. We also took part in the NSPCC/TTRockstars challenge and finished a very respectable 707 out of out of 60242 classes who took part (total class score).
Captain Chemistry
We had a fabulous day with Captain Chemistry where we learned all about things to do with ‘Light and How we see Things’. To begin with, we explored how light travels and how to change its direction. We also created our own periscopes. We then carried out an investigation into the size of shadows where we found that the further away the figure was from the screen the greater the size of the shadow. After lunch, we explored microscopes and telescopes and created our own telescope. We finished the day off by exploring writing secret coded messages. We certainly enjoyed our day and made a great start to our new topic.
Geography - Types of Forests Trioramas
As part of our work into looking at different forests, we created our own trioramas. For this work, we researched different types of forests, including rain forests, temperate forests and boreal forests. On our trioramas, we described the forest we chose and drew what the forest would look like, including the animals that lived there. This gave us a greater insight into different forest types. We are very proud of our work.
Zones of Regulation
We are enjoying our Zones of Regulation work where we have been exploring and understanding our feelings. As part of our work, we organised various feelings into different categories. We have also played Zones of Regulation bingo. Each morning, we put our name into a category to show how we are feeling. We can change this during the day if we would like to.
Reading Plus
Children in Year 6 now have access to Reading Plus. This is a scheme for reading comprehension and vocabulary that is particularly tailored for your child. Their log in details have been provided, along with a letter which explains the programme, We will be using Reading Plus on a regular basis in school and it will also be part of your child's homework each week. It would be helpful if your child could also access this at home in addition to the homework set. Below I have attached useful information about the programme.
Reading Plus Video - Pupil Dashboard
Adam Bushnell
We had the pleasure of being treated to a visit from Adam Bushnell. The focus was World War 1 and what it was like to spend time in the trenches. We had the opportunity to look at, and hold, memorabilia from World War 1, including Adam’s grandad’s dog tags (authentic) and imitation artillery. We then considered the sights and smells of life in the trenches before heading outside to build our own imitation trenches. This then led to a descriptive piece of writing about the trenches.
Flanders Fields
As part of our work on World War 1, we have been studying the poem ‘Flanders Fields’. We explored the images that the poem created for us and explained what this meant to us. We then used a process called Blackout Poetry to create a message within the poem, which we then turned into a poem of their own. We also created a final piece of work where we showed the poem within Flanders Fields using images to support this. All of the class thoroughly enjoyed this work and we were very proud of what we produced. To support our understanding of why we wear poppies, we investigated the history behind them and then created our own (which you can see them wearing in the photographs).
Remembrance Service
Our Year 6 pupils shared their thoughts of the poem ‘Flanders Fields’ with our Year 3 and Year 4 pupils as part of our Remembrance Service. They shared how the poem made them feel and how they were grateful for everything that our soldiers have done, so that we can live the life we all live today. They then shared their own messages they created from within the poem.
SSP Cross Country Event
We took part in a cross country event which was organised by the School Sports Partnership. We all enjoyed it and it gave us a great understanding of what it would be like to take part in other cross country events.
Firework Poetry
As part of our work on firework safety, poetry and art, we looked at Enid Blyton's poem 'Firework Night'. This was told from the point of view of a dog on bonfire night. We used this as inspiration to write our own poem from the point of view of an animal. Some of us created poems to remind us how to be safe on bonfire night.
Year 6 performed the song Harvest Samba to celebrate Harvest.
Year 6 Colour Run
