July 2019: Governors’ Y6 Awards 2019

Academic Achievement Award:

Roksanka Karlowska

Roksanka is a naturally highly intelligent student with a real gift for learning. It would be easy for such an able student to rely on natural ability and become complacent. But Roksanka combines her ability with a very impressive work ethic – she consistently seeks out advice and acts on this immediately, often going even further than suggested to meet the exceptionally high standards she sets herself. Roksanka’s talent encompasses all subjects in the curriculum, and when she finds an area in which she is more stretched than others, she embraces this challenge with real joy. As a result of her dedication and love for learning, Roksanka recently achieved full marks in her reading, maths and SPaG SATs and her writing teacher assessment - a thoroughly impressive accomplishment. Roksanka works hard to support the children around her in class and avoids confusing her ability with superiority; she strives to be a kind and patient friend. She is a truly exceptional young lady with a pure love for learning; she is quite probably one of the brightest students I have ever taught and I have no doubt she has an amazing future ahead of her.

Values Ambassador Award:

Luke Baker

Luke embodies every one of the school values and models them daily.  He has a genuine love of learning and applies himself consistently to succeed across the curriculum.  Luke’s excellent SATs results are testament to his dedication and mature work ethic.  He is a positive influence in class and around the school and his friends look to him as a role model.  Everyone knows that Luke can be relied on to make good decisions and treat those around him with courtesy and respect.  He is well known by staff and pupils alike for being an exceptionally sincere, caring and trustworthy young man. His curiosity extends well beyond the classroom; he has acquired a wealth of knowledge from other sources which he shares confidently and with a maturity beyond his years. Luke’s attitude will serve him well through life; I am sure that he will be highly successful in all his future endeavours.

Progress Champion Award:

Ruby Simpkins

Ruby has worked quietly but consistently all through Year 6 and has made the most outstanding progress in all subjects. This is not just a result of her efforts in Year 6 but is testament to an impressive attitude towards bettering herself throughout her primary schooling. Ruby is not overly eager or needy in class; her quiet attitude can sometimes be overlooked as she just gets on with whatever task she has been set without needing constant attention or affirmation. She is able to manage all distractions and focus her mind on how to get the most learning from every day she has at school. As a result, Ruby has made the most impressive progress, in reading, writing and maths, across the year group. Ruby’s mind is set on being ‘the best she can be’, and I have no doubt she will; her determined attitude will take her very far in life.

Sports Ambassador Award:

Anya McCutcheon

Sports Ambassador Award:

Sam King

May: Healthy Living Week

We are exhausted!!! We have ended this very important term for year sixes with a fun-filled week of healthy activities.  Please ask your children about some of their experiences from this week which have included martial arts, healthy cookery, zumba and healthy picnicing. We finished off this afternoon with a wonderful whole-school fun-run. Enjoy your half-term break year 6: you deserve it!

April: Visit to a Murti (Hindu temple)

As the finale to our mini topic on Hinduism, Year 6 were fortunate enough to be invited to a Hindu temple in Swindon. We had a truly interesting and peaceful time looking around the temple trying to spot objects which we had been learning about in class. We took part in some yoga and meditation as well as having the opportunity to experience delicious Indian pakoras. We are very grateful to our Hindu hosts who were so kind and accomodating and were very pleased to answer all of our questions. Please ask us about what we learnt and look out for the information texts we are planning to write at the start of next term which will teach you all about Hinduism.

March: Mock Trial Competition

A team of 12 Year 6 pupils took place in the first round of the 2019 Mock Trial Competition for Primary Schools run by Gloucestershire Magistrates in the Community.  They took on roles as magistrates, prosecutors, witnesses, a legal advisor, members of the witness service, a court artist and a court reporter.  They worked together to prepare the case for the prosecution in the trial of a case of theft of an iPhone and then had to act out the trial with a team from Powells School leading the defence case. 

Pupils from India Class attended as spectators and, after a tense session, the magistrates found the defendant guilty!  Overall winners of the competition will be announced in June and we look forward to finding out how our legal team fared!

Well done to all those who took part; everyone found out a lot about the English legal system which will help us when we are learning about British Values in school.

On Comic Relief Day, Friday 15th March 2019, Y3, Y4 and parents were invited to attend our Fairground Enterprise Event. They brought along their spare change to help support our enterprise stalls which included food, drinks, pocket-money gifts and fairground games. After expenses, our profits were split: 50% went to Comic Relief and each team kept the other 50% for themselves. As a year group we are very proud to have raised almost £300 for Comic Relief.

We also exhibited our miniature working fairground - the pictures of these can be seen below.

March: World Book Day

What sophisticated literary conversationalists! Ghana Class thoroughly enjoyed sharing their favourite books with their friends this afternoon to celebrate World Book Day. Their enthusiasm and excitement was contagious! After hearing about each book, we voted for the one we would most like to read; the winning book was Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman. Why don't  you give it a read? If you're after ideas of the kind of books year 6 really enjoy, take a look at the photos below for inspiration...

February: K'Nex Challenge 2019

Ghana and India competed this week to earn a place in the K'Nex engineering final by designing and building structures to lift heavy objects in a warehouse.  Some of us used  pulley systems, some elevators and some levers. Congratulations to Ryan and Omarion who were the Ghana champions and the very best of luck to the overall winning team from India Class who will be representing Cirencester Primary School  in the final!  Please take a look at the videos of our structures below and see which is your favourite...

February: Safer Internet Day

On Tuesday 05th February, Cirencester Primary School participated in Safer Internet Day. This was a chance for us to remind ourselves of all the learning we did in the autumn term about keeping ourselves safe and protected when using technology both at home and at school. We were lucky enough to be visited by our local SchoolBeat police officer who gave us a presentation and some scenarios for us to discuss. It is hugely important that our generation is equipped with the tools, knowledge and confidence we need to deal with this constantly growing issue so please ask us about what we learnt!

Spring Term 2019: Fairground Fun - Entertainment or Enterprise?

Our new topic this term will be based around 'all  the fun of the fair'. We will be exploring the history of fairgrounds as well as how they differ around the world. We will use a deserted fairground as a scene to create our own creepy suspense stories...

We will look at fairground artwork and how it has developed through time. We will focus on light and electricity in science  (including writing a biography of Thomas Edison) along with the forces used by fairground rides. In maths, we will design and create our own theme parks using strict costings. We will also employ our amazing DT skills to create fairground rides and games - with careful consideration of their money-making potential - ready for our enterprise open-afternoon. Roll up, roll up! We can't wait to show off all that we have done!

January: Young Voices concert, Birmingham

What an amazing evening! Y6 of Cirencester Primary School were delighted to be part of over 6000 children at this wonderful event  (the largest school choir in the world!)... and we sang our hearts out! It was a very long day but the children did us proud; their behaviour throughout was immaculate and all the adults involved could rest at ease that this lovely group of children could be trusted to behave responsibly and respectfully at all times. Thank you for a great trip Y6!

December - Ghana Christmas party!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

December - Make do and mend sock snowmen

To finish our WWII topic, we used some of our 'make do and mend' skills to upcycle old socks into these very cute snowmen...

December - Take One Picture

This year's 'Take One Picture' week focused on a painting by Walter Sickert called Brighton Pierrots. It was painted in 1915 during the First World War and portrays a seaside entertainment show. The message of the painting, however, is not necessarily one of joviality: the  composition is awkward with main characters partially hidden behind pillars. There are empty chairs in the audience and soldiers with bandaged heads possibly signifying the horror and emptiness of this point in British history. In year 6 we also discussed how the colours are muted and subdued giving a sombre feeling.

After studying this picture carefully, year 6 undertook a colour-matching activity in which the class was split into two groups (they chose to be split girls v boys!) and each child was asked to copy 1/16 of the painting as faithfully as possible.  This involved sketching using a grid system for accuracy and then colour blending powder paint to create accurate colours and textures. Our results are below. Which do you think was the most effective? Can you identify which painting was created by which group?

December - army visit

In December, year 6 spent some time creating envelope packs for service men and women who would be overseas and away from their families this Christmas. Our recent learning about evacuees and WWII helped us to empathise with people who have to cope during difficult times away from their loved ones. We included: a letter of introduction explaining who we were, why we were writing and what our pack included; a set of instruction on 'How to make a wartime hero' and an artwork relating to soldiers at Christmas time.

Subsequently, we were fortunate enough to be visited by six members of the 29th Regiment Royal Logistics Corp, Duke of Gloucester Barracks (based in South Cerney). Alongside collecting our letters, they kindly gave a presentation on the changes in weaponry and kit between WWII and now; they also taught us about everyday-life in the services. Last - but certainly not least - they let us try on lots of their military kit. They even left us some of their ration-packs for our Christmas party (although they did warn us that they were pretty unpleasant!)

Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed this highly educational visit and took the opportunity to ask many thoughtful and insightful questions; what a special afternoon!

November - Children in Need

Thank you so much to all of those who paid money and made the effort to dress in (some very imaginative) spotty clothes; well done to those children who went one step further by organising their own fund-raising events within school.

November - Macbeth

We were fortunate enough to be a very interactive audience at our recent Macbeth production performed fantastically by the Young Shakespeare Company. We know the whole story so well - please ask us about it. Later in class, we created our own powerful witches' spells using trochaic tetrameter for structure and necromancy for the gruesome ingredients!!!!

October - Circulatory System Drama

October - Blitz artwork

We created these artworks using chalk pastels  and oil pastels for the background;  we built on this using dark shades of card to create city-scape sillhouettes. Finally, we added the detail of search-lights, windows and smoke with white chalk. We tried to focus on using colour, contrast and jagged lines to make our pictures express anger and fear. Which one do you think is most effective? Why?

Y6 Evacuee Trip (By Roksana)

On the 9^th of October, Ghana and India travelled back in time to the 1940s. Putting on fabulous disguises, the children experienced being evacuated, during WWII. From going on a steam train to being in an air raid, year 6 had a great time.

During WWII, children had to be evacuated due to the Blitz. The Blitz was an awful time where major cities, docks, and train stations were being bombed. Children had to leave for the countryside, in steam trains, which is exactly what year 6 did. They went on a very old fashioned steam train; they loved the experience. Along the way they met real evacuees from WWII, who told them a lot of important information.

Once Ghana and India were in the countryside, they needed to be prepared. While India went off to learn more on WWII, Ghana practised firefighting with AFS members (Auxiliary Fire Service) and had a whale of a time. Using water pumps to push out water into the hoses, they needed to get as much water into their bucket as they could. The bucket was around 4 meters away, and sometimes toppled over!

The sirens rang all over the station as Ghana were walking into the air raid shelter. Bombs were going to fall and they needed to be as safe as they could get. The lights went out and you could hear the British firing back. It was petrifying knowing a bomb could fall on them any second. Luckily, they got out alive and can tell the tale!

As Ghana class were off to learn more on WWII, it was India’s turn to learn about firefighting. Little did they know German planes were heading their way…

Ghana was safe but now it was India heading into the shelter. Every second counted: a bomb could fall any second. It was silent, you could hear everyone’s hearts beating, but then the bombs started to drop. Would they make it out alive?

Learning more about WWII were Ghana, listening very carefully. They were taking part in a range of activities: dressing up, in uniforms, washer woman clothes and suits; playing with WWII toys, like skipping ropes and marbles and guessing the object with our teams, like pots, candle holders and dusters.

Soon it was time for lunch, and both classes headed out to eat. Unfortunately their food gave away they were from the future. Luckily though no one saw, or they would be in trouble.

The time to leave came too quickly: they needed to get back to 2018. Farmer Bill – who took care of Ghana – and India’s farmer Broomfield had to say goodbye to their evacuees. And as year 6 walked through the time portal, they thought how lucky they were that 2018 has peace.

Autumn term - World War Two: why did children leave their homes?

In the Autumn Term, Year 6 will be learning about World War Two with a specific focus on the effects on children who had to leave their homes as evacuees or refugees. We will study the causes of the war and how it affected the lives of millions of people across the world, looking specifically at evacuation in Britain as well as at the plight of child refugees escaping from Nazi occupied Europe.

Our text this term is “Letters From The Lighthouse” by Emma Carroll which will support historical understanding and also help to inspire fiction and non-fiction writing in English.

September - Financial Awareness Workshop

On Friday 28^th September, all of Y6 took part in a Financial Awareness workshop run by St. James’s Place. Each child was allocated a virtual £500 which they kept control of on their bank-sheet. They were then able to choose to spend or invest this money in a selection of activities including pontoon, darts, building schemes and physical challenges. They also had the option of saving part of their money in the bank at any time in order to keep it secure and earn interest on it. The children learnt valuable lessons throughout the day as they began to realise which activities were high-risk (the possibility of high returns but low probability of success) and which were more secure money-makers. They also learnt (the hard way!) of the dangers of trusting your money to strangers with no contract signed or guarantee of returns. That sneaky Rich Richie!!! Our winners - with extremely impressive totals of over £3000 - were Roksanka, Leo, Thea and Mika.

September - Countries week

Ghana spent the first week and a half of term this year studying the country after which we are named. We learnt about the geography of Ghana by studying maps, considering land-use, placing and naming major cities and rivers, applying symbols and keys and using 6-figure grid references to improve the accuracy of our map-work. Through maths, we studied line graphs and bar charts to investigate the weather in Ghana and identify links between temperature and rainfall. We watched videos of ‘a day in the life’ of a Ghanaian child alongside viewing many pictures of Mrs Scott’s and Mrs Baggus’s trip to Ghana in 2015 – this lead to lots of group discussion considering the similarities and differences between life for children in Ghana and children in the UK. We finished our learning by examining the symbolic meanings of Kente cloth, a traditional Ghanaian fabric. We designed and created our own Kente weavings using traditional weaving patterns, colours, geometric shapes, tassels and cord to make our creations as authentic as possible.