5 Star Challenge

When school closed, we set the children a challenge to earn at least 5 stars each week by completing learning tasks.  We thought that the total would probably get into the hundreds, but we grossly underestimated both the determination and commitment of the children (and their parents!).  Each week, they reported their achievements and they were incredibly impressive.  Throughout the period of school closure, pupils in India Class earned an incredible 1,550 stars and Ghana Class earned 1,475 stars.  Well done to each and every one of you

Since the partial reopening of school last month, there has been a group of Year 6 pupils who have continued to learn from home; their efforts, with the careful guidance of their parents, has been truly astounding – what a special group of children you are!  Our Super Star Home Learners are:
1st – Cody

2nd - Eva-Leigh

3rd – Kane

Author visit from Jane Hardstaff - July 2020

We were delighted to be able to hold a virtual session with Jane Hardstaff, the author of The Executioner's Daughter, the wonderful book that we studied as part of our Crime and Punishment focus in the spring terms.  Jane joined the children in school as well as the home learners to share her inspiration for the book and advice about writing.  She answered questions about Anne Boleyn, the process of writing, how book covers are designed, her favourite character and many more.  The children also shared with her their own endings to the book.  Jane told us that she is currently working on another book which we eagerly look forward to seeing published.  In the meantime, the sequel to The Executioner's Daughter, River Daughter, will provide some summer reading.  Our thanks to Jane for inspiring the pupils through this session.

The Book of Hopes

Completely free for all children and families, the extraordinary collection of short stories, poems, essays and pictures has contributions from more than 110 children’s writers and illustrators, including Lauren Child, Anthony Horowitz, Greg James and Chris Smith, Michael Morpurgo, Liz Pichon, Axel Scheffler, Francesca Simon and Jacqueline Wilson. Click the picture and enjoy

NEW!

Rising Stars Online Maths and Rising Stars Cracking Comprehension -  parents will have been sent login details via email. Click on a picture to start using these great resources:

NEW!

TT Rock Stars: a fantastic way to practise and learn times tables.  Parents have been sent log in details via email

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/78780

Accelerated Reader: Quiz access

https://ukhosted113.renlearn.co.uk/2238873/ 

Access to books online

https://readon.myon.co.uk/library/browse.html

Reading cloud

Pupils can log on to search for book ideas, write reviews and blog about their reading

https://www.readingcloud.net/

Home learning

Year 6

Please click on the blue links

Topmarks: Many different activities you can choose using the filters at the top of the page https://www.topmarks.co.uk/

Pobble 365: Can access different days on the calendar. Download the pdf option. This gives you an image which then has a story starter, questions and sentence level work. http://www.pobble365.com/

Scholastic: 5+ days of reading texts and activities. Reading levels of the texts can be changed. There are also comprehension/follow up questions for the articles provided. There are options to print the quizzes off too. https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome/grades-6-12.html

Wild about reading! If you have a library membership you can borrow ebooks and emagazines for free: https://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/libraries/ebooks-eaudiobooks-and-emagazines/

Oxford owl free SATs worksheets: https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/school-year/free-sats-skills-worksheets

A year 6 site with a range of information and questions – great for revision purposes! http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/children_sats.htm

A KS2 site with both Maths and English based quizzes which are marked as you go along. http://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/maths/

BBC Bitesize has a host of materials for KS2   https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/levels/zbr9wmn

https://www.gonoodle.com A chance to get moving

February: James Gibson (prison service)

Year 6 were fortunate enough this week to be visited by James Gibson who works in the prison system and has plentiful experience of crime and justice in modern times. He answered many questions for us from his wealth of knowledge and also gave us some very interesting facts and figures about the prison system and the (surprisingly small) proportion of the population within it. We learnt that even 15-year-olds can go to prison although they would be in a different kind of institution than adults. We were also interested by the fact that women make up less than 5% of the prison population. Mr Gibson mapped out a typical cell, for three prisoners, on the floor of our classroom and demonstrated the limited floor-space and lack of privacy. Interestingly, conditions in modern cells are far more cramped than they were in Victorian prisons! He also talked us through a typical day in the life of a modern prisoner consisting of waking (6.30am), washing, eating, working (kitchens, gardens or cleaning) or education (maths, English, languages, business studies) and then at 6.30 back to your cell for another 12 hours. Let's hope none of us ever experience this for real! Mr Gibson completed his visit by showing us some fascinating Victorian prison keys. Please ask us about what we have learnt.

February: Nature Quiz stage 1 WINNERS!!!

Our Y6  nature team competed this week against Birdlip Primary & North Cerney Primary in the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust's annual primary school quiz. Our talented team (Kane, Emma, Freya and Charlotte) supported by subs (Helen and Olina) performed fantastically and we are delighted that they won their heat. This means that they will be moving on to the stage 2 competition, against other winning schools in the county, later in the year. Wish them luck!

February: Year 6 musical performance

We were very proud to perform 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams to the rest of the school this afternoon. We sang harmonies with two sets of singing parts and accompanied our singing with xylophones. The audience absolutely loved our energy-packed rendition. Well done Year 6!

December: Y6 Visit to Oxford Natural History Museum

To conclude our learning about Evolution this term we took part in a special workshop at which we were able to observe and handle specimens in order to explore how animals have evolved to survive in their habitats. We looked at the work of Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace on natural selection and examined important fossil evidence of the history of life. We were also able to explore the many exhibits in the museum, from huge dinosaur skeletons to insects, rocks and minerals.  Please ask us about what we saw and learned about during our visit!