Category: Year 6 – St Paul

It has been another action packed term – the children have led the school in praying the stations of the cross in our passion assembly and the Caritas Ambassadors have organised many events across the term, including our Easter art competition and the very successful community bingo night.

Our learning continues apace and we are poised, ready for our SATs shortly after we come back from the holidays. We have enjoyed all of our learning – developing a deeper understanding of the events of Holy Week, learning about the challenges of migration, which in turn has inspired our own story writing and poetry. We have made and programmed step counters in computing and designed and built model playgrounds in DT.

We are ready for a rest now, ready for the adventures of our final term!

In Lent, Catholics try to grow closer to Jesus through a renewed commitment to prayer.

One of the ways that Catholics grow in prayer is by trying to spend time reflecting on Jesus’ love for us and how He showed this through His suffering. We are called to spend time reflecting, praying and accompanying Jesus through the Stations of the Cross.

We worked together to make Stations of the Cross for our class and write devotional prayers to guide our time accompanying Jesus in these moments of His Passion.

As we come to the end of the first spring half-term (and the half-way point of year six!), we have concluded our learning relating to Catholic social teaching on Solidarity and peace.

In geography, we have learnt about the factors that affect migration, both nationally and globally. We have learnt about the challenges faced by migrants and the impact on host countries. Using geographic data, we learnt that climate change might make migrants of us all and considered our own response.

We explored these ideas further as we read Armin Greder’s book, ‘The Island’. We used this as a starting point for our own writing, changing the setting to an island where the inhabitants welcomed new arrivals.

Finally, we explored ideas around our own agency and our power to make a difference through Amanda Gorman’s fantastic, ‘Change Sings’. We wrote our own verses on the theme of change using the meter and rhythm of Amanda Gorman’s poem.

As part of Safer Internet Week, we learnt about the danger of scams: the children certainly raised some interesting issues and it would be worth continuing the conversation at home.

Have a happy and safe break from school: I will see you for the downhill stretch later this month!

We’ve loved playing on our new trim trail this week! Thanks to our fabulous PTA for all of their hard work fundraising for our new play equipment.

This term, we are learning about the Catholic social teaching around solidarity and peace. We are called to commit ourselves to the common good and to bring peace to those around us. This is more than a feeling of compassion or distress at the misfortunes of others: it is a firm and persevering determination to do good in the world and work together to bring about positive action. In our learning, we found out about ways of peacefully effecting change, including through protest. We made placards addressed to some of the issues that are important to us.

We have been busy, getting creative, this week in DT. Learning to use a pattern and to sew using blanket and running stitches, we have all made a felt stocking to hang on our tree.
Next week, we will be applying our skills to create a tree decoration of our own design!

It’s been another busy week for Year Six and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

On Wednesday, our year six Caritas Ambassadors journeyed to Westminster Cathedral to join children from across the diocese to hear again the Christmas story .

Thursday saw the culmination of all our hard work as we shared the Christmas story ourselves in the key stage two carol service. The children we fantastic, acting out their roles, narrating the story and singing angelically.

This week, in RE, we have learnt about Advent as the Church’s season of expectation of the coming of Christ. We read in Matthew’s Gospel, “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.”

We made our own Advent promises as we reflect on our lives and how we can move closer to God through the season. We displayed out promises as candles, reflecting out learning about the Advent wreath.

As part of our learning about other major world religions, we have learnt about the concept of karma and belief in the cycle of reincarnation in Hinduism. On Wednesday, we enjoyed a workshop about some aspect of Hinduism led by Christine.

On Wednesday, as part of our learning in History, we visited Hampton Court Palace – one-time home of Henry VIII. It was great to see the places where the history we have learnt about happened. We used all of our history skills to learn from the building, artefacts, paintings and guides what life must have been like at the Tudor court. We had a great time, and no-one was left behind in the maze. A great big thank you to the parents who gave up their time to come with us.

Our learning in RE, this week, has focused on other world religions. We have learnt about the Hindu concept of karma and dharma and how valuing creation is lived through the lives of Hindus.

On Friday, there was an outbreak of spots across the school as children dressed up in support of Children in Need. It was great to see so much creativity in your spotty gear! Thanks also to our parents for their generosity.