Category: Year 6 – St Francis of Assisi

Many thanks to you all for the kind words, cards and gifts. I hope that you and your families enjoy a peaceful and blessed Christmas.

To end the autumn term, I’d like to share with you all out DT work, where the children have been busy learning different sewing stitches and designing felt Christmas decorations – You can see the results are really impressive and have been much admired by everyone who has visited our classroom. I hope that they will grace your Christmas trees for many years to come.

We started the week sharing the Christmas message with our families and friends at our carol service. Thank you to all of the parents for your support of the children in helping them to learn the songs.

At the other end of the week, our prefects did a fantastic job helping with the school Christmas lunch. In the afternoon, we finally had the chance to let our hair down with our class party. Following games, the children threw some shapes on the dance floor before showing off their moves to the classes who were outside on the playground.

We’re going to need a bigger tree! As we get nearer to the end of our DT project, designing and making Christmas decorations, our poor tree is groaning under the weight of all the decorations that the children have made. The children and I have struck a deal and are going 50:50 in our new Etsy store!

Today marks the beginning of Advent, the Church’s season of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. We read in Matthew’s Gospel, “Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” Our RE display is bordered with lanterns – a reminder that we should be watchful – each of which contains our Advent promise as we reflect on our lives and resolve to live closer to God.

We have also worked together this week to make a door display for our classroom to remind us of the Advent season. The Advent wreath is full of symbolism: the circular shape stands for God’s infinite love for us; the materials of the wreath lead us to reflect on the everlasting nature of God; the four candles shape our preparation and remind us of Christ’s Nativity.

As we enter December and this Advent season, we look forward to the celebration of Christ’s Nativity and sharing this message with you at the key stage carol service on Monday, 11th December.

Beth says, “On our class trip, we went to Hampton Court Palace, we learnt about the Tudors and many of the events that took place there.

We went into the Great Hall, where all the important people ate twice a day.There were many long tables including one where the king and queen would eat with their most important courtiers. On the ceiling, there were heads called eavesdroppers to remind the  servants that they were always being watched. On the walls, there was a huge tapestry showing a bible story. When Henry VIII beheaded  Anne Boleyn, he wanted every trace of her removed from the palace, but one of her signatures still remains in the carving on one of the walls.

We also visited the Chapel Royal. Henry VIII was a very Catholic person and went to church every day. We saw the place where Henry VIII would sit for Mass. This was separate from where his Queen would sit. Another thing we saw in the chapel was Henry VIII’s  crown, although  it was a  replica because the real one was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell. It is made of pearls, emeralds, rubies and sapphires.

In the kitchen there were many bags of food and a fireplace where the meat would be cooked and places where they made the meals. Nearly 1,200 meals every day because they had to feed 600 people twice a day. 

I learnt many things about the Tudors on our school trip to Hampton Court Palace. “

We have been busy once again: this time, we learnt the basics of first aid from Daisy who taught us, not just about how to get help in an emergency, but how to provide some basic first aid too. In the session, the children learnt about assessing an emergency situation with DR ABC, before practising putting a casualty in the recovery position and CPR.

As well as Children in Need, today is World Multiplication Day. We spent our maths lesson, putting our knowledge of multiplication facts to the test, deciphering codes hidden amongst the times tables.

Year Six have got straight back into the swing of things following the half-term break.

On Wednesday, we headed to St Bartholomew’s for the All Saints where our chaplaincy team helped lead the worship. Everyone in year six excelled, shepherding our friends in year two and guiding them through the mass. It is lovely to see how well the children take care of the younger members of our school community.

There has also been plenty to learn as we have embarked on new topics in many areas of the curriculum: in English, our writing is inspired by Nicola Davies’ thought-provoking ‘The Promise’, whilst in reading, we are sharing Kate DaCamillo’s ‘The Tiger Rising’. We are also looking forward to learning more about the impact of the Tudors in history and our visit to Hampton Court Palace.

Today marks the end of the first half-term in year six: it has been a busy time for all of the children.

We have written several books, ranging from poetry to biographies…

We’ve celebrated the harvest, whilst remembering to share our gifts with the local community and beyond…

We’ve also enjoyed the chance to be creative, as can be seen in some of the work completed for our grid homework – an imagined transitional form, linked to our learning in science and a really impressive natural dye – can you guess what vegetables created this colour?

As we look forward to all there is to learn in the next half-term, I’ll wish you a happy and restful holiday.

This week, we have been working hard in year six to prepare for our class assembly. We celebrated our learning from this first half-term with our parents and the rest of the school.

In our assembly, we shared some of our work inspired by Oliver Jeffers’ book, ‘Here We Are’; we enjoyed using Oliver Jeffer’s voice and style to write about how we work together to make our school a great place.

Our assembly also echoed our learning in RE and our calling to show love in all that we do. We found a good example of this idea lived in the life of Harriet Tubman, who we learnt about as part of Black History Month. Eloise Greenfield’s poem is a powerful celebration of Harriet Tubman’s life, and we enjoyed performing this in our assembly.

In geography, we have learnt about the challenges of a growing world population. We remembered in our assembly that, as well as being part of the St Adrian’s community, we are also part of a global family. This made us appreciate the privileges we enjoy alongside our social responsibility to others – an idea we will explore further in our Harvest celebrations next week.

A big ‘thank you’ to all of the parents who came to share our celebration with us, and for support that you gave to the children in preparing for their roles.

We had a fantastic day at the St Michael’s Junior School Sports Competition. The sun shone and everyone enjoyed the challenge, playing in either the boys 7-a-side, girls 6-a-side, or the mixed netball competition. The children conducted themselves admirably and were rewarded with runners-up medal in the girls football and winning the mixed netball competition, playing against some much larger schools. Well done to everyone and thanks to all of the parents who ferried the children to and from St Michael’s.

To mark National Poetry Day on Thursday, we enjoyed sharing our performances of poems. Our approach to sharing poetry is to treat the poem as a poem: letting its verbal magic work through the enjoyment of its sound. Reading the poem aloud. Hearing its sound in the air, feeling its shape in our mouths, seeing which lines draw us in. Noticing, and thinking about what we like and are reminded of in our reading and experience.

We looked more carefully at Eleanor Farjeon’s Cottage and used this as the starting point for writing our own poetry.

Cottage (1942)
When I live in a Cottage
I shall keep in my Cottage
Two different Dogs,
Three creamy Cows,
Four giddy Goats,
Five Pewter Pots,
Six silver Spoons,
Seven busy Beehives,
Eight ancient Appletrees,
Nine red Rosebushes,
Ten teeming Teapots,
Eleven chirping Chickens,
Twelve cosy Cats with their kittenish Kittens and
One blessed Baby in a Basket.
That’s what I’ll have when I live in my Cottage.

Eleanor Farjeon

Later in the year, we will be sharing details of the national Poetry by Heart competition, so watch this space.

An enormous ‘thank you’ to all of the Year Six parents who organised our cake sale and to the children who advertised it: we raised over £180, which the class are now busy planning how to spend. We are looking to get some ‘quality of life’ items that will make our final year together even better!

It seems that every week in year six is a busy week, but the children have shone through once again.

They were fantastic in supporting their younger school-mates during the key stage one sports practice and during the actual event itself. Several teachers asked me to pass on their thanks – both to the whole class and to individuals who stood out for the care and good sense with which they carried out the responsibilities assigned to them.

The children also excelled themselves during our own key stage two sports: both in demonstrating a positive sporting attitude and in helping run the event smoothly.

And of course, when we haven’t been supporting around the school, this week has been full of rehearsals – the children are really looking forward to sharing our end of year production and I have been delighted with the effort that they are all putting in. They are going to be great!

You cannot be in year six and not be aware of the clock is ticking – the end of our time in primary school is fast approaching and with it, the mix of emotions that endings and new beginnings bring. In the week ahead, we get to share some more of what we have achieved with our parents, whilst heading out to visit our new secondary schools. When I look at the class, I know that they will do themselves proud!