'Anyone who has never made a mistake, has never tried anything new.' - Albert Einstein

This week, we have been learning so much from our mistakes! In Year 6, we view our mistakes as our first attempts in learning, and use them to further our learning. As we completed a GPS practice paper least week and a reasoning one this week, we have really been focusing on those questions that we struggled with-we have never learnt so much!! I am so proud of how hard all of the class are working, and how much they want to succeed. If they all continue putting in this effort, I have no doubt they will leave Year 6 achieving so much!

Here is some more detail about this week’s learning…

In Maths we have been describing and drawing circles. We have learnt what circumference, radius and diameter are (ask us at home!!) and we have been drawing circles, using a compass. We know that the measurement from the tip of our pencil, to the point on our compass, will always be the radius of the circle we draw. We have also looked at Roman numerals and measuring angles, using a protractor!

In English, we have continued with our focus on GPS and reading comprehension. In GPS, we have looked at past/present progressive tense, subject/verb/object, punctuating speech, and so much more! We have been developing our inference skills, and exploring key vocabulary through our reading comprehensions.

In RE, we have been comparing our own responses with our friend’s responses, to questions we find difficult to answer, from our RE lessons. I was so impressed with how detailed some of their responses were, and they truly showed a deep understanding of some of the questions asked. Questions such as ‘If Adam and Eve did not sun, would we have needed Jesus?’ and ‘How is the bread and wine changed into Jesus’ body and blood, in the mass?’

In Computing we were using the Scratch coding programme to create our own games. We have to follow instructions given, and debug when necessary. Many of us then went on to develop our games further, by adding more code.

In Science we have proved two things, through our investigation. One is that light travels in straight lines and the other in the law of reflection. We used a mirror and a torch to prove this, and then we explained our findings (again, ask us what we found out!)….

AWARD WINNERS

The Golden Award went to Megan and Zachary this week. I gave one to Megan for being such an enthusiastic learning and trying so hard with all her work. Zachary received his for showing what a wonderful friend he is-he is so caring and considerate!

The Maths Award went to Joseph for trying so hard with his Maths-I have noticed huge improvements!

NOTICES:

• Friday finishing time is at 1.05pm

• Please ensure water bottles are brought in daily, filled with fresh water

• This Monday is Bank Holiday Monday, school will re-open on Tuesday 4th May

I hope you all have a lovely (long!) weekend-let’s keep our fingers crossed for more sun!

Take care,

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.'

Well this week has been a week of growth. We have a growing understanding of many areas of our learning, we have continued to develop our growth mindset and we have grown spiritually, through our questioning in RE. At this time of the year, it is so heart-warming to watch the class grow so much in confidence, as they prepare for their transition to high school-I can see all of their hard work, over the past 7 years, truly paying off!

Here is what we have been up to this week, in more detail….

In Maths, we have had a big focus on reasoning questions. They are always trickier to answer, compared to arithmetic questions, as you often have to work out exactly what the question is asking you to do, before you apply those arithmetic skills. We had a focus on multi-step problems, looking at how to use the information given, to work our what calculations needed to be done. We had to work one thing out first before we could then work out the final answer….after a bit of practice, I was so pleased to see so many whizz through the other questions.

In English, our focus has been GPS! Lots of GPS! After completing a paper last week, we identified our gaps and this is what we have focused on this week. We have looked at plural possession, contractions, semi-colons and adjectives/adverbs. We will continue with our GPS focuses next week too!

In Science, we gave scientific explanations of how it is that we can see objects. We labeled and annotated the picture of us ‘acting out’ this concept, to show a true understanding of how light travels in straight lines, and reflects off objects, before travelling to our eyes.

In PE, we played a new game called ‘Strategiki’. This was a team game, all about strategy. The class really enjoyed this, and demonstrated superb teamwork and communication skills.

In PSHE, we focused on what we know about growth mindset, to categorise thoughts into helpful/unhelpful thoughts. The class then added their own into each category and I was really touched by the ideas they had, and how much they had understood the purpose of the lesson. We know it is not helpful to focus on the negatives and ‘worst-case scenarios’, and much more helpful to highlight the positives in situations, looking at things with a different perspective at times. Sophie came up with a new acronym for PSHE, which I absolutely loved…Positive thought Self-love Hopefulness Energised mind.

In RE, we had the pleasure of doing a live Google meet with Fr. Jim! We had prepared some ‘Ask Fr. Jim’ questions for him, which he answer in a live Q & A session. The children really enjoyed this, and they took so much away from it. Some of the questions Fr Jim were asked, were deep and difficult to answer, but Fr Jim did an amazing job at answering these in a way that the children could understand and I could tell that they really had grown spiritually! This proves my theory: if in doubt, ask Fr Jim!!

AWARDS

Golden Award- This week I gave out two Golden Awards. One went to Ryan and the other Lily. I gave them the award this week for the same reason; they are both superb role models!

Writing Award-This went to Charlie for his increased accuracy with punctuations.

Maths Award-This was given to Tom for the huge progress he has made with his arithmetic.

REMINDERS:

• School closes at 1.05pm on Friday’s

• Please do not wear earrings on PE days (Tuesdays and Thursdays)

• Please remember to bring your water bottles in daily, filled with fresh water

• Please remember to get your reading record signed when you read at home. You should be reading regularly: at least 3/4 times a week

Thank you for all your hard work, yet again, Year 6! Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'Jesus is the Source. It is from Him the divine life in man finds its beginning.' - St. John Paul II

I hope you all managed to have a wonderful Easter. I can hardly believe we have now entered into our last term of the school year, and, of course, the last term of Primary School for Year 6. They have certainly hit the ground running this week, and we have managed to cover so much! I am so proud of how hard they are all working, and I can tell they are ready to give this last term their all, in preparation for High School.

Here is what we have been up to this week…

In Maths, we started the week looking at ratio and ended the week calculating the volume of cuboids. Their work on ratio really impressed me, especially as this was a brand new concept for them. All of the class now understand what ratio is, and how to represent ratio. We are developing our calculation of ratio, which proved to be trickier for some. We will look at lots of problems involving ratio, over the coming weeks. They were all superb at finding the volume of cuboids, and used the formula, volume= l x w x h, to solve many problems.

In English, we have had a huge reading focus! We have looked over a reading paper that we did before we broke up, and really focused on those questions we found tricky-especially P.E.E questions! Point, Evidence, Explanation! We will do plenty more of these questions, to ensure we know how to answer them in depth.

In RE, we have been showing an understanding of Jesus being the source and summit of life, for Christians. This was why I found the quote from St. John Paul II so fitting this week. It is not the easiest thing to explain so we spent a lot of time discussing what it meant when we refer to Jesus and the Eucharist as the source of life. We compared Jesus to electricity, which powers electrical appliances…in the same way Jesus is our source of spiritual strength, and He empowers us to live out the values of the Kingdom of God.

In PE, we have been developing our throwing and catching skills, through a series of small group games. Next week, we will be applying these skills to teams games.

In Science, we started a new topic on Light. We looked at different light sources, and then identified which were natural sources of light. We had an interesting discussion about the moon being a source of light…ask us at home what our opinion is on this! We then looked at home light travels, to enable us to see things. We now know that light travels in a straight line to an object and the light reflects (or bounces off) the object, and travels in a straight line to our eyes. Ta dah! That’s how we can see the object! Here are our representations of this concept…..

AWARD WINNERS:

The Golden Award went to Grace B for working so incredibly hard in class-I am very proud!

The Writing Award went to Mya for her beautifully written piece of RE work.

The Maths Award was given to Angelo for his superb work on volume of cuboids.

Have a lovely weekend and stay safe!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.' (John 20:29)

We hope you have a Happy and Holy Easter!

Each year group was given two stations of the cross to design. We were given the 1st Station: Jesus is condemned to death and the 8th Station: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem. Below is a picture of our Head Boy and Girl, Reuben and Audrey, with our two stations. Fr Jim will be displaying all 14 stations over in church, during the Triduum.

Here’s what we have been doing this week…

In Maths, we have been finding relationships between numbers and then writing this as an algebraic formula. So if we notice a set of number had been timesed by 2 and then had 3 added to them, our formula was 2n + 3. We also started to look at ratio…we will pick this up again after half term.

In English, we have completed and edited our independent write. We just managed to get them finished before breaking up, and I cannot wait to read over them all!

In Computing, we completed another coding activity, using BitsBox. We are now becoming so much more confident with creating algorithms and debugging, that some of us got on to creating completely new codes!

In RE, we have been looking at the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We refamiliarised ourselves with the events that took place on each of these days and then explained Jesus actions-what did they mean for us? Why did he do this? How has it help to shape our faith?

We have also been watching special assemblies delivered by Miss Haggerty, for each day of Holy Week. It has been lovely to share in worship with Miss Haggerty and reflect on this poignant week.

We also made our Easter cards….

AWARD WINNERS!

This week’s Golden Award went to Theo for being a ray of sunshine! He brightens the classroom with his positive outlook on life and his great sense of humour!

The Writing Award went to Megan for her effective choices of language in her independent write. Her use of similes and metaphors really helped to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind.

The Maths award was given to Lily for her consistently high score with our ‘Fluent in 5’. She also did an amazing job at recognising relationships between numbers and putting that into an algebraic formula.

I would also like to congratulate Ryan this week, as he won our class Bedrock competition. receiving an Easter egg as his prize. He earned the most points, and won by quite a stretch!

A huge well done also goes to the winners of our Partner Points for this half term. Hollie & Theo, Grace B & Audrey and Charlie & Claire, all received a special treat today for winning the most points, for their fab partner work! They were treated to some extra play and and some sweet treats…

NOTICES:

• We return to school on Monday 12th April, and start and finishing times will remain the same: 8.40am drop off and 3.15pm pick up. 1.05pm pick up on Fridays.

• PE days after half term will remain the same-Tuesdays and Thursdays. Please ensure your child is not wearing earrings on these days.

• We have enjoyed some lovely weather this week! If this weather does continue after half term, please ensure your child in wearing sun screen on these hotter days.

• I have not set any homework over the Easter break, but the class are more than welcome to access Bedrock and TT RockStars, should they wish to.

  THANKYOU!

  I have to say a heartfelt thank you to all of my class and to all parents for your support and hard work over this term. it had been a term of ups and downs, but your continued efforts and support have made it that bit easier! I can hardly believe we will be entering the last term of their primary journey, upon our return. We will be sure to make it the best!

  I hope you all have a Happy and Holy Easter-God bless.

  Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x
  
  

'Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God.' - Mother Teresa

Palm Sunday-The Beginning of Holy Week

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, which commemorates the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9), when palm branches were placed in His path. This marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading to His arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. In class, we made origami crosses, which can be taken to mass on Palm Sunday.

Power of Prayer….

In RE, we also had a special reflection, using the power of prayer. During our ‘Express Yourself’ time, at the end of each day, I had noticed that many were sharing their feelings about people who were poorly or who has suffered loss in their family. We took some time in our RE lesson to write our own prayers and intentions, and these are now in our prayer basket. It was so beautiful to hear so many wanting to share their prayers with the class…it made me very emotional!

Farewell Ducks….

Year 5 have been homing ducks for the past couple of weeks, and today was their last day in school. Mrs McVey has kindly shared a video update….

Here’s what we have been up to this week….

In Maths we revised area of parallelograms and then we looked at calculating the mean and interpreting line graphs.

In English, we have finished our guided write. The class are now ready to plan and complete their independent write, based on the story of The Wizard of Oz. I cannot wait to read their final drafts!

Our Spelling focus this week has been the plural, with words ending in o, f and fe.

In PSHE, our focus was on friendship. We looked at the qualities that we look for in a friend and then reflected on the qualities that we possess. It was a really lovely lesson, and so pleasing to hear so many identifying so many of these qualities in their friends from school.

In Computing, we continued with our BitsBox activities, using coding to create apps. I am so impressed with how advanced many of their codes were, and it was so pleasing to see that they can debug, when their codes did not work.

Notices:

• Yesterday, everyone in the class was sent home with a ‘Nature Explorer’ pack. These are for the children to do over half term. I would love it if you could take and send me any pictures of your child completing any of these activities!

• We break up from school next Thursday, 1st April, at normal finishing time, 3.15pm.

• On PE days, please can you make sure children are not wearing earrings.
  

AWARD WINNERS:

This week’s Golden Award went to Vinny for being such a hard-working member of the class. He is also such a kind and considerate young boy, who brightens the classroom!

The Writing Award went to Sophie for grammatically accurate piece of writing this week.

The Maths Award went to Ellie for the huge improvements I have seen with her mental maths.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'St. Joseph was just a man, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care. May he always guard, protect and enlighten families. - St. John Paul II

Pope Francis announced the beginning of the Year of St. Joseph on 8th December 2020, which will run until 8th December 2021 . Today is also the Feast of St. Joseph, and in our RE lesson this week, we made special prayer cards, with the prayer for the year of St. Joseph on the back. We said this prayer together, today, during our worship, and the class used their own prayer cards to recite this special prayer. We will says this special prayer together every week.

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Here’s what else we have been up to this week….

In Maths, we have been revisiting a few concepts that we found tricky from our home learning. We have looked at miles/kilometers, co-ordinates, rounding any number and finding the area of triangles. We have also continued with our daily arithmetic, and I can see huge improvements from everyone in class, with their Fluent in 5!

In English, we have been doing our guided write. We planned a new version of The Wizard of Oz together, using the original book as our planning template. We have been writing our story together and the children have then been innovating the shared write to create their own version. This is all in preparation for the independent write they will be doing in in a week or so.

In Science, we looked over the answers to our ‘Evolution and Inheritance’ topic test. This was a great way for up to plug any gaps-although there were surprisingly little gaps, as they did so well on this test!

In Tuesday’s PE lesson we did the Daily mile again. Before the lesson we looked at techniques for long distance running, and I noticed a huge difference in their running, compared to last week! In Thursday’s lesson, we continued with our gymnastic sequences. This week they had to include a turn, jump, roll and balance in their sequence, which they then performed to half of the group.

Three Good Things-PSHE

In PSHE, we started to fill in our ‘Three Good Things’ diary. This is a diary, where each day we write down three good things that have happened to us, and that we are grateful for. It is said that those who are grateful tend to be happier and healthier and being grateful can even help cope with stress! Every day this week, we have had our diaries out during our ‘Express yourself’ time to share our good things with others!

AWARD WINNERS

This week’s Golden Award went to Reuben for being such a kind and considerate member of the class.

This week’s Writing Award went to Grace B for her great choices of language in her innovated writing.

The Maths Award went to Ryan for his valued contributions during our Maths discussions.

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to Claire, who earned her GOLD! medal in her flute. Not only did she pass, she scored a perfect 100 score! We are all so proud of her!

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

Welcome Back!

Well, it has been so lovely to have the whole class back together this week! They have all been so wonderful and worked so hard, and I am so impressed with how well they have managed to pick up where they left off! Well done, Year 6, you have made me incredibly proud!

This week’s learning….

In Maths, we have had a huge arithmetic focus. After completing our ‘Fluent in 5’ each day, we have then been working our way through andy arithmetic questions we found tricky from our lockdown work. We would then do one together, do one with our partner and then have a go independently. This has really worked, and has boosted their confidence with those concepts they felt unsure about over the past few months. Next week, our focus will be on reasoning, and recapping any of those really tricky White Rose questions!

In English, we have been innovating sentences from The Wizard of Oz. We took the extract from the book where Dorothy meets Scarecrow and they have had to innovate each sentence, to re-write the sentence in their own words. They have done such an amazing job with this, which has prepared us for our scaffolded write next week. In preparation for our scaffolded write, we have also planned our new version of The Wizard of Oz together.

In Science, the class did a post ‘Topic Test’ on Evolution and Inheritance, the unit they covered during lockdown. I am so impressed with their scores and it reflects just how hard they worked during lockdown too! The test was more for me to see what gaps there may be in their learning, but it appears as though there are only a few gaps, overall!

In PSHE, we have introduced an ‘express yourself’ time at the end of each day. After our lesson on Monday, where we were reflecting on the roller-coaster of emotions we have experienced this past year, the class thought it would be a great idea to make this a regular thing. It was so heart-warming to hear the class being so open and honest about how they have felt, and sharing the highs and lows of this past year-this is why we are going to keep these conversations going!

AWARD WINNERS

This week’s Golden Award went to Hollie for working incredibly hard this first week back!

The Writing Award went to Abigail for her superb choices of language, when innovating sentences.

The Maths Award went to Reece for making great progress with his arithmetic this week. His hard work during lockdown is certainly paying off!

BOOKMARK COMPETITION WINNER!

The Year 6 winner for the bookmark competition was Grace K. All winners from each class were then passed on to Miss Haggerty, who decided an overall KS1 and KS2 winner. She struggled so much to decide that she passed the responsibility on to Fr Jim….and Grace won!!! Congratulations Grace, your bookmark will be printed and ALL of KS2 will be given one! Here’s Grace’s winning entry…

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Take care & Stay Safe,

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

'I find joy in every day. Not because life is always good, but because God is.'

Thank you!

Well, I have to begin by saying a huge THANK YOU to all parents/carers and children for your support and hard-work over these past couple of months! Coming into school on that Monday, all the way back in January, only to be told school would be closed the day after, was a huge shock for us all, and something we had to adjust to really quickly. And that you did! You all adjusted to the home learning process so well, with your living rooms becoming your classrooms, and your gardens your playgrounds, yet again! I am so incredibly proud of all of the work you have completed these past months, and I hope you are all as excited as I am to be returning to school on Monday. Some of you may be feeling a mixture of emotions about our return, including nervousness. Don’t worry, this is natural! When you have become so used to learning from home, returning to school, after two months, can be like experiencing your first day all over again. I will make sure you all feel back at home on our first day back, and will hopefully settle those nerves within minutes! I think after our first day, it will feel like you have never been away!

Return to School

ALL children will be welcomed back to school on Monday 8th March. Drop off and pick up times will be the same as before for all of Year 6. 8.40am drop off at Thornhill Close gates, and 3.15pm pick up from the same place. On Fridays, pickup will still be at 1.05pm for all of the class. Our PE days will still be Tuesdays and Thursdays. Miss Haggerty has put a detailed blog up on the News page, with more in-depth information about our return to school and the safety measures that will be in place-it is important that you read this before the children’s return. Click here to read this.

Bedrock Competition!

I have copied this information from the Bedrock website….

With the second half of the spring half term split across remote and classroom learning, it’s vital that students continue to learn consistently on Bedrock.

To reward students’ hard work learning important academic vocabulary on Bedrock, we’re giving two lucky students the chance to win a Chromebook laptop, and 50 students will win £10 Amazon vouchers!

Our 52 winners will be chosen at random from all students who earn 120 or more Bedrock Points this half term.

Students don’t need to take any action to be entered – we’ll automatically identify those who have earned 120 points in the time frame. Winners will be contacted via their teacher.

World Book Day

Here are some pictures of your amazing costumes from World Book Day, and some great pictures of you reading in unusual places! I hope you all enjoyed the activities from this day, and remember to send me your Bookmark competition entries by Monday!

Unusual reading spots…..

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I look forward to seeing all of your faces again on Monday!

Take care and stay safe,

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

'Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel, guiding the way.'

Our Lenten Journey

With the long-awaited announcement on Monday, I felt the quote above summed up the feelings of many this week. There truly is light at the end of what has felt like, at times, an extremely long tunnel! When you pair this up with this week being the first full week of Lent, a special time of reflection and preparation, it really has given us time to reflect on this past year, and look forward to our bright future. By observing the 40 days of Lent, we replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. It is a time to refocus on Jesus as we look ahead to his death on the cross and rejoice over his miraculous return. It is a time for reflecting on what we could do differently or maybe what we could do more of or less of during this time. When we return to the classroom we can display our personal Lenten promises, in our worship area and think of a class Lenten challenge for all of us to share.

Hope….

HOPE! This is what has kept us all going-hope that we will all be together in the classroom again, hope that a vaccine is rolled out, hope that we will soon get to hug our loved ones again, hope that we will one day be able to resume to some form of ‘normality’ again. We have had to put so much trust, hope and faith in God this past year, and it now looks as though the end is in sight. Although we are by no means there yet, and we still have necessary restrictions in place, it certainly felt as through there was a shift this week, in the right direction. And of course, this all begins with schools reopening on 8th March. I cannot wait to have my class back together again, as I have missed you all dearly! It is also important, however, that we keep our school safe which is why all safety measures will still be strictly in place, on the children’s return. So rest assured, the school environment will continue to be a safe place, with rigorous hand washing, mask-wearing, bubbled year groups and staggered start/end times. I will put more information on next week’s blog about the children’s first day back. Miss Haggerty has put more information about our return to school on the News page too.

WORLD BOOK DAY!

Next Thursday, 4th March, is World Book Day! No lockdown is going to stop us from celebrating this special day! I have put all details of home learning activities for you to complete, next Thursday, on the Home Learning page. We have invited all children in school to come in dressed as their favourite book character, so please do join in the fun from home! I would love to see pictures of what you have dressed up as, to add to next week’s blog!

Work from this week….

Here’s some of the from our R & J lesson- ‘conscious thought bubbles’. You did so well at inferring how the different characters may have been feeling, knowing they may have played a role in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

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Thank you

Thank you once again for the great work you have been sending in this week. The standard of your work continues to impress me. With just one week on remote learning left, please do make sure you maintain this high standard next week!

Have a lovely weekend-take care and stay safe!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'Whatever struggle you are facing, God has already equipped you to overcome it.'

Thank you!

Well, we have made it through our first half term of remote learning! Well done! I think it is fair to say we have all faced our challenges and set-backs, but what shines through it all is the strength and sheer determination from you all. I cannot thank my parents enough for the support you have given me over the past 6 weeks, sending me your child’s work and giving them the support and encouragement they have needed to make it through these past weeks. I am so proud of all that my class have achieved academically, emotionally and mentally over this half term-you are all super stars! I am not setting any work over this half term as you all (parents included!!) need a well-deserved break. I have, however, put a few optional activities below, linked with Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of our Lenten journey. I will put the home learning for the week we come back, on the Home Learning Page, next Friday, so you have everything ready for Monday 22nd.

Ash Wednesday 17th February 2021-The Beginning of our Lenten Journey

Next Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a very special time of reflection, leading up to the death and resurrection of Christ. As we are on half term next week, I have just attached a few activities that you may wish to do to mark the beginning of this special period of time. If we were in school, we would be writing our Lenten Promises on this day, so I have also attached the template for this and it would be lovely if you do manage to still write yours. Our promise is a time to reflect on what we could do differently or maybe more of/less of during this time. Perhaps we could be more compassionate towards others, or take more time out for peaceful prayer? Or maybe you feel you need to be more forgiving to others, just as Jesus was. Have a careful think about what your promise could be.

Why is Lent a time to change?- Activity Sheet

Why did Jesus spend 40 days in the Desert?- Activity Sheet

Why do we eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?-Activity Sheet

My Lenten Promise-Candle Template

Some work from this week……

Below are some of the amazing pieces of work from our Romeo & Juliet lesson, advertising your own special potion that could have been used on one of the characters from the play.

World Book Day 4th March-Date for the Diary

Thursday 4th March is World Book Day. Obviously this will be different than other years with school being closed to some children but we will be organising an activity for this day. There will hopefully be a story reading by class teachers as well as a competition. Whether at home or at school, it would also be lovely for the children to dress as a book character (however if in school, please limit to a simple costume with as few ‘loose’ items as possible).

Feedback for this week’s work

Please can I ask that any outstanding work from this week is sent to me by 1.30pm today, so I can ensure feedback is given before the end of the school day. From the end of the school day today, I will not be accessing my emails, as I hope you will appreciate that next week is also a time for teachers to have rest too ( I cannot wait to read the pile of books I have waiting for me! ) I will be accessing my emails again on Monday 22nd February. Thank you for your support and understanding with this.

I hope you all have a wonderful week off, and manage to make the most of your family-time, despite the restrictions in place.

Take care,

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

'A child's mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.' - Kate Middleton

Children’s Mental Health Week

As we have marked Children’s Mental Health Week, this week, I found the quote above to perfectly sum up my sentiment on this matter. I think that now, more than ever, mental health is so important for us all. I know this is not an easy time for any of us, and our emotions are, for use of a better phrase, ‘all over the place’. Your children make me so proud with how resilient they have been over these past 6 weeks, but I know this cannot have been an easy time for them. The theme for Mental Health Week was express yourself, and I hope you managed to access some of the resources I posted on the blog last week or even just had a discussion about mental health with your child. Talking about your emotions and feelings with others can be a great way for children to express themselves, but I am also aware that, for some children, this is not the easiest thing to do. So being able to express themselves in other ways, whether it be through music, art, dance, writing etc, can be an alternative outlet for them to express their feelings and emotions!

Safer Internet Day

Next Tuesday marks Safer Internet Day-another very relevant and important topic at the moment. On Tuesday, there is an audio lesson and activities for the children to complete on this year’s theme, ‘An internet we can trust.’

Some work from this week…

Letters from Juliet to Romeo:

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One week to go….

With just one week to go of remote learning, before a well-earned break, I must commend my class once again for their sheer determination and perseverance over these weeks. As hard as it has been, trying to teach you and give you feedback remotely, I have sought so much comfort in the knowledge that you are all trying your hardest…what more can I ask for?! Thank you.

Please see the Home Learning page for details of our Google Meet ‘catch up’, next Friday 12th.

I hope you all have a restful weekend, and I look forward to seeing more of your work from our last week of remote learning, before we break up.

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.' John 8:12

Candlemas

On Tuesday, February 2nd, the Church marks the feast of Candlemas, or the Presentation of the Lord. This marks 40 days since Christmas and the end of the Christmas period in the Church. The Gospel of Luke says that Jesus was met in the temple by Anna and Simeon where Simeon held the baby Jesus and called him a Light to the World.

The festival is called Candlemas because this was the day that all the Church's candles for the year were blessed. On Candlemas night, people often placed lit candles in their windows at home - I thought this was something that we could all do this year to welcome the Light of the Lord into our homes. Let’s Shine Our Lights for Jesus! Below are some templates that the children can have a go, should they wish to. On the candle template they could write down the ways in which they will shine their light for Jesus.

Make a paper lantern Design a candle Candlemas word search Candlemas colouring

Children’s Mental Health Week

Next week marks the beginning of Children’s Mental Health Week and the theme is Express Yourself. There has never been a more important time to focus on supporting the mental wellness of our children. On this website are links to assemblies and resources which can be completed and looked at at home to support resilience and mental health discussions. Please take a look.

I have also attached the assembly and some resources, below:

Assembly Assembly Guide Suggested Primary Activities

Click here to view an ‘Our Healthy Year’ calendar for KS2. This is aimed to support healthier habits, which you may find useful to follow at home with your child.

Most recent school update

Please click here to access the general ‘News’ page for parents. Miss Haggerty has posted an update, which includes information on the Lateral Flow Covid testing that is now happening in school, as well as some really important (and extremely relevant!) information on Online Safety. Please do take time to read this post in detail.

This week’s work….

I have to say another huge thank you for all of the work I received last week. I am so impressed with the standard, which has remained so high since week 1. It is so pleasing to see that as the weeks go on, you are not letting those standards slip, and continue to work so hard! I did send an email out yesterday just with a short audio video of me talking you through the website and how to access all of the resources. Just in case you wanted to view it and haven’t yet got round to doing so, click here to watch this video.

Below I have chose to share some pictures of the ‘Wanted’ posters and poems that you did in your Romeo & Juliet lessons, this week…

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MISS BENSON’S MUSIC STARS OF THE WEEK!

Now Miss Benson has found it really difficult to pick her stars of the week, as she said Year 6 are so good at completing the tasks she has set and that you are all stars! She has, however, come up with a few names that stood out; Abigail, Gabriella, Hollie, Leo, Mya and Tia. Well done to you all!

Well done!

Year 6, I am so incredibly proud of you all. Mrs Murray and I miss you all so much and we are counting down the days until we are back together in the classroom again. I am hoping this will be in the not too far distant future, but until then keep up the amazing work and know that I am still here for you should you need any help or advice. You can always email me on year6@our-lady.blackpool.sch.uk and I will reply as soon as I can.

Be safe and look after yourselves!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.' Philippians 4:13

Well as another week passes us by, you continue to impress me with the standard of the work you have been sending. You will have noticed that the quotes I have focused on this week are all about strength. It is during difficult times like these that our physical and spiritual strength is tested. I admire each and every one of my class, and parents, for showing such strength these past few weeks. I cannot thank you enough for your ongoing support and resilience-never have we needed to use our Growth Mindset more than now!

HOME LEARNING will be posted on the Home Learning section of the website by lunchtime on a Friday so that it is ready for the week ahead. It is now a government expectation that work is sent into teachers - please send any outstanding work to me by 1.30pm on a Friday. I will need to follow up on any children I do not hear from - so please do what you can to keep regular contact with me. Thank you so much for all the work you are sending, I know how difficult this is whilst also trying to do your own jobs too - it’s really appreciated!

As much as I would love to share ALL of the work you did last week, I have chosen to share some of the amazing diary entries from our Romeo & Juliet lessons and the ‘Online Safety’ posters you created. Never has this been more relevant than now, when we are all having to spend a lot more time online! (Click on the image to see it in full)

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To access this week’s home learning please click here.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Stay safe and be good!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

Thank you!

I must begin by expressing my gratitude to my class and parents, alike. Your support is truly appreciated, and I am so pleased to see that you have all established new routines, and have adjusted to your new ‘classrooms’. I have been so impressed with the work I have been sent this week and the work produced by those in school. I have shared some of the Romeo & Juliet work at the bottom of this page. I am hoping we have all now mastered angles on a straight line and around a point, as next week our focus is angles in triangles! I hope you have found the audio lessons useful as well, I will continue to provide these for all Romeo & Juliet lessons and most of the foundation subject lessons too.

From now on, Miss Benson will be providing music tasks for the class to complete, every Friday, on YUMU. I have sent login detail, via email, to all parents with each child’s login details.

As mentioned on the Home Learning page, it is a requirement that we have regular contact with parents/children with regards to work being completed at home. I can only begin to imagine how challenging it has been for so many (if not all!) of you parents trying establish your own routines, now you have your child(ren) learning from home. With this in mind, I am very flexible in terms of when their work is sent. It is, however, important that I have communication with you at least weekly. As always, thank you for your support with this.

Please click here to access the Home Learning page, which has been updated with next week’s learning.

Here are some pictures of the ‘S’ plans from R & J lesson 1 (click on the image to see in full)….

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Here are some of the Act 1 Scene 1 Pieces of Writing (Click on the image to see it in full!)..

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Year 6, you are making me incredibly proud. Every piece of work I receive or ‘catch up’ email I get from your parents/carers, brings a huge smile to my face. Hopefully it will not be too much longer before I have you all back in the classroom, but until then keep working hard and be good for your parents….help around the house!

Have a lovely weekend….take care and be safe!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

Week 1 Blended Learning

Well, I must begin by saying how incredibly proud I am of each and every one of you. From checking your online activity as well as looking at the work that has been sent to me, I can see you have all been working so hard, under these familiar yet difficult circumstances. I cannot tell you how much I am missing not having you all in the classroom with me, but it really helps to know that you are working just as hard from home-keep up the great work Year 6! At the bottom of the ‘Home learning’ blog I have put some pictures of some the amazing ‘Magical Door’ poems I was sent. Thank you, as always, to all you parents for your support and for sending me all of their work-I know this cannot be an easy time for you either!

Please follow this link to view home learning for this week https://www.ourladyassumption-sch.co.uk/yr6-home-learning.

I hope you all have a lovely week and remember to email me if you ever have any questions/queries.

Take care and stay safe!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Merry Christmas!

Well, I can hardly believe we have come to the end of our first term in Year 6, and what a great term it has been as well.

I want to say a huge well done to all of Year 6 for working so hard these past few months-they have achieved so much! I cannot wait to see what the new year brings!

I also want to say a big thank you to all of you parents for your continued support-we share the common goal of seeing your child continue to succeed and thrive in Year 6, so your support in achieving this is hugely appreciated.

Although we could not gather in church this year, for our Carol Service, this has not stopped us for putting one together any way. Below is Year 4, 5 & 6’s service, which has been cleverly pieced together by Fr Jim! He is very talented! We hope you enjoy.

Let me end by wishing you all a Happy and Holy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

God Bless,

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray x

Another busy week!

With just one week to go before we break up, we have certainly not yet put our foot on the break! This week we have managed to cover so much and the class have been so focused (which I know can be hard with Christmas in sight!). We also had Christmas jumper day today (see pic above!) and they all looked great. Thank you for your kind donations to charity.

In Maths this week we have been learning some of the basics with algebra. I am so pleased with their response to this….they love algebra! We started by finding just one missing value, which was replaced with a letter, and then went on to finding two missing values.

In English, we have been creating some vital tool kits. We will be using these tool kits when we do our guided class write and our independent writes (after Christmas). One of the toolkits was for classic fiction openings and one was for the introduction of new characters. These toolkits are our ready made success criteria!

In Science, we have continued with our classification keys and we have now got our heads around how to create a successful one. We tested them out on each other to check we had done them correctly. We have also continued with our observations for our mould investigation. Next week we will be writing up our findings.

In RE, we continued our work on Jesus, The Bread of Life. We have reflected on ways that our relationship with Jesus can help to nourish our souls, and help us is His mission to spread the Good News.

AWARD WINNERS:

This week the Golden Award went to Tom for having such beautiful manners-he is such a polite young man!

The Writing Award went to Theo for trying so hard with his written work, and helping those around him.

The Maths Award went to Naomi for her great work on algebra.

I hope you all have a lovely week. I look forward to our last week together before we break for Christmas. We have so much to fit in next week!

Take care,

Miss Slater

'May this season remind you of the hope, joy, love and peace found in Christ.' - Romans 15:13

And as another week passes us by, we are a week close to Christmas! I can hardly believe that in two weeks time, we will have finished our first full term in school. The class have been working incredibly hard, and I have been so impressed with the outcomes of this! Considering they had 6 months of home learning prior to entering Year 6, I am extra proud of all they have achieved!

We have continued to reflect on each day of Advent this week. It has been lovely to end each day with our shared worship, where we have watched a short reflection from Fr. Jim, and then opened our Advent calendar and read a short passage from scripture. Each day I have picked two children to lead the worship and they have then picked a treat from our Christmas tree…I have assured the class that they will all get a turn to lead! This Sunday marks the 2nd Sunday of Advent, and I am so pleased that under new restrictions, churches are now open for us to go and worship, with our household.

Let’s have a look at this week’s learning….

In Maths, we have been looking at the area and perimeter of squares and rectangles. We have learning some formulas to work out area (length x width) and we know to find the perimeter of a square we just times one length by four! For rectangles, we can add together one shorter and longer side and just double this. Once we were confident with this, we then began to find area and perimeter of compound shapes…I was very impressed with their work on this! We also had a practice arithmetic paper this week, and I was so impressed with how hard everyone tried on this!

In English, we have been writing formal letters to the Wizard of Oz, in the role of Scarecrow. We have had to make sure we maintained a formal tone throughout the letter, paying careful attention to our language choices. In GPS, we have been looking at expanded noun phrases. We will continue to work on these as I know they can be quite tricky to master…we have had to remind ourselves of determiners, adjectives, nouns and prepositions!

In RE, we have been discussing and reflecting on Jesus, ‘The Bread of Life’. We have discussed how our bodies need physically nourishing, through food and water, and in the exact same way, our souls need spiritually nourishing, though ‘The Bread of Life’-Jesus. Jesus nourishes our souls to help our inners selves to grow stronger and more full of love, compassion, humility, peace and mercy. It is with this spiritual nourishment that we are then more prepared and equipped to fulfill Christ’s mission to spread the Good News.

In Science, we have been using classification keys to sort animals into their groups. They are not the easiest things to get your head around, and we will continue with our work on these next week. We have also continued to observe our mould investigation. Some of the pieces of bread have a considerable amount of mould on them, while others still had none! Next week. we will be writing a scientific explanation of why this is.

In PE, we have been playing team games of handball. We have put all of the rules and skills, that we have been learning and developing over the past few weeks, into practice. They were great at this and George was very impressed as well!

In History/Art, we have painted our Spitfires, and they look great!! We are hoping to display them at the front of school, so other classes can see them when they pass. Here are some pictures….

AWARD WINNERS:

The Golden Award went to Claire for working so incredibly hard!

The Writing Award went to Joseph for her superb choices of formal language, in his letter.

The Maths award went to Analiese for really shining in her Maths….she went on to score an impressive 40/40 on her arithmetic test too!

REMINDER: Next Friday (11th December) is Christmas Jumper Day. The children can come into school wearing a Chirstmassy jumper, in place of their school jumper. They should be wearing their usual school uniform, other than the jumper.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.' - Alan Turing

I am very fond of my quotes at the moment (as you may be able to tell!), and I love to find ones that are relevant to what/who we have been learning about, as well as seeking meaning and relevance in them. The past few weeks, we have been looking at Bletchley Park, linking with the Computing and History curriculum. This week, the class have been finishing off their presentations, and a few pairs have had the chance to present theirs to the class (see pictures below). One of the key figures in helping to crack the Enigma Machine, at Bletchley park, was, of course, Alan Turning. His quote above really struck a chord with me this week, as it made me think about how much we have to fit in before Christmas, in school. But, as well as this, it made me think about our current situation, in these unprecedented circumstances. At the moment, we can only see a short distance ahead, and have to take things one day at a time, until we can eventually reach some form of normality again-things are certainly starting to look much more hopeful and I think we are all beginning to see that light at the end of the tunnel. And on that note I have to say I am so incredibly proud of your amazing children and how resilient that have been during these unusual times.

Here’s what else we’ve been up to….

In Maths, we have been multiplying and dividing fractions by integers. I have been so pleased with how quickly the class has mastered these concepts!

In English, we have finished our cyclone poems from last week. I was SO impressed with the quality of their descriptive poems, and the class were so impressed with their own work that they wanted to photocopy them to share them with you at home-I hope you were just as impressed as I was! We have now moved on to looking at the scene where Dorothy first meets the scarecrow. Next week, we will be doing another piece of writing-a formal letter from the Scarecrow to Oz.

In RE, we have been focusing of what Advent it, and how we can prepare during this special time. As Advent start next week, we have already written our Advent Promises, which we are going to do our utmost to fulfill!

In Science, we have been observing any changes from our mould investigation. We checked on the bread on Monday and again today-we can confirm that mould has started to grow on some of the pieces of bread!

In History, we have been reading up on historic landmarks in Blackpool. This week, we have identified several pillboxes, that are still standing in Blackpool, and marked them on a map. We have also spent this morning using clay to create models of the Spitfire. They look great! Next week, we will be painting them!

AWARD WINNERS:

This week’s Golden Award went to Analiese for being such a polite and caring member of the class.

The Writing Award went to the whole of Year 6. The standard of their poems this week, made it too difficult for me to choose just one winner!

The Maths Award went to Charlie for trying really hard with his fraction work!

Notices:

• Christmas Jumper Day is on the 11th December.

• Thank you for supporting Silly Sock Day, the children looked great!

• Please do not send your child in with individual Christmas cards this year for their friends due to the current situation with Covid. Instead, why not send your child in with one card for the whole class?

I hope you all have a lovely weekend. I can hardly believe that next week marks the beginning of Advent…Christmas will be upon us before we know it!

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray

'It is not about how much you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts.'- Mother Teresa

The quote above is really poignant and it was quoted by a lady we have been studying in our RE lessons-Mother Teresa. We have been looking at her life in detail, and discussing the ways that she fulfilled the words of the scripture through her actions and because of her beliefs. Not only was Mother Teresa eloquent and truthful (our Jesuit profile values for this half term), she was extremely humble. We have been discussing ways that we can learn from Mother Teresa’s humility, and this quote sums it up. It is not about measuring how much we do, but putting love into those things we do do, no matter how small these deeds may be.

Here is what we have been up to in our other subjects this week….

In Maths, we have been finding fractions and percentages of amounts. This class LOVE percentages! They cheered when I announced our objective was on percentages, and I know why they love them so much-they are really good at them! Once they knew how to find 1%, 10%, 25%, 50% and 25%, the rest came naturally!

In English, we have continued with our Classic Fiction unit. This week we have been discussing cinematic choices for sounds, from the opening clip of The Wizard of Oz, and then we have used this video of the cyclone to start collecting appropriate vocabulary to describe the cyclone. With the help of our Discriptosaurus (my favourite book ever!!) , we have collect our favourite words, phrases and sentences. We are now writing a descriptive poem about the Cyclone, in free verse. For added effect, we are writing in first person-personifying the cyclone! I have been blown away with the drafts of their poems so far!!

In Science, we have explored and categorised different microorganisms, and yesterday we planned and set up an investigation on mould (which is a type of fungus). We have 4 slices of bread in school, kept in different temperatures-one in the fridge, one in the freezer, one in the boiler room and one in the class room. We are going to observe changes over the next couple of week, to see how temperature affects the rate of mould growth.

In History, we have been looking at what primary and secondary sources of information are. We then had a think about which sources of information are more reliable.

AWARD WINNERS:

This weeks Golden Award went to Liliana for her hard work and superb focus this week.

The Maths award went to Samuel for his fantastic work on percentages!

The Writing Award went to Audrey for powerful use of vocabulary in her poetry.

Notice:

In line with the Covid-19 health and safety guidance in school, we are required to keep windows open in the classroom, to ensure the room is ventilated. As the weather is getting colder, this does result in the classroom being colder than usual. With this in mind, I have mentioned to the class, on Miss Haggerty’s authority, that they may wear an extra layer of clothing (like a T shirt) under their white polo shirts, as extra insulation. Can I also advise that boys wear full length trousers and girls wear tights, when possible. Thank you.

Coming up…

• Next Friday (27th November) is Silly Sock day. Children will need to bring £1 donation for the PTFA

• Christmas jumper day 11 the December. More details to follow.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Miss Slater & Mrs Murray