'The only time that we have no opportunities, is when we choose not to take them.'

What a way to finish the half term - an inspirational visit from a Paralympic star. We could not help but be inspired by Craig’s story and how he overcame a diagnosis that changed his dreams. The children were full of enthusiasm and excitement completing a fitness class in the morning, before joining the rest of the school to listen to Craig and the lessons that we can learn from him. Craig made us promise that we were all to take any opportunity that will come our way - who knows what we can achieve. In the afternoon, we continued to take part in all of our sporting activities, completing the 400m and the vortex howler! Sport can open so many doors and teach us so many lessons - I think we have all learnt something from this day. A special thank you to our sport captains and leaders who supported the school during the day. They led activities, cheered each other on, took photographs and showed wonderful organisation skills. Thank you so much children.

Online Safety Day - Free to be me

I could not have been prouder of the digital leaders on Tuesday as they visited each class to help educate the children in our school on how to be safe online. The theme for the day was about being ourselves and not having to change too much whilst online. We discussed how using an avatar of yourself online, is better than a photo and can keep us much safer. The children celebrated their identities and what makes them different and unique. Please visit the online safety page on the website to see the video that our digital leaders put together.

Learning…

In amongst all of the excitement of our visitors and the online safety day, we have packed learning into each day. Myself and Mrs Webster loved reading the passionate letters that the children wrote for homework, from the perspective of PL Travers. If I was Walt Disney, I would be quaking in my boots! We edited and improved them before rewriting them. I cannot read the final versions over half term. In maths, we have continued to look at fractions; comparing, ordering, adding and subtracting them. The children are tackling these head on!

Water Parks

Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting on Tuesday evening, I hope you found it informative. I have attached the presentation below for you to look at again. Could any outstanding medical forms be returned after half term? Thank you

Celebrating each other…

At the end of each half term, the children vote for the learners who they want to celebrate. I asked them to consider people who light up and radiate our classroom and someone for progress. Congratulations to Marwa, Maryann and Pedro. The other children said such beautiful things about each of the children, please read their certificates below.

Mock week of assessments…

I have slightly changed the mock week for when we get back due to Ash Wednesday mass and I am out on a course too. So, the first week back we will focus on English and the second week back, we will focus on Maths.

Week 1:

Monday - Grammar and Spelling

Tuesday - Reading

Week 2:

Monday - Arithmetics and Maths Reasoning A

Tuesday - Maths Reasoning B

Have a lovely week on holiday. Please encourage your child to revise where needed ready for the first week back. Success is always about effort…the more that goes in, the better the children will feel. Find time to relax and celebrate the year that the children have had already.

Mrs Gregan & Mrs Webster

'You have always had the power, you just needed to learn it for yourself.'

Huge apologies, I wrote my blog on Thursday night and it seems to have vanished! Anyway, here it is…

It is hard to believe that we are just one week away from being at the half way point of the school year. Time really has flown. The children are working harder than ever to tackle all of the learning that I am throwing their way at the moment - and surpassing every target possible! We know that we are approaching our end of year assessments, and with so much learning still to do, time is very much valued. For homework next week, over half term, I will be giving the children a list of things that they could revise ready for after half term. These will just be refreshing their minds of previous learning and looking at concepts taught. The children will also be bring their spelling books home. The first set of assessments are just that, I am excited to see how the children do and it will give us a firm plan of action moving forward. Please encourage the children to revisit areas that they find tricky. I will also be putting a maths website on the homework blog that is brilliant for teaching concepts and giving some questions for them to practise.

Water Parks is also fast approaching and this week I have been putting together the pre - course information for the week. Please come to the meeting on Tuesday night at 6pm where I will be handing out relevant paperwork and going through exactly what the children will be getting up to during their week away.

After half term, I will be taking a group of children to Brian House to present them with the donation of money that we have raised as a school. I will choose these children randomly and let the parents know if their child has been asked to go.

Learning Awards

Well done to Anwar and Mati this week who are both really challenging themselves with their learning. Both of the boys are incredibly focused in class and are improving their confidence on a daily basis. Well done boys.

Reminders:

• Water Parks meeting on Tuesday - 6pm

• Athlete visit on Thursday in school. Please return all sponsor forms on Thursday/Friday this week.

Have a lovely weekend

Mrs Gregan and Mrs Webster

'In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun,' Mary Poppins

Although the pace and the depth of learning is continuing to grow in Year 6, we still always have fun with our learning. I always think that the fun is in the challenge. In maths this week, we have been using the bar modelling kits to help us solve some tricky word problems. It really helped the children visualise who had what and what calculations they need to do. In english, we have continued to read Mary Poppins and explore other classic texts. The children have enjoyed finding the similarities and the differences between the text and the film, there were far more differences than we thought! Learning has continued in all the other areas of the curriculum; classifying in science, researching the mountain ranges of the UK in geography, learning about the penitential rite in RE and so much more. PE has been a favourite of mine this week - tennis at the YMCA. The children are making such progress with their skills and game play. Wimbledon here we come!

We have had a visitor in class this week, Mr Lyons. A past pupil of the school, Mr Lyons is completing a 2 week work experience with us. The children have welcomed him fully into class and immersed him into Year 6 life.

Learning Awards

Well done to Ryan and Troy this week. Both of these young men have been really enthusiastic in class - it has been lovely to see. Ryan has been really confident with his answers in class, constantly contributing to class discussion. Troy has shown real attention to detail in his work. He has listened carefully to feedback and implemented it into his work. Also, an excellent class councillor!

Friendships in class

A number of children have brought something to my attention this week, something that is making them feel uncomfortable and we needed to discuss in class. There has been conversations about relationships and crushes. Some children are being told that they have a crush and some are discussing this for themselves. It also appeared that Whatsapp is playing a role in these discussions.

As a class, we had an open and honest discussion. We discussed what rumors can do to a person and how this can make a person feel. We also discussed what a relationship means and that at the age of 10 and 11, we are still developing friendships with each other and learning what makes a good friend. When issues such as football and playtime cause issues within class, the children need to learn how to handle these situations first.

It also seems that messages are being sent on Whatsapp about this. In May 2018, Whatsapp legal age was raised to 16. Please can you have a conversation about this matter with your child at home to avoid other children feeling uncomfortable in school. It is such an important part of the children’s lives and there is so much change that will be happening over the next few months; let’s keep them as settled and as happy as we possibly can. I am always here if anybody needs to discuss this further.

Paralympic Visitor

On Thursday 13th February, Craig McCann (a Paralympic fencer and cyclist) will be visiting our school to talk to the children about his sporting journey and how a brain tumour that had developed, led him down this path. The children will be sponsored to take part in a fitness class alongside Craig in the morning, and then to continue in a sporting event in the afternoon. On this day, the children can come into school wearing the sports kit from the teams that they represent outside of school or some sportswear of their choice. So many of the children are involved with clubs in our area, it would be great to see just how many there are. Sponsor forms will be coming home tonight. The money we will raise will contribute towards the improvements on the trim trail outside.

Reminders:

• Water Parks meeting - Tuesday 11th February 6pm

• Mock assessment week - Monday 24th February

Have a lovely weekend with your families, let’s hope the rain holds off!

Mrs Gregan and Mrs Webster

'Everything is possible...even the impossible,' Mary Poppins

We have been totally captivated by Mary Poppins and classic fiction this week. The magic of the story and the way it makes us feel has really contributed to such exciting lessons this week. The children started off by looking at what makes a classic text - there was definitely opinions on this topic. For homework, the children have been asked to look at whether Harry Potter is a classic, they will be writing a balanced discussion text on Monday. The majority of the week has been spent looking at the differences between the text and the film. The children have loved watching the film and the setting of Cherry Tree Lane, they have explored language and have written some exciting setting descriptions. Next week, we will be continuing to read Mary Poppins and also starting to explore The Wizard of Oz. Amongst all of the English, we have continued to: look at decimals, started work on shape and angles, been taxonomists in science (classifying food and animals) creating databases, learning more about the UK in geography and creating a beautiful storyboard about The Last Supper for our Year 3 Holy Communion children.

We finished off Thursday afternoon combining geography and OAA skills with some maths. I set the children an orienteering course around the grounds of the school, answering maths questions at each point. It was so much fun seeing the children run around and absolutely nail the math questions as well.

Learning Awards

This week, there has been so much exciting learning and a lot of children have been really active; pushing themselves above and beyond!

Sophie has loved our Mary Poppins unit of work. When creating a setting description, Sophie really thought deeply about the reader and produced some great descriptive sentences.

Ryan is a shape king. He fired up in maths this week when discussing angles. Ryan really drew on previous knowledge which is so important in Year 6.

Reuben another focused mathematician this week. He is really paying close attention to detail to be the best that he can be.

For the next two weeks, we will be joined in class by Mr Lyons. I had the pleasure of teaching him a good few years ago and Mr Lyons will be joining us for some work experience. We look forward to welcoming him into our class family.

Reminders:

• Water Parks meeting on the 11th February at 6pm.

Have a wonderful weekend!

God bless

Mrs Gregan and Mrs Webster

'It is the most wonderful time of the year.'

I think you will all agree that Tuesday’s concert at church was so magical and a real thought-provoking evening for us all. We were so unbelievably proud of the children; the way they spoke and the way they sung was just beautiful - it really started Christmas for me.

Thank you to all of the children for their hard work this term - there is still lots to come after Christmas, but they are more than ready! Make sure that you relax and have some lovely family time this Christmas. Send me some photographs of the children watching classic films with their hot chocolate and popcorn!

The children chose their star learners for this term. Someone who has impressed them with their progress, their kindness or their leadership skills. Well done to Troy, Mati, Evie L and Pedro…your classmates think you are deserving of this award.

Have a wonderfully festive and holy Christmas.

Year 6 Blog - 'It Is not the strongest of the species that survives but the most adaptable to change.' Charles Darwin

Learning really is so much fun in Year 6 at the moment…everything has a purpose and the children are completing every task with determination and pride. They want to do the best that they can do!

This week in class we have continued our Tudor Topic, ready for our trip to Samlesbury Hall next Thursday. The children have been looking at the highs and lows of Catherine of Aragon’s life and graphing it. It is a powerful task, the children really see the impact of her marriage to Henry. We have been using photo manipulation software on the iPads to turn ourselves into Tudor kings and queens. The children looked at the detail in the images and then used the iPad pens to transfer that detail onto the iPads. Why not pop into class and come and have a look at all of our artwork?

The children have really enjoyed the biography unit that we have been completing in class and this week we have completed Outcome 2 - a biography all about Charles Darwin. The children have kept their homework books in class this week so that they can use the facts that they researched within their biography. I think they may need to write an autobiography! Science has continued to explore Darwin’s theories of evolution, fitting in beautifully with our biography unit. This week we have explored vocabulary linked to the topic to get a real handle on it.

In the run up to Christmas, it is so important for the children and ourselves to think beyond what we have and what we want. We have thought about all the times that we have said, “That is not fair!” this week. Mrs Webster segregated the children randomly using lollisticks in class. One group went on the computers and had lots of fun, whilst the other group had to sit their in silence. Whilst this of course, “Is not fair!” it illustrated beautifully the issue that lots of people in the world are segregated, vulnerable or oppressed through no fault of their own. It really made the children think deeply about our world. Next week, the children will be having a visit from Amnesty International to talk to them about their work. Definitely a time to stop and think.

Learning Awards - another great week of learning in Year 6…for everyone. The sense of determination and focus is spine-tingling good!

Our focused learner this week is Baxter. A really focused and consistent half term! Baxter has been focused and consistent in every single lesson and he is really determined to do his best. This focus is resulting in some beautifully presented work. Baxter asks questions in class to really take his learning forward. Your sense of pride this half term has been fantastic and we are so very proud of you too!

Our reflective learner this week is Evie C. Again, another really positive and consistent half term! Because of this, the standard of Evie’s work is fantastic - I love marking her work! Evie is making conscious decisions about her work, she knows that the effort that she puts in will only improve her work. Well done Evie - what a great half term you are having.

Have a really lovely weekend together. We have been learning a Tudor dance ready for the trip and hope to perform it in the grand hall.

Mrs Gregan and Mrs Webster.