Week ending Friday 14th March 2025

The children have showed great perseverance throughout the week as we welcomed them on Monday to the beginning of our mock SATs week. It has been a fantastic learning curve for the children, understanding about test conditions and the importance of using all of their time to correct their work and check for mistakes. They have shown great resilience when finding them tricky and have discovered where they can improve their learning.

The children have continued to be extremely engaged in our topic of World War 2, both in History and our English text: Rose Blanche. The children have written some fantastic, moving pieces of setting description of the war-filled streets in their book, using a variation of punctuation and high-level vocabulary. Within History, 6C learnt about ways that people kept safe during the war, including air raids, evacuation, gas marks and blackouts. They found it very strange to trial a modernised version of an air raid, having to get under their desks for safety and sometimes even complete their work there.

Week ending Friday 7th March 2025

Wow - what a busy week. The children have been emersed into the world of Peter Pan and reading. Throughout the week, they have got stuck into an array of activities linked to reading and our Book Week Text (Peter Pan): painting the London skyline, making reading dens, sharing stories with their buddies, writing letters in role as characters and many more. 

Week ending Friday 14th February 2025

We have had a fantastic week, finalising our learning of the term. To celebrate finishing some incredible writing about our text: Romeo and Juliet, we watched Gnomeo and Juliet. The children found the jokes in the film hilarious and were able to follow the storyline now that they have studied the play. This also opened the children's eyes to the music of Elton John and by the end, some of them were even singing along.

In Maths, the children have finished their topic on decimals and can now add, subtract, multiply and divide integers and decimals securely. 

The children (alongside the staff) have been extremely enthused and engaged in our Geography topic: changing Birmingham. They were even more excited when they were offered the chance to make a model of old and new Birmingham, taking into consideration all the changes and the effect this had on the city and the industries. 

 

Week ending Friday 7th February 2025

Week ending Friday 31st January 2025

The children have had an extremely busy week, from writing and performing monologues, to performing a Latin choral piece of music, to running a distance of somewhere between 1-2km; their perseverance and determination has not gone unnoticed this week.

Within their English lessons, the children have continued to develop their understanding the story and techniques used within the writing of Romeo and Juliet, learning through the analyse stage of the lesson sequence. They started the week by writing some heart-felt monologues, either from the perspective of Romeo or Juliet at different points of the play. The children then performed these (please see some fantastic examples below). By the end of the week, they had analysed a diary entry, evaluating the writing techniques used and the effect that they have on the reader and began the planning process for their own entries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Maths, we have been learning about substitution within algebraic formula and writing our own formula. The children found some concepts easier than others but now have a good understanding of how to find the value of an unknown value in an equation. 

In Music, the children continued to explore the Latin choral song: Dona Nobis. Now that they have become very familiar with the tune, textures of the different parts of the piece and the time signature, the children came together as a class to perform the piece on the Keyboards. Miss Clare was blown away by their musicality and determination to put all of the parts together to create a beautiful melody. Hopefully by the end of term, there will be some footage for you to hear them play. 

Week ending Friday 24th January 2025

Despite feeling a little embarrassed by the romantic theme of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", the children have produced some fantastic and quite emotional pieces of writing using high-quality language. They have made predictions using clues they found on a treasure hunt, explored vocabulary and used this to write a contrast poem - considering the emotions of the character whilst reminiscing on happy times against the stark contrast of emotions they are faced with at the end of the play. 

In Maths, we have started looking at algebra, exploring different function machines before looking at expressions and what they represent. 

In Science, children have been bringing together their learning so far about electricity by creating electronic quizzes. The children formed their own questions around the topic and then created an electric circuit which would only work when connected to the correct multiple-choice answer.

Week ending Friday 17th January 2025

Without a doubt, the highlight of the week for Year 6 was their Electricity Workshop. We even had some children quoting that it was the "best day ever". On Thursday and Friday, the children were privileged to take part in an engaging and fun-packed workshop with Andrew Berry, who writes our Science curriculum. He had the children eating out the palm of his hands with his interesting facts and experiments. Throughout the workshop, the children explored static and heat energy (leaving a rather distinct smell of burnt toast along the corridor). They made their own version of the first ever battery, by making a voltaic pile and created a variety of different circuits (including a human circuit). They explored ways to transport and conduct electricity, and finished the day by trying to use wind power, although the unreliable British weather had other ideas.

 

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The children also made some delicious flapjacks in their Maths lessons, learning about how to use ratio within recipes, and learning the importance of getting these measurements accurate (some learnt this the hard way).

Week ending Friday 10th January 2025

Happy New Year!

The children were extremely excited to start their new text in English, starting with an enquiry into which book it might be, by investigating objects around it. A few children managed to make links with the well-known story of Hansel and Gretel, however the children soon discovered that this version has a slight twist to it. They have been perfecting their knowledge of word classes and should all now feel confident in identifying and naming nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs.

In Maths, the children have started their topic on ratio, which despite feeling overwhelming at the beginning, they have all developed a secure understanding throughout the week. They now know how to link fractions and ratio and are beginning to use ratio within shapes drawn to different scales. Next week, they will be continuing with this and will get to explore ratio within recipes - perhaps something edible will be in the works.

The children were very enthusiastic towards our Geography topic this term: Changing Birmingham. We will be looking at the industrialisation of Birmingham and how it has evolved over the last decades. I wonder if the children can remember the trends in population and the similarities/differences between Birmingham in the 1300s compared to the 21st century. 

Week ending Thursday 19th December

What a busy week to end a fantastic term.  From carol performances, Santa's grotto, Christmas cards and letter writing to Christmas lunch and Forest School activities, the children have been extremely festive. The children were extremely proud of their English work throughout the term and enjoyed writing their newspaper report as a final piece of the term. A piece of their work from this term can now be seen displayed on our WOW writing boards throughout the school.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and look forward to seeing you back in the New Year.

Week ending Friday 13th December

We entered our English lessons this week to some Breaking news. We were immediately intrigued about what had happened, and quickly put together pieces of the puzzle to make connections of the refugee who had been found with the storyline in our text. Throughout the week, we have analysed news reports, identifying the structural and language features that they use and planned some emotive phrases of our own. We worked hard to develop an understanding of how to use direct and indirect speech in a news report and are looking forward to writing our reports next week.

In Maths, we have been exploring measurement. Throughout the week, we've been exploring metric and imperial measurements, learning how to convert these and solving problems regarding different measures.

Week ending Friday 6th December

On Monday, we completed writing their flashback narratives based on our core English text 'The Story like the Wind'. Miss Scott and Miss Clare were blown away (excuse the pun!) with the maturity of the writing and the use of emotive language that drew in the reader. They were particularly impressed all children had used all the grammatical features that we had taught leading up to our big write. On Tuesday, we used peer marking. We had an opportunity to read each other's writing and pick out the strengths of our peers' writing. This also helped inspire us and identify areas to improve our own work. 

In Music this week, we have continued to learn our Christmas carols for our upcoming Christmas concert. We have listened to each other's carol and are becoming more confident singing to an audience. We look forward to performing this on Tuesday 17th December at St Peter's and Paul's Church. 

It was a pleasure to take many of the Year 6 children who are in choir around the local estate to sing Christmas carols to invite our neighbours to the Christmas Fair. The Year 6 choir children represented the choir incredibly and we were so proud of them. 

Week ending Friday 29th November

On Monday afternoon, we wrapped shoeboxes, wrote heart-felt messages, gathered all of your donations and organised them into age-related shoeboxes. On Tuesday afternoon, we took all 40 shoeboxes down to our local “Operation Christmas Child” warehouse and handed them over to the volunteers there. We were greeted with a warm welcome and in return,we sung a rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.  After a short talk from the manager of the warehouse, we returned to school, feeling very thankful for the experience and the gifts that we receive at Christmas.

This week, the children showcased their creativity and design skills by crafting their Christmas stockings. Using their carefully thought out designs, we selected vibrant colours and patterns to bring our ideas to life. From cutting and stitching to adding personal touches, the children demonstrated fantastic creativity. Each stocking is unique, reflecting their great sewing and practical design and technology skills. The children are looking forward to bringing them home to show our families! 

Week ending Friday 15th November

What a fantastic week of learning we have had this week! The children have been immersed in our learning particularly our Geography unit - Ethiopia. The children have come up with many brilliant questions that they would like to find out about Ethiopia and therefore we will try to cover as many of them throughout the term! 

In English this week, we have continued with our story of 'A Story Like the Wind' - the children have been extremely engaged with the text and have written some amazing setting descriptions using powerful verbs that bring the setting to life. Here is an incredible example of how the use of high quality vocabulary and sentence structure builds an image for the reader. 

Year 6 have begun their Forest School learning - this week 6S had a fantastic time and even created a band! The laughter and smiles from Forest school this week were contagious! Take a look at some of the pictures and videos of the fun the children had this week. 

 

Week ending Friday 8th November

The children returned to a busy week after a relaxing half term. From leading the school in a church service to sewing poppies, we've been extremely busy.

In Maths, we have continued our extended fractions topic, looking at mixed numbers and effective ways to add mixed numbers and recapping how to convert them into improper fractions. Next week, we will be subtracting mixed numbers and remembering how to multiply fractions by an integer.

In English, the children began the week by building plausible predictions about our new text. They were very excited to discover different items which gave them clues about the story line, making links to other texts that they have read. Once we read the first few pages, we were introduced to a storm that was picking up, whilst a small boat was out at sea. This led us to write some poems to describe a storm, in which we challenged the children to use some figurative language to create the most effective visualisations. The children blew us away with the poems that they created, using some fantastic metaphors and onomatopoeia to describe a storm.

In DT, the children have been refreshing and developing their sewing skills. They started by sewing poppies to add to our commemoratory cross, using a combination of running stitch, cross stitch and some children attempting an over stitch. They then began designing a stocking for their DT project this term. 

Week ending Friday 25th October

We had a fantastic end to term, a highlight being our trip to Temper Temper to complete our learning about the Ancient Maya. The children wowed the owners with their expansive knowledge of the Maya civilisation and were disgusted when they found out how much sugar was in one small piece of white chocolate. They made some impressive Maya masks out of chocolate and sweets, as well as some tasty truffles.

Week ending Friday 18th October

Year 6 have had a fantastic week - the children have been working incredibly hard with all their learning this week. 

In English this week, the children have written some fantastic balanced arguments about whether gorillas should be kept in captivity. They have used brilliant debate language, fronted adverbials and parenthesis to make it a cohesive and effective piece of writing. Take a read of some of our great pieces of work. 

In Maths this week, we have had a very exciting week! We have begun some new Year 6 learning - BODMAS. The children were able to explain that BODMAS is the order to complete operations when they have more than one in a number sentence. The children had a very exciting maths lesson on Tuesday where they took part in a BODMAS treasure hunt around the school. It was lovely to see how engaged all the children were and were able to use their knowledge of BODMAS to complete the hunt. They had to unscramble the letters and found out the secret word....mathematical! 

It is evident from our learning over the week that we have some passionate advocates for climate change, in our year group! We have all written a letter to Tom Tugendhat to explain what we know about climate change and what they can do as a local community to help support this. 

Week ending Friday 11th October

This week in Year 6, the children have been extremely busy and have got stuck into all aspects of their learning.

In English, the children have continued to develop their facts about gorillas in preparation for writing their debate and by the end of the week, they had written their opening paragraph. They have had to consider their use of formal language and cohesive devices when writing extended sentences. Despite finding it challenging to begin with, the children showed great perseverance and are now looking forward to completing their debate next week.

In Maths, the children have tackled different methods of long division, testing their number facts when writing down multiples of large 2-digit numbers (they particularly enjoyed testing and competing with Miss Clare and Miss Scott's speed at doing this). Next week, they will explore a new concept of solving calculations in the correct order (using BODMAS).

Our Art projects have begun to take shape this week, where the children have been combining their Geography learning and art skills used by the artist Jill Pelto to create their piece about Climate Change. The children showed great determinatio and concentration at drawing for an extended period of time to develop their ideas. We are really excited to see their finished pieces in a few weeks time.

Week ending Friday 4th October

It has been a fantastic week in Year 6. There have been many exciting learning opportunities throughout the week, from Science to PE to English.

On Wednesday, the children had the privilege of being invited to attend a sports event at Tonbridge School, which was led by their students and staff. The children took part in a variety of sports, including hockey, cricket and athletics. The children particularly enjoyed hockey, leading them to request our School Council to look into starting a school hockey team. Year 6 represented Bishop Chavasse brilliantly and many of the staff commented on their positive behaviour and attitude towards new activities and skills.

In English, we have continued reading King Kong and begun to learn about how to write a balanced argument. We are extremely enthusiastic towards our debate topic: Should gorillas be held in captivity? The children finished the week by having a whole class debate, in which they presented their opinions and arguments, using the language that you would find within a written balanced argument. 

In Science, the children have been using plant taxonomy to group different plants. They have looked at monocots, dicots, conifers, ginkgos, ferns and moss. They were very excited to be introduced to a stick insect, continuing their learning about animal classification.

Week ending Friday 27th September

The children have been fully immersed into their English this week, planning and then writing their own dilemma narrative, using the skills that they have learnt from our text King Kong and some other example texts that we have explored. They are now experts at including relative clauses and fronted adverbials in their writing. Our focus within this piece of extended writing has been to show how a character is feeling or acting through powerful verbs (show not tell). Miss Scott and Miss Clare are extremely proud of the writing that they have produced. Next week, we will be beginning to look at balanced arguments.

 

In Maths, the children have been recapping and extending their learning on factors and multiples. They have also explored rules of divisibility - how many can they remember at home? Next week, we will be exploring multiplication and division methods, ensuring we have self-checking strategies. 

The children are thoroughly enjoying our History topic: The Ancient Maya and this week learnt about where the civilisation was and when Lord Shield Jaguar ruled. They became very confident at identifying on different maps where the civilisation was, using geographical language to describe it, as well as learning about the language that they spoke.

In RE, the children were extremely resilient when delving into the debate about Science and Religion. We explored scientific theories about creation and discussed whether they complimented or contrasted that of Genesis 1. 

Week ending Friday 20th September 2024

We had a busy start to this week, getting stuck into our Music and PE lessons. In Music, we started to learn our Harvest song (Lord of the Harvest) and continued to develop our knowledge of notation and rhythm. We thoroughly enjoyed getting to use the keyboards, identifying ways to recognise different notes and using them to compose some simple melodic bars.

For our PE sessions this term, we are very lucky to have a cricket coach to teach us different skills for the sport. This week, we learnt how to do an over-arm bowl and next week, will put this into a game situation.

In Maths, we have started exploring the 4 operations, starting with addition this week, and will be furthering our subtraction skills and revisiting factors and multiples next week.  

In English, we're really enjoying our text "King Kong" and have been exploring ways to effectively plan our own dilemmas, using the skills that Anthony Brown uses in his novel. Our grammar focus throughout the week has been relative clauses and modal verbs.  

Week ending Friday 6th September 2024

It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school, this week. Our new Year 6 cohort have settled in well and have shown us they are ready for a positive year ahead. 

This week we have focused on expectations in and out of the classroom and what their year ahead will look like. With both Miss Clare and Miss Scott, the children have created a class charter, a set of classroom expectations, to follow and they have signed this as an agreement that they will follow these rules to have a happy, positive final year at primary school. 

In RE this week, we have written class prayers and created a poster relating to our year groups fruit of the spirit: gentleness and self-control. 

In English, we have started to introduce them to our new text 'King Kong' by Anthony Browne. The children have predicted what the text will be about and have written a simile poem based on a picture of the gorilla in the book. 

We are looking forward to meeting all the parents at meet the teacher presentation evening on Thursday 12th September where we will discuss all things year 6 including homework, swimming and PE sessions.