WELCOME TO THE YEAR 5 AND 6 BLOG FOR THE AUTUMN TERM!  

Week beginning 2nd December

Please see below for details of what we have been learning in UKS2 this week!

Last week, Miss Kropman received a very intriguing email from Mrs Duren - a Year 9 form tutor from Chancellor's School. Mrs Duren explained that her form were interested in forming pen-pal friendships with children in Year 6 as a means of helping them with transition to secondary school. Miss Kropman gladly accepted this invite, and pen-pal pairings were formed! During today's English lessons, Year 6 read their first letter and then penned their replies. We are hoping this becomes a positive means of learning about secondary school for Year 6, whilst also giving letter writing skills a real purpose! 

Week beginning 25th November

Welcome to another busy week in UKS2, where the teachers have welcomed in parents for consultation evenings and Years 5&6 have enjoyed many practical learning activities focusing on the need for oracy in a 'Just Talk' week. 

This afternoon saw the culmination of our science unit on the properties of materials, where the children were tasked with independently planning and carrying out an investigation to explore a factor which affected the rate at which a sweet dissolves. In their last lesson, Year 6 chose a variable to explore and planned their method in good detail, also considering how to make it a fair test. Today, they then looked at one of the following variables to see how the rate of dissolving changed: temperature of water, colour of skittle, type of skittle, amount of water, type of liquid. Upon recording their results, the children were then challenged to explain why their findings were as they were. Finally, we, of course, 'scientifically' tasted the variety of skittles that were left over! Miss Kropman and Mr Neiman were delighted with the effort which their classes put in to creating successful fair test investigations this afternoon and loved hearing that this was: 'The best science lesson ever!' (which surely had nothing to do with the sweet-eating element?!).

Today has been No Pens Day across the school, and Year 6 had a brilliant English lesson this morning using watercolours instead of pens! We have begun a new unit about Indian myths and legends this week, centred around Madhur Jaffrey's 'Seasons of Spendour'. After reading the 'Days of the Banyan Tree', we discussed how the tree can be central to many myths. Using our oracy skills, we explored what the tree might look like and then re-read the descriptive passages in the story to find sufficient evidence to create these beautiful artistic representations! We look forward to writing our finished myths on tracing paper to be placed over our art work at the end of term.

Week beginning 18th November

This week, UKS2 have been participating in UK Parliament Week in addition to many other fun lessons! 

This week has been UK Parliament Week, and UKS2 spent today's PSHE lesson focusing on this. They learnt about the different houses (and colours of seats!) and also about our local MP. Ms Karpasitis also taught each class about the Elizabeth Tower: did you know that it is only the bell which is actually called Big Ben? Well done to the children for engaging so well with this lesson. 

Week beginning 11th November

This week, Year 5 and 6 have been celebrating anti-bullying week by introducing kindness jars in their classrooms, wearing odd socks and exploring respect in their PSHE lessons. We have also had great fun in science! 

Year 6 completed their unit on the properties of materials by learning about burning as an irreversible change. They were able to practically explore this, in addition to making posters about fire safety. After carefully recording their observations and timing how long each material took to burn, Year 6 also produced some superb bar charts! 

In their RE lesson with Miss Kropman this afternoon, Year 5 explored Shabbat - the weekly day of rest observed by many Jewish people. After learning about this, we discussed how this might impact the life of a Jewish person, looking at the benefits and challenges that observing Shabbat might bring. Shabbat Shalom to all of the Jewish members of our school community. 

Week beginning 4th November

Welcome back to school for the second half of a jam-packed Autumn Term! This week, we have been commemorating Remembrance Day with our Brookmans Buddies, commencing new units in all subjects and performing to the school in singing assembly!

Years 5 and 6 had their first ukulele lesson today with Kathryn McGuinness from Hertfordshire Music Service. In just thirty minutes, each class successfully learnt not one, but TWO chords! They demonstrated a very promising start and we can't wait to share our progress with you. 

UKS2 were absolute superstars this morning as they shared what we have been learning in our music lessons this term. They performed three WW2 songs - 'We're Going On A Journey', 'The White Cliffs of Dover' and 'Hey Mr Miller'. Miss Kropman was very proud of their beautiful singing and superb glockenspiel skills! 

Week beginning 21st October

Here we are in the last week of this mammoth half-term! Well done to all of the children in Years 5 and 6 for demonstrating excellent effort and aptitude in the classroom throughout the past eight weeks. I have been so proud to see them already making progress and being great role models for the younger members of our school. I hope you all enjoy a very well-deserved break next week and, in the meantime, appreciate looking at the fun things we have been up to this week! Miss Kropman x

This afternoon, Year 6 researched the single most concentrated air raid of WW2, which was suffered by Coventry on 14th November 1940. They worked exceptionally hard to find many interesting facts and to then present these in an interesting, eye-catching way. We will now be able to compare Coventry to how our local area was affected by the Blitz in our next history lessons after half term. 

This afternoon, Topaz studied the work of Henry Moore, an artist who spent most of his life in Hertfordshire and was appointed by the government to produce official sketches of London during WW2. Moore, who was best-known for his work as a sculptor, was forced to draw during the war due to a lack of materials for his usual genre. He became famous for his sketches of the London Underground during 1940-41, which showed the surprising number of people who were forced to take shelter in the tunnels during air-raids. Today, we imitated his sketching style and then used our own photographs to create original sketches with a 1940 background. We can't wait to show you our finished work!

This morning, Mr Williams from our School Sports Partnership came to teach us some archery! After learning the technique required, we had a practice session prior to a competition. The top 8 scorers from the phase have now been selected to represent the school in a district competition in January. Congratulations to the Brookmans Park Archery Team of 2024-25: Daniel H, Simukai, Daniel B, Ella, Henry, Thomas, Estelle and Finn. Thank you very much to Mr Williams for such a fun start to the day! 

This morning, UKS2 celebrated Black History Month. We discussed the importance of recognising significant figures and how they have shaped both the UK and the wider world, before completing a collaborative art project. We then researched key facts about our person before exploring how they have inspired others. Here are Topaz (and some of Ruby) hard at work to produce Nelson Mandela's portrait!

This afternoon, we ended the half-term by spending an hour with our Brookmans Buddies! Year 5 were paired with their Year 1 buddies, whilst Year 6 were with Year 2. Firstly, UKS2 heard their buddy read, supporting them with their phonics skills and discussing the texts. After this, we headed onto the playground for a carousel of shuttle runs in houses, playing on the equipment and creating a game. All of the children had smiles on their faces and were sad to say goodbye to their buddies! 

Week beginning 14th October

Welcome to another jam-packed week of learning in UKS2! Please also check out the Sports Blog for news of Year 5 football and Year 6's multi-sports afternoon at Monk's Walk School.

Topaz had a great time this afternoon making ice cream in science! We began the lesson by revising reversible and irreversible changes and then exploring how a liquid changes to a solid due to the reduction of heat energy. There then followed a very active fifteen minutes of mixing ingredients and vigorously shaking the bag of cream, vanilla essence and sugar inside a bag of ice and salt. I hope your children enjoy telling you about how good their creations tasted! 

Week beginning 7th October

Welcome to a week of topic learning, Harvest Festival, singing and more in Years 5 and 6!

Topaz leant about propaganda during their history lesson, and how it was used in order to change public attitude and opinion towards certain things during WW2. We looked at how it was used for evil by Hitler to encourage antisemitism, and also how the British government used it to mislead citizens in believing that Dunkirk had been a great show of solidarity (rather than focusing on the thousands of lives that had been lost). In a link to our learning about food rationing, we then created these excellent posters to encourage people in Britain to grow their own vegetables! 

Year 6 investigated irreversible changes in their science lesson this afternoon, including learning what happens when you mix Mentos and Coca-Cola! They enjoyed actively exploring various mixtures and the gases which were created in the new solutions. Miss Kropman and Mr Neiman were very impressed with the observation skills and scientific understanding shown this afternoon. Well done, Topaz and Turquoise!

Week beginning 30th September

This week, we have an exciting visitor to share with you, Rosh Hashanah learning and BMX workshops, amongst many other things going in in Years 5&6!

This morning, Years 5 and 6 were treated to an interesting and informative talk from Vera Schaufeld MBE, who travelled to England on the Kindertransport in 1939. Prior to her visit, Year 6 had explored the Kindertransport through a guided reading text, and both year groups researched some basic facts about this programme. We learnt that this was a scheme that existed between November 1938 and September 1939 to enable nearly 10,000 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied countries to be evacuated to England. 

Vera was an engaging and fabulous speaker who, at aged 94(!), also shared a PowerPoint presentation featuring many photographs of her early life. Vera kindly explained her experience of war in the south of England, and we ended the session with the opportunity to ask her some questions. Ahead of Rosh Hashanah later this week, and the NSPCC's Kindness Week, this was an invaluable morning to learn from a primary, living wealth of information. Thank you to Vera for providing our phase with this opportunity and a thank you, also, to Mrs Krantz (Tilly's grandma) for arranging this for us.

This afternoon, all of UKS2 learnt about Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish new year, which begins at sunset on Wednesday and will be celebrated for two days. We explored the Jewish calendar and then looked at how Rosh Hashanah is marked by Jewish communities. Miss Kropman shared a video of her rabbi blowing the shofar in St Albans from last weekend, which did a great job of waking up Topaz and some of Sapphire on a cold, rainy Tuesday afternoon! We then all enjoyed eating the traditional apples and honey (representing best wishes for a sweet new year) and some challah bread in a round shape, symbolising a complete year and the crown of G-d as king. 

Finally, the children were tasked with demonstrating their learning either in writing, pictorially or through the medium of rap! We hope you enjoy looking at some examples.

Shana Tova to all our families who will be celebrating later this week.

UKS2 were given a real treat this week with Mike Mullen, BMX World Champion Half-Pipe rider, coming in to deliver a whole school assembly and workshops for Year 5 and 6. In his introductory outdoor assembly on Wednesday, Mike warmed us up and taught us six different air moves! Crucially, however, he also communicated an important message about growth mindset and believing in our own abilities. Mike explained his mantra of always saying, 'I can't do it YET!' and gave us an interesting insight into how he has achieved such success by following this. After showing us some amazing tricks, Mike then led workshops for Year 6 on Wednesday and Year 5 on Thursday. At the end of the day on Thursday, Secret Students who had displayed great technique and the five learning powers in their workshop were selected to perform a showcase to the school.

This was an awesome opportunity, and we would all like to thank Mike for providing such a fun workshop and thank Mrs Johnson for arranging this for us!

Week beginning 23rd September

Welcome to another full week of learning in Years 5 and 6. In addition to this, our Year 6 boys football team were in action for the first team this season (please see Sports Blog for their news!).

In our science lessons this week, UKS2 have been tasked with deciding on the most appropriate equipment to successfully separate materials. They have also carefully carried these methods out, before evaluating their results and considering alternatives!

Week beginning 16th September

Please see below for news of our week in Years 5 and 6!

An excellent example of figurative language use in an English lesson this morning. Well done to Isobella, in Turquoise, for this wonderful poem about a leaf!

Autumn calling,

An elegant ballerina dancing onto her stage.

Floating like a feather,

In the calm Autumn air.

Crisp veins coursing through her body,

As she feels more alive than ever.

Then she touches the ground with her delicate fingers,

And accepts her fate. 

Another excellent day of writing poetry in Year 6 English, with these magnificent poems based upon James Reeve's 'The Sea' - Wednesday 18th September

Topaz Class Poem - The Rainbow

The rainbow is a magnificent peacock,

Radiant and bright.

She arches through the sky with light.

With her pot of gold and wonders to be told,

Hour upon hours old.

Her stretching, expanding fingers,

A fluttering feather lingers,

The beautiful peacock soars,

Illuminating the grassy floors.

Turquoise Class Poem - The Fire

The fire is a raging lion,

Angry and dazed,

He roars through the sky ablaze.

With his crashing paws and embered light,

Crackling, bright all night.

A vicious, booming beast,

Ground his feast, feast, feast.

The raging lion screams,

Nothing can quench his dreams.

This morning, all of Year 5 travelled to Monks Walk School for the Welwyn and Hatfield School Sports Partnership's district running festival. They all competed brilliantly against a large number of schools and should be very proud to learn that we came second overall! Huge congratulations to all of them for their sporting behaviour and encouragement of each other over a long, gruelling race. A special well done to Max G, who came 3rd in the boys event, and Florence A who came 5th in the girls run. Bethany and Leo also finished in the top 10. This Fab Four has now qualified for the county finals! 

Yet another fabulous poem, this time by Darcy from Ruby Class - Thursday 19th September

My week

Mondays are like gooey, mushy broccoli that is over-cooked.

Tuesdays smell like warm, home-made pizza.

Wednesdays taste like horrible, white fish that makes me feel sick.

Thursdays feel like warm, mallow- melted hot chocolate.

Fridays look like fizzy lemonade ready to explode.

Saturdays feel like a beautiful drip of honey going on your tongue.

Sundays are like a tray of olives, yummy and sour.

Week beginning 9th September

In our first full week of the term, UKS2 have been extremely busy starting many new units of learning! The highlight of our week was Tuesday's Sizzling Starter for our WW2 local history unit, when we visited the Lincolnfields Centre in Bushey.

On Tuesday 10th September, Years 5 and 6 made the short journey to Bushey, for a Children at War 1940s experience. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a number of staff who were in role as adults living in Bushey in 1940. They placed us in five groups and sent us to take part in our first activity. 

Miss Kropman's group began by visiting a house that had been recreated to represent one from 1940. We were taken on a tour of the laundry room (and got to try out a mangle!), the kitchen, the lounge and the bedroom. This was an interesting start to our learning about WW2 in Hertfordshire, as we explored rationing in the area and also learnt about how windows were protected during the blackout period. Following this, we went outside to the garden, which featured a vegetable patch, (model) rabbits and an Anderson Shelter. Whilst there, we learnt about the Dig for Victory campaign and the importance of home shelters. Suddenly, the air raid siren went! Despite the all-clear soon sounding, we were unfortunate to witness an unexploded bomb had landed on the roof of the home nearby, and we were tasked with forming a chain line to then put out the smoky remnants using a pump and hose. This was very hard work, and it was alarming to think that such tasks would have fallen to young people during the war. Next, we went to a school room. We experienced a WW2-style lesson, typical of that experienced by evacuees in Hertfordshire, including some tricky spellings and very strict behaviour expectations!

After lunch, we had the harrowing experiences of the Blitz shelter, where a gentleman who had lived through the war as a child led us into a mock North London shelter.  We then witnessed the devastation that an air-raid had caused and were thankful that this was not a real situation for today. Finally, we visited the on-site museum, where we were fortunate enough to hold a real Tommy gun from 1940 and view many objects that were kept on the US air base at Bushey from 1942 - 1945.

The trip really brought to life what war would have been like for a child living in Hertfordshire, and was made even more realistic by us dressing up as evacuees. Miss Kropman would like to thank all of the phase (children and teachers) and also to Miss Pitfield, who accompanied us today. UKS2 demonstrated excellent learning behaviour and represented the school brilliantly: well done, everyone!

Well done to the Year 6 children who put themselves forward for being House Captains. They delivered their speeches and presentations with impressive confidence and had all clearly put a great deal of effort into preparing these. We eagerly await the outcome of KS2 and staff votes, and will let you know the results on Monday!

Week beginning 2nd September

Welcome to the Autumn Term and the UKS2 Phase Blog! Miss Kropman will update this each week to show you what we have been learning and experiencing in school. We hope you enjoy looking at this! 

Today, all of UKS2 logged into Picture News' live assembly entitled 'Celebrating Our Differences and Overcoming Adversity'. This was an engaging and interactive session, where we were able to communicate (via the 'chat' function) with schools from all over the UK. The presentation began with an image of people working together to repair damage suffered to their area during the recent riots. This then stimulated discussion about community and things that make us unique. Thank you to Mrs Davies for booking this interesting Friday assembly for us!