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

Week beginning 22nd April

Please see below for examples of our learning in UKS2 this week! For more examples of Year 6 accompanying our whole school singing assembly this week, please see the Music Blog!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PUBLISHED AUTHORS! - Friday 26th April

Back in February, Years 5&6 were set the challenge of creating a one hundred word story as part of the Young Writers national competition. Based on the theme of 'Crazy Creatures', our budding writers were tasked with planning, writing and editing an engaging narrative, with the prize of publication up for grabs! With ninety children in the phase, Miss Kropman, Miss Shaw, Mrs Karpasitis and Mr Neiman were hopeful that we might get one or two children awarded with this accolade. It was, therefore, our greatest pleasure to announce today that a whopping 51 children from Years 5&6 have been selected to have their work published in a book! This will now be available to purchase and a copy will soon be winging its way to our school library. Well done to all of them. Their teachers are INCREDIBLY proud! 

Topaz Science - Thursday 25th April

Topaz began their new science unit of 'Light' today by exploring how our eyes allow us to see. After a discussion about what they already knew, Topaz used the chromebooks to research the different parts of the eye and their functions. They expertly labelled a diagram and provided some awesome definitions for each part. Well done, Topaz!

Year 5 are continuing to work hard and make good progress in their trombone lessons. This week, Sapphire had the opportunity to try out some brand new instruments...and Miss Shaw joined in, too!

Week beginning 15th April

Welcome back to school for the Summer Term! This week, Year 6 have begun their SATS revision, whilst Year 5 have been multiplying fractions in maths and have started an engaging English unit based around Berlie Doherty's 'Street Child'. We have also fitted in some super work in the foundation subjects, as you can see below! 

RE through Art in UKS2 - Thursday 18th April

Years 5 and 6 have been enjoying learning about Buddhism in their RE lessons this year, and spent a peaceful afternoon demonstrating their understanding through the medium of art! Having previously created mandalas and having drawn a Buddha after learning about the life of Siddhartha, UKS2 were tasked today with making a rangoli dot circle. Linked to the Buddhist eight-fold path, we divided our circles into eight sections. Next, we looked at examples of these before using the end of a paintbrush to add intricate dots to a broadly symmetrical patterns. Accompanied by music, this helped us. This will form the basis of our Buddhist thangka, with the mandalas and Buddha to be added next week. Finally, we will add a sunlight pastel circle to represent the Buddhist belief about striving for enlightenment. We can't wait to share our final work with you! 

Pictured below are some examples of Topaz' work today.

Author Assembly - Thursday 18th April

UKS2 were treated to a whole school assembly this morning with published author Joanna Gutkin and her illustrator daughter, nine-year-old Maya. Joanna is a self-employed writer and journalist who first had the idea of writing a children's book during the Covid pandemic. Noticing a huge artistic talent in her daughter when she then came to publish her first book, Joanna asked Maya (then only aged 7!) to draw the pictures! Just two years later, 'The Elephant and the Goldfish' is taking Amazon by storm. Thank you to Joanna and Maya for an inspirational assembly ahead of their workshops with EYFS and KS1. I hope this has encouraged some of our budding writers and artists to aim for publication!