Year 6 Leavers 2020-21
Year 6 2020 - 2021
Library Visit - w/b 12.07.21
Recently, we visited Manor Park Library and learnt about the importance of reading in our everyday life. We received new library cards and explored a variety of different genres. After finding a few books to borrow, we sat down with our friends and entered the wondrous world of knowledge, facts, fantasy, magic, suspense, mystery, and much more.
By Sofi, Year 6
Science Day - w/b 05.07.21
On Science day, the 7 of July, we learnt about and wrote a poem on Mae Jemison, she was the first African American woman to become an astronaut and to go to space. We created a poem about her using rhyming couplets; if you don’t know what it means, it means when 2 words rhyme and on consecutive lines. She also went on a voyage to help the sick. She was smart and clever enough to get to the point of becoming a doctor and an astronaut. People had been racist to her and said she was not capable of being a doctor or an astronaut. Mae Jemison went to Weill Cornell Medical College.
We also did a science experiment exploring the concept of Chromatography; we had a circular piece of kitchen towel and dabbed some ink on it, then we put drops of water on the kitchen towel, either in the middle, either on the sides. Then the water made the ink spread across the kitchen towel and made a beautiful pattern. We used the science format so we could set out our hypothesis, prediction, apparatus, diagram, result and conclusion. We had different questions to answer and to find out their answers. We also published our work with diagrams and pictures. We also watched a professor perform some silly science ( we watched her do things like make a fire on someone’s hand, pop bottle caps of a container with Vitamin C, to show how powerful nature can be with eggs, make a ball soar with a leaf blower and make a lid pop off a container), which was a lot of fun.
By Daiana
History - w/b 28.06.21
In our history lessons, we have been learning about the changing role of women. Before, women used to not be able to vote, have jobs, or some girls weren’t even allowed to go to school! Instead, they had to stay at home. Athenian girls didn’t have a choice if they'd want to get married or not and would be forced at the age as young as 13 or 14. Time has now changed a lot as now girls can go to school and women can have jobs and vote.
By Yasmin, Jesse Owens
TFL Virtual Workshop - w/b 21.06.21
In PSHCE, we had a TFL (Transport For London) workshop. We learnt about what we should do with our travel when we go to secondary school. We all learnt that at the age of 11, we will need a ZIP card to use buses around London and that nobody at the age of 11 or over would be allowed on the buses without one. We learnt about the consequences of misbehaving on the buses and where we should stand if we were to be waiting for a bus or train.I really enjoyed the quiz we had at the end. It really showed how much we had learnt in the workshop.
By Yasmin,Jesse Owens
Let the Olympic Games begin! - w/b 21.06.21
This week we were transported back in time to the very first Olympics which was held in honour of the ancient Greek god, Zeus. We learned about how the Olympics have changed over time and some of the wild sports that they used to compete in, becoming chariot racers and wrestlers!
Diversity Week - Pakistan - w/b 14.06.21
This week we have done some fantastic learning as a result of Diversity Week. Our focus country has been Pakistan and so we learned about the meaning of the flag and the history of Pakistan becoming an independent nation. We’ve looked at two inspirational figures from Pakistan; Malala Yousefzi (who isn’t much older than us but is a global campaigner for gender equality and fair access to education for girls and who has already won the Nobel Peace Prize) and Yasmn Qureshi (one of the first three Muslim, female M.P.s to be elected into the UK parliament). We’re putting what we’ve learned into action as we’re writing to Yasmin Qureshi regarding things that we’ve learned about her and her career, asking questions about the issues that we feel that she can shed some light on. We’re looking forward to getting a response from the House of Commons! We’ve also listened to music by the renowned Pakistani musician, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. His voice is universally recognised as one of the great voices in musical history and he has been credited with bringing the Qawwali music tradition to the Western world and our Diversity Week will finish with us sharing the traditional dress from our different cultures and creating a Pakistani feast!
Mathematics - w/b 07.06.21
This week in mathematics, we learnt about ratios. We learnt about how they are used in real life situations like measuring amounts of ingredients. We completed word problems and had to understand the importance of the order that you write ratios in. For example, if you wrote 1:4, 4:1 would not be equivalent to it and would be completely different. We also learnt about how you need to divide the total amount by how many parts there are in the ratio. Then we could find out the value of 1 part.
An example of a question we solved is:
A recipe for bread requires flour and water in the ratio 20:13. How much of each ingredient is needed to make a loaf weighing 1.65kg?
Abdullah, Tanni Grey.
English - w/b 24.05.21
This week in English we have been writing our own poems based on ‘The Highwayman’. ‘The Highwayman’ is a poem about a highwayman meeting up with the landlord's daughter, Bess. They meet each other at the inn. Then the highwayman leaves to rob people for gold. As he leaves, Tim the ostler (who works with horses) contacts King George's men. He wants the highwayman dead!
Upon arriving at the inn, King George’s men push the landlord aside and drink all his ale. Then they go upstairs and tie Bess up, as a trap. However, Bess decides to kill herself to warn the highwayman. As soon as he hears the sound he turns back and leaves, but when he later finds out about Bess’ death, he returns. Unfortunately, our main character is shot and lies on the highway in his blood.
We wrote poems based on this poem from different points of view.
By Daiana
Get Active! - w/b 17.05.21
In Get Active, we have been doing fun exercises. We have been doing yoga and dancing to stay fit and get our hearts pumping. I really like it and I feel ready to learn in the morning and the lessons after mathematics. I think it’s important to exercise because you will have a healthy body and a healthy mind.
By Sara
PHSCE - w/b 10.05.21
Today we created paper candles of remembrance to honour and remember the passed. We did this by creating concertinas with coloured strips of paper and sticking beautiful pieces of yellow paper to look like a real wick. It was also related to our science work as we were learning about light. In addition, in PSHE we created positivity pebbles and wrote encouraging words (mainly puns) to be put on display and make someone's day.
By Sofi
Art - w/b 04.05.21
This week in art, we learnt about an artist named Chris Offili who created a painting created with pointillism, named ‘No Woman No Cry’ in 1998 about a woman who is crying. This woman is crying because his son was murdered. So we experimented with paint and made a background wash. Then we made secondary colours to make a painting that was inspired by Chris Offili.
By Rishan
Reading - w/b 26.04.21
In guided reading for the past 2 weeks, we have been reading a book called ‘Foolish Fears’. So far we have learnt about phobias such as chronophobia (being afraid of certain colours) and superstitions. I must say that some of the superstitions are foolish indeed, but some are for good reasons like sharing a cup with someone is thought to be bad luck but it could have been bad luck because of germs and diseases that spread and killed them.
By Aliyah
Falconry Workshop - w/b 26.04.21
Mathematics - w/b 19.04.21
This week in Mathematics, we have been learning about percentages of quantities. It has been quite interesting exploring different ways to solve percentage quantities. For example,75% of 20 would be 15. You could do this by finding 25% of 20 then take that away from 100 percent which is 15. Sometimes so methods are more efficient than others. For example if you have a longer method you're most likely to make a mistake.
By Aliyah
Easter Holiday Homework Projects - w/b 19.04.21
During the Easter holiday, pupils were asked by their teachers to design a product which could help Network Rail minimise their impact on the environment. In order to succeed, they had to conduct research around the type of waste they wanted to manage and think about how it could be reduced, reused, or recycled or disposed of sustainably. This was a virtual challenge, which meant pupils could send a PowerPoint only, or build a model as well. Have a look at some of the wonderful work created by our clever year 6 pupils!
English - w/b 29.03.21
This week in English, we have been writing a narrative about World War 2. We were inspired by Rose Blanche which is the book we have been reading this term. The majority of us wrote heartwarming but partly factual stories on how World War 2 affected many people's lives. During our planning and first draft we thought many things through like what the first concentration camp, Auschwitz, was? Or how the Axis and Allies reported the war in different ways due to being biased. I for sure can not wait to read my classmates’ wonderful work.
By Aliyah
Computing - w/b 22.03.21
This week in computing we were planning our own sports game but instead of doing a racing game we decided to give ourselves a challenge and chose to do a game about synchronised swimming. During the first day of planning the game we did some research to give us a wider image about our game. The best part for the research for me, would have to be when we watched videos on synchronised swimming. After doing some research, my partner and I learnt that there is a lot more to artistic swimming than we thought. For example, did you know that synchronised swimming was created by a female named Anne Kellerman who created it when she was amusing a crowd in New York by doing ballet in a glass tank?
By Aliyah
Now Press Play! w/b 22.03.21
On Wednesday, Year 6 travelled back in time to relive the Easter Story, using a program called 'Now Press Play'. They started their journey in the school hall, where they received a set of earphones each. They became a character who travelled back 2000 years in time to meet people such as Jesus Christ, Caiaphas, Pilate, Peter, Mary, to name but a few. It was very enjoyable and pupils were also able to use the knowledge they already have of the Easter Story to add context to this.
Have a look at some of the pictures taken during the session!
Science: Classification - w/b 15.03.21
How do we know that a cat is a cat and not a donkey?
This week in Science we have been learning about classification and the ‘Father of Taxonomy’ Carl Linnaeus, the scientist who formulated the way in which we classify living things today. We’ve classified animals and foods (which was educational and delicious) and now moved on to creating our own animal which we have classified using Linnaeus’ 7 tiers of classification.
Back to School! w/b 08.03.21
We are very excited to be back at school, and made a great start! This morning, the year 6 pupils participated in some team building activities to help them reconnect with their classmates and teachers. They started off by playing the game 'See what I mean', where players had to describe an image drawn on the board to their team mates, who then had to draw the image based on the description (no peeking!). The players made use of detailed descriptions in clues given and displayed excellent listening skills.
Keep watching this space for more exciting learning!
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 30.11.2020
RE - w/b 30.11.2020
In RE, we are learning about ideas surrounding what happens after death. We thought about what Hindus believe about life after death and we related the beliefs to other religions.We all learnt a lot of things and not only did we learn, we also had fun. We had 3 sections which said ‘Hindus agree with this statement, Hindus disagree with this statement and this information is irrelevant’. There were many facts and we had to stick in the right column. We all marked it as a class at the end. Additionally, we discussed why we got it wrong with our partners. There was an interesting video about a person talking about what their religion believed after they died. Additionally, we learnt about souls.
What I have learnt
I learnt that Hindus believe in the afterlife. There are good karma and bad karma. If you are a good and kind person, when you die, you will be reborn as a human. On the other hand, if you were a rude and a bad person, you will be reborn as an animal. Not only Hindus believe in afterlife but Christians, Muslims and Sikhs believe in it as well. Every religion believes that everyone has a soul. However, the belief that doesn't believe in the soul is Humanism. Hindus won't bury people straight away. Within 24 hours of death they cremate the dead body so that the person who died can have an afterlife.
It was extremely enjoyable!
Saranya, Jesse Owens
English - w/b 23.11.2020
This week, in English, we have been writing a balanced argument about child labour in the Victorian era. First, we watched a video about child labour and collected facts (for and against); then we wrote our balanced argument and edited and improved our work to include as many of our writing targets as possible.
Rishan, Jesse Owens class.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 16.11.2020
Art/DT - w/b 16.11.2020
In D&T we’ve been creating death masks (actually, ours were life masks) and we’ve learnt that only famous people would get death masks as a memorial however, nowadays we don't have them as we have technology to take pictures. It’s been really fun making life masks. We got to make a mold of our faces made first with foil but then covered with a paper mache which we made with torn up newspaper, water and glue. We made sure the foil had got our facial features to make it look like us; we had our partners help us by telling us where we should improve or work on.
Yasmin Hussain
Jesse Owens
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 09.11.2020
Mathematics - w/b 09.11.2020
This week we have been putting our skills and knowledge into action and practising our exam technique as we’ve completed some mock SATs papers. We had two reasoning and an arithmetic paper to complete and once we’d completed them and had our papers marked, we worked together to learn from our mistakes and teach each other things that we knew.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 02.11.2020
Guided Reading - w/b 02.11.2020
This week we became detectives and tried to solve the case of a missing £1 million necklace. We had to visualise the person who we thought that did it. Most of us thought that it was the carer as she was the only one we thought that fit all the notes. We also had to think of fictional detectives and write about them e.g. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Hercules Poirot. We also got creative and designed a fingerprint but there was a catch. We weren't allowed to lift the pencil off the paper.
By Fatima B, Jesse Owens
Computing - w/b 19.10.2020
Within Year 6’s Computing sessions, the children have been learning about apps and their interfaces which have been altered to their target audience. Many of the children have been exposed to apps over the course of their lives and most noted the similarities between apps, especially the ease of use, large buttons, clear navigation keys and so forth. During today’s lesson the children focused on creating an analogue wireframe of their own apps, with clear outputs once a particular button has been pressed, leading to another page.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 12.10.2020
PHSCE - w/b 12.10.2020
We’ve been thinking a lot about our dreams and goals this half term and setting targets for ourselves for the rest of the year as well as into the future, so ask us what we want to be when we grow up and how we’ll make sure that we achieve what we want to! This week, however, we’ve turned our attention to others and things that might limit their opportunities to reach their full potential. We’ve used our empathy to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and considered what society could do to help those who are less fortunate than us.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 05.10.2020
Science 'Evolution and Adaptation' - w/b 05.10.2020
We have been learning about evolution and adaptation in science this half term and over the past two weeks have been researching the life and work of the famous Charles Darwin, ‘Father of Evolution’. Like Ernest Shackleton, whose expeditions we have been enjoying in English, we’ve found out that Darwin also travelled the world looking for adventure and knowledge. As well as finding out about key scientific theories that Darwin’s research has led to, we’ve also considered the potential conflict between science and religion, all of which has culminated in us presenting our findings and opinions in some wonderful, informative posters.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 28.09.2020
English 'Ice Trap' - w/b 28.09.2020
This week we have been delving further into the world of Ernest Shackleton and his crew on their voyage to try and navigate their way across Antarctica. Having been ensnared by the clutches of the ice floe, we’ve seen them have to abandon their ship and give up on their mission in order to survive on a diet of penguins and seals in the icy wilderness. Now we’ve finished the book Ice Trap! We know that Shackleton chose to head out in search of help with a few of his strongest men and after having mad several failed attempts at rescuing the rest of the expedition party, he eventually managed, with the help of the Chilean government, to return his crew safely to their homes ‘with not a single life lost’.
Now we’ve reached the end of the book we’ve been analysing how we feel about the story, which of course is based on historical fact. We’ve concluded our opinions in a book review and précised the plot as well as identifying the most intriguing and captivating elements of the story, without giving everything away, in the creation of our own blurbs for it. In order to make sure that we had the most effective writing possible, we got peer feedback as well as the opportunity to speak in front of an audience.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 21.09.2020
Mathematics - w/b 21.09.2020
The children have been working on their addition and subtraction knowledge this week, with particular focus on using the inverse to check through their answers to increase their independent skills. They have also been using a range of skills in order to calculate problems, ranging from using mental strategies as well as column addition and subtraction, whilst ascertaining which strategy suits particular questions.
In today’s session, one of the questions the children were tasked with was an addition and subtraction pyramid, where they had to identify the missing numbers with the information they had at hand.
This Week's Photo Moments - w/b 14.09.2020
Geography - Week Beginning 14.09.2020
Our topic for Geography this term is 'Investigating Rivers'. This week we have been learning about the Water Cycle and the different scientific processes that take place. We learnt about evaporation, when water is heated and turns into vapour which rises off the surface of rivers, oceans and lakes. We learned about condensation, when the water vapour cools down to form water droplets which make the clouds. We learned about precipitation, which is when the water droplets in clouds get so big they get heavy and fall to the ground as rain, snow or hailstones. Finally, we learnt that collection is when precipitation is collected in rivers, oceans, lakes and other bodies of water. We drew our own diagrams of the Water Cycle to illustrate this.
By Fatima
2019-2020
Year 6 Leavers
On Wednesday, we invited all our year 6 pupils in for an hour to mingle in the playground and say their goodbyes. The playground was a beehive of excited faces, keen to have a little catch up! Pupils were given their yearbooks, as well as graduation certificates.
We took a group photo together, before going our separate ways. The staff at Sir John Heron would like to wish every year 6 pupil well on their onward journey to secondary school and beyond. We will miss you, but we know you will be successful!
Making Kites in Year 6 - 12th March
As part of Science day, pupils in KS2 invited their parents/carers to help them make kites and test it out in the playground. In class, Year 6 pupils and parents/carers recapped their knowledge on forces and carefully designed their kites. They decided on size, materials to use as well as shape.
When the kite making was complete, these were tested in the playground; luckily the weather played along! It was a very enjoyable afternoon in KS2 indeed!
Art in Year 6 - 28th February
This term, we are learning about the artist Chris Ofilli. Our end goal will be to create an image in the style of his painting named 'No woman no cry'. This week, we started off by:
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Identifying the mood of the painting, and what has been added to the portrait to emphasise it.
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Thinking about contrasting extreme moods, feelings or emotions.
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Explaining how Chris Ofili has created the mood of his picture.
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Choosing a strong emotion.
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Mixing a colour that reflects that emotion and painting a wash as a background.
We have used vocabulary such as:
Texture, stroke, light, dark, background, foreground, primary colours, shades, tints, wash.
Watch this space, as we will report again on our paintings at the end of this topic block.
Reading Cafe - 13th February
This week, KS2 parents/carers were invited to Sir John Heron's first ever 'Reading Cafe', where they had the chance to participate in reading related activities in class, whilst enjoying fruit, cheese and crackers. To start off, parents/carers met staff in the hall, who gave them information on and a taste of what the skill of 'inference' looks like in a typical reading lesson. They then had a go at discussing the characteristics of Hannah in the book 'Gorilla' by Anthony Browne. After this, parents/carers joined their children in class, and put some of these skills into practice.
Visit to Valentines Park - 6th February
On Thursday 6th February the entirety of Year 6 went on a trip to Valentines Park. Earlier in the half term we’d plotted routes to walk from school to our destination in Geography so we knew exactly where we were going and the local landmarks that we would pass. Once we’d arrived, we took our time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings that we found were right on our doorstep! The park has stunning scenery and our first stop was the boating lake where we stopped to sketch the living things around us. We used sketching techniques we’d been developing in Art and applied to knowledge of classification which we’ve been learning about in Science to tell the different water fowl apart from one another. We then looked at the maps within the park and decided on our route to go and look at Valentines Mansion, the exterior of which was very impressive and differed a lot to the type of houses we see on a daily basis. We had a wonderful time being out and about amongst nature and can’t wait to go back to discover more!
Robotics Workshop - 4th February
On Monday 4th February 2020, Year 6 were lucky enough to have a Robotics workshop led by professional coders. The workshop started with us defining the meaning of robots and where they may be found.A robot is a programmable machine which represents a human form.
The people then told us how to program the robot to do things we coded it to do. We programmed the robot to do many things, such as dancing and moving forwards and backwards. This lesson helped us expand our knowledge and taught us what the uses of robots are.
Muneera, Year 6.
Clockwork - 31st January
We are currently reading the book 'Clockwork' by Philip Pullman. In the book, Karl (who is an apprentice clock maker), is in a predicament. As part of graduating from his apprenticeship, he must create a figure for the famous clock tower in Glockenheim. The problem is, he has failed to do so!
We used inferences from the book to write in role as Karl to Herr Ringlemann, his teacher, asking to extend the date, giving him more time to complete his materpiece.
A visit to the theatre - 23rd January
Year 6 had the wonderful opportunity to watch Inua Ellams’ The Little Prince at Stratford Circus Arts Centre. The performance combined drama, dance, puppetry and music to tell an adaptation of Antoine de Saint Exupery’s original story about a little prince who travels to different planets, in order to find a solution for his own dying planet. After the performance, children had the change to ask questions about acting, puppetry and the performance itself in a Q&A session with the actors.
Theraputty in Year 6 - 23rd January
We are starting something exciting in Year 6 - using Theraputty to strengthen the muscles in our hands, which will improve our fine motor skills and handwriting. Today, our teachers introduced it to us during class assembly, as part of National Handwriting Day. We each have our own pot and will use it during 'Soft start' in the mornings.
Visit to the South Bank - 16th January
Year 6 went on a walk along the South Bank today, looking at the architecture of different buildings along the River Thames. Since they are currently studying 'Cityscapes' in art, they used viewfinders to select a certain image they wished to sketch. They recorded this in their sketch books, ready to improve upon in art lessons to come. They were very lucky to observe buildings such as: The Shard, Southwark Cathedral, Tate Modern, St. Paul's Cathedral and Shakespear's Globe. It was an enjoyable day with plenty of beautiful views, rich history and fresh air.
Parent/carer Topic Afternoon - 15th January
On Wednesday we had a fantastic topic afternoon which combined our P.S.H.C.E. and D and T skills and knowledge ; our focus was on being mentally healthy and coping with feelings of worry or anxiety. We started our session off, as we do with all of our P.S.H.C.E. lessons, with a short meditation- we know that this helps to relieve our minds off negative thoughts and give a moment to be mindful. If you’d like to try this at home you can do by using this resource from Cosmic Kids:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8snGkhBF7njO0QvtE97AJFL3xZYQSGh5
After having meditated, we listened to an extract from Jacqueline Wilson’s ‘The Worry Website’ (If you’d like to read it you can borrow it from Manor Park Library, or alternatively, Miss Werrin has a copy) and discussed whether we had anything in common with the character’s who we met and the benefit of sharing worries with someone you trust. We don’t have a website that we use, but remember that if you do have a worry, put it in the ‘I want to talk’ box. Then it was time to put our creativity into action by designing and making our very own worry monsters! Have a look at the pictures below to see how they have started off.
PSHCE - 10th January 2020
In PSHCE, our topic this term is 'Celebrating difference'. We started off the term with an anti-bullying lesson where children reminded each other that bullying is an incident that takes place lots of times and on purpose, and that our school has a zero tolerance approach. We looked at the role of the upstander, and where we should go for help. Next, we investigated discrimination, and the impact it can have on people’s lives. We know that discrimination is wrong, and how to look out for it in our school and local community. Furthermore, we know that discrimination contradicts celebrating being different! We finished off the lesson by creating a mind map on everything we already know about 'Celebrating differences'. We will keep adding facts to this over the course of the term.
TFL Talk - 18th December
Year 6 attended a TFL talk on Wednesday, where they looked at different scenarios that can occur whilst using public transport. They discussed why it is important to be a responsible citizen as well as how to stay safe when being out and about.
Christmas Fayre - 16th December
The Year 6 Christmas Fayre was once again a huge success. Pupils worked hard over the course of Autumn Term 2 to plan, design and produce crafts such as cards, book marks, key rings to name but a few. Some groups set up games stalls, such as 'Pin the nose on Rudolph', 'Score a goal' and even utilised the bicycles in the MUGA! As always, the cake stall was a hit, as was the second hand book stall - with Santa's mini librarians working around the clock!
This year, we also had a grotto, where excited customers met Santa, Rudolph, a Christmas elf and a shepherd! The pupils and staff in Year 6 wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and prosperous 2020!
Modern Slavery Awareness Workshop - 11th December
In UKS2 we learnt about slavery and modern slavery which is unfortunately still an issue within modern day Britain, despite it being illegal. We found out that William Wilberforce was the driving force behind abolishing slavery in the UK many years ago. The presenter used drama to help us understand how people are tricked into slavery today and the kind of jobs slaves may be made to do. We identified some characters in fictional stories who are slaves.
Some unfortunate facts that we learnt were that an estimated 40 - 45 million slaves are in the world, with slavery a part of some industries. An estimated £150 billion is made through slavery each year, more than most multinational companies around the globe. The most shocking facts were that 1 in 4 victims of modern slavery are children.
Through the session we were taught how to identify potential signs of modern day slavery and what we could do if we had any worries and concerns about individuals who may be a part of this illegal activity.
Music lesson
In music, we listened to two versions of the poem, “Life doesn’t frighten me at all’’ by Maya Angelou. One version was Maya Angelou saying her own poem. The other was the poem turned into a song. The first version was a bit plain as Maya used a bit of expression while the second version used a variety of instruments and had many people’s voices singing. The purpose of this topic was to combine two subjects (PSHCE and music, linking our learning to the PSHCE focus term on mental health and wellbeing) and focus on the same thing. In my opinion, during this lesson I was really intrigued with what we were studying. If I had to choose between the two versions we listened to in music, I would pick the original version by Maya Angelou. This is because the words were more coherent and the words were said by the original poet.
By Muneera, Jesse Owens class
Visit to Leeds Castle - 9th and 10th December
Tanni Grey and Jesse Owens Classes were fortunate enough to visit beautiful Leeds Castle in Kent this week. Since we have been learning about the Victorians at school, we travelled back in time as Victorian school children and attended lessons. The teachers were very strict and we had to follow rules carefully! After our morning lessons, we had a tour of the castle and met Lady Elizabeth and her sisters. It was fascinating to look at the different rooms, each one decorated with a Christmas tree! After lunch, the Victorian teachers, Lady Elizabeth and her sisters told us some lovely Christmas stories. We then travelled back to 2019 and took on a maze - it was hard work, but we were resilient and completed it!
Year 5 and 6 STEM competition
Year 5 and 6 are taking part in the Ultimate STEM Challenge! They will be competing against other primary schools in England.
For this competition the children have to design their own wearable technology for the future. They will be thinking about:
- How will their ideas and design help improve someone's life?
- What will make their design's different from other competing schools?
Three winning schools will win £750 and a surprise trip!
Year 6 Sharing Assembly - 4th December
Year 6 reflected on their learning this morning by hosting an assembly where parents/carers and the current Year 5 pupils enjoyed a glimpse into life in Year 6. Tanni Grey Class started off by sharing how they created costumes for the 'Being Human' festival a few weeks ago. Following this, they reenacted the story of four animal friends, based on a well-known fable. Jesse Owens Class then took the reigns, sharing their knowledge about Victorian Britain, electricity, multiplication and addition in Year 6, making death masks in DT, how to keep themselves safe from gangs and finally biking sessions during PE. It was an enjoyable morning for one and all!
Making Tibetan Prayer Flags - 29.11.19
As part of our PHSCE Themed Term, children and parents/carers used their artistic skills this week to create flags inspired by the Tibetan prayer flag. During the session, they thought carefully about the different feelings we experience, what these are caused by and how we can cope with them. Whilst creating these flags, children used in particular one of our school's Learning Values: Responsibility; thinking about making the correct choices and being responsible for the way in which we behave.
Making 3D solids - 27th November
In Year 6, pupils used their geometry knowledge to investigate nets of 3D solids. First, they identified the following parts: edges, faces (2D shapes) and vertices. After labeling these parts, they created the solids and named it. They also discussed the difference between a pyramid and prism. They will use these skills and knowledge when creating items for the Year 6 Christmas Fayre, which will take place on Monday 16th December.
Being Human Creative Workshop - 19th November
On Tuesday, Tanni Grey Class visited Little Ilford Baptist Church to take part in a creative workshop led by guests from King's College London and volunteers from the local community. The workshop combined Art, DT and Drama around the topic of diverse communities.
Firstly, pupils looked at fables, and how these stories have been used throughout the ages to teach valuable life lessons. Pupils then were read a fable about four animal friends; a gazelle, mouse, crow and tortoise. The fable told the story of how the animals worked together to overcome difficulties and solve problems. The class was then divided up into small groups, and each group was given a specific character from the fable. The pupils then had to work together to design a costume for the relevant character, depicting its personality traits. They used fabric, ribbons, sequence and paint to produce the costumes. Pupils worked hard in a short space of time, making use of sewing, painting, drawing, cutting and measuring skills to create the perfect costumes. The story was then read out again, but this time the pupils acted out the scenes in their brilliant costumes and really brought the story to life!
Year 6 parents/carers will be invited to a sharing assembly soon, where these costumes will be on show. Watch this space!
City Safe Haven Guest Speaker - 18th November
On Monday, Upper Key Stage Two was visited by Alistair, who spoke to us about an initiative called 'City Safe Haven'. Pupils learnt that this scheme was set up in 2008, after 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen was murdered outside a bakery close to his home in south-east London. The scheme was rolled out to Newham, with a focus on Stratford after students from schools such as Sarah Bonnell, St Bonaventure's, New Vic College and School 21 came together raising the issue of young people feeling unsafe in certain public areas. There are currently more than 20 shops and businesses in Stratford which are City Safe Havens, including O2, ZapSpace, Argos, Footlocker, to name but a few. Staff at these shops and businesses has been trained to deal with emergency situations which may arise, and can help to young people who are in immediate danger. Pupils know what to do and where to go if they ever find themselves in an unsafe situation.
WRAP (Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent) - 11th November
On Monday 11th November, Year 6 attended a workshop to make children aware of the dangers of extremism. During the workshop, children were asked to explain what they thought extremism is. They were given examples of extremism and discussed how this can harm small as well as larger communities. Children were then given guidelines on what to do if they ever experience or witness hatred and violence, and who they can turn to for support.
Finally, they were given different scenarios and had to decide whether these displayed extremism or not, giving reasons.
Mathematics Parent/Carer Workshops - 7th November
On Thursday, year 6 parents/carers visited our school to watch and participate in mathematics lessons. The focus was on using different strategies when subtracting with larger numbers. Teachers and children demonstrated how they use the CPA approach in lessons (Concrete Pictorial Abstract). They used stem sentences to verbalise their reasoning throughout. Parents/carers can now use these strategies at home.
Yoga, Mood Mapping and Wellbeing Workshop - 1st November
Staying relaxed
This term pupils in year 6 will be doing yoga to relax their bodies ready for lessons to come. Since mental health is a focus this term, we have started to use mood maps in Mathematics to show how we feel each day. On Thursday, we had a visitor called the Worry Wizard in, who taught us how to free our minds from worries.
Have a look at the link below for some yoga and mindfulness ideas:
by Khadijah - Jesse Owens
Ice Trap! - 10th October
Pupils in Year 6 are currently reading the book ‘Ice Trap!’ by Meredith Hooper and M.P Robertson. It tells the real life story of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s quest to be the first to walk across the Antarctic continent. Unfortunately his ship, Endurance, runs into trouble and the crew is left stranded on an ice floe, drifting ever northwards.
To understand the challenging conditions the crew had to endure, children got into character and created video diaries about daily life on the treacherous ice floe.
MET Police Visit - 3rd October
Members of the MET Police delivered a talk about gangs and knife crime to Year 5 and 6 pupils on Thursday morning. Pupils were informed of the dangers of getting involved in gangs, grooming and knife crime amongst young people, especially in London. There were opportunities to ask questions, leading to interesting discussions.
Year 6 Healthy Living Parent Workshop - 02.10.19
On Wednesday 2nd October our first parents workshop of the year took place. The workshop focused on healthy living, what it means to be healthy, why it is important to reduce our sugar intake and how to make healthy snack and drink choices. The workshop also finished with all the children and parents making a healthy snack of a watermelon pizza with a range of toppings such as strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. Delicious!
Plastic Fishing - Tanni Grey - 25th September
Just like Jesse Owens Class, Tanni Grey Class set off to the Docklands on Wednesday to help clean the waterways around Canary Wharf. We were more fortunate than the other class, as the weather improved immensely. We managed to fill a number of buckets by scooping items from the river, such as a drinking glass, ample plastic and glass bottles, empty crisp packets, cigarette buds, pieces of styrofoam, to name but a few. Like the day before, we had to sort the rubbish we had collected into buckets. Sadly, the 'other waste' bucket overflowed! This made us realise that the answer is not always to recycle, but to reduce! We learnt that two of the vessels we traveled in, named 'Vitamin Sea' and 'Poly-Mer' are the world's first 99% recycled plastic punts! It was a fantastic day, one with lessons that will remain with us for a long time!
Plastic Fishing - Jesse Owens - 24th September
On Tuesday, Jesse Owens traveled all the way to the Docklands to participate in an activity called 'Plastic Fishing'. You may wonder what plastic fishing is? Plastic Fishing was inspired by a project in Amsterdam called Plastic Whale, which combines sightseeing with cleaning the city’s canals. The idea is to go out in a boat, armed with buckets and litter pickers and find anything that does not belong in our waterways. It was a rainy day, and we unfortunately could only cover a small part of the canal before returning to shore. However, we did not allow the weather to get the better of us, and continued our search for litter on land. We found a shocking amount of rubbish, and sorted these into 4 buckets:
- plastic bottles
- hard plastics
- other recycling
- general waste
When the job was done, we had lunch and recycled our own waste. We had a brilliant day, and will be thinking more carefully about what we do with waste from now on!
Poetry Week - 20th September
This week we’ve had an amazing experience of working with the poet Francesca Beard. She joined our classes to not only perform some of her work but to inspire us to write our own poetry too. Our poems (which are in their final stages of being tweaked), are entitled ‘I speak the language of’. If you had to write a poem with the same title, what would yours be like? Keep an eye out for our finished masterpieces!
Science - Making Fossils – 13th September
As part of our new science topic, ‘Evolution and Inheritance’, we talked about fossils. We had a good discussion about how fossils were formed, and the fact that both animals and plants were fossilised. It was exciting to look at some real fossils, and then try to create a replica fossil from plasticene.
Book Corner Preparations - 6th September
This week in Jesse Owens Class, we have been drawing the front cover of “The Railway Children” by E. Nesbit. Our book corner will be based on this book. We chose this book because as a class, we came up with some amazing ideas such as: The door being a train to get into the book corner, drawing of the front cover being used as part of a display, etc. We chose different versions of the book and coloured our work with felt tips and colouring pencils. We made it look exactly like the front cover we chose and used laptops to pick which version we wanted to base our sketches on.
By Naeema
New to Year 6 - 6th September
This week we’ve enjoyed seeing each other after our Summer break. We’ve been thinking about what it means to be a positive member of the school community and how we can help others around us. Some of us have also decided that one of the ways in which we can make a positive contribution to the world around us is by standing for election to become a member of the new School Parliament. The focus for the upcoming year will be on how we can make our school ‘greener’ and with that in mind, we created campaign videos to encourage people to support our ideas.
Ship of Tolerance - 6th September
You may remember that Jesse Owens Class (previously Darwin) took part in an art project last year, working with international artists to create sails around the theme of tolerance. Over the summer, these sails (along with sails made by children from thirty-nine other London primary schools, from Great Ormond Street Hospital and from refugee centres in Birmingham, Leeds, Peterborough and Calais) were used to create an art installation called the 'Ship of Tolerance'. It is currently displayed on the River Thames as part of the 'Totally Thames Festival'.
Why not head down to the Tate to see it in all its glory?
The Ship of Tolerance will set sail to leave London on Sunday 6th October.
For more information, see the website below:
https://totallythames.org/event/the-ship-of-tolerance
2018/19
Year 6 Graduation - 19th July
The Year 6 pupils celebrated the end of their primary school journey with a special graduation ceremony. Parents/carers and siblings attended this prestigious event on Friday morning. It was a wonderful experience where memories were shared. We would like to thank our Year 6 parents/carers for being part of each Year 6 pupil’s journey throughout their time with us. We wish the Year 6 pupils all the best for secondary school and beyond!
Year 6 Celebration Evening - 15th July
This year, the pupils from Tanni Grey and Jesse Owens classes decided to write their own script to perform in front of parents, carers and siblings. The performance covered experiences, educational visits and topics covered during their time in year 6. The actors took the audience on a trip down memory lane, stopping at recollections from visits to Leeds Castle, The Clink, Stubbers, to name but a few. Groups also performed scenes depicting the Christmas Fayre, learning in History about ‘Crime and Punishment’, raising money for Red Nose Day, the Football Festival and ‘Anti-bullying’ lessons. During a short interval, the audience enjoyed light refreshments, prepared by the school’s cook, in the Hub. It was a great evening for all!
Planetarium - 8th July
On Monday 8th July, we were fortunate enough to be visited by a mobile planetarium. During the session, we experienced the life of an astronaut as part of our science theme term. It was very exciting to see how astronauts survive in space, and we have acquired a lot more knowledge.
‘I enjoyed listening to what it is like being in an astronaut space suit.’ Dylan- Jesse Owens Class.
Stubbers visit - 5th July
On the 5th July Year 6 had an amazing end of year trip to Stubbers Activity Centre. Whilst we were there we had the opportunity to build rafts and play in the lake, try our hand at target shooting with rifles, complete team challenges and abseil! We had to use communication and skills of persuasion, hand-eye coordination and be brave! It was the perfect ending to not only our academic year, but our time at Sir John Heron and gave us memories that we will treasure forever.
Year 6 visits Manor Park Library - 4th July
On 4th July, year 6 walked down to Manor Park Library. Upon arriving, members of the library staff talked about the summer reading challenge, and encouraged us to take part. Then we had lots of time to sit and enjoy reading some books. Those of us who borrowed books have already started the challenge. Just five more books to go!
It was lovely to be able to spend time surrounded by hundreds of fantastic books. Lots of us will be returning during the summer holiday!
Virtual Reality Experience - 25th June
The Cosmos came to Manor Park on 25th June as Year 6 ventured into a virtual reality! Wearing special headsets, we were able to feel as if we were floating through space and visit each of the planets in our solar system. We learned all sorts of facts about each of the planets, from their ability to sustain life to how their years differ from Earth's. It was an incredible experience which allowed us to see the universe that we are surrounded by from a completely different perspective!
Topic Afternoon - 19th June
Parents/carers and pupils from Year 6 participated in a creative PSHCE lesson, focusing on anti-bullying, on Wednesday 19th June. During the session, participants had to work in groups, and create scripts for an anti-bullying campaign, using a storyline. After rehearsing, they had to film this, using iPads. The main focus of the afternoon was to explore the role of the bystander in a situation where bullying occurs. The Hub and playground were buzzing with excited pupils, as well as parents/carers, offering ideas and working together.
Since the school year is coming to an end, Year 5 and 4 parents/carers will be the last groups to visit us in our Hub on Wednesdays for topic afternoons. We are looking forward to working with all our parents!
Football Festival - 22nd May
Year 6 took part in an upper school football festival which took place in Little Ilford Park. Teams were representing different countries to mirror the Women's World Cup. The focus was not only on winning, but on working together as a team, supporting each other and being a graceful loser.
The teams who won the most games,went through to the semifinals and unfortunately my team (England) did not go through which I felt really annoyed about. At least we did have fun and the teams that went through to the finals for the boys, were Scotland and Italy and for the girls; Norway and France. It was a wonderful and sunny day and Miss Broughton came to the park and gave us some ice lollies. Mahdi - Jesse Owens.
Epping Forest trip
Year 6 took part in a fantastic trip to Epping Forest. Having previously been studying the formation and changes in rivers, this was our chance to experience what we had been learning about in a real life context. Working in teams and wearing our wellies, we took measurements from the river’s water and looked at the soil that the river bed was made up. It was a brilliant opportunity to explore our local area and put our fieldwork skills into practice.
The Highwayman
Currently, we are reading the narrative poem 'The Highwayman' by Alfred Noyes in English. This week, we have looked at each stanza in detail, and created a sketch of our favourite stanza.
In addition to that, we have written PEE paragraphs about the main character in the poem. For this, we used our Reciprocal Reading skills to extract information and also to make references based on evidence from the text.
Science Day
For Science Day this term, Year 6 were given the challenge of building a motorised car that travelled faster than everyone else’s. We used a range of resources, including wooden sticks, pulleys, wires, batteries and switches. After building the chassis, we had to attached the electrical circuit. Then came the testing!
Most of the cars worked, but some didn’t, and we thought about why not and what we could have done to improve them.
We were pleased with what we had made, and the challenge was a lot of fun.
STEM Week in Year 6
For STEM Week, Year 6 had a special mission: to design and build an assistive device for someone who finds reaching and picking up things difficult. After finding out about different types of assistive devices, we worked in pairs to design our own grabber. We had to think about how to make something that would actually hold on to an object securely, and we used what we had learnt about levers and fulcrums.
Making the grabbers was lots of fun, and it was great when we got to test them out.
Topic Afternoon
Parents/carers came in to work with the Year 6 classes on a topic afternoon about 'Rivers of the World'. During the session, the children and parents/carers worked in small groups, researched a specific river and used chrome books and atlases to find interesting facts about it. They then transferred the information to a poster, accompanied by a drawing, representing the river. It was a very enjoyable afternoon!
SATs Workshop
On Thursday 7th March, Year 6 parents/carers joined the pupils for a workshop in preparation for the Standard Assessment Tests, which will take place in May. During the session, pupils and parents/carers looked at past papers, discussed revision tips and well-being. The PowerPoint used during the workshop is saved below.
Review of 'Clockwork' by Philip Pullman.
Written by Ahmad
The story of Clockwork is about a depressed man called Karl who needs to make a clock figure for the German town of Glockenheim. However, he doesn’t have one and it has to be done by the next day. Dr Kalmenius helps him, but with an unpleasant, surprising twist. Fritz tells a story with no ending, but will make a fatal mistake.
The story includes Gretl, Prince Otto, Princess Mariposa and many more characters.
Karl, Herr Ringelmann’s apprentice, always says things that he doesn’t really mean,
like ‘put poison in and I’ll drink it then.’ Also, he is very depressed and acts as though he wants to commit suicide. His friend Fritz is the opposite as he is very positive thinking, but later in the story he acts like Karl and becomes drunk. Prince Florian originally passed away as a baby, so his father Prince Otto takes him to the mysterious Dr Kalmenius. Prince Otto later gives gives his heart to his beloved son. Prince Florian then grows older and comes to Glockenheim.
Here he meets Gretl who is a caring, loving person and becomes friends with him. The story ends with a strange, but incredibly happy ending for some of the characters.
My opinion of the book is that it was a spectacular story with a surprising ending
which changed my sympathy for the characters. It is a fantasy story with some elements of horror.
I would recommend this story to people in secondary school, as it might be less confusing, and they might understand it better.
Book Review of Philip Pullman's 'Clockwork'.
Written by Najirah
In our English lessons we have been reading a book called “Clockwork” by Philip Pullman. This book is very interesting, as it has a very unexpected plot twist towards
the ending, which changes the entire story. After reading the whole book, (which took
about 2 weeks) I definitely recommend this book to children in years 4 and above, since children in year 3 and below might not understand the meaning of this amazing story.
Some scenes left me puzzled. For example, the fact that it was Fritz’s story, and the
characters in the story changed the ending completely, was very surprising.
If I had to choose a favourite scene in the book, I would have to pick the scene where Gretl thoughtfully gave away her heart by loving Prince Florian, because it was a very touching part of the whole book, and it shows that Gretel cared about him very much. If I had to pick a favourite character in the story, I’d pick Fritz since he cared about Karl, when Karl thought bad things about himself, and he attempted to cheer him up even though it didn't work. It shows that he is a very bubbly type of person, although towards the end he was quite grumpy.
To conclude, in my own opinion, some parts of the story were quite confusing but the main story was very good. I will rate it 4/5.
Visit to Leeds Castle
Year 6 visited Leeds Castle in Kent to learn more about what Victorian school life was like. We had a Victorian school lesson (in costume!), went for a tour around the beautifully decorated castle, and finally listened to some Christmas stories told by the Lord and Lady of the Castle. What a lovely way to link with out book 'Street child' and conclude the term!
November 2018
Year 6 went on a magical exploration of all things poetry at the National Poetry Library at the Southbank Centre. Activities that we took part in were a word scavenger hunt- finding vocabulary in books that inspired us, looking at poetry on paving slabs (the words of William Wordsworth are carved into the promenade next to the Thames) and creating our own description of the view from inside the building looking at the London skyline as well as outside the building as we stood next to the Golden Jubilee Bridge. We used all of the language that we collected to create our own poems which we then had the chance to perform to one another. Not only did we get the chance to write, we also got the chance to explore the books of poetry housed by the library and listen to recordings of poems being performed. All in all it was a truly inspiring day.
September 2018 - Year 6 Team Building
Year 6 took part in a very exciting Team Building afternoon on 13.09.18. They were put into teams and started on 7 different activities. When the time was up for the first activity they moved onto the next activity until they had completed all 7 of them. They had to discuss, plan and complete each activity with their team, and then they evaluated what they could have done better and what went well. They all had a very enjoyable, fun afternoon together.
The aim was to build better communication and to develop planning and problem solving with their peers. Through activities like these the children have a better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which will help them to work even better together in the future and support each other. It is important for them to continue building and developing these skills as they continue their journey into becoming young adults.