2022-2023

Our end of term Year 6 treat - The Inflatable Day

To celebrate the end of a very successful year, our Year 6s enjoyed a special treat - an inflatable day! The weather was not very kind to us at first as it rained continuously from 9 until 10:45am but thankfully by 11:00 the rain had stopped and the inflatables were dry enough for the excitement to begin. The children really enjoyed the four activities, with each offering something different: everyone enjoyed racing their friends on the obstacle course; testing their strength on the 'bean bag grab'; having dance-offs in the bouncy castle and entering the 'Gladiator' competition. Well done to Leo, Olivia and Rueben for coming out on top and thanks Nel for all your help. In the afternoon, the children enjoyed an ice-cream which ended a perfect day.

Multicultural Week (22.5.23)

During our special week, we focussed on four countries : UK, Spain, India and China. For each country, we enjoyed a dance workshop but also we incorporated art work (linked with India and China) an 'apple clips' factfile about Spain and a selection of 'Coronation' activities. It was wonderful to see so many parents supporting us during our Grandparents' Crafts morning and the Coronation picnic on the final day. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the week and expanded their knowledge of the differing cultures throughout our world.

Outdoor Learning at Easter

On the 30th March, we braved the weather and headed for the garden area for an 'Outdoor Learning' session. Working in groups, the children were challenged to create a scene from the Easter story using only the natural materials that they could find in the garden area. Using twigs, pebbles, branches, wood, leaves, grass, weeds, daisies and much more they were successful in their task. The scenes included  the cross, complete with a crown of thorns, the table at the last supper, the empty tomb, the Garden of Gethsemene and even the face of Jesus. The children really enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to our next outdoor challenge.

Our Easter Egg and Spoon Race

On Friday 24th March, Year 6, armed with their pre-decorated eggs covered in pom poms, pipe-cleaners and googly eyes, took part in our Easter egg and spoon race. Due to wet conditions on the field, it took place on the playground with children doing as many laps as they could in a specified time. The children really enjoyed themselves -with some children completing a staggering 30+ laps. Well done!

Friday March 10th - Snow Day

Dear Parents,

Good morning on this snowy Friday. We have been asked to set a few 'home-learning' tasks today so here we are. Next week is our last 'Practice SATs Week' so the tasks set are to help your child prepare as much as possible for these. The timetable for the week is outlined below.

Monday - Arithmetic Paper and Grammar Paper

Tuesday - Reading Paper and Spelling Test

Wednesday - Maths Reasoning Paper 2

Thursday - Maths Reasoning Paper 3

In preparation for Monday, please could your child go onto satsbootcamp ( their login is in their reading diary) and complete an arithmetic test and a grammar test - activities that we would have been doing had we been in school today. The homework set for next week is going to be satsbootcamp revising and testing - maybe for the test that will be coming up on the next day. Any work completed at home during the week will sharpen skills and increase confidence. Reading from Read Theory will also be advantageous as questions are set about the text and these really do prepare them well for the reading paper.

Thanks so much for your support.

Mrs Martin, Mrs Blockley, Miss Peck

Our Year 6 Football Tournament -  February 7th

To end our half term, Mr Freeman organised a Football Tournament for the whole school  - Tuesday was Year 6's turn. The children were divided into 4 African Countries (making a link with our African Topic) with each country being represented by a girl's and a boy's team. Each team went head-to-head with points being collected along the way. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves with special congratulations going to Ethiopia - the winning team.

A Mathematical ' Escape Room' Activity

On Monday February 6th, Year 6 enjoyed following a series of mathematical clues to unlock all the rooms within a large box. They had to think on their feet, be resourceful, mathematical and work as a team. A great time was had by all!

Sportshall Athletics (Year 5/6) January 2023

On Tuesday 31^st January, 17 pupils from Year 5 and 6 competed in an athletics competition at West Notts College. They competed against other local schools and the atmosphere was certainly tense! Mr Freeman and I were very impressed with the qualities on show: tremendous team spirit, encouragement, support, determination and, most importantly, respect for the other competitors. A special mention must be given to the boys as they won every single one of their relay races - fantastic. It was an amazing afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

Maths Workshop

On Monday 23rd January, adults from home were welcomed into school to join us for a maths workshop. We focused on consolidating our previous week's learning regarding angles of triangles and quadrilaterals. We then applied our knowledge to problem solving questions. 

African Music and Dance Workshop 

On Wednesday 18th January both classes enjoyed a music and dance workshop. The children discovered and explored musical instruments from different parts of the African continent. We then had a go at playing the instruments and combining with traditional African dance movements. The children all enthusiastically joined in and the session complemented our classroom work on Africa. 

Grandparents' Craft Morning 

We had a lovely morning session creating Christmas crafts with our special people from home!

Year 6 Visit the Derby Open Centre and Mosque 

On Wednesday 7th December 2022, Year 6 went on a visit to the Open Centre, Derby. Whilst at the centre we explored traditional religious clothing from a variety of faiths. We also went to a local mosque where we learnt about how the building is used and how muslims worship at the mosque. It was a interesting and fascinating day! 

Later in the week at school, we wrote thank you letters to the staff at the Open Centre. 

Our trip to Newstead Abbey

On Tuesday 29th November, we travelled to Newstead Abbey, in full costume, to experience a Victorian Christmas. As well as appreciating the beautiful Christmas decorations throughout the Abbey, the children took part in four activities: spice bag making; Christmas parlour games; a storytelling slide show and an exploration of a Victorian schoolroom and nursery complete with a selection of toys. We all had a thoroughly enjoyable day and the children made us feel very proud.

Smoothie Making in Year 6

As part of our topic on healthy eating, the children designed their own smoothie recipe, which included a variety of fruit plus yoghurt and even spinach for the very brave!

Our Wheelchair Workshops

During the week beginning November 21st, we enjoyed three different wheelchair sessions. We built on the basic skills that we had learnt in Year 5 but, this year, we also had a go at wheelchair basketball and archery. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and we all appreciated how much fun these sports are, even when confined to a wheelchair.

Year 6 Grammar Workshops (7.11.22)

It was wonderful that some of our parents were able to join our lesson on Relative Clauses. Although we didn't get many, those who attended really enjoyed the experience. We completed a selection of tasks: matching the clause to the sentence; rolling a dice to generate amusing sentences that contained relative clauses and finally answering SATs style questions on spag.com. 

RE - Books of Faith

Our first topic of the year was to make comparisons between Christianity and Islam. First of all, we learnt a lot of very interesting facts about their holy books (the Bible and the Qur'an) and then extended our learning further by making comparisons between the 10 Commandments and The 5 Pillars. We were surprised to learn that although there are many differences there are also many similarities. 

History - Artefacts and Art work

To begin our topic on the Victorians, we spent an afternoon looking at a variety of artefacts and pieces of art work to see what they could tell us about life during Victorian times. These primary sources of evidence were useful in order to make a comparison with our life today. We discovered that some things had changed a lot eg toys whereas other objects eg glass bottles and newspapers had changed very little

2021-2022

Our Inflatable Day and Football Tournament

On July 21st we had a very exciting day indeed to end a very busy few months. Our end-of-term treat was an inflatable day followed by a burger and ice-cream van. There were 4 different inflatable activities plus some hilarious 'sumo' suits that kept us amused all day. The burgers and chips were delicious and the ice-cream van had a wide choice so there was something for everyone. Running alongside this was our Football Tournament based on the Women's Euro Championships. The children were split into teams with each team representing a country. All the matches were well fought and congratulations go to Italy, our winning team, who all received a well deserved medal. 

The Pirates of the Currybean

On July 12th and 13th we performed our school production 'The Pirates of the Currybean' for all the children within school plus our parents. Despite some pre-performance nerves the children performed to a high standard and all the Year 6 staff were very proud of them. All the children have said that performing this show has been their most favourite part of year 6 and is a memory that will stay with them forever

First Aid Training from the Red Cross

On July 7th our children were lucky enough to receive some CPR resuscitation training from the Red Cross Charity. After we practised on dummies, we worked in pairs to replicate the 'recovery' position on each other.

Year 6 design their own Orienteering Courses

Inspired by our PE topic of orienteering, the children worked in groups to plan, design, equip, resource and deliver their course to a particular year group. The themes for Year 3 were Disney and The Ancient Egyptians; for Year 4 they were Flags and World War 2; for Year 5 they were London and Football and for Year 6 they were Pirates of the Currybean and Sports. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Year 3s in action

Our focus in music this term has been jazz. Over the weeks, we have  listened to a variety of jazz pieces offering our opinions whilst also identifying the instruments playing. We worked like an orchestra to practise a particular jazz piece that involved glockenspiels, maracas and indian bells. Everyone really enjoyed themselves.

To end our topic on 'Healthy Food', we followed a recipe to make a Vegetable Pasta meal. We chopped, fried, sliced, stirred, sprinkled, served and finally ATE ! Most children were brave enough to have a try and the majority agreed that it was delicious!

On Wednesday 24th November, Year 6 went on their third trip in twelve days - what an exciting November we have had! This time, we stepped back in time to learn more about a Victorian Christmas by visiting Newstead Abbey - in full costume! The children looked fabulous and some even brought an authentic Victorian packed lunch. We rotated around four activities: parlour games; Victorian toys and  schoolroom; scented herb bags and magic lantern show. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and were able to empathise about what life was like over 100 years ago.

On Monday 22nd November, Year 6 had a really enjoyable and memorable time learning some new wheelchair skills. By the end of the session, we were able to move at speed, change direction and spin on the spot. This was a new experience for most of us and one that we will remember for a long time.

On Wednesday 17th November 2021 Year 6 visited the Islamic Centre Mosque in Nottingham. We were shown round by the Imam who explained the significance of various objects and features within the Mosque. We extended our knowledge about the Five Pillars and the Koran but, most importantly, we had a great time and learnt a lot.

On Friday 12th November, after completing 6 weeks of tennis coaching within school, Year 6 visited Mansfield Tennis Club. Led by Gareth, the tennis coach, the children enjoyed playing a variety of activities that extended their skills even further. It was a real joy playing on proper tennis courts - a thoroughly wonderful afternoon.