Welcome to Kingfishers

Year Six 

For nothing will be impossible with God 

Luke 1 v37  

Summer Term Two…                        Value: Peace

‘May the God of hope fill you with all the JOY and peace as you trust in him.’

Romans 15:13

On behalf of the staff and children of Year Six, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to our class page.

Welcome all to Term Six. I am struggling to believe how quickly the year is going - can you believe that we only have 7 weeks left! I am so proud of how hard each member of our Year Six community is working! Together, we will continue to reach for the stars because anything is possible as long as we try! Over the next term, we are sure to acquire even more knowledge, enjoyment and memories which we can cherish forever.

This section of our website will be used to provide a summary of Year Six's learning journey. It will also be used to share information and post regular updates. Scroll down to view our adventures! 

As always, the door to our classroom is always open…’alone we can do so little; together we can do so much!’

Diary Dates  

5th June - INSET Day 

Wednesday 14th June - Leaver's Service at Gloucester Cathedral

21st - 23rd June - Residential 

Friday 14th July - Year 6 Play

Wednesday 19th July - Oscars (Evening)

Friday 21st July - Year 6 Leavers Service (2pm)

Weekly Check List

Wednesday - PE Cricket- PE kit to be brought to school. 

Wednesday - Reading/Library books and Homework due

Thursday - PE OAA - PE kit to be brought to school.  

With PE kits, please not the following changes to uniform requirements: 

Our Summer Term Adventures

 'Lifeskills' Centre

Year Six had a brilliant trip out this week at the CREATE centre in Bristol. During there time at the centre, they had the opportunity to take part in a range of activities in realistic scenarios. The types of scenarios included: houses, roads, shops, dark alleyways, rivers and railway lines. During there morning at Lifeskills, Year Six were able to experience difficult or dangerous situations in a safe, supportive and caring environment. They developed a wide range of independent skills, learnt how to deal with difficult situations should they arise, assess personal risk and explore appropriate choices. A fantastic experience given Year Sixes upcoming transition to secondary school! 

You can find out more about Lifeskills by visiting https://lifeskills-bristol.org.uk/. Additionally, the centre could always do with more volunteers to support these experiences - if this is something that would interest you, or someone you know, please visit https://lifeskills-bristol.org.uk/volunteers/

As part of learning around circulatory system, we had an incredible time dissecting hearts. We were able to explore all of the chambers and put our learning to the test when identifying key features. Year Six were super mature and loved the hands approach to this Science enquiry. 

Our Spring Term Adventures

We loved thinking about and designing children's playgrounds. We tested a range of play equipment, thought about what worked and what didn't, created a range of floor plans and maps to scale. Then, finally we thought about the creation of a model playground. It was great fun!

Bikeability 

Year Six have been working hard to earn their Level Two Bikeability award - demonstrating increasing awareness and confidence when cycling on the road. We've been remarkably proud of the skills and responsibilities they've demonstrated over the course of their training! 

Thank you to South Gloucestershire's Road Safety Team! 

 Journey on a Cloud 

Check out some of our published writing on display with pride in our communal areas. We loved exploring this book and the journey of Zephyr: he was such an interesting character. We also loved how the book is based upon a famous painting. Can you guess which one?

Ancient Egyptians - Why was the River Nile so important to Ancient Egyptians? 

We loved finding out about Ancient Egyptian times but particularly learning about why the River Nile was such an important landmark for civilisations. 

PE - Primary Leadership

Year 6 are currently working towards The Primary School Leadership Certificate. 

They have been working on developing and adapting games in small groups, working on cooperation and communication.  

The aims of the course are:

• Developing Leadership Skills on how to organise, lead and motivate groups.
• A Stepping Stone to support transition between Primary and Secondary school
• Teaching Key Skills for Life
• Increasing Self-Confidence through leadership and communication skills
• Personal Development by helping students reach their true potential
• Volunteering and encouraging students to help others

Science - Light

Why, with so many sources of light, does it still remains dark outside, despite some of the light sources, such as the floodlights, being very bright?

To help answer this, we dropped some food colouring into a large container of water. The colour moved in every direction through the liquid until all the water was coloured (the night sky). Then, we shone a light into the liquid. No matter how much we stirred the water the light only ever travelled in a straight line, so the rest of the water (or night sky) remained dull, however bright the torch was.

Maths - Problem Solving

Use the shapes 1- 10 arrange them so that the total in each circle is 27. There must be at least one number in each circle and you must use all the numbers. 

Are you up to the challenge of finding a solution?

RE - Moses and the Pharaoh 

The children put themselves in the positions of Moses and Pharaoh after the eighth plague (locusts) and created a ‘conscience alley’ for each of these men.

In Moses’ conscience alley: children on one side gave reasons for Moses to continue following God’s will and attempting to get the slaves released; the other side stated reasons why Moses should give up. 

In Pharaoh’s conscience alley: children on one side gave reasons why Pharaoh should keep the Hebrews as slaves, the other side gave reasons why Pharaoh should grant their freedom.

Young Voices 2023 - Some members of our class community were able to represent our school at Young Voices. It was an incredible experience and one that we will remember for many years to come. The singing, dancing and celebration of the arts was simply amazing. Take a look for yourself. 

Our Autumn Term Adventures

Author Visit:

Jasbinder Bilan

We loved visiting Thornbury Library to meet award winning author, Jasbinder Bilan. Jashbinder loved talking to us about items that inspire her stories and how her Indian heritage has supported the development of her strong characters and settings within her writing. She was highly impressed by our thought provoking questions and even signed copies of her books for us to enjoy at school. 

It was amazing being able to work with the M-Shed during their WW2 Workshops. The Primary and Secondary sources really helped to develop our understanding of how WW2 impacted Bristol. Check out our experience by watching the video above!

Remembrance 

Our Discovery Learning has focused on WW2 so in the lead up to Remembrance Day we explored the significance of the poppy and where/how it originated. Although, traditionally, the poppy was for the remembrance of soldiers from WW1; it has evolved to remember all soldiers and their individual sacrifices and service for us and our country.

As part of this reflection, we thought about soldiers who would have once attended our school and walked our High Street.

We looked into those soldiers who lived and worked in Thornbury prior to the war; there names and profiles are available in Thornbury Museum and on the War memorial in St Mary’s church.

To mark the occasion, we all made a felt poppy and joined these to make a wreath of remembrance.

Discovery – WW2

To launch our Discovery Journey, we explored a range of sources and generated a range of questions to steer our learning. Thought provoking discussions and interactions taking place. This is going to be one insightful and enjoyable topic to explore.

Current and Static Electricity

To help us understand how current and static electricity work we role played the processes involved in a working circuit and explored static electricity in action.

They had an awesome time and their articulation of processes are really developing. Amazing work from all. 

HRH Queen Elizabeth II

We were saddened to hear the news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing. As a class, we reflected upon her remarkable achievements and reign. Her values and sense of duty will serve us well. We send our thoughts and prayers to the Royal Family.

Ukulele – Music

We are loving our Music lessons this term! We are so lucky to have a musician supporting out learning and teaching us how to play the Ukulele. If this is what we sound like after week one, I cannot wait to hear what we sound like at the end of the term!

Mystery Items

To start our Science learning, we had to think about what all the items concealed within our feely bag had in common. This helped us recall our prior learning and think about certain properties of materials. With some gentle questioning and through process of elimination, we soon worked out that all items concealed were conductors. Yes, you guessed it, we are exploring electricity in Science.

Bottled Memories

To kick start our English unit this term, we started to explore ‘The Planet in a Pickle Jar’. We captured memories of our scarred places and considered why they were important to use. We then worked on bottling these so that we have something to refer back to throughout the year – reminding us of why we challenge ourselves to be the best we can be. I was delighted with the super descriptive writing outcomes – the children are really focusing on using precise language.