Class Teacher: Mr Astle

Week Commencing: 27.11.23

In English this week, Class 6 have planned, written, edited and improved a fully independent piece of work! I have seen semi-colons, parenthesis, dashes, hyphens and inverted commas used to absolute perfection! Linking science and P.E. together, we have been using athletics - particularly running for stamina - to increase our heart rate. We then compared results and put them into a graph, noticing the correlation between exercise and our pulse. We then took our learning further, studying the four chambers of the heart, and how oxygenated and deoxygenated blood is transferred around the body.

Week Commencing: 20.11.23

In Year 6 this week, we have finished with our modelled write, and we are ready to begin planning, and writing, our own independent stories based on Kensuke's Kingdom ... but with a twist - Kensuke does not exist in our version! I am looking forward to seeing the different ideas in the writing next week. We are applying some maths, and P.E., into our science work this week, understanding how our body reacts to exercise. We took our pulse before, during and after exercise, so we could compare the results, and plot them into a line graph.

Week Commencing: 13.11.23

We have finished our unit on ‘fractions’ in Year 6, and the class are now fully confident to add, subtract, multiply and divide any fraction by another, or by an integer. Our unit in PE is athletics, with a particular focus on running techniques, both when running for speed and stamina. Linking to the International Day of Kindness, the “Go Forth” at the end of our Collective Worship had the children pledging to do something kind to make the world better. 

Week Commencing: 06.11.23

In English this week, Class 6 have been diving into our new book, 'Kensuke's Kingdom'.  We have all agreed it is fantastic so far! And we are now collecting some of the wonderful phrases and vocabulary, which we can then use in our own writing. Maths has moved onto multiplying and dividing fractions, and strangely, it is a lot easier than adding and subtracting them! We had a lovely Collective Worship on Wednesday, which linked to the Light of our Lord, and the Holy Spirt. In their 'Go Forth' the children drew their own image of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a cross, or dove. 

Week Commencing: 30.10.23

As always, the first week back can be slightly hectic. However, Class 6 are settling back into the school routine; we are starting new units; and crucially, we are taking the ever important steps towards SATs preparation. In maths, we have been looking at adding and subtracting fractions with a different denominator, building on the knowledge of lowest common multiples from before half term. In English, we have started our new topic of 'Mystery Stories', with our grammatical focus being 'semi colons' and 'dashes to interrupt a main clause'. Year 6 are very interested to know if their predications and inferences of the characters are correct - they will find out next week!

Week Commencing: 16.10.23

Just because we are approaching half term doesn't mean we are easing off in Year 6! In maths, we are moving along nicely with fractions. We have compared fractions with the same denominator, compared fractions with a different denominator and we are currently using our knowledge of equivalent fractions to make numerators the same. We have come to the end of our history topic on the Ancient Greeks, and it was fascinating to see how many inventions and traditions, still used today, were created by the Ancient Greeks. Fr Raphael visited on Thursday to talk about his vocation and the calling to become a priest. Not only did he tell a fascinating story about his past, but when quizzed by the children, he gave such honest and genuine answers  - the children and I came away with an uttermost respect for him and choices he has made.

Week Commencing: 09.10.23

In English this week, Class 6 have moved onto classic poetry, with Robert Louis Stevenson being our author of choice. We have dived into, and pulled apart, two of his most famous poems, 'My Shadow' and 'From a Railway Carriage'. It is interesting to see how he uses his rhyming words, and in 'From a Railway Carriage' in particular, the huge amount of antonyms used! In maths, we have moved onto our new unit on 'fractions' and the class have started off lightly, looking at simplifying fractions into their lowest form - luckily our prime number knowledge is strong, so we knew when a fraction couldn't be simplified anymore! Finally, a huge congratulations to Niamh and Sam, our newly appointed Head Boy and Head Girl. I know they will do St. Joseph's proud!  

Week Commencing: 02.10.23

Firstly, I would like to thank the friends and families who came to share in the Class 6 Collective Worship today. It was wonderful to see everyone come together to celebrate and reflect on how we - as a staff, as children, as parents and as friends - belong together. This week has also been very exciting for Year 6, as they have been working on their Head Boy / Head Girl speeches. They have shown our School Values of 'Hope' and 'Friendship', wishing each other good luck before each interview took place.

Week Commencing: 25.09.23

It has been a busy week in Maths! In just 5 days, we have gone from 'factors and multiples' to 'prime numbers' to 'squared and cubed numbers' to 'long multiplication'. Long multiplication in particular has proven very tricky, but with a bit of practice, I know Y6 will nail it. In English, we have now finished our modelled write on 'Arachne and the Spinner', and we are ready to plan and write our own independent piece, with a similar feel. It was great watching the teamwork put in during PE, with the class working beautifully together to ensure dribbling, long passing and scoring was put into use effectively. 

Week Commencing: 18.09.23

This week in Year 6, we have started our new maths unit  'The 4 Operations'. We started off with addition and subtraction, including questions with missing numbers, before moving onto factors of numbers, and long multiplication. In English, we have started writing our own Greek Myth, following a similar style of 'Arachne and the Spinner' - some of the vocabulary used has been amazing! On Wednesday, Year 6 went through a rigorous training course, to ensure they can lead games during lunchtime. They all passed with flying colours, and will be on the yard, starting Monday, with footballs, dodgeballs, rugby balls and athletics equipment... I can't wait to see it!

Week Commencing: 11.09.23

So far, in English, our story on Greek Myths has been fascinating! We have learnt how the Ancient Greeks believed mankind to be created, why there are seasons, and how a chatty goddess was cursed to only repeat the last word of someone's sentence - her name was Echo! In maths, we have finished our unit on place value, working with, rounding, and manipulating numbers above 1,000,000 - it has been tricky, but Year 6 have tackled it like pros!

Week Commencing: 04.09.23

As expected, Year 6 have come back and hit the ground running. In maths, we have gone straight into place value, looking at numbers up to 10,000,000. For English, we have started our first topic of the year 'Greek Myths' which links perfectly to our first history topic, 'The Ancient Greeks'! To introduce our R.E. topic, we have made links between our school Mission Statement and the life of Jesus.