Welcome to Succeed Class - Year 6

"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." (Winston Churchill)

Welcome to Year 6 - Succeed Class. We have 25 children in Succeed class this year, all striving to achieve their own personal goals. I, Miss Fleming, am the Year 6 teacher and alongside myself will be Miss Briggs as our class Teaching Assistant. We all share the same goal - to guide, to support, to learn, to laugh and to ensure that memories are made. We are looking forward to the exciting, and hard-working, journey ahead!

Now that the children are in Year 6, they will have many responsibilities around the school such as: leading by example as school role models to the younger children; taking the lead with School Council; participating as senior members of the GIFT Team; supporting younger children in reception with key reading skills; demonstrating sound knowledge of Internet Safety as members of the Internet Warriors; assisting within whole school assemblies; and representing the school at the various sporting competitions that we will be participating in throughout the year. It is sure to be a busy year!

As the year progresses, we will move onto discovering about our local environments through our 'Coasts' topic in Geography; finding out about the ancient civilisation of Baghdad; learning how important Greek History was to our own language and society; discovering the history of evolution through science and where electricity came from. All of this, as well as preparing for our SAT's and the not-to-be-missed end of year musical production, which is always a highlight in the children's calendar!

Your child's well-being is of vital importance to us and we want to ensure that they are happy and progressing. If you ever have any queries, questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us via our staff email:

nfleming@olsa.lancs.sch.uk

abriggs@olsa.lancs.sch.uk

Routines in Class

At the start of the day, children will enter the classroom where they will settle into some basic daily arithmetic practise. 

Morning break will be at 11am. If you wish, you may send a healthy snack in with your child for them to consume at this time.

Reading:

We ask that you read with your child as often as possible. Your child will have a reading record that can be signed by yourself every time your child reads or is read to. In KS2, children will be expected to quiz regularly on Accelerated Reader upon completion of their book. As a minimum, we generally expect that children quiz at least once every fortnight. This helps aid their fluency and stamina to digest larger volumes of text that are expected within the Year 6 curriculum. This term, we have set the children a challenge to read at lead 50,000 words by the end of the term to receive a reading prize.

PE:

PE in Summer Term will be on Monday afternoon (Thai Boxing) and Friday afternoon (FUSION tumbling and gymnastic skills). Children should come into school dressed in their PE kits. This consists of: Black leggings/joggers, PE Top and hoody, jumper or cardigan. Please ensure that all earrings and jewellery are removed for sessions. 

Homework:

Homework will predominantly be set now through paper-based activities. Children will have a range of SPAG, reading, arithmetic and reasoning practises to ensure familiarity with SAT style questions. All work sent home will be consolidation of work completed in class so children should be able to access the work independently.

SUMMER TERM 1 LEARNING

Welcome back to what will be another busy term of learning as we prepare ourselves for the SATs in the week commencing 13th May. We hope that the children have been well rested, are eager to achieve their personal targets and are ready for the challenges ahead.

For the first few weeks, the children will be revising key topics in preparation for the SATs. This will include shape, area and perimeter, geometry and place value in maths. For Literacy, the children will be focusing on key SPAG terminology such as word classes, sentences structure, punctuation and spelling practise. In class, the children will also be refining their reading skills daily to develop fluency and recognition of question types.

In Literacy, we will then move onto the theme of The Islamic Civilisation. Here the children will encounter classic Arabian Tales to create their own historical text. The children will also have the opportunity to develop key skills in formal and informal letter writing, combined with using persuasive techniques. Learning in Literacy will be closely linked with the History unit this term, The Islamic Civilisation. Here the children will explore the origins of the faith, how the faith has revolutionised modern day Britain and the impact of their inventions in medicine, astronomy and mathematics today.

In maths, the children will move onto gaining a deeper understanding of algebra, area and perimeter, volume, geometry and position and movement . They will also have additional arithmetic practise daily alongside regular reasoning sessions weekly to assist them in solving more complex word problems. Arithmetic skills will also form a substantial part of the children's learning, with regular practise on their speed and fluency for recalling known facts.

Booster sessions will continue every Wednesday from 3:15-4:15pm.

In RE, we will continue to develop a greater understanding of the Easter theme of Death and New Life, exploring the sacrifices made by Jesus through the Stations of the Cross before moving onto the theme of being a Witness to the faith. In this term, we will also have the opportunity to explore other faiths through the links made in history with the Islamic Civilisation. The children will have the opportunity in this term to visit the Manchester Central Mosque and visit a Sikh Temple as part of their learning. Children will have lots of opportunities here to discuss, raise questions and use drama and role play to explore their emotions.

In DT, we will be exploring the unit of waistcoats. Here the children will plan, design, make and evaluate a waistcoat fit for their very own teddy. They will develop ley skills such as measuring, cutting, threading and stitching in a variety of forms: blanket and cross-stitching.

In computing, we will focus on creating our very own class blog linked to their learning on the Islamic Civilisation.  We will also explore privacy settings and the importance of these as their prepare their transitions to high school in the following term.

PE this term will consist of Thai Boxing with Valley Thai on Monday afternoon and Gymnastics and Tumbling with coach Helen from FUSION Dance on a Friday afternoon, focusing on using the vault and apparatus for balance.

SATS Information:

SAT's this year will commence in the week commencing 13th May 2024.

SAT’s Breakfast:

On each morning of the SATs, we will provide the children with a selection of breakfast options from 8:30am. Children will also be permitted to bring in a hot drink of their choice: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, hot vimto. This must be in a sealed flask to prevent accidents. We have also informed the children that during each test, they can have a little good luck mascot with them on their table. This can be a picture, a keepsake or a teddy (no larger than a ruler) to help them stay calm and focused. If you have any questions about the arrangements above, please just call in and ask.

Monday, 13th May- Spelling, punctuation and grammar paper (grammar test 45mins & spelling paper 20 mins)

Tuesday, 14th May - Reading paper - 60 mins

Wednesday, 15th May - Maths paper 1 (arithmetic) - 30 mins

                                     - Maths Paper 2 (reasoning) - 40 mins

Thursday, 16th May - Maths paper 3 (reasoning) - 40 mins

On Friday, 26th January 2024, Year 6 took part in a fun glow dodgeball session in the hall. The children had a great time throwing the UV balls around the room with luminous vests on - very stylish!

On the final week of the Autumn Term, children in Succeed class completed a challenge of Come Dine with me. Their challenge was to create a recipe from scratch using a few simple ingredients like peppers and pineapple. The children devised their own menu's by researching recipes online, measuring their ingredients and preparing their menu independently - they even learned how to chop effectively! They managed to create items such as stuffed peppers and pineapple upside down cake - all of which went down a treat! They even managed to create dairy free varieties too!

In traditional Year 6 fashion, we decided to hold our own class secret santa. The gifts were placed under the tree and the children opened them all together. The gifts were fantastic - some very creative and thoughtful ones given. Thank you so much to the parents who supported the children with this.

Children in Succeed class travelled to Liverpool Empire Theatre to watch their production of the Wizard of Oz. The children had a fantastic time as they watched the colourful musical. As always, their behaviour was outstanding!

This term, to support the children in their learning on WW2, the children visited Whitworth Museum to understand the impact of war on our own local area. The children explored and handled artefacts of the time such as a gas mask, a warden's whistle, a hand grenade, a rifle with bayonet, evacuee suitcase and a soldier's helmet. The children thoroughly enjoyed adding their own learning to the visit and the museum were amazed with the wealth of knowledge the children had acquired so far. Well done Succeed.

Succeed class were extremely lucky to have been given photographs that were directly from WW2. Mrs Burgess brought in the images which are of her Grandfather who fought in the Merchant Navy in WW2. He experienced torpedo fire, of which there were images of sinking battleships, and also, braved the beach landings as part of the Navy. The children were extremely careful with the handling of such old objects. 

To celebrate Black History month with Brilliant Black British History, Year 6 took part in a virtual author visit to explore an eye-opening story of Britain, focusing on a part of our past that has mostly been left out of the history books. From science and sport to literature and law, children’s author Atinuke celebrates the brilliant Black people who have helped build Britain. Atinuke took the children through historical topics such as the world wars, slavery, the industrial revolution, Windrush and the Black Lives Matter movement. The children recalled links with how Britain was created through invasion, migration and settlement of Romans, Saxons, Celts and Vikings and understood the impact on the world today.

After investigating real hearts from animals, the children were tasked with the challenge of creating their own clay heart sculpture to replicate the original thing. They had to include the valves, chambers, arteries and veins. 

This term, the children are learning all about the Circulatory System. This week, the children explore a real heart in class! The looked at the arteries, veins and valves of a selection of hearts including a sheep, a lamb, and ox and a pig. The children were fascinated with exploring and had a great time feeling and holding the objects for closer inspection!! 

On Monday, 9th October, the whole school has a visit from Burnley FC to talk about their current initiative for red card for racism. The children were spoken to by a representative of the club and they talked openly about the sport and problems faced within it. The children were exceptionally well behaved and learned a valuable lesson.

The children then were treated to live music by a Tanzanian group, The Bethany Project who sang a mixture of cultural songs and informed them of their life back home. It was an interesting visit where children were able to understand the life of another culture and their way of life.

On Tuesday, 10th October, Succeed class visited Whitworth Library to continue their learning on the events of WW2. They listened to facts read by Amy and explored what a ration box would look like in comparison to a real army ration box of today. The children found the whole experience very enlightening and were even given their own evacuee tag! After the talk, the children were given free run of the library to explore, read and take home books to continue to develop their love of books!

After reading the class texts of Once and The Boy in the Striped Pyjama's, the children were tasked with the challenge to create their own tense WW2 escape story. The y has worked hard over the past 3 weeks, devising their writer's craft through using techniques such as action, description and dialogue alongside using show not tell to vary their description. I am sure you would all agree, they are definitely worth publishing!! They will now take pride of place in our very own library for the class to read from. 

As part of our Scode spelling lessons, the children have been using games as a way to revise and practise spellings learned so far. . The children then used their new knowledge in their editing session in Literacy to ensure that the application of spelling into the written work was used.

Microsoft Teams Access

Useful Links 

Accelerated Reader Login

Purple Mash

https://app.century.tech/login/