Welcome to Succeed Class - Year 6

"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

James 1:5

Welcome to Year 6 - Succeed Class. We have 32 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 Milner 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

Routines in Class

At the start of the day, children will enter the classroom where they will settle into some basic daily arithmetic practise. Collective worship will happen every day at 10:45am.

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 35,000 words by the end of the term to receive a reading prize.

PE:

PE in Autumn Term will be on Monday afternoon (swimming) and Tuesday morning (FUNDA with Coach Tom).  Children will be expected to wear PE kits on these days only. This consists of: Plain black leggings/joggers (no logo's or patterns), PE Top and hoody, jumper or cardigan. Please ensure that all earrings and jewellery are removed for sessions. For swimming, please ensure that children with shoulder length hair or longer (including fringes) wear a swimming cap as this is required by the leisure centre. Please also ensure that they have their costumes and a towel each week in order to ensure that they have the best opportunities to develop a vital skill in life.

Homework:

Homework will be set through a combination of Century tech or paper based arithmetic practise. Children will be notified of the type of homework they have each week, which will be handed out on FRiday to be completed for the following Friday. It is vital that your child completes the tasks given as it is an opportunity to consolidate the learning already performed in class that week. If you require any support with homework, please do not hesistate to contact me for assistance.

Autumn Term 2 Learning

Welcome back to the second term in year 6 which is sure to be a jam-packed, fun-filled adventure! We hope that you have all had plenty of time to rest and have fun! We will start off by delving into the continent of South America to explore the diverse biomes and eco-systems that are found within. This will link very closely to the theme in Literacy where we will explore the text, Journey to the River Sea and follow the protagonist Mia as she travels from England to Brazil. We will create our own descriptive adventure narrative and create own own information texts based upon our learning on Brazil.

In Geography, whilst studying the continent of South America, we will zoom in on the region of Brazil to explore the Amazon rainforest. We will explore the eco-systems and biomes of that area and discussh how deforestation is having a devastating impact on our world today. Through this learning, children will create their own persuasive arguments against the use of deforestation through analysing speeches such as Greta Thunberg to really capture the emotion and passion required to deliver a convincing speech.

In Maths, we will begin our learning on fractions where we will explore adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions, converting between mixed and improper fractions before exploring fractions word problems on ordering and comparing. We will then move onto the topic of decimals and converting units of measurements. During this half term, arithmetic will be a priority in class to help the children gain confidence with larger numbers and develop speed in their recall. It is vital that the children continue to work upon their times table knowledge as this will greatly assist them here.

In RE, we will explore the theme of Vocation. Through drama, role-play and discussion, the children will explore key pieces of scripture to link to their own experiences of love, especially those around family units. Here the children will discuss what commitment means when fulfillinh a vocation or calling in life. Children will be able to share their own thoughts and feelings to deepen their understanding and how the Catholic faith plays an important role in this. We will then move onto the topic of Advent as we prepare for the next part of the liturgical calendar.

In Science, the children will explore the classification system. Here they will explore how a variety of animals have been classified based upon a set of criteria. They will then use this knowledge to create their own independent investigations to test a theory.

In Art, the children will complete their learning through exploring the artist Paul Nash who created collages of war time art. They will appraise his work and create their own collage pieces with any materials and media they select.

In PSHE, we will continue with our work on the theme of relationships. Children will identify what healthy relationships look like and how they can learn ways to respect each other as individuals to celebrate similarities and differences. Children will reflect upon what safe relationships look like and how changes can be made.

In PE, children will be swimming this term and it is vital that they attend every session in order to achieve the target of 25m by the end of year 6. Swimming is a life skill that we believe every child who attends OLSA should leave securely with. Children will also have additional sessions of sport through Coach Tom focusing on basic skills.

In Spanish, children will be split into smaller groups to have reduced sessions focusing on recognition of key learning so far: numbers, colours, days of the week, weather and clothes. Selected children will also participate in additional sessions through the week to develop their fluency and pronunciation. Further details of this will be sent in due course.

As part of our learning in Geography, the children had to use an atlas to locate the countries of South America. They then were tasked with the objective of identifying which countries the Amazon River runs through. The children were amazed by the expansive nature of this and how important the rainforest basin is to even us here in England.

On Friday, 14th November, children in Succeed class had a visit from Bacup Fire Service to talk about Road safety and awareness. They discussed how to be safe and be seen on roads during the darker winter months, how to travel in cars, on bikes and on public transport safely and effectively and what to do in cases of emergency. The visit was extremely useful for all children to understand the dangers on roads, particularly as the nights are becoming darker.

On Tuesday, 11th November, Year 6 attended the Whitworth Cenotaph to pay their respect alongside other local schools for remembrance. The children participated by laying a wreath on behalf of the school and sharing bidding prayers during the service. The children were extremely respectful throughout the whole service.

Parents and carers once again joined the class to participate in a topic afternoon based around the new Geography unit of South America. The children and parents were tasked with creating their own rainforest art piece. The creations were very competitive and original - even the parents were competing against each other! Thanks again to all that attended, your support is very much appreciated!

Children in year 6 participated in the theme dance around the world as part of a PE day. As we are learning about the continent of South America, we thought it would be appropriate to create their own Latin themed Cha Cha dance. It was very interesting watching some of the shapes being thrown in the dance - we certainly have some unique dancers! Well done Succeed for participating well in the spirit of the event.

At the end of the first half term, the children completed their DT project to design and build their very own playground. The children were set a brief to comprise of:

• colourful
• safe
• fun
• 5 objects
• one object to move
• one object to climb
• durable

The children had access to a variety of materials throughout the day to craft swings, slides, climbing frames and shelters. The finished products were very impressive - it was a hard decision for the staff to judge the winner!

This term, the children took part in a Pobble 365 Live Writing session on science fiction. The children joined children from all over the world including Dubai, Ireland and even Bacup!! They were tasked with creating their own space based short story and came up with some very imaginative pieces!

This term, Succeed class visited Whitworth Library as part of their learning on WW2. The  children listened to facts about WW2 from Amy and looked at a rationing pack for the army today. The children then had the opportunity to explore the texts in the library and select new books. 

On Thursday 23rd October, Succeed class investigated real animal hearts as part of their learning on the circulatory system in science. The children had the opportunity to explore a variety of hearts to identify the valves, aorta, veins, capillaries and chambers. The children were not afraid to get stuck in as you can see!

On Tuesday, 21st October, children in Succeed class visited Whitworth Museum to learn all about the impact of WW2 on Whitworth. The children explored a range of artefacts from rifles, helmets of the time, shell casings, stirrup pumps, radar alerts and gas masks. Some were even chosen to be our own little evacuees! The children had a great time and learned a lot to really enhance the learning that has been done in class. 

Every Friday, the children have been participating in cricket sessions with Chiggy. They have been learning week by week the skills of throwing, catching and batting before taking part in an actual match to display all skills. The children have made great progress so far and many balls have been lost over the fence from excellent batting skills!! Well done Year 6!

This term we have had a visit from Corum Life Bus to teach the children all about safety online and their mental well-being. The children looked at the variety of emotions that they can experience daily and how social media influences can affect or portray this very differently. The children were amazing in the session - very respectful with articulate questions and answers to test their understanding.

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Useful Links 

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