Mary Elton Primary School

Mary Elton Primary School

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Year 6

Welcome to Year 6 2023-24 with Mrs Pole, Miss Lamb and Mrs Easterbrook.

We would encourage you to keep an eye on these pages as we like to share aspects of the children’s learning and experiences from Willow and Sycamore classes. 

7th February 2024 - DT 

In DT, they have undertaken a significant project to design and make their own 'Steady Hand Game'. This involved creating cross sectional drawings and exploded diagrams, adapting their planning as they constructed their designs and playing their games to test their effectiveness (imagine a room full of children playing the game 'Operation' and you can almost hear the persistent buzzers!)  See what you think of their designs. 

 

12th December 2023 - Science

As part of our learning in science, we have been testing the hypothesis that a streamlined object always travels further than a non-streamlined object. This involved using elastic bands to carefully catapult various shaped objects across the classroom and measuring the distance they travelled!

28th September 2023 - Mendip Trip

Year 6 went on a fantastic trip to Mendip Outdoor Pursuits in Churchill. They completed 2 activities during the day (Archery Active and Low Ropes) which were great fun! The trip promoted team building and collaboration in the children's new year group with their new teachers. This will benefit them during their year 6 journey with us. 

 

 

2022-2023

27th May 2023 - Kayaking

Year 6 spent some time at Marine Lake in Term 5 being an athlete by learning how to kayak. We had a fantastic time: we were courageous, collaborative and a little bit wet!

 

25th May 2023 - STEM Ambassador Visit

Year 6 were lucky enough to receive a visit from Paul (a Civil Engineer from Tarmac) on Thursday 25th May 2023; he delivered a Civil engineering presentation which gave the children an interesting overview of the industry, its career pathways and the job opportunities available.  The visit provided the perfect introduction to their new enquiry 'Who were the better engineers: The Ancient Britons or the Victorians?' The children also worked collaboratively to complete a STEM challenge creating a structure from straws that would suspend a golf ball. The winning team even received a trophy for their hard work!

 

17th May 2023 - Shadow artists

During our Enquiry, 'Why are shadows important?', year 6 have investigated how light helps us see, how shadows are formed and what affects the size and shape of shadows.  We studied some artists who are famous for their use of chiaroscuro. The term chiaroscuro (from the Italian words chiaro, meaning “light,” and scuro, meaning “dark”) refers to the use of light and shade in a work of art to define three-dimensional objects. We used a coaching model to help each other improve our art work using focussed and specific feedback. We have invited our parents and carers in from 3pm on Friday 26th May to view our art work.
 

27th March 2023 - Geographers

Year 6's enquiry this term has been 'Where does our food really come from?'  We have been geographers researching where in the world some of our food has travelled from; we have been learning all about the supply chains of certain foods. We started off our enquiry with a visit from Farm Link who explained all about food miles and why these are important. 

20th January 2023 - Enquiry (Scientists)

Year 6 have been learning about adaptation in their enquiry this term which is titled: 'Linnaeus and Darwin - what connects them?' We completed an activity to learn about how the shape and size of a bird's beak affects the food they can eat and how different species of birds have adapted the best beak for them to survive in their own habitat. 
 

13th December 2022 - A busy Term 2

At the beginning of term, we completed our first enquiry ‘How are lives saved’ by presenting our TED talks to each other (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design). We began our second Enquiry called ‘How do we all live together’ in week 2 of term 2.  We have been enthusiastic historians discovering all about the legacy of Ancient Greece, the birth of democracy and how democracy works in our modern-day society. We held our debates to help us decide if ‘the Ancient Greek system of democracy was better than ours in the modern UK – it was very interesting and some excellent ‘points of information’ were made! In-between all this learning in school, we also went on a trip to Life Skills in Bristol where we were able to discover lots about staying safe. Volunteers from the Centre took us around different scenarios and we worked through various safety-related activities. We were introduced to numerous difficult or dangerous situations and encouraged to work together to discuss (and carry out) possible solutions. This will help us become more independent and safety-aware as we mature ready for secondary school next year!  We visited Clevedon School on Friday 9th December to watch their performance of ‘We Will Rock You!’ It was fantastic and had us all singing and dancing along even though we were tired from walking all the way there!

 

 

 29th September 2022 - Enquiry (Scientists)

Year 6 are really enjoying being scientists during their enquiry 'How are lives saved' and have had 2 visits from the NHS this week. On Thursday, a nurse from A&E came to visit to tell them all about how she saves lives and then on Friday, they had a visit from 2 Community Responders from South West Ambulance Services. They were able to experience going inside an ambulance, using the BPM monitor, testing out some of the equipment and asking lots of enquiring questions. Thank you to the NHS for helping us with our enquiry!

 

 

2021-22

12th May 2022 - End of SATS celebration!

Year 6 celebrated the end of SATS with an Inter-House Dodgeball competition accompanied by crisps, popcorn and biscuits! 1st place = Court, joint 2nd = Curzon and Pier, 3rd place = Triangle. Fabulous afternoon Year 6...a well-deserved afternoon of sport and fun in the sun!!

 

9th May 2022 - Science 'Bird Beak Game'

Year 6 played the 'Bird Beak Game' today to investigate adaptation in birds during their science topic 'Evolution and Inheritance'! They were then able to explain how the shape of bird's beaks affects the food they can feed on and how this impacts on their ability to survive! Much squawking was heard as the 'birds' went hunting for food!

Y6 Bird Beak Game

 

9th March 2022 - Antarctica 

Year 2 are learning about the differences between the North and South Poles. As Year 6 learnt all about Antarctica last term, the Year 2 children visited Year 6 so that they could learn from Year 6 about the features to include when writing a double-page spread. Year 2 looked at all the Year 6 work and together the children wrote a list of the features. We are looking forward to seeing Year 2's double-page spreads when they are finished.

 

26th January 2022 - DT

Year 6 had a creative and productive afternoon when they built the battery powered lights that they had designed. There were lots of different designs and types of lights for a variety of uses that the children decided upon themselves. We then evaluated our designs and worked out how we could make them better next time.

Y6 DT Jan 22

 

24th January 2022 - Life Skills Trip

Year 6 had a fantastic day at the Life Skills Centre in Bristol - we learnt about road safety, carbon monoxide gas and safety near water and railways as well as how to escape a house fire safely. Lots of the children got to practice making a 999 call and the calls were answered very professionally by some familiar voices! It was fun but also really informative.

 

 

16th December 2021 - RE day!

Year 6 had a fantastic day on Thursday investigating how Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians understand who Jesus was and why he was born. The day started with a letter from The Grinch, who challenged the children to research the meaning of Christmas then design a Christmas card to prove they knew the true meaning. We found out lots and the final cards were fantastic.

 

15th December 2021 - DT Christmas Decorations

Year 6 have completed their DT project this term; to design and make a 'no-sew' Christmas decoration! They look fabulous and are now adorning their Christmas trees at home. 

 

 

26th November 2021 - Art

This term, Year 6 have been learning about Norman Foster's architecture and they have created their own art pieces inspired by his work.

 

 

22nd October 2021 - Science: Classification

Year 6 have been learning all about classification systems in their science topic in term 1. They produced a 'Double Page Spread' to showcase their knowledge of Carl Linnaeus who is famous for his work in Taxonomy: the science of identifying, naming and classifying organisms.  They finished the term off with a team challenge - to invent their own classification system for sweets! They may have needed to sample a few sweet treats along the way to help with their research!