Trotts Hill Primary School and Nursery
Welcome to Year 6 and the final year at Trotts Hill Primary School! Mrs Shergill is the class teacher and Mrs Cornish is the teaching assistant, she will also teach the class on Thursdays.
Year 6 is an extremely important, yet exciting year, when your children will sit their SATs in May. To ensure the children are ready for these tests and are feeling confident, all the support and interest you take in your child’s education is extremely valuable. We ask parents to read and sign their child’s reading record each week and help their child with home learning tasks that are set.
We cover the core subjects of English, Maths, Science and Computing as well as a full range of topics where we encourage children to take an active approach towards their learning including:
Year 6 is a very important year and we have organised a range of activities which ensure children receive a broad curriculum which challenges them. Children participate in a ‘Robotics Day’ where they design and programme a robot. Children’s Design and Technology skills are developed through a K’Nex workshop where the children build a model based on strict design specifications. Finally the children’s fitness is tested through a residential at the end of year where they have the opportunity to conquer fears and achieve goals!
The expectations in Year 6 are very high, but year on year, children always rise to the challenge through well developed home-school partnerships and a determination to succeed.
Year 6 had a fantastic time on their residential. They showed all the PRIDE learning behaviours - especially ENJOYMENT! Many pupils challenged themselves by participating in abseiling, climbing, crate-stacking and raft-building. They supported each other and made memories to treasure.
Year 6 rose magnificently to the STEM challenge to build a moving crane from Knex. In the space of only one hour, they produced some inventive prototypes. For this difficult task, the PRIDE learning behaviours were present in abundance - resilience in particular. All the children were able to identify what they would improve on next time. Congratulations to the worthy winners, Caleb and Jake and runners up, Edward and Jack. Many thanks to our governor and STEM Ambassador, Emma Richardson for running the workshop.
Week commencing Monday 8th May - LI: To be mindful
In the middle of SATs week, we used our PSHE lesson to be mindful. Most of the class chose to do mindful colouring and we had some colouring sheets with positive affirmations to help us feel good about ourselves. Some pupils preferred to complete sudoku puzzles. We also talked about breathing and grounding techniques to help us feel calm.
This week, Year 6 had an active maths lesson where firstly they used polydrons to test different nets of cubes and then after that they investigated nets of different 3D shapes.
The children had to devise their own experiment to prove how light travels. The children were responsible for choosing their own equipment and which variables were to be changed or kept the same.
Week commencing Monday 27th March - LI: To understand the significance of the Easter story
Year 6 participated in a virtual Easter journey organised by Bridge Builders. The children learned about the life of Jesus and the events leading up to his crucifixion. The children discussed personal heroes and discussed the significance for Christians of Jesus as the Messiah.
This week the children worked towards achieving their Level 1 and Level 2 Bikeability certificate where they had to learn to ride their bike safely on the road.
Week commencing Monday 13th March - LI: Understanding and managing our worries.
On Tuesday afternoon, we had a mental health workshop with Vicky, our mental health adviser. She gave us strategies for understanding and managing our worries.
Week commencing Monday 6th March - LI: To devise an investigation into pulse rate.
Year 6 investigated the question, 'How long does it take for your heart rate to get back to it's resting rate after exercise?'
The children had to discuss what the variables were and then decide how to record their results and present them in a graph. The children wrote a conclusion to explain what they found out. Here are some examples of our learning.
World Book Day 2023
For World Book Day, Year 6 could not decide on just one book for our class theme, so they chose two! Members of the class dressed as characters from the World War Two themed novel "The Silver Sword" by Ian Serraillier and the Harry Potter series of books. We also had Julius Zebra, Frodo Baggins and Little Red Riding Hood. The class enjoyed listening to excerpts from different books whilst completing their art.
Week commencing Monday 27th February - LI: To write a story ending
The children were tasked with writing alternative endings to Ray Bradbury's short story, "All Summer in a Day." In order to help inspire their writing, the class worked in small groups to create short pieces of drama about possible scenarios, which they performed to each other before completing their stories.
Week commencing Monday 6th February - LI: To know how to be safe online
As part of Internet Safety week, we visited the Google Interland site and completed four different challenge areas all around staying safe online. Some of the questions made us think more about what we share online and how we behave online.
Week commencing Monday 30th January - LI: To understand children's rights.
In PHSE this week, we looked at the NSPCC's "Speak Out, Stay Safe" campaign. We learnt about the idea of human rights and, in particular, children's rights. The class shared their existing knowledge of their rights and then watched a presentation revealing all their rights. The children then discussed the rights that are most important to them and created posters.
This week, Year 6 practised their serving skills in table tennis through a carousel of activities. They then moved onto playing matches against one another and refining their skills.
Week commencing Monday 16th January - LI: To draw conclusions about variation
Year 6 conducted an experiment called 'Spot the Caterpillar' where wool caterpillars were hidden in our school bushes. The children had to predict whether the green, blue, orange or brown caterpillars would be best at camouflaging in the bushes. They recorded their results in a table and in a line graph and drew conclusions.
Week commencing Monday 9th January - LI: To create atmosphere
In English this week, we have been looking at poetry. We have focused on using figurative language and poetic devices, such as personification and alliteration, to write poems about gold and winter.
Week commencing Monday 19th December - Last week of term
Year 6 have enjoyed the last few days of term together. Mrs Shergill and Mrs Cornish were very proud of the way they performed their nativity and their song in the performances on Monday. In addition to our regular curriculum, we have continued being creative and the pupils made calendars on their last morning together before the winter break.
Week commencing Monday 12th December LI: To make a 3D decoration
This half term we have been designing and making 3D decorations in DT. Pupils used a variety of techniques including appliqué, attaching buttons and using decorative stitches to decorate their decorations. They also joined fabrics using backstitch, running stitch, whip stitch and blanket stitch. Some of the students added scents to their decorations such as lavender, cinnamon and star anise in addition to filling them with cushion stuffing. To finish, some of the pupils were taught how to crochet a chain of wool to create a hanging loop.
Week commencing Monday 5th December LI: To ask geographical questions about our local area
This term Year 6 have been learning about their local area and came up with the question ‘Does The Oval Shopping Centre need regenerating?’ On Tuesday, we visited the Oval and looked at the land-use and amenities on offer. The children then composed a survey to ask the views of people who live in the local area and collated the evidence to come to a conclusion.
Students from Oaklands College came to visit as part of their Theatre in Education project. Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their workshop. They played games and activities related to the Greeks and were taught a dance routine from Hercules. They were then treated to a high-impact "Horrible Histories" show full of musical numbers, dances, comedy and sketches on the Groovy Greeks. Year 6 would like to thank the Oaklands students for such an enjoyable afternoon.
The children participated in a range of games where they had to use critical thinking to overcome a task and work together to discuss possible solutions. They had great fun playing 'Hot Coal' where they had to lift a playground ball off the ground using only hockey sticks and transport it from one hoop to another hoop 8m away.
In our maths lessons this week, we are learning about different units of measure. Today we had a practical lesson in which we estimated and measured a range of items. We measured length, mass and capacity.
Year 6 had a workshop whereby we made smoothies through riding a bike! We discussed how we need energy to function and to learn, and tried the healthy smoothies we made.
The whole school have been participating in a maths/science day which involved designing and making balloon buggies, with the aim of making them travel the furthest. This enabled us to refine our measuring skills as well as many scientific and DT skills.
Alanna: We learnt to be creative when designing. We also had to be committed! I enjoyed working as a team to create our design.
Lacey: We had to be hard working, patient and self-motivated. We also conducted a fair test.
Hannah: I liked having the opportunity to make and test our own unique designs.
This week, we concluded our art module on watercolours by creating our own landscapes.
This week, we have focused on improving our ability to calculate mentally, developing different strategies to do so.
Year 6 had a workshop with the author of Madge the Mermaid, Stephen Pass. The importance of the writing process was discussed. We then wrote our own pieces of writing, inspired by the author. Some of us created poems. Some of us wrote the next chapter of the book.
Year 6 took part in a brilliant World War Two day in school led by Kate from Stevenage Museum.
All children experienced life preparing to be evacuated to the countryside. Here they were given and explained the importance of identity cards and evacuation tags to fill in as well as learning about rationing of clothes and food.
The children then handled a range of WW2 artefacts where they asked questions about what they were, what they were used for and who they belonged to. The children enjoyed dressing up as Nurses, Air Raid Wardens and members of the Home Guard.
We are currently studying living things and their habitats in science, with a focus on classification. This week, we learnt how to classify the five vertebrate groups. We asked different types of questions, researched the answers, presented the information found using the relevant scientific language and even reported our findings to our peers.
Year 6 are participating in outdoor, adventurous activities in PE. Teams tackled a series of challenges, requiring teamwork and communication.
Year 6 participated in an inspirational maths lesson whereby we had to construct shapes, with the correct properties, using a loop of rope. We worked in teams to achieve this and realised we are all able to show resilience in mathematics in order to achieve a goal.
Year 6 have been studying Henry Moore and as a result, we sketched, designed and built a 3D sculpture.
To conclude our Electricity unit, we developed our own lines of enquiry such as: What makes a motor faster? We then investigated our question and reported our findings to our peers.
Year 6 have written speeches about something we feel passionate about. The House Captains wrote a speech which will inspire our teams on Sports Day, whilst others wrote about topics which inspire us, such as equality. Some wrote to our younger selves with words of wisdom we would like to hear.
Year 6 visited PGL this week. We faced lots of fears and embraced new challenges, with all of us showing our PRIDE learning behaviours - particularly determination! We also learnt to encourage each other and how to be successful as a team.
Year 6 enjoyed making tortilla wraps from scratch, weighing, measuring, mixing, kneading, rolling and finally frying the wraps on the hob. We also prepared lettuce, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes and red onion to go inside them. This was topped off with salsa, guacamole and soured cream. We thought our wraps were delicious!
Year 6 are learning important life skills as part of a 'Futures' project in maths. So far, we have calculated salaries for our dream jobs, including calculating taxes. This learning involved calculating the cost of bills. We are recalling key learning such as using formal methods for the four operations, finding fractions of amounts and calculating percentages.
Year 6 engineers took part in a Knex STEM challenge to design a bridge with moving parts and then were given an hour to build it. The children demonstrated resilience, perseverance and determination. Congratulations to Joshua and Brighton whose bridge will go forward to the county competition. Many thanks to Emma Richardson, a Trotts Hill governor, who delivered the workshop.
As part of our school's celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Year 6 researched significant events which occurred during the Queen's reign and wrote about why these events had an impact on how we live today.
Year 6 became Smart Toy Engineers during a workshop with SETPOINT. We used BBC Microbit to programme a Bit Bot. We had to test, code and debug the robot to complete different tasks.
Year 6 have been feeling inspired by Marcus Rashford's book: You are a Champion! Within the book, Marcus explains how we are all unique based on our individual fingerprints. As a result, we produced artwork to reflect our unique selves. This has also helped with our well-being during SATs week.
We devised our own experiments to prove that light travels in straight lines. Given a choice of equipment, we collaboratively planned and conducted a fair test and proved this theory in a number of ways.
We discussed what mental health is and Year 6 explored strategies which could be used to impact on mental health. Individuals reflected on, and highlighted, ideas they would like to try to help with their own mental health. Finally, Year 6 evaluated different scenarios to determine whether the characters were healthy, coping, struggling or unwell. To conclude, we discussed how pupils could seek help if needed.
The Little Yogi company led an Earth Day activity involving the appreciation of nature. Year 6 collected natural sources and worked collaboratively to collate them into a piece of art.
Year 6 participated in a drama workshop, led by Mr Driver. After some warm up exercises, such as 'Crazy Monkey' and 'Bananas of the World Unite,' the children then took on the character of Pinocchio to develop their use of expression when performing. Mr Driver helped the children think about ways to portray the five senses through their bodies, without using speech. Year 6 really enjoyed the workshop and wished it could have been longer.
In French, we have been studying a unit of work about places in the town. This week we learnt how to give and understand simple directions to find your way around a town. We wrote role plays and acted them in class.
To raise awareness for Red Nose Day, Trotts Hill had an active day. Sports Leaders organised a circuit and ran activities for all year groups to participate in. It was great to see our learning behaviours of determination and enjoyment being shown by all involved.
PC Pope from our local police station visited us to share tips on how to be safe. We discussed knife crime, peer pressure, Joint Enterprise and staying safe online.
For World Book Day, Year 6 dressed up as characters from David Walliam's books. We redesigned book covers and blurbs for our chosen books and were able to share stories with parent and grandparent volunteers.
To introduce our new topic, Animals including Humans, we had an active Science lesson. We represented the circulatory system using equipment, and created it in the form of a relay race. Following this, we presented our representations, explaining how the circulatory system works.
This week, in RE, we explored why Buddhists meditate. We learned that mediating is used to help focus the mind and to stop it rushing about in endless thoughts. Some Buddhists use meditation to reflect inwards and to spend the time to understand the self. We then all practised meditating to see if it helped us focus and relax our minds. Below you can see some different positions for meditation and some of our thoughts…
In Maths, the children were set a challenge where they had to pick any round coin and redesign it with multiple sides. The children chose any 2D shapes but had to ensure all the angles were equal.
Year 6 have been writing monologues, focusing on using emotive language, varied sentence lengths and appropriate register to adopt a particular character.
Year 6 have been converting between fractions and decimals.
