Year 6 Friday 19th November 2021

Date: 19th Nov 2021 @ 4:03pm

For our third week back after half term, Year 6 had taken part in an exciting football friendly match against Penwortham County Primary and performed brilliantly at Hutton for the indoor athletics finals. Congratulations to everyone who took part. We do not know the results for the athletics yet but hopefully we will find out by Monday.  This Friday, we celebrated Children in Need day with some amazing outfits, looking very spotty! Also, we have been using kind words this week to celebrate anti-bullying week, through kind messages to each other and acting out different scenarios when someone is upset. 

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have been learning how to solve many problems using the bar model, how use the written subtraction method effectively and how to use different strategies to divide various numbers.
• In our novel, ‘Private Peaceful’, we have focussed on using exciting vocabulary to write as one of the characters to recount the missing scene of Big Joe, and we wrote a persuasive speech as a sergeant major to convince more people to join the war.
• In Geography, we researched information about tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanoes to find out what they are, how they happen and any historical events that affected the world greatly.
• For RE, we completed our topic of ‘Vocation and Commitment’ with a lovely collective worship and began our topic of ‘Expectations’, looking at different expectations that people have on us.
• In PE, we continued our learning of athletic skills through track and field events such as sprints, team sprints, speed bounce, javelin, basketball throw, vertical jump, long jump and triple jump. This week we completed the indoor athletics competition at Hutton.
• In Art, we learnt how to use tone and texture with the medium of charcoal to create our own Lola Dupre letter. See the gallery in Year 6 to see some of the super artwork.
• In Music, we have been learning how to play ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ on the glocks, as well as ‘Winter Wonderland’ with the boomwhackers.
• In French, we revised the weather phrases and looked at some grammar points by finding the odd one out of some words/phrases. We also finished our French pop song and gave out opinion on it.
• In Science, we continued our light topic by modelling how we see objects using string to represent the light rays. We then planned an investigation into shadows.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (-ant, -ance words)
  • Sumdog (-ant, -ance A2 wk 4)
    • assistant, assistance, arrogant, relevant, important, importance, appearance, extravagant, hesitant, reluctant, nuisance, hindrance, ignorance, resistance, restaurant

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in decimal steps of 8, 80 and 800 Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
    • g. Start with different numbers and count up 10 times then back again in 8s:

5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45, 53, 61, etc

and in 80s:

13, 93, 173, 253, 333, 413, etc               

Start at a different number and count up 10 numbers and down again but this time in 800s:

456, 1256, 2056, 2856, 3656, 4456 etc    

• Sumdog (Multiplication and Division of 3, 4, 5)

• Sumdog (Related facts quick division)

• In this challenge, there are questions with missing numbers, all relating to the multiplication facts we discuss in class often. If you practice with these, you will find next week’s division week easier to understand.

Year 6 Friday 12th November 2021

Date: 12th Nov 2021 @ 3:49pm

Year 6 have had a great week, celebrating Go Green Day this Friday (where we reduced electrics for the full day) and being respectful on Remembrance Day with a minute silence. Thanks to the School Ambassadors and School Council who have led the ‘poppy stall’ all this week, taking time out during break to oversee the money. They will be counting it up and are excited to see the school’s final amount.

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have been learning different strategies to subtract mentally and practising ways to multiply large numbers quickly.
• In our novel, ‘Private Peaceful’, we have looked more deeply at the relationships between the main characters: Tommo, Charlie and Molly, as well as writing a persuasive letter from Mother to the Colonel.
• For Remembrance Day, Year 6 created their own lovely poems based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem, ‘My Boy Jack’. They wrote really well as Jack back to their father. Some of Year 6 were even lucky enough to read theirs out loud at Golden Assembly.
• In Geography, following our learning from last week, we learnt how tectonic plates can move in different directions (very slowly) causing many things to happen, including volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes.
• For RE and Judaism week, we learnt about Rosh Hashanah (the New Year celebration for Jewish people) and created our own fact file about it.
• In PE, we worked on our athletic skills through track and field events such as sprints, team sprints, speed bounce, javelin, basketball throw, vertical jump, long jump and triple jump. Congratulations to those chosen to be part of the athletics team for our indoor athletics competition next week.
• In Art, we learnt about different ways of shading through hatching, cross hatching and contour hatching.
• In Music, we have continued our learning of the glockenspiels, along with beginning to learn carols for Christmas.
• In French, we read sentences about le Jour du Souvenir (Remembrance Day), finished a French pop song and gave our opinions in French.
• In Science, we discussed more about the 5 types of scientific enquiry and looked back through our books to find examples of each. Then we investigated whether light travels in a straight line.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (-ible / -ibly words)
  • Sumdog (-ible, -ibly A2 wk 3)
    • horrible, horribly, illegible, illegibly, impossible, impossibly, incredible, incredibly, possible, sensibly, terribly, visible, invincible, indestructible, edible

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in decimal steps of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.25 Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line with some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
    • g. Start with different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in 0.1:

5, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, etc

and in 0.2:

6.5, 6.7, 6.9, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5, 7.7, etc          

Start at a number with two decimal places like 8.12 and count up 10 numbers and down again:

8.12, 8.32, 8.52, 8.72, 8.92, 9.12, etc        

Now try to count in 0.25 from 7 and 23 and 54:

7, 7.25, 7.50, 7.75, 8, 8.25, etc

• Sumdog (Times Tables x6, x7, x8)

• Sumdog (Multiply and divide by 10, 100 and 1000)

Year 6 Friday 5th November 2021

Date: 5th Nov 2021 @ 3:45pm

For our first week back after half term, Year 6 have come back working very hard, keeping to the golden rules and remembering to keep ourselves and each other safe so thank you.

Thank you also to everyone for completing their Home Practice on time and for changing your books. The days to change them are still between Monday and Wednesday.

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have increased our understanding of multiples and learnt to use the grid method effectively.
• In English, we have begun our new novel, ‘Private Peaceful’, and used the skill of retrieval and inference to collect information about the characters, Mother and Charlie. We also wrote a very emotional piece from Mother to her late husband.
• In Geography, we learnt how the world is made up of different layers (inner core, outer core, mantle and crust) and how the crust is split into many parts called tectonic plates.
• For RE, we completed our ‘Vocation and Commitment’ by creating our own mission statement of what they are committed to.
• In PE, we have begun to learn the rules of dodgeball and what strategies to use to outwit the opposing team (always face the front, keep on your toes, and throw sideways).
• In Art, we have begun a new project by first investigating the work of Lola Dupre and imitating her style through sketching.
• In Music, we started learning and playing jazz on the glockenspiels.
• In French, we learnt about pronouns (I, you, he, she, we, you, they) and the verb ‘etre’ (to be) in the context of Remembrance Day. Next week we will use this grammar to write about this.
• In Science, we talked about the five different types of scientific enquiry. We then wrote some questions about light and tried to decide which approach would be the best way of finding the answer to our question.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (-sion / -ssion / -cian words)
  • Sumdog (-able, -ably A2 wk 2)
    • enjoyable, unavailable, changeable, noticeable, unbelievable, probably, considerable, unacceptable, comfortably, respectable, dependable, incapable, unachievable, uncomfortable, miserably

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting:
    • This week we have been counting in fraction steps of ¼ and 2/4 Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
    • g. Start with different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in halves:

2 ¼ , 2 2/4, 2 ¾, 3, 3 ¼ , etc

and as improper numbers:

¾, 4/4, 5/4, 6/4, 7/4, 8/4, etc               

Start at 13 and count up 10 numbers and down again:

13, 12 ¾, 12 2/4, 12 ¼, etc    

Now try in 2/4 with these numbers:

8 8 2/4, 9, 9 2/4, 10, 10 2/4, etc

• Sumdog (Times Tables x2, x3, x4, x5)

• Sumdog (Multiply and Divide numbers by 10, 100 and 1000)

Online Safety Update

Date: 4th Nov 2021 @ 12:31pm

Keeping our children safe in the online space is of ever growing importance. From phones to consoles, our children are exposed to more online risk than ever and it is important that we adults keep up to date to ensure our children are prepared for all they meet online. 

This term our classes have been learning about privacy and security as part of their Online Safety lessons. Below we have attached a guide for settting up new devices that your children may use. This incluses tips for security and password protection.

Please continue to access all information on the National Online Safety website. You will get access to all videos and guides by clicking the link below and joining free to our school online safety hub.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

Year 6 Blog Friday 15th October 2021

Date: 15th Oct 2021 @ 3:38pm

Welcome to the last blog before the October half term holiday, as next Friday will be our INSET day. Year 6 have been brilliant these past 6 – 7 weeks: working hard, respecting the rules and routines we have in place, and completing the Home Practice in time.

This week we chose a tag rugby team to take part in the South Ribble Tag Rugby competition for next Tuesday 19^th October. Congratulations to those who were chosen. Our aim this year is for every Year 6 to represent the school in a sporting competition, something we have not been able to do since 2019.

We have had another week of excellent effort with 97% changing their books and completing their Home Practice on time. Every Year 6 is showing themselves to be great role models for the other children, especially during lunch time where they have worked extremely hard as ‘Buddies’.

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have practised the 7 times tables, rounding numbers to 1, added decimals mentally and used the written method effectively.
• In English, we completed the novel, ‘Clockwork’, discussed what we thought about the story and the ending, and then created some of our own.
• In our topic of Mountains, in Geography, we worked as teams to learn about the main 10 features (slope, face, foot, valley, outcrop, slope, ridge, summit, tree line, snow line )
• For RE, we continued our topic of ‘Vocation and Commitment’, and retold the story of the Baptism of the Lord, as John the Baptist.
• In PE, many of us have learnt a new skill/sport as Year 6 have all become super tag rugby players. Positioning, speed and defence were the main objectives this week.
• In PSHE, our topic has been about mental health and as this week is Mental Health week, we put all our learning together to create a ‘self-care plan’ for others to follow.
• In Music, boomwhackers have been our focus to create our own unique beats and we continued perfecting ‘Hot Cross Buns’ on the recorders.
• In French, we used a weather map of France to describe the weather in different places. Some of us made the sentences more complex by adding conjunctions and adjectives.
• In Science, we researched and presented our findings on a specific invertebrate group, e.g. arachnids, molluscs, etc.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your book:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (-sion / -ssion / -cian words)
  • Sumdog (-cian, -sion, -ssion wk 7)
  • We will be learning the -sion, -ssion spellings again, along with -cian words, which will be looked in detail from Monday:
    • politician, magician, electrician, optician, musician, technician, Egyptian, vision, session, decision, permission, compassion, expression, progression, impression

• Maths challenges:
  • Counting
    • This week we have counting in fraction steps of ½, ¼ and 1½ . Try to do the same out loud or with paper.
    • Draw a line and some marks on it like I do in class. You could write the numbers as you count up or down, then double check it to make sure you have said the correct numbers.
    • g. Start with different numbers and count up 10 numbers then back again in halves:

2½, 3, 3½, 4, etc               

Start at 27 and count up 10 numbers and down again:

27, 27½, 28, 28½, etc          

Now try in ¼ with these numbers:

6, 6¼, 6 2/4, 6¾, 7, 7¼, etc

Finally keep trying to count forward and back in 1½ steps:

8, 9½, 11, 12½, 14, 15½, 17, etc   

• Sumdog (Times Tables x12)

• Sumdog (Rounding decimals and comparing to fractions)

Do not forget that next week, our last day is Thursday 21^st October.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Year 6 blog and Home Practice Friday 8th October 2021

Date: 8th Oct 2021 @ 4:13pm

Well done to everyone for completing their Home Practice. We have had an amazing 100% changing their Home Reading books this week – let’s keep this up as reading is the key to all knowledge.

Once again, just to remind you, here are the days when you can change your book:

Monday – Roller Coasters

Tuesday – Big Dippers

Wednesday – The Waltzers

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have practised the 9 times tables, rounding numbers to 10 000 and 100 000 and how to use the bridging addition strategy efficiently.
• In English, we continued our novel, ‘Clockwork’, and have worked hard to create a play script, a scene with dialogue (with the correct speech punctuation) and analysed suspense writing and written our own.
• In our topic of Mountains, in Geography, we researched some of the largest mountains in the world and created an informative poster for others to learn from.
• For RE, we have begun our new topic, ‘Vocation and Commitment’, with some excellent debates on what makes a vocation. We also created some questions to interview someone next week who is committed to their role.
• In PE, we continued our learning of the sport of tag rugby, focussing on teamwork through encouragement and feedback.
• In PSHE, we have been learning more about mental health and ways we can manage emotions: things that we can daily and the people we know who can help.
• In Music, we used recorders to learn how to play ‘Hot Cross Buns’ and we learnt a new Harvest song for the Harvest assembly.
• In French, we learnt how to say weather phrases and practiced our phonics.
• In Science, we learnt about the Linnaen system of classification of plants and animals, then attempted to use it to classify many different types. 

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

• Spellings (-tion / -sion / -ssion / words)
  • We will be learning the -tion, -sion, -ssion spelling, which will look in detail at from Monday:
    • direction, collection, addition, action, rotation, creation, punctuation, subtraction, division, television, discussion, session, mission, percussion, profession 

• Sumdog challenges:
  • Times Tables x9
  • Adding and subtracting numbers mentally
  • Spellings (-tion / -sion / -ssion, words)
    • I suggest to first write these out on a piece of paper, then play the games. We will look at these spellings in more detail from Monday so the spelling of these words will be easier after we have investigated them.

Year 6 Blog and Home Practice Friday 1st October 2021

Date: 1st Oct 2021 @ 3:33pm

Another super week of learning from Year 6. Since the beginning of the term, we have continued with our ‘Daily Mile’ exercise, rain or shine, and I have been impressed with everyone’s commitment to it. Well done to 87% of you for changing your Home Reading book this week – remember that reading is the single most important thing you can do to improve your learning.  

As a reminder, these groups can change their books on the following days:

Monday – Roller Coasters

Tuesday – Big Dippers

Wednesday – The Waltzers

This week in Year 6:

• In Maths, we have practised the 4 and 8 times tables, rounding numbers to 10, 100 and 1000, and even discussed various strategies of adding, which we will be exploring next week.
• In English, the children did an amazing job creating their own Aladdin sequel story, ‘The Return of the Moor’. We then started a new novel, ‘Clockwork’, also by Phillip Pullman, and used evidence from the text to describe the characters of Karl, Fritz and Dr. Kalmenius.
• In our topic of Mountains, in Geography, we have used the atlases and maps to find all the main mountains in Europe.
• For RE, we have completed our topic of ‘Unconditional Love’ through creating our own Beatitudes to help make our school a better place.
• In PE, we moved our learning of invasion games to the sport of tag rugby, where we are learning the rules, ready for our first sport competition in over 18 months.
• In Art, we have continued to use Keynote to complete our self-portrait art. You can see some of this great artwork in our Year 6 gallery page.
• In Music, we played the Boomwhackers to a song called, ‘Paris’.
• In French, we learnt the vocabulary for the seasons of the year.
• In Science, we completed our research into different plant groups and presented our findings as a poster. We then revised vertebrate classifications: birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – Use your Home Reading to read every night for 30 minutes. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.

• Spellings (-ious and ous words) which will be looked in detail from Monday:
  • cautious, various, vicious, precious, conscious, conscientious, gracious, suspicious, perilous, hazardous, marvellous, adventurous, dangerous, glamourous, famous

• Sumdog challenges:
  • Times Tables x4 / x8
  • Rounding numbers to 1, 10, 100 and 1000
  • Spellings (-ious words)

One month completed, Year 6, congratulations! Keep up the hard work in October.

Year 6 Friday 24th September 2021

Date: 23rd Sep 2021 @ 4:15pm

Welcome to the first of the Year 6 weekly blogs.

Well done to all the pupils for completing the first few weeks of Year 6. They have all been exceptional in transitioning into the routines and getting used to the expectations of this new year. Congratulations to everyone for receiving a leadership role, whether that be as school ambassadors, sports captains, eco team, reading ambassadors, school council, science ambassadors or digital leaders. Also, Year 6 created a short story targeted at a younger audience and had a super time reading them to Reception.

This week in Year 6:

• We have improved our place value knowledge in Maths through identifying, comparing and estimating whole numbers and numbers up to two decimal places.
• In English we are reading ‘Aladdin’ by Phillip Pullman. The children have enjoyed writing as the various characters, showing that they understand how they might be thinking and feeling. We have recently planned our own version of the sequel, ‘The Return of Jafar’.
• In Geography, we have begun our new topic 'Mountains', searching atlases and maps to find the longitude and latitude of various coordinates.
• For RE, we have also begun our first topic of ‘Loving’ and how God’s unconditional love can affect our lives.
• In PE, invasion games is our theme for the next 5 weeks, focusing on improving our throwing and catching skills and starting to develop advanced tactics to give an advantage for the attacking team.
• In Art, we have used the Apple version of PowerPoint, Keynote, to create some brilliant self-portrait art.
• In Music, we have been learning to use the Boomwhackers to various songs.
• In French, we have learnt to introduce ourselves with things we like, starting with, ‘Je me presente’. We have listened to a French pop song, ‘Papoutou’ and tried to decipher what it was about.
• In Science, we revisited the classification key about trees and improved the vocabulary of them. We also became ‘research biologists’ investigating different plant groups: mosses, ferns and conifers.

Home Practice all relates to this week’s learning. These are the tasks needed to be completed:

• Reading – You all have a Home Reading book for Year 6 so reading every night for 30 minutes is essential. You also have a Reading Journal/Diary that must be used for the title of the book and any reading challenge chosen.
  • The days when you can change your reading book are:
    • Monday – Roller Coasters
    • Tuesday – Big Dippers
    • Wednesday – The Waltzers

• Spellings (words ending in ly) which will be looked in detail from Monday:
  • really, hardly, happily, finally, suddenly, angrily, safely, truly, carefully, frantically, slowly, rapidly, reluctantly, swiftly, enthusiastically

• Sumdog challenges:
  • Times Tables x3 / x6
  • Place Value Week 3
  • Spellings (ly words)

Around school, teachers have noted how you are respectful, polite and shown considerations for others – a great start as the ambassadors of the school.

Meet the Teacher information Year 6

Date: 20th Sep 2021 @ 4:25pm

Hello and welcome to Year 6.

Thank you to all those who made it to the 'Meet the Teacher' meeting but for those who could not, please have a read through the slides attached to this blog. 

Any queries, please get in contact with the school via email or phone and we will be happy to answer them.

Look out for our first blog of the year on Friday 24th September.

Mr Mears

Back to School Online Safety

Date: 14th Sep 2021 @ 11:55am

With your children returning to school, it is a great time to review online safety in your homes and make sure we are all up to date with developments in the online world. At St Oswald's, all classes will be beginning their Online Saftety learning where they will learn all about safe practices online in the following areas. 

Self image and identitiy

Online relationships

Online bulllying

Health, Well-being and lifestyle

Online reputation

Managing online information

Copyright and ownership

We will blog regularly to keep you updated with developments in the online space, sharing platform guides and links to expert training for you to keep your children safe when exploring the internet. Below you will find a guide on some back to school online safety tips for children.

To access a huge range of information on the National Online Safety website click the link below and join our school online safety hub.You will get access to videos, training and guides to keep you informed of the best practices in keeping your children safe online.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 9th July 2021

Date: 9th Jul 2021 @ 4:11pm

Welcome to our penultimate Year 6 blog. This week has been very busy:

• We completed filming our Leavers music video. Please see our YouTube channel, St OswaldsTV, later on today, to see it.
• Year 6 had a fantastic time performing the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory production for the infants, juniors and parents. You can see this video on our YouTube channel too.
• We were very lucky with the weather for our Sports Day, where everyone worked hard and supported each other throughout. This video is also available to watch on our YouTube channel, posted on Monday 5^th
• Furthermore, we have been started preparing for the Leavers assembly and discussing our time here over the past 7 years. We cannot wait to see the parents again next Wednesday 14^th July at 1.30pm.

As next week is the last week, these are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading
  • Finish your reading book from school as we are in the process of collecting them all.

Reminders

Monday 12^th July is the Borwick Hall trip. Do not forget to check the kit list of what you need, but the main things are:

Old clothes to wear for most of the day (as they may get wet or dirty)

A spare pair of clothes (as you will probably get wet and need to change)

Sun cream (in case it is hot)

Water bottle

Any medication you need.

Cannot wait to see you all on Monday and don’t forget that IT’S COMING HOME this Sunday!

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 2nd July 2021

Date: 2nd Jul 2021 @ 3:56pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog. This week we have continued to practice the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory production adding in movements, songs and a percussion team – it’s starting to come together; just one more week to wait! This Friday was a welcomed return of the PTFAs ‘Tough Kidder’. With amazing weather, the whole school had a great time, especially the Year 6s who managed to drench any nearby teachers with their water guns (see the pictures in our Year 6 gallery).

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have continued our learning of algebra by forming expressions using numbers and letters.
• In English (and PSHE), our Wonder novel has taken us to Jack’s perspective who has got himself into trouble with the headteacher. We then used the author’s clever writing style to act the scene.   
• In PE, we have had our final practice for Sports Day and our class have divided into Sports Captain groups to help run each year’s Sports Day.
• In Music, we rehearsed the play, adding in the songs and a percussion team to accompany the production.
• For Science/PSHE/RSE, we learnt what happens physically, socially and emotionally as we grow into young adults.

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading – With only a few weeks left, please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Try to change your book, just one more time before we finish.

• Sumdog challenges:

• Mix times tables (200 correct answers needed):
  • Keep practicing these! They will help you massively in Year 7. 

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 25th June 2021

Date: 25th Jun 2021 @ 3:51pm

Welcome to our Year 6 blog. This week Year 6 have worked incredibly hard during the rehearsals for the Charlie and the Chocolate factory production with plenty of excellent acting. Roll on next week where we will be adding in the songs and creating dances – very exciting!  

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have started to understand how algebra is used to represent number sequences and formulas.
• In English (and PSHE), we have continued to read/watch our novel Wonder and learnt more about the many characters in the story. We have discussed and written what it was like for Auggie on his first day at school.  
• In PE, we have completed the Cross County competition, using the whole school grounds. Even though it was tough for many, everyone pushed themselves to complete it.
• In Music, we had a super time gathering together (socially distanced of course) on the field to celebrate World Music Day as a school. Check out the video which is on our St Oswald’s YouTube channel.
• In French, we have been recapping our learning over the term and practicing a French song for the Leavers’ assembly.
• For Science, we used the periscopes created at home to investigate how they work and drew a ray diagram to explain it.
• Also, Year 6 had a visit from Miss Rebecca who gave us a Mindfulness session to help us understand our feelings better and how to deal with them, especially when we think about our first day at high school. Don’t forget R.A.P = recognise, accept, process. Thank you Miss Rebecca!

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading – With only a few weeks left, please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Try to change your book 2 more times before we finish.

• Sumdog challenges:

• Mix of all times tables (200 correct answers needed):
  • This will be great to continue to know these times tables fluently.

• Spellings (45 correct answers needed):
  • Recap of spellings words – part 1

(rhythm, system, physical, symbol, mystery, overtake, overwhelmed, overseas, overcoat, overcrowded, cycling, justify, qualify, recycle, apply)

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 18th June 2021

Date: 18th Jun 2021 @ 4:43pm

Welcome to another Year 6 blog. This week Year 6 have continued doing a great job buddying for the infants, creating their own games which have worked really well. Also this week, we have all been excited to take part in auditions for the Charlie and the Chocolate factory production and have read through the script a few times. 

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have been learning how to work out factors and prime numbers.
• In English (and PSHE), we have started a new novel, Wonder, which links to our transition programme for high school, where a young boy looking to fit in starts a new school.
• In PE, we have learnt more about the Sports Captain roles for each year’s Sports Day and had another practice to finalise groups.
• In Music, we are all ready for the World Music Day celebration as Year 6 will play the African drums at our festival.
• In French, we used an unfamiliar passage to work out what it meant. We held a conversation with a partner all about ourselves.
• For Science, we have started a short topic on ‘Light’ by proving that light travels in straight lines, explained what caused shadows and drew ray diagrams to show how we see objects.
• In Art, we were lucky enough to have Mr Hill, who is an experienced artist specialising in pottery. The children have created some amazing things which you can see on our Year 6 gallery page.

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• You have been given a template to create a periscope. Follow the instructions on the sheet to make one (with a cereal box) and bring it into school by Wednesday 23^rd

• Reading – With only a few week left, please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day. Try to change your book 2 – 3 more times before we finish.

• Sumdog challenges:

• Mix of all times tables (100 correct answers needed):
  • This will be great to continue to know these times tables fluently.

• Multiples and Factors (100 correct answers needed for this week):
  • Work through these carefully as some will be represented as various pictures. The adding and subtracting should be with the same denominator but it is very good practise for next week.

• Spellings (45 correct answers needed):
  • Spellings with pattern, ce

(alphabet, apostrophe, autobiography, dolphin, elephant, graph, nephew, phone, photograph, physical, sphere, telephone, triumphant, pharmacist, catastrophe)

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 11th June 2021

Date: 11th Jun 2021 @ 4:53pm

Welcome to our first blog after the May half term. Year 6 have had a great time buddying with the infants at lunch times and coaching the Year 2’s with various games. Every single Year 6 has received a glowing report from the lunch time staff.

Reminders:

• Each child has come home with information about Borwick Hall. Please return the reply slip, the medical form and the photo consent form by Monday 14th June.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In Maths, we have been recapping our knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages and how they can relate to each other as equivalences.
• In English, our story of The Lost Magician has our main characters on different quests, where we discussed each character's dilemma and what they would do.
• In PE, we have completed our first practice of Year 6 Sports Day and learnt how to support the other classes when the Year 6’s become the ‘Sports Captains’ for each year group.
• In Music, we have now practiced every song for the production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and have also started learning new songs for our World Music Day, with African drums.
• In French, we have been practicing a new song for our Leavers Assembly.
• For Science (and PSHE), we continued our discussion of the effects and risks involved in taking legal (eg caffeine) and illegal drugs using guidance from the PSHE Association. Once again, we stressed the importance of talking to a trusted adult about any questions or worries the children have.
• In Computing, we have used the app, ‘Clips’, on the iPads where we created an video between an interviewer and an evacuee.
• Finally in History, we learnt about real life accounts from young evacuees and what happened to them. We then wrote a letter as an evacuee to our parents and published them on the new laptops.

Well done to everyone who is continually changing their book every week. Reading is the single most important thing we should do every day.

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading – Please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day.

Please complete the ‘Reading Challenges’ you have been given by answering them in your Reading Journals.

• Sumdog challenges:

• Mix of all times tables (100 correct answers needed):
  • This will be great to continue to know these times tables fluently.

• Fractions to Mixed numbers and reverse (100 correct answers needed for this week):
  • Use your times tables knowledge to convert fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.

• Spellings (45 correct answers needed):
  • Spellings with the pattern, ce

(absence, advice, arrogance, balance, ceiling, cemetery, confidence, December, difference, influence, nuisance, produce, received, resemblance, sacrifice)

Online Safety - June 2021

Date: 9th Jun 2021 @ 2:25pm

Keeping our children safe in the online space is of ever growing importance. From phones to consoles, our children are exposed to more online risk than ever and it is important that we adults keep up to date to ensure our children are prepared for all they meet online. Here is an interesting article on Internet Security professionals teach their children about internet safety.

How do I keep my children safe online? What the security experts tell their kids

Below we have attached two guides on how to set up your child's phone for privacy. We teach the children not to share their information when online, however social platforms and games will take data from users unknowingly.

"If its free, you're paying with your information."

Please continue to access all information on the National Online Safety website. You will get access to all videos and guides by clicking the link below and joining free to our school online safety hub.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 28th May 2021

Date: 28th May 2021 @ 4:01pm

This has been a great week for Year 6 as they have been biking every day, trying to complete their ‘Passport to Safer Cycling’ certificates for module 1, 2 and 3. They have learnt how to start and stop their bike, road positioning and signalling, turning left and right at junctions, emerging safely from junctions and traffic awareness. Everyone has worked really hard and should be proud of their progress (do not forget to look out for the pictures on our Year 6 gallery page).

Year 6 have completed the Cross Curricular Orienteering National Competition, where they had to navigate different maps and solve maths problems. They then became super sport leaders in organising, preparing and delivering it to Years 3, 4 and 5, which was highly praised by all the teachers. 

Also, the leavers’ hoodies arrived this Monday. Please check out all the pictures on the Year 6 gallery as they all look great on everyone.

As it is half term, I have just three tasks for you to complete:

• • Please keep this up for 30 minutes a day

• Sumdog – Times tables mixture
  • This activity is a mixture of many times tables with 200 correct answers as a target. This is to help you keep practising so you are ready for the fractions, decimals and percentages work we will cover in the first two weeks back.
• Bike ride – Use what you have learnt this week to go for a ride with someone you trust and remember to keep safe. I cannot wait to hear where you have been this half term.

We hope you have a great week off. Keep safe and be well rested for your last 6 weeks of primary school.

Happy half term!

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 21st May 2021

Date: 21st May 2021 @ 3:55pm

This week Year 6 had their ‘bike checks’ before our ‘Bike Proficiency’ and ‘Bikeability’ training which is happening throughout next week. We worked through the Safer Cycling booklet and discussed different scenarios to keep ourselves safe when riding on the road. 

Reminders:

• Do not forget to bring in your bike and helmet every day next week (Monday 24^th May – Friday 28^th May)

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In PSHE, we worked on strategies to deal with worry and anxiety, especially when dealing with tests.
• In Maths, we have worked through a few reasoning questions and improved our test technique of how to solve them.
• In English, we have continued the story of The Lost Magician, with the four main characters heading off in separate ways to conquer their own quests. We then analysed the evil robot character, Jana, and wrote an excellent speech to the Army of the Unreads.
• In PE, we learnt more about the rules of Quick Cricket and Tag Rugby for future intra-competitions.
• In RE, we have begun our new topic, Healing, where we discussed the important work that carers do in children’s hospices and qualities needed to work in a hospice.
• In Music, we have learnt more songs for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory production, ‘Oompa Loompa’.
• In French, we learnt what various countries in Europe are famous for and wrote sentences in French to describe them. We looked at the national symbols of France and compared them with the UK eg Britannia v Marianne, our lion v the French cockerel.
• For Science, having learnt about medicines last week, we moved on to learn about the effects and risks involved in taking legal (eg caffeine) and illegal drugs. We stressed the importance of talking to a trusted adult about any questions or worries the children have.
• Finally in History, each group presented their posters or powerpoints about the evacuees of World War II.

Well done to everyone who is changing their book every week. Reading is the single most important thing we should do every day.

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading – Please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day.

Please complete the ‘Reading Challenges’ you have been given by answering them in your Reading Journals.

• Sumdog challenges:

• Times tables x8, x9, x11 (100 correct answers needed):
  • Keep learning these to know your times tables fluently.

• Adding, subtracting and finding common fractions (150 correct answers needed for this week):
  • Work through these carefully as some will be represented as various pictures. The adding and subtracting should be with the same denominator but it is very good practice for next week.

• Spellings (45 correct answers needed):
  • Spellings with –er, -or, -ar ending

(computer, superior, customer, soldier, shoulder, sailor, calendar, popular, particular, radiator, jeweller, professor, prisoner, inspector, accelerator)

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 14th May 2021

Date: 14th May 2021 @ 3:41pm

Welcome to the Year 6 blog. This week has been Mental Health Awareness Week where we discussed how to look after our mental health through: exercise, sleep, doing things they really enjoy, being kind to others and practicing gratitude. Also, we learnt about different medicines and how they can support our health and well-being.

We were lucky to have an online meeting with a hospital pharmacist who explained the job of a pharmacist and the training needed. She answered Y6’s questions about her job role and medicines in general. She was very impressed with the quality and range of the children’s questions. Well done Y6 and thank you to Rachel for her time.

Reminders:

• Do not forget to bring in your cycling booklet, ‘Passport to Safer Cycling’, which we would like to be completed and brought back into school by next Monday 17^th
• Do not forget that your bike and helmet need to be in school on Monday 17^th May for the bike check.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In PSHE, we have chosen to focus on one thing that helps our mental health this week and learnt about ways to reduce worry and anxiety.
• In Maths, we have strengthened our knowledge of fractions: how to compare them, add and subtract proper, improper and mixed numbers.
• In English, we have connected the story of The Lost Magician to ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and how they both relate very closely. We have also been improving our prediction skill using evidence from the text and how to use commas more effectively.
• In PE, we started to learn the correct rules for ‘Quick Cricket’ and ‘Tag Rugby’.
• In RE, we have completed the topic of Witness by working in teams to write all the things we do for ourselves, our school and the community as we act as witnesses of God.
• For our Art lesson, we continued our PSHE discussion of ways to reduce worries, one of which was to ‘settle our thoughts’. Then we were inspired by the artists Bruce Gray and Wassily Kandinsky for our art work for drawing, colouring and pattern making to help us settle.
• In Music, we have learnt how to increase and decrease our tempo using the Boomwhackers and glocks.
• In French, we conjugated and used the verb jouer – to play in sentences about playing sports or musical instruments. Then we learnt that if a sport involves a ball, the verb ‘jouer’ is used but if we don’t ‘play’ other sports, we do them so we need the verb ‘faire’.
• For Science, we have practised our data handling skills and drawn excellent graphs of the results of our crisp burning experiment last week. We used them to try and find a pattern between how much energy they produced when burnt and the nutritional information on the packet. There seemed to be a link with the fat content, but not in all cases so scientists would repeat the test to delve deeper into this.
• Finally in History, we researched and presented information about the evacuees of World War II.

Well done to 95% of you for changing your book this week. Remember that reading is STILL your number one priority every day.

These are the days when you can change your reading book:

Monday – Dodgems

Tuesday – Roller Coasters

Wednesday – Big Dippers / The Waltzers

These are the tasks to be completed:

• Reading – Please keep reading for a minimum of 30 minutes every day.

Please complete the ‘Reading Challenges’ you have been given by answering them in your Reading Journals.

• Sumdog challenges:

•     Times tables x7, x8, x9 (100 correct answers needed):
  • This will be great to continue to know these times tables fluently.

•      Multiply and divide numbers mentally using known facts (100 correct answers         needed):
  • Use your place value knowledge to quickly multiply and divide the numbers you see in the questions.
•      Spellings (45 correct answers needed):
  • Spellings with /acc/ pattern (part 3)

(accidentally, accept, acceptance, accessory, accident, accommodate, according, account, accessible, unacceptable, accuse, vaccinate, accelerate, accent, access)

Online Safety - 13th May 2021

Date: 13th May 2021 @ 9:28pm

This week is Mental Health Awareness week and a great opportunity to remind us to be kind to ourselves as well as others.

Below you will find two guides from National Online Safety on how to promote wellbeing both online and offline and how to be kind when using the internet.

Join us at our Online Safety Hub at National Online Safety and gain free access to a huge range of videos, resources and support.

http://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 7th May 2021

Date: 7th May 2021 @ 1:01pm

Welcome to the Year 6 blog. After a very wet Bank Holiday Monday, Year 6 have had a super week learning more songs for the production, burning crisps in Science and heading out into the nature area to take artistic pictures to sketch. 

We were also treated to a visit by Mrs Washington and Miss Hall from All Hallows

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 30th April 2021

Date: 30th Apr 2021 @ 4:02pm

Welcome to another Year 6 blog. This week we have welcomed back our Sports Clubs which include Football training on Tuesdays, Tennis on Wednesdays and Hockey on Thursdays. The new

Year 6 Home Practice - Friday 23rd April 2021

Date: 23rd Apr 2021 @ 3:51pm

Welcome back to our first blog of the summer term. It has been great to see everyone again and on a week with amazing weather too! Year 6 have come back well rested and have worked hard, earning them extra time on the field at Friday lunch time. This week we have enjoyed celebrating St George

Online Safety - 21st April 2021

Date: 21st Apr 2021 @ 1:29pm

Using social media websites is among the most common activity of today's children and adolescents. Any website that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years. For this reason, it is important that parents become aware of the nature of social media sites, given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. - From the American Academy of Pediatrics

Below you will find two guides. One for Snapchat and one for Sadfishing. 

For more guides and explainer videos, join us at National Online Safety and explore the range of resources to keep updated with developments in social media and much more.

https://nationalonlinesafety.com/enrol/st-oswald-s-catholic-primary-school-pr45eb

Year 6 - Happy Easter

Date: 1st Apr 2021 @ 2:55pm

Welcome to the last Year 6 blog this spring term. We are so pleased with everyone’s effort over a tricky term but now is the time to get rested, hopefully get out more (as the weather improves) and prepare yourself for an active last 12 weeks in Year 6.

Our learning in Year 6 this week:

• In PSHE, we discussed our challenges and hopes for Year 7 and how we can use the strategies we have learnt over the last few weeks to combat any challenges that might affect our mental health.
• Once again, do not forget to see our new Online Safety - 31st March  blog where we have teamed up with the National Online Safety which provides many resources for children, staff and parents.
• In Maths, we have been working out the perimeter of squares, rectangles and triangles, as well as learning how to use quicker multiplication and division strategies for larger numbers.
• In English, we have completed the novel, Skellig, which has very challenging themes throughout and discussed what we thought about the book in a short book review.
• As it has been Holy Week, we have read the story of what Jesus went through and discussed the possible reasons of why Judas betrayed him.
• In Art, we have all completed our mosaic Mayan masks, which you can see on our Year 6 gallery page.
• In PE, we have completed the topic of invasion games for Hockey and Netball where we used our ‘character’ skills of teamwork, resilience, patience and respect to help us all work together in mini teams.
• In Music, we have been continuing our practising B, A and G chords on the recorder.
• In Science, we investigated different ways (using an app, smart watch or checking our pulse) to measure our pulse rate before and after exercise.
• Finally in History, we conducted our own gameshow of ‘Who Wants to be a Mayaniare’ based on all the learning from our topic, The Mayans. The children did very well as nearly eveyone became Mayanaires!

Well done to 97% of you for changing your book this week – a great end to the term!

I have not set up any Sumdog challenges for the Easter holidays as you all deserve a break. There is only one thing I ask you to do every day, if possible, and that is to …

READ!

Have a super Easter Break!