Ayres

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord: plans to prosper you and not harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

 

Teacher, Mr Gane; Teaching Assistant, Miss Charrington.

Class Updates

Friday 13th September

Dear Parents & Carers,

We have already come to the end of the first, very brief Maths unit on Place Value, an essential understanding of which is key to all going forward – and explains why we no longer use Roman numerals… In English, the children have been reading extracts of Floella Benjamin’s ‘Life in Trinidad’ autobiography as a basis for their learning this week, as they have learned more about the features of biographies and autobiographies with grammar focusing on identifying word class (noun, verb etc.) and today reviewing their understanding of complex sentences.

Having started RE by focusing on our Y6 word of HOPE, the theme now until half term is ‘Understanding Faith in our Community’. This week, in a cross-curricula activity, the children used their geographical map reading skills to identify locations of places of worship in the locality, before then tracing their routes to school, annotating any faith centres along the way. There’s a special visitor joining us for the next lesson…

Meanwhile in Art, with our theme of ‘The Face’, the children’s portraits using sharpies on acetate with backgrounds of complementary colours are now proudly on display and look spectacular. Then, during the Art lesson on Wednesday, we looked briefly at the work of disabled, US, painter and photographer, Chuck Close beginning a multi-coloured gridded background, prior to adding a simplistic over painting in water colours of a…. face.

Classifying Organisms is the Science topic this half term and Tag Rugby in PE, while in Computing this afternoon the children discussed how we could be a Cyber Superhero – someone who helps people to stay safe online. They discussed how to stay safe online, for example not sharing our personal and private information, not talking to strangers and not sharing images that show where they are. Online security is big in Y6 and we will do lots of work reinforcing the message over the year.

The weekend homework is up on the Google Classroom page and copied into Homework Diaries too, and is due in on Monday – Mathletics too. With the House Captain elections scheduled for Wednesday, I have asked for final presentations to be submitted or emailed to me by 5pm on Tuesday. Good luck to all.

Have a great weekend.

Mr Gane

Friday 6th September - Welcome to Y6

Dear Parents & Carers,

Can you believe that that little child who went fresh faced into Reception only six years ago is now in Year 6 – how time flies!

So with summer now officially over and tans (for what you could grab) fading, a very excited bunch turned in on Wednesday, ready and raring for the joys and rigours that face them in Y6. We’ve hit the ground running with your children writing letters to their future selves and setting their ‘Reach for the Stars’ goals for the year – we’re saving Maths for next week!

They enjoyed honing their Tag Rugby skills in PE with Mr Blair; checking out the work of innovative electronic music composer, Delia Derbyshire of Dr Who fame, in Music; creating impactful portraits in Art now proudly displayed in the classroom; working collaboratively to build a bridge out of paper and tape for the first lesson in ‘Me & My Relationships’ in RHE; learning about our class poet, Pam Ayres and her most famous poem (which is their homework to learn) as well as listening to me read the first class book of the year, one of Louis Sachar’s brilliant works, ‘A Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom’, which is always a top favourite.

The children have had a busy few days with lots to think about. We have focused on developing a ‘Growth Mindset’ – ways in which to have a positive approach to even the most dreaded of subjects while also not sitting on ones laurels. There are loads of motivational quotes around the classroom, one of which I have already had thrown back in my face!

I for one have thoroughly enjoyed being back with a full class in Y6 and getting to know lots of new faces. It’s great to be back in the saddle after the hols and I’m looking forward to the challenging new work ahead – they all tell me they are too. The Homework Diaries seem to be a hit (so far) and I would be most grateful for your support in asking to see them each evening and initialling or signing to confirm that work, especially some reading (recommended reading list), has been carried out. Written homework will be set on Mondays and Fridays. Knowing how to manage this will set them in great stead for Y7, less than a year away now – gulp.

We will be having our House Captain elections a week on Wednesday 18^th September.  Each House will elect four Year 6 Captains, who will help lead their houses in certain events and activities throughout the year. Candidates will make a presentation to their fellow House members from across the year groups in the main school hall, who then vote for their preferred captains. As the election is just over a week away, for anyone wanting to throw their hat in to the ring, they need to start planning now… Whilst a PowerPoint / Google Slides (NOT Apple or MAC) presentation is not necessary, it might help as a prop and prompt for the nervous candidate; these should be email to me on d.gane@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk or submitted through the Y6 Google Classroom portal. Below is a job description and a few ideas that might help.

   House Captain’s Job Description

• Each House will fundraise for a specific charity. In the presentation you should put forward your recommendations for your chosen charity and ideas for fundraising.
• Lead regular House meetings
• Help to organise your House for certain school events i.e. Sports Day
• Representing the school at particular school events i.e. Grandparent’s Day
• Acting as a role model for your House/School
• To meet regularly with the Headteacher
• To present House Captain Awards at the end of the year.

Any speech or talk should be no more than five minutes long.

Finally, I hope you have seen the ParentMail regarding the Leavers’ Hoodies with the link for you to purchase yours. There will be only one opportunity to buy these very handy pieces of uniform so please don’t miss out.

Thanks for your support so far and I look forward to the year ahead with you and your lovely children.

Kind regards,

Mr Gane

 

Summer Writing Challenge with a difference…

St Paul’s Girls School has invited St Stephen’s pupils to submit magazine articles for their annual ‘More Than A Month’ publication. It is a student led interdisciplinary inclusion school magazine focused on viewing history, literature, current events, art and culture (e.g. film, music) through a diverse, decolonised lens. They have given a handy resource that they believe might help in writing the article, which I have shown the children on our Google Classroom stream. This is entirely optional, so good luck and have fun to all budding journalists who would like to give it a go.

Completed articles should be returned to me by email by end of the day next Tuesday 10^th September – d.gane@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk

Make sure that the article itself includes the following author details at the top:  The full name of the student author/s; St Stephen’s CE Primary; Their year group in the new academic year 2024-25.