Happy December! Christmas is well and truly in the air at St Stephen’s and on Wednesday we were lucky enough to go and watch the dress rehearsal of the Reception Nativity – the children loved watching their buddies perform. In RE, we have also started looking at Advent, thinking about Christmas adverts discussing the word secular. This has created a sense of Christmas spirit here in the classroom!

In Maths we have finished off our unit on fractions and the children then completed and marked the two end of topic tests. These were very hard tests but the class tried their hardest and showed off what they know. Next we move on to Position and Direction.

English has seen us continue working on our persuasive writing skills and this week we have looked at writing engaging introductions, how to make our writing more cohesive and how to structure our counterarguments. Next week we will be writing our final letters to Mr Schumm and I am looking forward to reading them all.

In DT we have continued making our waistcoats using recycled fabrics from home. We have cut out the fabric using a pattern and started sewing the front and back parts together. Some of us even looked at reinforcing our hand-stitching on the sewing machine which was great fun. They are looking fantastic!

Finally, next week is our half-termly mock SATs week. The children have been working really hard and we are hoping to see their best results yet, please do email me if you have any questions.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Marchant

In Maths this week the children saw the back of fractions, for a while at least, learning how to find fractions of amounts as well as original amounts from fractions, and how to convert fractions in to decimals. The children have worked so hard on this unit and using their times-table knowledge to help t hem. Next week we have the end of unit test to see what they can do!

In English the children have been introduced to different examples of persuasive writing and came up with a list of features they think should be included in every piece. These included: using verbs in the present tense, forceful language, modal verbs, reasons for viewpoint and powerful adjectives just to name a few. The class exemplar was then introduced, which is a letter to Mr Schumm persuading him to let Year 6 have no homework. Next week, the class will be analysing more persuasive texts and planning their own letters to Mr Schumm.

In DT, the children are making quick progress with their waistcoats. Most had their patterns pinned, fabric cut and were hand stitching both shoulder and waist seams by the end of the afternoon on Wednesday. Next week they will attempt to use the sewing machines from Miss Tami’s ‘Stich & Chill’ club to reinforce their seams.

It’s the last few weeks of Miss Rachel’s time here at St Stephen’s as she prepares to move to Cornwall in the new year, so in Music she’s putting the children through their paces for the very last time as they rehearse for the ‘Carols by Candlelight’ service on Thursday 19th. Make sure you ink in the date to your diaries now.

Finally, we wanted to give you a heads-up about the week after next when the children will be completing another round of practise SATs as part of their preparation for the real thing in May. This time, more children will be working in smaller groups to help reduce the distractions and improve their focus on tasks.

How you can support your child:

• Reading – The one-hour Reading Comprehension paper is often the most challenging. With three increasingly complex texts and approximately 40 questions to answer, children need to be confident in their initial reading and able to effectively ‘skim and scan’ for key words and phrases. The more practice they get with these skills now, the easier the process will be for them.
• Maths – Regularly practising times tables and number bonds can also make a big difference!

Based on these results and the children’s work in class, in the Spring Term we will be starting our Maths and English Booster Classes. These sessions will be compulsory for children who are invited, based on their needs and performance.

The aims of these classes are:

• To support the children at the Expected/Working Towards Expected boundary, ensuring they meet the standard confidently
• To help those working at the Expected/Greater Depth boundary

Mr Gane and I will review the results and notify you if your child will be invited to these sessions.

Thanks for your continued support.

Have a great weekend,

Miss Marchant

A NOTE FROM LINDA

Hello St Stephen’s!

This is a little note to say a big thank you to each and every one of you. It has been amazing to have been your Scientist-in-Residence and working with all of you doing fun Science experiments, to learn together, and to answer all your great questions. I love Science and I loved doing Science with you all – I hope you love Science too!

Thank you,

Linda

As always a busy week here! In English we have continued our poetry unit this week looking at a contrasting poem – No Problem by Benjamin Zephaniah. We started off by analysing the colloquial language he uses and discussed how he has picked a topic important to him to talk about through his poem. As this is a poem that discusses the racism Zephaniah received and how he does not let it affect him in his day to day life, the children planned and wrote their own poems based on issues that are important to them. Once they were written, the class performed them to the rest of the class. They had some really great ideas, such as climate change, animal cruelty, bullying and racism and spoke passionately about each subject.

In Maths we have looked at multiplying a fraction by an integer and then another fraction, before moving on to dividing fractions by integers today. The class is doing so well with fractions and I am very pleased with how everyone is progressing.

In Geography we have continued to study Japan, this week focussing on earthquakes. For our task we looked at our classroom and identified anything that would be a potential hazard during an earthquake, before planning our own earthquake survival kits.

We have started our DT for the half term which has seen the class designing their own waistcoats. For the rest of the unit they will be using their textile knowledge to make waistcoats using a template, sew the fabric into a waistcoat shape as well as stich on extra decoration. It should be a fun unit!

To celebrate the fact that Christmas is quickly approaching, we went to see the Panto, Aladdin, today. It was a fantastic show and the children had a lovely time. As always, they were very well behaved and were great representatives of our school. Continuing the Christmas theme, we made some giant snowflakes to be displayed in the hall for the Christmas Fayre next week – do look out for them!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

The highlight of our week had to be our class assembly yesterday morning. I am sure you will all agree that the children were fantastic on stage, they have worked so hard over the past few weeks and should be proud of themselves. Thank you for all your kind words afterwards, I really appreciated them!

Thank you to all those I saw at Parents’ Evening this week, it was lovely to see you. The two evenings went ahead with very few technical problems so that was a huge relief! Do let me know if you have any other questions and I will be happy to help.

In Maths we have continued our work on fractions, this week focussing on adding and subtracting mixed numbers with different denominators (eg. 4 ½ + 5 ¼). The class have worked through these questions meticulously and are really getting to grips with this tricky concept. They should be proud of themselves. I am also seeing an improvement in their times tables, please keep this up!

Having looked at the description used in Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’ last week in English, this week we used this description to inspire our own sea creatures. Once designed, the class wrote their poems, making sure to include a range of excellent words and phrases to create imagery – I really felt like I could see every one of their ‘beasts’.

For RE we finished our two week topic on Remembrance by talking about peace and how it can help the cause of Remembrance. The children made ‘origami peace cranes’. These were created by a 10 year old Japanese girl who had developed leukaemia some years after the Hiroshima bomb in 1945. She had planned to make 1000 but sadly died before completing them. Inspired by her courage and in memory of all who died due to the atom bomb, children across Japan raised money for a monument in her memory at the Hiroshima Peace Park with the inscription ‘paper crane, I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world’. People all over the world now make these paper cranes and send them in to the monument. We have boxed ours up and will be sending them to the peace park.

Finally, we finished up the week with a mock trial today with the charity Lawyers 4 Learners. The children were split into groups – the defence, the prosecution and the jury – and given a case to work through. The defence and prosecution then put forward their arguments and the jury were allowed to vote. It was great fun!

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

Welcome back! I hope you all had a lovely half term. It has been great to have the children back and feeling ready to learn.

In English, we have started a new English unit based on two contrasting poets. This week we are looking at our first poem, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s ‘The Kraken’. To start off our sessions, we identified all the tricky Old English words and then looking at the description used by Tennyson. Next week we will start designing our own ‘Kraken’.

In Maths, we have moved onto fractions. Always a tricky unit but so far my maths class is really impressing me. We have been simplifying fractions using factors, comparing fractions by finding the common denominator and started adding fractions with different denominators yesterday. Times table knowledge is vital for fraction work so please encourage the children to keep practising!

We have started our new Geography topic this week as well where we will be looking at the geography of Japan. The first lesson saw us locating Japan on the map and using atlases to work out which countries and bodies of water surround it. We are also learning even more through our class assembly!

On Tuesday we had a very informative workshop with Kat based on unconscious bias. She expertly and very gently led the children through the complicated subject, provoking animated discussion and heart-felt experiences. The children found the session very helpful and learnt a lot from it. Kat will be back in the summer to do the annual sex education sessions!

Before we move on to Advent in a few weeks’ time, we started RE this half term with a timely investigation of Remembrance. The children learned about what it is and where it has come from, before writing poems and prayers of remembrance.

We finished off the week with a fantastic Hispanic Day today. As a year group we looked into Chile in more depth, learning about its natural environment and national animals. Using this information we created our FOSS Christmas Card. Do buy one! We had three fantastic speakers who showed pictures and told us all about their lives in Chile. As always, a great day organised by Mrs Pereira.

Next week is Parents’ Evening, do sign up to our online system. I am looking forward to catching up with you then.

You may have seen on ParentMail that there is a trip next Wednesday with Mr Schumm. Do email him if you have any questions.

Finally, well done to those that are signing their homework diary regularly. This will really prepare the class for secondary school. A gentle reminder to parents that you are meant to be signing the homework diary every week. I will then sign it too on the Friday.

Have a lovely weekend!

Miss Marchant

What a week we had last week! PGL was excellent and the children all had a fantastic time – I am sure you have heard all about the wonderful activities we did.

And just like that our first half term together has come to an end. The past eight weeks have flown by and I have loved teaching the children. This week has been very busy, what with Black Voices, finishing off all our work and typing up our 500 word stories for the BBC competition.

For Black Voice Week we had a fantastic assembly from Barefoot Education, focussing on ‘Hidden Figures’. The children went on a journey throughout history learning of significant black figures, whose actions have made a positive impact on the world we live in today. We learnt about: Emperor Septimius Severus, John Blanke, Mary Prince, Lilian Bader and Paul Stephenson.

In Maths, we finished off our four operations unit by looking at prime numbers and square numbers before moving onto the end of topic tests. The children have worked hard and are really getting to grips with long division and long multiplication. However I am noticing that some are really struggling with their times-tables. Please may I urge you to practise these at home, times tables are vital in Year 6.

In History we looked at the work of certain scholars and philosophers, focussing on Archimedes and his invention of the Archimedes Screw and how it impacted the lives of the ancient Greeks. We then moved on to looking at other ways in which the ancient Greeks have influenced us – Olympics, alphabet, democracy and literature based on their Greek Gods.

For homework over half term, the children have been sent home with four practice SATs papers. The papers are all due back on Monday 4th November – there is more detail about this on Google Classroom.

I hope you all have a lovely peaceful half term and I will see you all next term!

Miss Marchant

A change from our usual routine this week – we had our first SATs practice. Despite the number of tests they have done this week, the children have remained in good spirits and worked very hard. The grammar paper kicked off the week followed by the comprehension and arithmetic. We then moved on to our remaining Maths papers – the two reasoning tests. We peer marked these in class and went through the mark schemes so the children know what is expected in their answers for future assessments. They all did really well and should be proud of themselves.

I have stressed that this run through is just part of our, half-termly familiarisation process, so that by the time May 2025 is here, every child will be completely comfortable with what to expect and experienced in working carefully through each paper. As teachers, they also help us to identify individual needs so that we can work out which topics need more practice. Overall, Mr Gane and I were pleased with the results.

After their final SATs Maths paper, as a treat, Mr Blair took the whole cohort on Thursday afternoon to complete the House Tag Rugby competition at Power League.  After having coached the children for the last two weeks, it was fantastic to hear how successful they were and how much fun they had.

It’s the time of year for coughs and colds so can I please ask that you supply your children with all they need, including tissues. While we do have tissues for emergencies, again in preparation for next September, Y6 children should not be relying on the school to be supplying them.

I did share with children a message that West London Free School sent to parents warning that they have ‘seen an increase in reports of muggings or attempted muggings in the local area.’ They report that no pupils have been physically harmed in these incidents, but they are no less scary for those involved. We then had a great discussion on how the children can stay safe – one example being no flashing phones around.

On a lighter note…. Next week we are off to PGL! Everyone is expected to come in to school at the normal time, then following a quick Maths lesson, we are scheduled to depart at 10am. Please do ensure that children have a sleeping bag and a pillow too, as well as a packed lunch. They will be outside all day every day, so please ensure that they have the correct clothing for potentially wet weather all week! Do also ensure that no electronic devices are included, which includes Airtags or tracking devices of any kind. I will be in regular (one way) contact with two parents from the class sending photos and updates, so you will see how much fun your children are having.

Any questions, please do email me.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

As always, another busy week! In Maths we finished off long division looking at questions with remainders and word problems. These are tricky but my Maths class persevered and did very well. We then moved on to looking at factors and multiples – a topic which really relies on good times-table knowledge.

In English the children have continued to work on and plan their 500 word story for the upcoming BBC competition. We have looked at showing character through speech, creating engaging atmospheres using the five senses and how to bring figurative language into our writing. We started writing the first draft of our stories yesterday and will continue these over the next week or so before typing up the final draft ready for submission. From what I have read so far, these stories will be fantastic.

For RE, the children completed their Slide Show Presentations about the different faith communities in our area that they have been researching. In their small groups, they then gave their presentations to their classmates who took notes on how the community worships, whether their place of worship has changed over the years, as well as what they say and do about helping those less fortunate within their community and outside. Interestingly, the children noticed that all of these communities were involved in assisting the less fortunate to varying degrees.

Finally, next week the children will experience their first run of practice SATs. There are six papers which they sit over the week: Grammar, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Maths Paper 1 – Arithmetic, Maths Paper 2 – Reasoning 1 and finally Maths Paper 3 – Reasoning 2. We will be very gentle with them, sitting the tests in the classroom as a class and as I have told the children the whole idea of these assessments are for them to begin to get an idea of what they will be confronted with in May 2025. These tests will also help me identify which parts of the curriculum I need to focus on. My assessment of their work in lessons, coupled with how they do with the practice SATs, will mean that there will be some movement between the two Maths groups. I will speak with you about any changes that affect your child beforehand.

Have a lovely weekend, PGL soon!

Miss Marchant

As always, we have been working very hard here in 6 Zephaniah.

In English, we have started a new unit based on the BBC 500 Word Story Competition. On Wednesday we watched the live lesson which saw three famous authors (Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Charlie Higson and Francesca Simon) talk us through what makes a good story. We learnt all about creating an engaging main character (make them relatable and likeable), how important the setting is and finally that you can create a story out of anything if you put your mind to it! We then moved on to creating a character profile for our stories and looked at SMARPOPS (something we use in Year 6 to help make our writing more exciting and descriptive). Over the next few lessons we are looking forward to learning how to write stories using the story mountain structure and writing our own.

In my Maths class, we have persevered with long division. The class has worked so hard on this aspect of division and the children are really understanding what to do, because of their strong understanding we have moved on to word problems which puts what they have learnt into practice.

In History we have continued looking at Ancient Greece, this week focussing on the two main city states: Athens and Sparta. We learnt how these two city states are different and discussed which one we would prefer to visit and why.

In Science we became botanists and classified different types of plants, also looking at two new terms: vascular and non-vascular.

PGL is coming up, a packing list and more information will be coming soon so please look out for this on ParentMail. We have also sent out some forms on ParentMail, please do complete these as soon as possible as we cannot go away without them. Any questions, let me know.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

In English, the children continued their work on autobiographies, re-reading the first part of Floella Benjamin’s life in Trinidad in preparation for their own writing. They examined how she spoke about the key events in her life, before planning what they would write in their own autobiographies. They then the children finished off our autobiographies unit by writing about their life so far. I have marked most of them and they have been a pleasure to read – full of fantastic descriptive techniques, a range of punctuation, as well as all those conjunctions we have been learning about this term. Well done Year 6!

My Maths group has kept working on the four mathematical operations, revising addition and subtraction before moving on to multiplying 4-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers and word problems. These are tricky concepts but the children are working really hard to try and consolidate what they learnt in Year 5. I have set some Mathletics activities around these topics so the children can practice over the weekend. We have touched upon short division and next Maths lesson, we will be looking at long division.

We have spent the rest of the week creating our own classification keys in Science, learning about how our local area has changed over the past 50 years in RE and have continued to study Chuck Close in Art.

However it hasn’t been lessons all week! Today we held the ever popular House Captain elections. Mr Gane and I were so impressed by the confidence every candidate showed, it is not an easy task standing up in front of one’s peers and teachers, but everyone did so well. The standard of presentations was very high and I must congratulate all of you who put yourselves forward – win or lose, you all did yourselves proud!

There is a huge focus on Times Tables now, especially with the new statutory Y4 test. Our lessons on division have highlighted that a good few children need to put in a bit more work. There are lots of sing-a-long songs for younger children but perhaps as Y6s, they might be motivated by something more interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QU_E0u-tP4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7rYbk9PNuM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XT3vxohtBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_BJjR9rdwA

Finally, a message from Miss Rachel:

Dear Parents/Carers,

Please find details below of two singing groups run by the Tri Borough music hub.

Our First Voices choir (years 1-2) is a group for children who love singing and enjoy taking part in performances. The students learn fun songs, rounds and musical games, as well as increasing their confidence when performing and developing fundamental musical skills.

Our Junior Voices choir (years 3-6) is a non-auditioned ensemble where students learn and perform music from a range of musical styles and through various teaching styles, including notation. The students develop key musicianship and performance skills, whilst engaging in regular performance opportunities throughout the year .For more details please follow the link below.

Registration – Tri-borough Music Hub (speedadmin.dk)

You can also contact Evie directly via email (evie.asio@rbkc.gov.uk) if you would like to discuss further.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

A very busy week here in Year 6 Zephaniah, but it has been lovely to really get into teaching our first topics of Year 6. I am so pleased with the children’s enthusiasm and hardworking attitudes, which I am sure will continue over the year!

In English, the children started their work on our topic of autobiographies, reading the first part of Floella Benjamin’s life in Trinidad in preparation for their own writing. They examined how she spoke about the key events in her life, before coming up with the key features of an autobiography.

In Maths, we have started working on our place value knowledge, looking at rounding numbers, negative numbers before doing the end of topic test to practise everything they have learnt. We then moved on to our new unit based on addition and subtraction.

In RE, we were introduced to our new topic which saw us looking at all the different faith communities in our local area. On our walks to school we may come across a Greek Orthodox Church, the Mosque, a Catholic Church, the Uxbridge Road Tabernacle as well as several Church of England Churches. We discussed how Shepherd’s Bush is a very diverse area and there is not one set religion. We are lucky, as the diversity means we can learn from all the different groups of people.

In History we were introduced to our new topic: Ancient Greeks. For our first lesson we looked at where we would place the Greeks on a timeline. We then looked at the different Greek civilisations and thought about the legacy that the Ancient Greeks left behind.

Next week we have our House Captain presentations. Please send any PowerPoints to me via email or Google Classroom by Tuesday 17^th at the latest. Any questions, let me know.

Have a lovely weekend.

Miss Marchant

Welcome back and welcome to Year 6 Zephaniah! I’ve heard many lovely stories of your summers full of exciting adventures, so I hope you are well rested and ready for the chaos and fun of the new school year and final year at St Stephen’s. The first week back is always very busy for the pupils, parents and teachers and before you know it, it’s Friday and the first week is done.

So far this week, we have talked about our hopes and aspirations for the year, created self-portraits and discussed how having a growth mind-set will be critical to succeeding.

We have hit the ground running with some of our other subjects too, looking at learning how to work together in RHE and our heritage in Computing – a busy start to the term!

I am excited to be back teaching and am looking forward to the challenging yet fun work ahead – the pupils tell me they are too. As you may know already, the children are expected to sign their homework diaries every week on Fridays as this will prepare them for next year. The children also need to read every evening (even if only a couple of pages).

Finally, we will be having our house captain elections on Wednesday 18th September. Each house will have four Year 6 Captains who will help lead their houses in certain events and activities. Candidates will make a presentation to their Y6 Housemates on why they should be elected, which will presented to all of the lower years. Votes from each house will then be collated. This will take place next Friday afternoon, so they might like to start planning now – email any supporting PowerPoints to me on z.marchant@ststephensce.lbhf.sch.uk or upload to Google Classroom. 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 they give should be no more than five minutes.

Admin

• Gymnastics is on Mondays and PE is on Thursdays. Please come in wearing PE kit for the whole day.
• Homework will be set on a Monday and a Friday – please see the homework section on the class page for more information on this.
• Library sessions are on Fridays (please encourage children to bring and change books).
• Water bottles must be brought in every day.

Please feel free to email me with any queries or issues and I’m looking forward to teaching this class again, I know we will have a great year.

Have a lovely weekend,

Miss Marchant