Mr Applegate

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May 24, 2023

Year 5 Learning Update – Summer 1

What another amazing half term! The children have really amazed us with their learning around Black History, the history of the slave trade and their learning around the Windrush. We were especially lucky to have a visitor to Year 5 last week, Grace Powell from the Basingstoke Caribbean Society and friends, come and speak to the children and share her own experience of Windrush. If you have a spare hour at the weekend, the Willis Museum have a Windrush exhibition running at the moment – details here .

Attached below are examples of some Year 5 children’s work from this half term. You can see some Science where the children have been learning about life cycles, English where the children have been writing poetry and newspaper articles about the Windrush, RE where the children have been learning about Submission and Islam, and Design & Technology where the children have created toys for the younger passengers aboard the Windrush ship. What a busy 6 weeks indeed!

Science

Design & Technology

English – Newspaper Articles

English – Poetry

May 17, 2023

Year 6 Dates for the Summer Term

Wednesday 7th June – Class photos (school jumpers needed)

Thursday 15th June – Winchester Cathedral Service – a children only event (school jumpers needed). Don’t forget this permission form!

Thursday 29th June and Friday 30th June – Secondary school transition days for most children. Children to wear full school uniform with either their leavers’ hoodie or school jumper. Your child’s secondary school should provide you details.

Wednesday 12th July – 6.30pm – Y6 Production – Parents to attend – tickets available soon

Thursday 13th July – 2pm and 6.30pm – Y6 Production – Parents to attend -tickets available soon

Friday 14th July – Y6 Leavers’ Disco – an evening event for children organised by a group of volunteer parents – tickets on sale next half term

Thursday 20th July – 9:30 – 11:30 – Leavers’ Service (in Main Hall) for all children and parents (school jumpers needed).

Friday 21st July – children’s last day at St Mark’s with shirt signing.

For the Year 6 Summer performance, tickets can be requested here. Closing date is 23rd June.

May 8, 2023

SATs this week

Dear Parents and Carers,

And so we are here: the week of SATs. A huge thank you for your continuing support at home.

During the week of KS2 SATs – 9th to 12th May, the children of Y6 are able to come to school a little earlier (from 8:20am onwards) in order to enjoy a breakfast bar or piece of fruit with their peers. They may just want to come along and chat so the snacks are not compulsory. The Y6 gate will be opened for them to enter at this slightly earlier time. Snacks will be available from 8:20 until 8:40am. If possible, a voluntary contribution of 50p per day would be appreciated but everyone is welcome whether they can contribute or not.

Coming a little earlier sometimes helps them to get settled in a calm way and eases stress as they chat with friends. We will also have some mindfulness colouring in and activities should they like to do some.

It is all completely optional, though we do encourage children to be here in plenty of time before gates shut at 8:50am. If possible, we would like all children to arrive before 8:40am each day during the week.

Due to having sufficient adult support for all our learners this year, the tests will be sat in one sitting (not in two separate groups as has previously been done). We are so grateful to all other year groups at St Mark's for making this possible and feel it is the best option for our current Year 6 learners.

The timetable is attached for your reference.

Please pass on to your children how super proud we are of their dedication so far. Remind them they have nothing to worry about, but a few nerves are normal. We know they are incredible individuals who will not be defined by a test. We know many of them will enjoy the tests and relish the opportunity to prove just how much they know and how far they have come despite the covid years. Friday afternoon will be a great time to relax and congratulate each other.

PE this week:

We aim to have a PE session on Tuesday (afternoon) and Friday (morning) but it is not essential for children to wear PE kits on these days as long as they are wearing sensible shoes, they can take part. We do not want children panicking over whether they need to wear PE kit or not on test days. School jumpers are to be worn each day.

If you have any questions, please ask and we will do our best to answer.

Thank you again for everything you do to support your child at school,

The Year 6 Team

SATs-2023-Timetable-for-Home-Reference.pdf

April 19, 2023

Year 5 – Welcome to Summer 1!

This half term, Year 5 will be learning all about British Black History for the next 6 weeks. It’s another super jam-packed half term with lots of exciting learning to come.

Please find our Topic Web and Knowledge Organiser attached. Our Topic Web gives you an insight into what we are covering in each of our subjects this half term – everything from English, to Maths, to Art and everything in between. Our Knowledge Organiser gives you lots of facts about British Black History, including a timeline covering our learning to come.

We can’t wait to share the children’s learning with you soon,

The Year 5 Team

Year 5 Sum 1 – Black and British Knowledge Organiser

Year 5 Sum 1 – Black and British Topic Web

April 19, 2023

Year 5 Learning Update – Spring 2

What another amazing half term! The Year 5 children have worked really hard this half term – learning all about La Plagne – and have shown themselves to be expert geographers! We used our learning about Europe to inspire lots of our other learning too – from stories in English, where polar bears migrated to Europe… to Art, where we used mixed media to create beautiful landscapes. Here are some examples of the children’s work, which we are excited to showcase to you.

English – Migrant stories

Art – La Plagne Landscapes

Design & Technology – Cooking Bolognese

Maths – Drawing Line Graphs

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