Year 6 Residential to Runways End

The children arrived safely at Runways End and have settled in well. The signal is not good there however, so the staff are struggling to upload photos to the website.  We are receiving pictures from them and will update the page when we can - please bear with us!

Day 1

After a tour of the site and lunch, the children took part in the first activities of the week.

Group 1 - team challenges and climbing slab

Group 2 - team challenges and night line

Group 3 - team challenges and auto-belay climbing

Group 4 - climbing slab and team challenges

Group 5 - team tasks and team challenges

Group 6 - auto-belay climbing and team challenges

Even though it was cold, everyone was wrapped up warm and enjoyed themselves.  Great team work was shown and fantastic encouragement of others.  A fab first day!

Photos will appear as a slideshow of all of the groups.

Dinner on night 1 was pasta and meatballs, mac & cheese, pizza, garlic bread and salad.  Dessert was ice pops.

The first evening's activity was Bingo!  And then the first night's sleep...

One child knocked on the teacher's door to ask to go for a shower...at 5.30am....ooops!!!

Day 2

Activities today have included the following:

Group 1 - Canoeing, orienteering, night line and abseiling

Group 2 - Orienteering, canoeing, team tasks and climbing slab

Group 3 - Abseiling, night line, raft building and orienteering

Group 4 - fire lighting, team tasks, orienteering and raft building

Group 5 - Night line, archery, climbing slab and fire lighting

Group 6 - Archery, climbing slab, fire lighting and team tasks.

Dinner on night 2 was build your own burger....huge!!!

This was followed by a scavenger hunt for the evening activity.

Photos from Day 1 and Day 2

Day 3

After a good night's sleep, today's activities were as follows:

Group 1 - team tasks, fire lighting, archery and land rafts

Group 2 - fire lighting, land rafts, abseiling and archery

Group 3 - climbing slab, air rifle shooting, fire lighting and team tasks

Group 4 - abseiling, night line, auto-belay climbing and low ropes

Group 5 - auto-belay climbing, abseiling, land rafts and shelter building

Group 6 - land rafts, shelter building, night line and abseiling

A great of perseverance and fantastic team work!

Dinner on night 3 was BBQ chicken drumsticks, hotdogs, onion rings, tomato pasta and corn on the cob.  All have been well fed!

Tonight's activity was a film night.  Think they'll need another good night's sleep after such a busy day!

Day 4

Another busy day!  Mrs Thomas has joined the gang (thank you for bearing with her while she tried to upload photos via the slow wifi here!).  Activities today were as follows:

Group 1 - Epic engineering, air rifle shooting, orienteering and low ropes

Group 2 - Epic engineering, caving, orienteering and air rifle shooting

Group 3 - Epic engineering, low ropes, orienteering and caving

Group 4 - Air rifle shooting, epic engineering, archery and orienteering

Group 5 - Caving, epic engineering, air rifle shooting and orienteering

Group 6 - Low ropes, epic engineering, caving and orienteering

The children are continuing to really persevere with some difficult challenges even when they are really tired!

Wow there's so much food here!!!  Tonight's dinner was build your own wraps with pulled pork, chicken, salad, cooked onions/peppers, cheese, with rice, chips, nachos and the list goes on!  The children are certainly eating well and refuelling after a busy day.

Tonight's evening activity was a quiz - and the winner is..... (you'll have to wait to find out - we haven't finished yet!).

Key dates for the year group (Autumn term):

Thursday 12th September - Hampshire Fire and Rescue Visit to Y6

Wednesday 18th September - Hampshire Police visit to Y6 to discuss online safety

Wednesday 25th September - Climate Conference

Friday 11th October - World Mental Health Day

Wednesday 16th October - Harvest assemblies

Friday 18th October - Whole School Outcome event 2.30pm

Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd - Parents evenings

Monday 4th November - INSET day

Friday 8th November - Y5 & Y6 Reading cafe 9-10am

W/b 11th November - 'It's Cool to be Kind' week (activities in school)

Friday 15th November - Children in Need (own clothes for a donation)

W/b 18th November - Road Safety week (activities in school)

W/b 2nd December - Bikeability week

Wednesday 18th December - Christmas lunch (details to follow nearer the time)

Welcome to Year 6!

The Year 6 Team

This year in Year 6, our teachers are Mrs Hagger (Year 6 Team Leader), Mr Finklaire and Miss Grainger. We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistants (LSAs): Miss Grant-Berry, Mrs Formala, Mr Norgrove, Mrs Deas and Mrs Togwell.  They support us throughout the day in and out of the classroom.

PE

Each week, the children will have two sessions of PE - one indoor session (Wednesday) and one outdoor session (Monday). Children should come in to school wearing their PE kits on these days.  

Please follow the link below to find out more about our PE uniform expectations:

Home Learning

Each week we will set a reading, maths and Grammar task for home learning.  The tasks will be set on Purple Mash.  

Home learning will all be set on a Thursday and then due back in on the following Tuesday.  As we are trying to develop the independence of the children, it will be their responsibility to complete their work on time.

If your child is having problems completing the home learning, please speak to their class teacher.

Maths - An arithmetic task will be set, consisting of questions linked to the arithmetic worked on in class.  A maths task will also be set linked to that week's maths unit.  This may be a maths quiz or playing a game that revises key skills. 

Children will not be set times tables this term but are welcome to use the TT Rockstars website to practise their times tables. 

English Grammar - There will be a grammar task that is linked to the Grammar covered in the English unit that week.  

Reading - Reading stamina and fluency are key and your child should read for at least ten minutes per day.  If your child can read aloud to an adult at least once a week, they are able to improve their reading fluency.  The reading home learning will be set on the Purple Mash system, under the reading section and the Serial Mash link.  Children will have a short chapter of a scheduled book (that can also be listened to by clicking the audio tab).  There will be 5 to 10 questions to answer linked to that chapter. 

Spellings - Spellings home learning will continue to focus on the statutory year 3/4 and 5/6 lists of spellings. This will not be set as a task on Purple Mash.  Children will have a test on the Year 3/4 list spellings in December. 

Topics

Our Topic for Autumn 1 is the Industrial Revolution.  In History, we have looked at the social and economic aspects, as well as some of the inventions.  We looked at the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Basingstoke - did you know there were two workhouses in our local area?

In English, we have read the book 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty which looks at the plight of a young Victorian child.  The children really immersed themselves in the characters and wrote amazing diary entries, as well as informative non-chronological reports about workhouses. Our science has seen classes investigating electrical circuits and we have used our understanding to help us build motorised vehicles in DT.

We are looking forward to showcasing our hard work to you all at our outcome afternoon on Friday 18th October..

In Autumn 2, our topic will be Globalisation.  In Geography, we will look at the impact of globalisation on the way we communicate and trade as well as its impact on food and fashion.  Our English and Guided Reading units will be based around books linked to difference and how we treat others, including the books 'Wonder' and 'The distance between me and the cherry tree'.  We will investigate sound as our Science topic, while the Art unit will look at Pop Artists, including

Andy Warhol. 

For more information about our curriculum, please follow the link below:

Follow the link below to the 'If you like...try...' book suggestion lists.

Bikeability 2nd - 6th December

Here are some notes for the Bikeability week and some answers to some FAQs. 

We hope this helps.  Please ask if you have further questions. 

Bikes

- Bikes will need to be in good working order but will be checked by the Instructors during the first session. 

- Children who have applied to borrow a bike will be supplied with a checked bike for use during each of their sessions

- The bikes will be stored at the bikes stands at the front of the school.  There will be a section of the stand for each class to make it easier for children to collect their bikes.

-Secure locks should be provided so the bike is protected while not in use. If children are sharing locks, please make sure they are in the same class. 

-Bikes DO NOT have to be left on site over night, they can be brought to school each morning and taken home each night. You are welcome to leave your child's bike overnight if it is more convenient, however this is done at your own risk.  

Clothing

- Children should wear their school uniform on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.  PE uniform should be worn on Monday and Wednesday. 

- Trousers and leggings are suggested on school uniform days.  Children who wish to wear a skirt should wear tights or leggings under the skirt.  

- Children can bring trainers in to wear during their Bikeability session but will need school shoes to change back into on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. 

- Please be aware of the weather conditions.  Warm and water resistant coats, gloves or scarves are suggested if the weather is cold and wet. 

Helmets

-Helmets are compulsory. 

- The helmet will be checked by the instructors on the first session and the fit adjusted if required. 

- Children who have requested to borrow a helmet will be provided at the start of each of their sessions. 

- Helmets can be stored in the lockers when not in use.  

Safety

-Children are expected to listen to the Instructors and abide by the safety rules. 

-During the earlier sessions, the Instructors will assess all pupils and only those assessed at an appropriately safe level will be taken out of the school grounds and onto the local roads. 

Runway's End Residential

13th - 17th January 2025

The kit list and parent presentation is attached.  Please email the school office or speak with Mrs Hagger or Miss Grainger if you have any further questions.

SATS Week 2025

SATS week for this academic year is during the week commencing Monday 12th May 2025. 

Further information about this week will be sent to parents nearer the time and the Year 6 staff will hold informal drop-in sessions for parents in the Spring term to give further details.

What have we been up to?

Thursday 12th September saw a visit from Hampshire Fire and Rescue to teach Year 6 about fire safety.