St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Brighton

2022-2023

Welcome St Teresa's Class 

Class Teacher - Miss Redmond

Teaching Assistant - Mrs Greener

Support Staff - Mrs Klimaytys

Outdoor Learning

For our final outdoor learning of the year, we were unfortunately hit with some very bad weather!

This didn't dampen(!) their spirits though, as children started off the day designing and creating bridges from newspaper. The children challenged themselves to build a bridge that held a toy car and didn't wobble in the wind. At the end of the time, Miss Redmond tested them out and rated them out of 10

Take a look at some of our amazing creations below.

Thankfully, the weather improved enough by the afternoon for us to go outside and play a big game of rounders. Year 6 worked hard on their teamwork to ensure they were using up the space when playing as fielders, and making sure that everyone got a go as bowler.

Pizza Express

We had a trip out today, taking the bus into town and then visiting Pizza Express! We learned about good food, tasted a range of fresh ingredients, and of course, made authentic, Italian pizzas.

The children were shown by the pizzaiolo (pizza chef)  how to make a famous, Italian classic: the Margherita. 

We kneaded the dough to create the perfect base. We then topped their base with Pizza Express's famous passata sauce, mozzarella, and basil.

Whilst our pizzas were cooking in the giant pizza oven, the children took part in an ingredients quiz - tasting and learning about different ingredients and toppings such as artichoke, goat's cheese, and capers.

What an informative and educational visit........ and the pizzas were absolutely delicious!

Outdoor Learning & DT week

SATS

 The dates of the 2023 SATs have been released and have been added below for your information.

Rule Britannica!

Please find the first Power Project of the Summer term here.

Rule Britannica!

Stunning Start

To start off our new history/geography topic of the Summer term, we looked at the use of longboats in the Viking era. Then, we created our own models using cardboard, but with only a limited amount of time. We all found it very exciting and competed to make the best one. Below are some pictures of the frantic making process and our finished products.

Summer Term Overview

Please click here to view the overview for the Summer Term in year 6.

Activity Passport

For this Summer term, we are bringing back the Activity Passport.

Children will receive these alongside their homework this week, but please find a copy of the booklet here for your information.

Outdoor Learning

For this term's outdoor learning, we took inspiration from our current Geography topic of disasters, as well as the theme of our current book in English - Goodnight Mister Tom. For our first activity of the day, we created portraits of natural disasters such as volcanoes using natural resources (sticks, leaves, mud, etc.) which got messy very quickly! We found it quite difficult to stick the materials to the paper, and the wet weather didn't help, but we persevered and you can see some of our finished products below.

Here is us below with our finished portraits.

For our next activity, Miss Redmond snuck a speaker out into the playground and started to play air raid siren sounds, and we had to find a hiding spot as quickly as we could then wait for the all-clear. But, after each round, we were banned from using specific spots in the playground, so it became a lot harder to find a good spot. We had to get more creative, and you can see some of our more inventive spots below.

Unfortunately, due to the wet and windy weather, we were unable to start a fire and cook popcorn as planned. In an attempt to rescue the situation, Miss Redmond and Mrs Greener tried cooking the popcorn in the staffroom, but ended up burning the lot! Hopefully, we will be able to have our fire at some stage in the Summer term so we don't miss out.

Our Visit to Downs Junior's Air Raid Shelter

To support our understanding of our current book in English (Goodnight Mister Tom), we were lucky enough to be able to visit Downs Junior, a local primary school where an original WWII shelter still exists under the school grounds. We spoke to various people who had first-hand experience of evacuations and air raids, and explored the shelters ourselves.

We started by wearing some WWII costumes and took some great pictures behind a Spitfire!

We learnt lots while travelling through the air raid shelter, and saw what rooms would have been like at the time, including the strange black-out windows people had to have at the time so as not to be seen by the enemy.

Finally, we spoke with the people that had first-hand experiences, about rationing, gas masks and the experience of evacuation.

Overall, we had a really great time and learnt lots which has helped us with our understanding of our current English text. We are really grateful to Downs Junior for welcoming us into their school and showing us around their incredible shelter.

DT Week

This half term’s DT week focussed on food technology. Since Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day) is fast approaching, we decided to make pancakes. To begin the week, we explored the history and religious importance behind Shrove Tuesday and how it symbolises the lead up to Easter and the beginning of Lent. We learnt about how it is celebrated across the world as well as the different types of pancakes. 

Then, we explored the scientific background to cooking pancakes and learnt about the thermal change that occurs. We identified the difference between a solution and a mixture and the materials used to make frying pans. 

In small groups, we went to the staff room to mix our ingredients, cook the pancakes and, of course, eat them! Whilst waiting for their turn, the rest of the class designed their dream pancake, completed a reading comprehension activity and finally evaluated their pancake following their trip to the staff room.

Week bg. 6.2.3

Science

In today's lesson, we investigated how the position of a light source changes a shadow. Thankfully, the sun was out! We each found a space in the playground with our partner and drew with chalk around our feet and shadow. We went back inside the classroom and discussed the variables in our investigation, as well as the theory behind the movement of shadows. Then, we returned outside and stood back where our shadows were and discussed how they had changed.

PE

 In our final lesson on fitness, we focussed on whole-body circuits. We started with a game of cone flip, in which partners had to take turns flipping a cone. If successful, they needed to run to the cone behind them before their partner tagged them. This worked on our quick reflexes and speed.

Next, we competed in groups in a cone relay in which we had to run between the starter cone and each cone in the line and return it to the starter cone. Then, we had to return each cone to its original position before the next person in our group completed the relay. Each person needed to complete the relay first to win.

Stunning Start - Disasters

To start off our new topic of disasters, we considered our prior knowledge on natural disasters including hurricanes, volcanoes and tsunamis. We created a mind map and watched a video on some of the most dangerous volcanoes on Earth.

Then, we annotated parts of a volcano and coloured in the diagrams and defined these parts.

Our main task, though, was to create a large display for our class wall which showed an erupting volcano and the clouds rising from the top. We drew the shape on some cardboard, coloured it in, then used coloured card and tissue paper to create the streams of lava spewing from the volcano's crater.

Take a look at our new display below!

We are all really excited to keep learning about natural disasters and finding out more about this topic.

Don't forget to complete your Power Projects which can be found here.

Spring Term Overview

Please click here to view the overview for this Spring term.

Update to PE Days for Next Half Term

 Starting after half term, year 6 will have PE lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays. 

Wednesday will continue to be with Miss Pippa, starting indoor athletics after Christmas.

PE lessons with Miss Redmond are now on Mondays and we will be doing fitness.

Thank you for taking home your PE kits for a good wash - don't forget to bring them back on the first week back after half term!

Outdoor Learning 

For our second outdoor learning of the Autumn term, we were limited by the weather but we didn't let it stop us from having plenty of fun!

We got into groups and designed dams using natural resources and tools. Then, we headed outside to collect our resources and each group was given a strip of kitchen foil to act as the river bed. We merged together rocks, sticks, mud, and leaves to see which group could make the most successful dam. We had various test runs to see what improvements could be made and to fill in any gaps that had become prevalent. 

Having made our final touches, we had a final competition to see which dam could stop the most water from falling through. Have a look at our dams below.

Fantastic Finish

We have been looking back at our topic and what we think the lasting legacy of the Maya is. We had lots of discussions and many different opinions, based on the evidence we have looked at over this half term.

Some of us thought that we remember the Maya because of them being an advanced civilisation with a  huge trading empire, and because of their developed cities which contained around 50,000 people. Some of us suggested that it is because they were so resourceful with the land and introduced water systems and terrace farming. Other ideas discussed were because they had a hierarchy system that maintained order and that they invented so many things such as: the calendar, a writing system and a number system.

To present our ideas, we designed and made our own Maya artefacts out of salt dough to represent the Maya achievements. Some of our designs were based on the Mayan Gods,  Mayan writing and some of the images we have studied from primary and secondary sources. Take a look at some of our work.  

DT Week 

For our second DT week of the Autumn term, we looked at the mechanics behind pulley systems. We started off by investigating existing models and had some fun putting together the model below. We then designed our own pulley systems and considered the tools and materials we would need to make them.

Next was the making! We started by cutting different-sized circles out of cardboard and attaching them to a wooden pole to create our pulley.

Then, we poked holes through a paper plate and tied two small pieces of string through the holes, before tieing another longer piece of string to the top, which we could then hook over our pulley. We then balanced them on top of some chairs and got to test out our pulleys and see how much weight they could lift - it turned out into a bit of a competition...

Finally, we evaluated our pulleys and considered what went well and what could be improved if we were to repeat the process.

All in all, we did a fantastic job and worked hard as a team to build our pulleys, and had plenty of fun while making them!

Active Advent 2022

Day 1 - Reindeer Lunges

Day 2 - Elf on the Shelf Planks

Day 5 - Frozen Ice Push Ups

Day 6 - Christmas Tree Balance

Day 7 - Elf High Knees

Day 8 - Santa Sledge Chair Squats

Day 9 - Snowball Keepie Uppie

Day 12 - Christmas Star Dance

Day 13 - Santa Climbing the Chimney

Day 14 - Christmas Cat Stretch

Healthy Eating Workshop - 2.11.22

We were lucky enough to have a workshop on healthy eating led by Miss Pippa – our PE teacher. We learned about the food groups, then made our own smoothies using various ingredients including bananas, strawberries and raspberries. We even used graters and blenders to mix our ingredients. We were then able to test out each other’s smoothies and decide whose we liked the most! We had lots of fun learning about this topic as you can see below.

Here are some of our finished products!

DT Week

For DT week in year 6, we were focussing on textiles and combining different fabric shapes using our sewing skills. For the first day, we explored the work and life of Frida Kahlo, a well-known Mexican artist whose art is recognised across the globe for its bright colours and natural feel. We then planned and designed our flowers, picking the colours of the flower itself and the thread we would use around the edge of our material.

On our second and third day, it was all about the making process. We started with a circular piece of cotton which we folded into a quarter and drew one petal on, before cutting out the shape and revealing our full flowers. We were then able to paint the material to match our designs, before sewing a hem once they had all dried. Some of us challenged ourselves by creating two layers which had to sewn together! 

Whilst this was happening, Miss Redmond cut out the shape of Frida's head and shoulders, and a few of us used the outline to cut and stick hessian onto the cardboard cutout. We then added her dress and facial features, and even a butterfly, which we stuck onto cardboard and added painted mesh onto to represent its fragile body. When we had all finished sewing our flowers, we stuck them onto Frida's hair to create our final product.

Finally, we evaluated our project, considering both our individual flowers as well as our large model of Frida which we had put together as a class. We discussed what we thought went well during the project, and what we thought could be improved, including how we would work differently next time. Overall, we were very pleased with how our project turned out, and everyone really enjoyed the activities.

Update to PE Days for Next Half Term

 Starting after half term, year 6 will have PE lessons on Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

Wednesday will continue to be with Miss Pippa.

PE lessons with Miss Redmond are now on Thursdays.

Thank you for taking home your PE kits for a good wash - don't forget to bring them back on the first week back after half term!

Outdoor Learning

For our first outdoor learning of year 6, we focussed on our understanding of the environment and the role we play in looking after it. To begin the session, we had a class discussion about how humans are damaging the Earth, the importance of looking after our local wildlife, and even how to save a bee in need.

After this, we created 2 pieces of artwork using the trees around us as inspiration. In our first piece, we used HP pencils to sketch a tree, although the rain made our paper very soggy!

For our second piece, we collected sticks, twigs and leaves of different shapes, sizes and colours from the outdoor learning area and around the playground and used them to create another tree portrait. It was very difficult to stick the resources onto the paper, but we were determined to do it, and produced some lovely work, as you can see below.

In the afternoon, we explored our grounds in small groups and used checklists to identify the different species of birds, types of leaves, twigs and fruit in our playground. It even became a bit of a competition to see who could find the most variety!

Then, we looked back at our science lesson this week, in which we learnt about fossils and the process of fossilisation. We used clay and shells to make imprints and create our own fossils.

To finish the day, we played a few outdoor games, including Bring Me, in which I called out criteria like "something bigger than your hand" or "something that makes a noise" and the children had to find an object that matched that description in the outdoor learning area and bring it to me the quickest. We also competed to build the tallest leaf pile in 1 minute and played Stick Dash, which involved one child with their eyes covered sitting next to a pile of twigs we had collected, and teams taking turns to silently collect a twig from the pile without being heard by the child in the centre. The team with the most twigs at the end wins!

Grandparents' Week

To celebrate Grandparents' Week, we invited families to join in our basketball lesson.

To get us warmed up, we had to walk around the pitch with one child as 'on', who had to go around and tag another player. Once they had been tagged, they joined up and walked around together, tagging another person, until 6 children were connected. At this stage, we would split into 2 teams of 3, who would continue chasing down other players - but only at a walking rate, which was very funny to watch. This carried on until only 1 player was left, which was very intense to watch.

Our next activity started by splitting into 2 teams and racing to pass the basketball down the zigzag line and back before the other team. We had a lot of practice at this during a previous lesson, so we were all getting really good at our throwing skills.

Next, we practiced our shooting skills, each getting plenty of tries at our 2 hoops. 

Finally, we played a game of basketball but there was a rule: every player on your team needs to have passed the ball before you are allowed to score. This helped us build our teamwork and communication, which are really important, both in sports and everyday life.

Unfortunately, we have no photos of the session as we were all having so much fun that we forgot to take any!

Thank you so much to those of you who were able to make it and join in with the games. We hope that you had as good of a time as we did.

Termly Overview

 Please click here to view the Autumn term learning overview.

Spellings

Please click here to view the Year 3/4 spellings and click here to view the Year 5/6 spellings. 

Please encourage your children to practise these spellings at home whenever possible. Children are expected to be able to spell all the words on the year 5/6 list by the end of year 6.

Children will be given a short list of spellings to complete as homework on a Friday, and are expected to return this on Monday morning. The class will then complete a spelling test on these words to check their understanding. 

Week bg. 19.09.22

This week in English we have continued to work on writing our persuasive letters to the mother convincing her to take her children to the ‘New Place’. We have drafted, edited and published our letters using success criteria created as a class. Below are some examples of our amazing letters.

In science, having looked at animal life cycles last week, we focused on the human life cycle, its stages, and the effects of ageing. We created freeze frames to show the progression of the human life cycle in groups. Take a look below.

In RE, we continued to focus on the topic of Loving and explored the story of Saul, and how he was converted to Jesus Christ. We used drama to understand how his behaviour changed during this process.  

In PSHE we have looked at the importance of healthy diets, particularly the dangers of energy drinks. We even designed our own healthy versions of energy drinks.

In PE, we focused on the skill of passing and keeping control over the ball at all times.

Tributes the Queen Elizabeth II

This week, in school, we have been thinking about The Queen and reflecting on her life. The children in Year 6 produced line drawings of Her Majesty and each child came up with words they felt described Queen Elizabeth. 

Week bg. 12.9.22

In English, we continued reading The Journey and had to debate as a class whether the mother should take her children to The New Place or not. We created freeze frames of the family’s life before and after the war had struck to better understand their emotions and how things had changed very quickly.

In science, we looked at the classification system of the animal kingdom and we drew the life cycles of mammals, birds, amphibians and insects in our books. 

In PSHE, we discussed the importance of sleep as part of healthy living, why it is important, what effect it is when we do not get enough sleep and ways to help improve sleep. We described our bedrooms to our partners to draw and then identified features of our rooms that helped or hindered our sleep. We then created posters and leaflets to show our understanding of sleep and promote better sleep for others. Below are some examples.

In RE this week, we have started the topic of Loving, and considered what love meant to us, how we show love to one another, and how God shows us unconditional love. We created mind maps of our definitions of love and made links to Christianity and the Bible. We also looked at the poem ‘Footprints in the Sand’ and created our own prayers/poems based on this. Below are some examples of our work.

Week bg. 5.9.22

We have started off the year in English by beginning our topic text of The Journey by Francesca Sanna. We explored the illustrator’s use of colour to express emotion and wrote poems based on The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe to describe the fear felt by the mother.

In science, we began the topic of animals including humans, and we used a fun pneumonic to help us remember the hierarchy (Katy Perry Comes Over For Grape Soda).

In RE, we researched our class Saint (Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta) and created a fact file on her life. We also explored our school’s mission statement and used drama to express how we can show care for others.

In PSHE, we discussed dreams and aspirations and designed dream jars for our futures. We have these displayed in our classroom to remind us what we are working hard for.

In PE, we started basketball for the half term, and worked on our pace and keeping up with our partners in a few games. 

We also had our Stunning Start for our topic of Mexico and Mayans this week. We tried our different foods, designed and created masks for Day of the Dead and recreated the Mexican flag. You can see pictures of this in the post below.

IMPORTANT DATES

Meet the Teacher - Tuesday 20th September 2022 - 3:10

Grandparents Week activity - Basketball - Friday 30th September 2022 - 2:00-3:00pm

Outdoor Learning - Thursday 13th October 2022

Welcome Mass - Thursday 13th October 2022

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

LEARNING OVERVIEW

Please click HERE to see our topic overview for this term in year six. Our theme for this term is 'Mexico and Mayans' which will be covered in History and Geography by Mrs Mulhern. The stunning start for this topic is today (09/09/22) and pictures and videos from this will be uploaded as soon as possible. 

READING

Please encourage your child to read as often as possible (ideally at least three times a week.) This can be by themselves, to a family member or to a sibling - and children, please remember to record it in the reading record books. These will be checked on a Monday.

PE

 PE days for this half term are on Wednesdays with Miss Pippa and Fridays with Miss Redmond. 

Miss Pippa will be teaching dance and I will be teaching basketball.

Children should have PE kits in school at all times, and a reminder about the expected uniform: black shorts, a green St Joseph's t-shirt and trainers or plimsolls.

ECT COVER

This term, Friday mornings will be taught by Mrs Mulhern for French, Geography and PSHE.

SPELLINGS

A paper copy of both the year 3/4 and 5/6 spelling lists will be sent home with your child. Children will be tested every Morning morning on their spellings. Spelling frame is a great resource for supporting your children with their spellings. Click HERE for a link to it.

HOMEWORK

Homework will be sent home through Google Classroom every week and expected to be submitted online by the following Monday. These will be marked and returned to your child online. 

Google Classroom homework will commence soon. In the meantime, paper homework will be given out.

UNIFORM

 A gentle reminder about uniform expectations, this includes plain black shoes or trainers. They also must be wearing a tie.

Anyone with long hair should have this tied up!

Thank you for all your support, we really do appreciate it.

Welcome to Year 6!

Dear children, parents and carers,

I am so excited to welcome everyone back for this new academic year and so pleased to be your class teacher. Rest assured I will do everything I can to ensure your children are happy and safe in my class and I cannot wait to get to know them even better and see them flourish as the year progresses. If you have any questions or just want a chat, please catch me after school and check this page regularly for updates from within the classroom. 

Here's to a fantastic year ahead :)

Miss Redmond

Information about applying to Cardinal Newman School for September 2023

Please find attached an information sheet for Year 6 pupils wishing to apply for a place at Cardinal Newman School in September. Click HERE