Year 6

Welcome to Year 6

Class Teacher: Mr Ascroft

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Brooks

A massive welcome to all Year 6 children, parents and visitors. I am extremely pleased and excited about working with you this year. Year 6 is hard work but I know, together, we are going to have a very successful year. I promise to do my absolute best for the children in Year 6; if there are any queries or questions you have, please do not hesitate to talk to me after school. 

I love sport and still play football and cricket on a weekly basis as well as supporting my favourite team; Tottenham Hotspur! Long walks in the countryside and visiting new places is something I look forward to and I look forward to finding all about the children's hobbies throughout the year!

Mr Ascroft

Welcome back prayer

Key information

►Reading - Reading is at the heart of all our learning at Holy Family. To support this at home, please could all children ensure that they read their school reading book every night and that the planner is signed by an adult. Alongside this, it is also key that all children select their own reading for pleasure book which they will also have opportunities to read and share with others in school. I can't wait to hear about all the 'Recommended Reads' from each of the children and any new vocabulary which they may have collected on their reading journeys. 

►Spellings - Every Friday, all children will receive a new spelling list based on spelling rules/patterns which have been our focus in class. Please can all children learn ready for the following Wednesday. It is also key that the children understand any new words met and can apply into their writing. To support this, please could all children take each spelling word and put it into their own engaging sentence which can shared back in class. All written homework must be presented to the highest standard. 

►Homework - All children will be given weekly English or maths homework. This is to be completed and returned to school as required. 

►PE - PE will take place every Wednesday and Friday. All children must have the correct school PE kit of white t-shirt and black shorts. (Track suits may be worn as the weather turns colder). Please ensure that all children have trainers to enable them to fully participate in this key subject. 

In Design Technology, Year 6 cooked a 3 course meal based on World War 1 recipes...

During the Spring term, in Literacy, Year 6 wrote a diary entry from the trenches of World War 1 and Rondeau poetry linked to the famous war poem; Flanders Fields

Shaping Stainforth

Members of our Year 6 class recently visited London as part of the 'Shaping Stainforth' project. The children had a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament and the House of Lords. They were also given an opportunity to meet their local MP and voice their opinions on different ways to improve the city of Doncaster. Both children were a credit to the school and were extremely appreciative of the opportunity to visit our capital city and see the opportunities which exist beyond their own town.

Year 6 learnt about the 5 pillars of Islam and the what Islams do during the Zakat (give to the poor)

Year 6 started their Lent topic with a lovely, reflective Celebration of the Word

In PE this week, Year 6 learnt to develop bowling technique under pressure whilst abiding by the rules of the game

Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Crucial Crew! They learnt life lessons involving water safety, fire safety, a courtroom reenactment, arson, child criminal exploitation, bus safety, knife and hate crime and road safety!

During the iSafe unit, Year 6 learnt the importance of keeping safe online by keeping personal information safe, choosing strong passwords to protect accounts, looking at scenarios about kindness and how we would help others, changing negatives messages to positive messages, thinking about using tone and written messages online, getting help online if needed and looking at different scenarios and if we would report them or not. 

In iData, Year 6 used cell references on a picture to crack a code and reveal a picture, used spreadsheets to solve calculations, entered formula, created spreadsheets to input and show data and planned a party showing costs using a spreadsheet. 

During this half term in RSE, Year 6 learnt about body image (the importance of body image and how it can have an effect on people), peculiar feelings (knowing which behaviours are wrong and that we must take responsibility for our actions and that people can react differently based on their circumstances), emotional changes (identifying what angers or upsets them and thinking of coping strategies to use in their life), seeing stuff online (how the internet can influence people and what to do for next steps), making babies (understanding the science behind how babies are made) and menstruation. 

In lesson 5, Year 6 used music notation to create visual representations of TIKI-TIKI, TI-TIKI and TIKI-TI rhythms

In lesson 4, Year 6 learnt to play TIKI-TIKI, TI-TIKI and TIKI-TI rhythms

Year 6 listened and then performed a theme using body percussion and then added vocals

Year 6 related sounds of different instruments to pieces of pop art

Year 6 studied the Bible in great detail, understanding the Gospels, different books within the Bible and a range of scripture

Year learnt how to describe their house, rooms and objects in French

Year 6 analysed a famous painting, explored how artists can tell a story through art and then creating their own artwork that told a story - children chose the media they preferred to use. 

Year 6 represented fractions, found equivalent fractions and decimals, added and subtracted fractions, multiplied fractions and divided fractions

Year 6 wrote a flashback narrative based on the clip, The Piano

Year 6 learnt all about Journalistic writing and wrote their own newspaper on the outbreak of World War 1

Year 6 really enjoyed Book Talk this half term which focused on the book, Private Peaceful (which links to our topic). 

Some children from Year 5 and 6 attended an Athletics tournament at Trinity High School!

This week's gymnastic lesson involved children creating a sequence using elements from previous weeks' learning 

Year 6 explored musical concepts of theme and variation and practised rhythm 

Year 6 worked well in gymnastics this week focusing on developing counter balance and counter tension

Year 6 were learning to develop the straddle, pencil and tuck roll this week in PE

Year 6 immersed themselves into adventure narratives by watching clips from adventure films, analysed an adventure narrative for key features, practised the skills of organising paragraphs and a range of cohesive devices and then, planned and wrote their own adventure narrative

Year 6 immersed themselves by following a set of instructions around school, analysed instructional texts, practised including imperative verbs and adverbials of time and then planned and wrote a set of instructions useful for an adventurer. 

Year 6 have enjoyed reading the adventure narrative - The Explorer. We learnt lots of reading skills such as predicting, summarising, retrieving information and a variety of inference skills. 

In Missing Angles and Lengths, Year 6 learnt angle facts, angles in triangles and quadrilaterals, missing angles and lengths and recapped on measuring and drawing angles accurately 

During Advent, Year 6 learnt about the time of expectation, the prophet's expectation of the Messiah, Mary's expectation, the word of God, John the Baptist's expectation and that Christ will come again.

In RE, Year 6 learnt about commitment in life, the vocation of the priesthood and religious life and celebrated the word through reflection and prayer

Year 6 researched about the famous, and influential, Nelson Mandela. We then wrote a non-chronological report based on his life and achievements...

Year 6 now know football vocabulary in French, footballer profiles, where footballers come from and created their own footballer profile in French

In Mapping the World, Year 6 learnt what maps can tell us, how to locate places on a map, how to read an Ordnance Survey map and then how to plan fieldwork in our local area - we then conducted fieldwork and presented our findings using tables. 

Year 6 learnt how to arrange organisms into groups, what classification is, how we can classify vertebrates, invertebrates and plants and what microorganisms are.

Year 6 read a letter from a client and created a design brief, wrote a program to provide multiple functions, developed a sustainable concept, developed this using 3D CAD skills and designed a pitch to sell the product. 

Year 6 learnt about their own gifts and talents, boys' bodies and their changes, girls' bodies and their changes and about spots and the importance of a good nights sleep!

Picture News helps remind us of our British Values as well as being aware of news articles from around the world. Year 6 find them very interesting to reflect on...

Year 6 attended a National Literacy Trust event that included the famous Matt Lucas!!! He was promoting his new book - The Boy Who Slept Through Christmas!

In lessons 4 and 5, Year 6 composed their own piece of music as a group, using different instruments to create pitch, dynamics and texture. One member of the group was a conductor who kept the class in time. We then reflected and gave constructive comments to improve our performances...

In lessons 2 and 3, Year 6 discussed the definitions and differences between dynamics, pitch and texture and then used musical instruments (such as glockenspiels) to create texture and waves...

In lesson 1 of our Music topic (Dynamics, pitch and tempo), we appraised the work of a classical composer - Felix Mendelssohn. We discussed what we liked and disliked about the music and thought about what the music was about...

In iNetwork, Year 6 have learnt about networking, the connections between the internet, internet addresses, search engines and planning, designing and creating digital content...

Year 5/6 boys represented the school extremely well in the Doncaster Schools inter-school football tournament where they narrowly missed out on the semi-finals

Year 6 enjoyed pushing themselves in a body weight circuit that focused on strength

Year 6 enjoyed using their own body weight to improve their strength!

Year 6 took part in an event by Picture News that focused on our British values!

Year 6 joined a National Literacy Trust Event that promoted the book; The Great Green Escape. Children listened and learned about how to make a big impact on our world for future generations...

Year 6 enjoyed their time at the local Stainforth library reading a variety of books for pleasure...

Year 6 held a Remembrance Day service at the local cenotaph to pay our respects to those who sacrificed themselves during the war...

Year 6 - Fitness Unit

Year 6 developed an awareness of what their body was able to do through various strenuous exercises including long distance running and even press ups!

Year 6 have really enjoyed their art topic; Drawing - Making my Voice Heard. In this unit children exploring different drawing techniques, looked at how symbolism can be conveyed in art, the technique of Chiaroscuro and applied this to our topic and their own design...

In Maths, Year 6 have completed their second topic; Multiplication and Division. Children learned place value including up to 3 decimal places, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000, prime numbers, factors and common factors, and formal methods for multiplication and division...

In Literacy, Year 6's second journey built up to writing a non-chronological report about the Greek Gods. We also produced a creative write which focused on a setting description of Pandora - the setting of the film Avatar!

In Book Talk, Year 6 have really enjoyed reading and answering a variety of comprehension questions on our class book; Who Let the Gods Out? by Maz Evans...

In Computing, Year 6 have designed and developed their own programs using Scratch!

In Science, Year 6's first topic was Light and Perception; children now understand how we see, how shadows are formed, what reflection and refraction mean, the colours of light according to Sir Isaac Newton and light pollution...

Year 6 took part in the Literacy Trust initiative Take 10 which involves 10 minutes reading for pleasure. We also met the famous Susie Gent from Countdown who talked to us about how reading is an important pleasure in her life...

Year 6's first RE topic was Family; Loving where children learned about love, God's love and the meaning of unconditional love through the story of the Prodigal Son...

This half term, Year 6 children have studied Ancient Greece; they have gained knowledge on the first Greek civilisations, how Ancient Greece was ruled, the Persian Wars, the Athenians and the Spartans, the achievements of Alexander the Great and the impact Ancient Greece still has on life today...

During this week's PE lesson, Year 6 used a variety of attacking skills to beat a defender and applied this into a game situation...

During this week's PE lesson, Year 6 children concentrated on the art of being a defensive unit in order to stop an attack from scoring...

Year 6 children really enjoyed their Art lesson on Chiaroscuro; adding dark and light tones to create 3D form...

Year 6 children enjoyed writing their first journey in Literacy - a myths and legends character description based on the Greek God of the Underworld, Hades! 

Year 6 children completed their first ARK Maths Mastery Unit - Integers and Decimals. Children learnt how to read and write numbers numbers beyond a million, understand place value, round to various amounts and addition and subtraction...

Below are pictures of Year 6 children taking part in Scotty's Heroes - Scott put the children through their paces by working on cardiovascular fitness and teamwork...

PE - Tag Rugby

Year 6 children learnt how to select the appropriate skill in different situations, knowing when to run and when to pass

The information and evidence below is for Academic Year 2022-2023

Computing - iNetwork

Year 6 children developed their understanding of networking and the internet and data representation

Computing - iData

Year 6 developed their understanding of formula and spreadsheets

Computing - iApp 2

Year 6 designed and created their very own gaming app using App Inventor

Computing - iApp

Year 6 wrote and created their own app with a specific action; they tested their apps and corrected any errors. 

Computing - iProgram

Year 6 planned, created and tested their very own computer game program!

Computing - iSafe

Year 6 created posters and leaflets and held discussions all about the various elements of keeping safe online such as passwords, privacy settings, harassment, bullying and trusted adults

Visiting  a Town in France

During this unit Year 6 were able to describe their route to school, give directions to places in a town, travelling to France through role play, give opinions, identify grammatical features and even make their own passport!

Planning a French Holiday

Year 6 were able to plan their French holiday including using the future tense, describe what will be in their suitcase, read a simple story and plan a holiday to France!

In My French House

Children were able to understand the different elements of a house and family as well as describing rooms and where they live...

French Football Champions

During this unit, Year 6 were able to pronounce new vocabulary, construct sentences and make football player profiles!

French Sport and the Olympics

Year 6 learned about French Sport and the Olympics; they accurately pronounced the name of a sport and were able to construct simple sentences regarding a sport

Design Technology - Structure

Year 6 researched different designs that emergency services use for emergency shelters. The children then designed their own and made them using wood, screws, nails, saws and wood glue..

Design Technology - Electrical and Mechanical systems

Year 6 researched what morse code is and what it was used for. They then designed their own morse code electrical system and made this using electrical equipment...

Art - Painting

Year 6 researched the famous artist Henry Moore and even visited Doncaster Museum to see the artwork the children would be replicating! Children combined drawing and painting into mixed media artwork focusing on Henry Moore's war art...

Art - Sculpture

Year 6 studied the famous artist, Mary E Rodgers. Children looked at her various designs for sculptures around the world. Inspired by these, children designed their own and transferred these onto clay by making clay pots....

History - Making Our Mark

During this topic, children learned about important issues around the world such as; different types of protests, justice, gender equality, racial equality and LGBTQ..

Year 6 - Circulation and Lifestyle

During this topic, children learned all about the circulatory system and the effect that exercise and drugs can have on the human body...

Year 6 - Electricity and Circuits

During this topic, children learned about electricity, electrical components, series circuits, parallel circuits, how we measure electricity and how we make electrical items safe...

Take a look at some examples of final pieces from Year 6 that our external moderators were really impressed by...

Parents were invited to a Maths workshop called 'Keeping up with the kids'. Parents were able to work with their children on arithmetic and reasoning problems throughout the sessions. 

In Year 6 Science, we explored Light and perception learning about how we see, how light reflects, how light moves, what colour light is, understanding light pollution and completing two investigations involving torches, mirrors and shadows!

Year 6 have really enjoyed being creative when presenting their work about Ancient Egypt...

St Bernadette Relic Tour 2022

The children in year 6 were honoured to take part in a once in a lifetime opportunity- to visit the relics of St Bernadette.

The children travelled to Doncaster on the bus and continued their Pilgrimage of Faith by visiting St Peter in Chains church where the relics had travelled to, all the way from Lourdes.

Take a look at the video below to join us on our journey.

Year 6 have completed their first RE journey - Loving. We met our learning objectives through different forms of writing, art, freeze frames and role play! The children have produced some fabulous work...

Year 6 have completed the Year 6 unit on Place Value. They understood number, place value, rounding and negative numbers!

Year 6 children's first Writing journey was building up to writing a set of instructions on the process of mummification. We immersed ourselves in instructions by following a map and guidelines around school, we analysed the key features of a range of instruction texts, we learned how to include key skills, then we researched, drafted, wrote and edited an independent write. They did an amazing job!

Important reminder regarding High School applications...

SECONDARY APPLICATIONS -  SEPTEMBER 2023
Applications for September 2023 are now live.

Families who do not apply will be allocated alternative schools during the summer term (approximately 50 pupils in 2022).
The national closing date is 31 October 2022 and the announcement date is 1 March 2023.
All applications made by this date will be considered together.
Applications for all community schools, academies and church schools should be made online using the following webpage by clicking on the “APPLY NOW FOR YEAR 7 SEPTEMBER” button.

www.doncaster.gov.uk/services/schools/secondary-admissions