AUTUMN TERM
1st HALF
Upper School News - Sept 2013
Welcome back to Upper School for Year 6 and welcome to our new Year 5 pupils
who have just joined us!
We hope you have had lovely summer holidays and you are looking forward to the
term ahead. The children have started to look at our new topic ‘The Victorians’ and
have already experienced a drama workshop based on the famous Victorian tale
Alice in Wonderland. They will also learn about inventions, children’s lifestyles, jobs
and the monarchy, and will experience a Victorian Day in Holly Lodge.
The topic will end with a ‘Great Victorian Christmas Exhibition’ for which the children
will make Victorian-style crafts ready for Christmas gifts.
Our RE unit this half term is entitled ‘Victorian Christianity’. Other topics will include
Dr Barnardo and we will be looking at how Sunday Schools began.
Our Science unit, ‘Circuits’, looks closely at electricity and how we can alter circuits
to suit different purposes. We will investigate the impact of changing components in
a circuit and revise health and safety issues around electricity.
Our P.E topics this term are health and fitness, and football.
Miss Hall (Helmsley), Mr McCann (Morton) and Miss Smith (Sherborne)
Homework
How often
Handed out
Returned by
Literacy
Weekly
Monday
Thursday
Maths
Weekly
Monday
Thursday
Topic
A few times per
half term
Thursday
Tuesday
Now your child is in Upper School they will receive literacy and maths homework
each week which should take up to 45 minutes. They will also receive spelling
homework from Mrs Friend-Smith’s SPaG lessons.
Spelling and Grammar Lessons (SPaG)
SPaG lessons will be taught on a Friday morning, covering areas of spelling,
punctuation and grammar. The children will be taught in year groups. They will have
spellings to learn and these will be tested every other Friday. Please encourage your
children to learn their spellings as this will help in many areas of the curriculum.
Autumn Events
Holly Lodge - Richmond Park
Upper School News - Sept 2013
As part of our new topic ‘The Victorians’ we will be going on a school trip to Holly
Lodge in Richmond Park. This trip will consist of three sessions including a Victorian
classroom session, a pharmacy session and a lesson about the discoveries of
medicines. The trips run on Tuesday 24th September (Year 5) and Thursday
26th September (Year 6). The children have been asked by Holly Lodge to dress up
for this trip as Victorian school children.
Isle of Wight
Another trip that plenty of Year 6 children (and perhaps parents) have been looking
forward to is the residential trip to the Isle to Wight. This trip is the week before
half term and, after a very active week, the children will return home for a restful
holiday! During this week the children will take part in a range of outward-bound
activities designed to develop their sporting abilities and strengthen their teamworking skills. Kit lists and more trip information will be available from the office or
from Miss Smith at the parents’ trip preparation session at 3.30pm on Wednesday
9th October, when there will be the opportunity to ask questions and solve any
queries.
Maths and Literacy Groups
The Upper School teachers have been busy looking at the children’s needs to set up
the literacy and maths classes. Your children were placed in their groups last week
and we will be monitoring this to ensure every child is being stretched, challenged
and supported appropriately. You may find your child changes groups during the
term; this is to ensure that your child is learning in the best environment for them.
Here is a list of some helpful maths websites:
http://www.mathplayground.com/games.html
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/
http://www.gamepuzzles.com/pparlor/puzzleparlmm.html
http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/dictionary.html
If your children would like to extend or support their literacy skills at home, then
here are some examples of literacy websites they might like to visit.
http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/storymaker.swf
http://www.roalddahl.com/
http://www.channel4learning.com/sites/bookbox/writerstoolkit/home.htm
Please be aware that all the links above are to external websites so please take the
normal precautions when using them.