Spring 2 - Samba Music Performance
We were very lucky to be given a performance by a band from Hackney City Academy. The music was loud, the rhythm was thumping and then the children were able to get involved and try the instruments themselves.
Spring 2 - Spanish Assembly
As part of our ongoing Spanish practice the whole school took part in a sharing assembly of what we’ve learned so far. We decided to put all of our knowledge into a video pretending we were giving a weather forecast for Hackney. Feel free to watch our video below and see if you can guess the different weather phenomena happening in Hackney. Enjoy!
Spring 2 - World Book Day
Chestnut Class got into the spirit of all things literary for World Book Day 2024. We had some absolutely superb efforts for our costumes and the class really enjoyed being their favourite characters.
Spring 2 - Forest School
February brought about our first Spring visit to Forest School. There were buds and blossoms starting to appear on the trees and it was definitely warmer than the last time we went! We found worms, climbed trees, dug, picked litter and even bumped into the same police officer we met last time. Children also used buckets and rope to take water from the canal… until the bucket went on an adventure downstream…
Spring 1 - Diverse Voices Workshops
To link in with our PSHE learning and also to help us prepare for the big move to secondary school, Year 6 have been lucky enough to have five workshops working with the charity Diverse Voices.
In five sessions, one per week (and with a final two remaining after half term,) we have been working with Anton and Torian looking at all sorts of common behaviours and worries and issues that might arise at secondary school. We have discussed our opinons on how might react is scenarios, we have roleplayed healthy conflict resolutions and we have offered our different opinions on social media and its correct uses. We also occasionally engaged in some drama games to help blow off steam after the more serious conversations, as you’ll see below!
Spring 1 - Spanish
So far in Year 6 we have recapped our basics, then we looked at the days of the week and months of the year. In Spring 1 our focus has been the weather! We’ve been learning types of weather, and how to say what the weather is in the north, east, south and west of a place.
As has been usual for this time of year, hace frio y lloviendo! (It's cold and raining!)
Spring 1 - Hackney Junior Citizens Workshop
Year 6 were lucky to take part in a workshop at Hackney Youth Centre this term. The children met with police officers, transport officers, road safety experts and even fire fighters to help build their independence.
The focus on transport was really helpful preparation for September as many children will be travelling to their new secondary schools independently. They also looked at how to practice mindfulness, look after their teeth and health and conduct themselves in emergencies.
Spring 1 - Re Topic - Buddhism
In Spring 1 our RE focus was Buddhism. We looked at the story of Buddha and how the religion started. We looked at beliefs and customs of Buddhists and we took part in meditations and relaxing activities to help us clear our minds. We learned about the symbols of Buddhism, including the lotus flower, and we made lotus flowers using origami to celebrate our learning.
Autumn 2 - Visit to RAF Hendon
Chestnut Class had a fabulous time on our trip to the RAF museum in Hendon. It was a great day, even if it did take a long time to get there! We saw many different aircrafts and were amazed to see how big some of them were in real life; even more surprising was the size of the bombs! We got to look at some interactive games where we designed our own planes which was great fun. We took part in a brilliant workshop which allowed us to experience the festive period during wartime. Chestnut Class were fantastic throughout the whole day!
Autumn 2 - Science
This term we have been looking at the wonders of electricity. What it is, how it works, why we need to be safe with it and how it can be used. For our working scientifically exercise we had to pose our own investigation question and then plan an experiment to help us find out the answer. For example: what will happen to my bulb if I keep on adding buzzers to the circuit? You can see us carrying out our investigations below.
Autumn 2 - Forest School
It’s fair to say our Autumn 2 visit to Forest School was a very different experience compared to our warm, sunny visit during Autumn 1. Chestnut Class braved the chill and the rain and went exploring for worms, they built shelters, the dug holes, created woven materials and had a great time. At one point we were even visited by local police officers who were keen to join in with all the fun!
Autumn 2 - DT
For our design topic this term we looked in depth at Anderson Shelters (which ties in to our WW2 topic.) The children had to design and then make their shelter and try to ensure it would withstand three dangerous tests:
We dropped ‘bombs’ on them… (water bottles!)
We rained on them… (also water bottles!)
We had to ensure they were able to accommodate a human ( Lego man.)
Autumn 2 - Music
In music, the children have been learning WW2 songs to support our topic. Sycamore learnt 'Pack up your troubles' and Chestnut 'It's a long way to Tipperary'. We then joined together and sang them in the round. 👏 🎶
Autumn 1 Computing - Adventure Games
In Autumn 1 we created a variety of different games using Scratch (a block based visual coding website!) Some of our games involved dodging comets or making rockets blast off. Other games included text based games where answering different questions made different results occur. Below is a tiny example of mini-game we made to practise using variable codes to create a score counter.
Autumn 1 - Local History Week
Chestnut Class looked at refugees and immigration for Local History Week. We discussed what it means to be an immigrant or a refugee. We looked at how our current media is unfortunately creating quite a toxic and negative view of refugees while forgetting their humanity and the fact they have their own rich life stories just the same as anyone else. We decided to take photos of refugees and reinvent their portraits in a positive light to show our support for those fleeing their homes to stay safe.
Autumn 1 -Hear Our Voice Project
Year 6 have been lucky enough to be involved in three workshops looking at the Holocaust. We learned using art, drama and music and considered our own identity and what it means to lose one’s sense of self.
Autumn 1- WOW Day!
We began learning about WW2 and to kick our topic off to a great start the children in Year 6 packed a suitcase with all their formal documents and some personal items too. We thought about what items would remind us of home if we were evacuated to the countryside for safety. We used the drama technique of freeze frames to recreate stages of the evacuation process and understand the emotions of this time. Throughout our wow day, sirens would go off during our lessons and we had to climb under our tables to be safe!
Summer 2 - PGL
Year 6 had a fantastic time at PGL’s Osmington Bay site in June! We conquered our fears and tried all sort of activities: climbing, sailing, the giant swing, dragon boat racing, aeroball and many, many more!
Summer 1 - Hackney Museum & St Augustine's Tower
We visited Hackney Museum and climbed the oldest building in Hackney! The view from the top was amazing and we learned a lot about Hackney’s history and who has moved to Hackney when and why.
Summer 1 - Dragon's Den.
Year 6 took part in a project after SATs where they designed, planned and presented an invention to our very own team of Dragons! We are sure you will agree that they all looked the part and their ideas were amazing!
