Year 6 have had a busy half term comparing the lifestyles of people in Britain from the 1940s through to the 1960s. We learned all about the Windrush Generation and how the British Citizens from the Caribbean helped to rebuild Britain after the war; we even had a virtual visit from Hadassah and Mrs Cyril, who told us about their experiences as one of the Windrush Generation. It was brilliant! We can’t thank them enough for their valuable input in helping us to understand about this important period in our history.
What a difference was made to people’s lives in the 1960s! After all those years of struggle and sacrifice, people finally had money to spend on clothes, holidays and new technologies. We learned about the rise in environmental awareness and how industrialisation had hugely impacted communities such as Aberfan.
The children participated in a virtual 1960s workshop; they had a tour of a typical 1960s house and compared and contrasted it with their own homes; how televisions have changed! As part of our ‘Expressive Arts’ work, we have also been listening to some 1960s music in class. We have appraised a number of Beatles hits and identified the musical elements within each song. The children particularly enjoyed listening to the catchy ‘Yellow Submarine’ record! We have been sketching in the style of Roy Lichtenstein and created some lovely colourful pop art. We have also used our digital skills to create a Andy Warhol’s ‘Campbell’s Soup’ style digital picture.
As ethically informed citizens, the children have learnt about Syria and Syrian refugees and, inspired by the book, ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class,’ written persuasive letters to Boris Johnson about the need to support refugees in our country. We will share these letters on SeeSaw for you to read, please take a look!
The children have been thoroughly enjoying our ‘Top Gear’ Theme as part of this half-term. They have had to work together as a class following a detailed instruction manual to build an electric kit car. They have used various tools, wired electronics as well as designing bodywork and logos. We have been super impressed with the children’s problem solving and STEM skills. We certainly have engineers of the future! Each class has voted on a favourite name for their car: ‘Green is Clean! (6JJ), ‘Lamborgreenie’ (6KL/LR) and ‘ The Exotic Rider’ (6ES). The cars will be ‘race ready’ after half term. We all cannot wait to get them on the starting line! Watch this space for a full race report!
We can’t wait for the Greenpower event on Saturday 7th May; all three cars are working well, thanks to our brilliant children and our STEM Ambassadors from Siemens; they have attended STEM Club every week and helped Y6 groups to learn and practise new skills.
Earlier on in the term we received a grant entitled ‘The Winter of Wellbeing Grant’. The grant money was to be put towards activities to support children’s wellbeing post-pandemic. We decided to spread the money across all year groups of statutory aged children to ensure all learners benefited. As a result, Year 6 participated in a variety of sporting activities at Newport Velodrome. The activities included Football, Badminton, Turbo Touch Rugby, Table Tennis and Multi-skills. It was lovely to see all of the children having so much fun taking part in the variety of activities and supporting one another throughout the day.
What an incredibly busy term we have had. We are racing ahead to our final term with Year Six and we cannot wait to make it a memorable and special one!
