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Year 6
Friday 24th October 2025: Week 7
Wow! What an amazing start to Year 6 we have had. This week in History, we took part in a silent debate, exploring the question: What was it like to have lived through World War II? Our responses were thoughtful and showed how much we’ve learnt about life during wartime. In Music, we continued rehearsing the funky fugue using the glockenspiels to create a canon piece! In D&T, we had a brilliant time hosting the Year 1s, who came to test our Steady Hand Games. It was a huge success and we loved sharing our work with them!
Friday 17th October 2025: Week 6
Year 6 have had a fantastic week full of action and creativity! On the rugby pitch, they put their defending skills to the test in fast-paced 5v5 games. In Music, they tackled a ‘funky fugue’ piece on the glockenspiels inspired by Bach! In gymnastics, they leapt into learning with high-flying jumps and plenty of energy. It’s been wonderful to see their confidence and teamwork shine.
Friday 10th October 2025: Week 5
This week, our Year 6 pupils have been busy across the curriculum: demonstrating strength and control in Gymnastics as they created sequences using body tension and balance; designing and decorating base boards in D&T with vibrant, playful themes to appeal to our learners in Year 1; exploring important social issues during a workshop on hate crime led by a visiting Police officer; and composing their own ground bass sequences in Music using glockenspiels, showing creativity. What a fantastic week of learning and collaboration!
Friday 3rd October 2025: Week 4
Friday 26th September 2025: Week 3
From energetic games of netball and tag rugby to powerful speeches as Winston Churchill boosting morale during WWII, our Year 6 pupils have shown incredible enthusiasm and creativity across the curriculum. They also enjoyed winding down with their favourite books during Free Reading Friday – a perfect end to a week of learning and fun!
Friday 19th September 2025: Week 2
Our pupils were fully immersed with Open Box, exploring the lives of WWII evacuees through engaging and interactive experiences. The children gained a deeper understanding of what life was like during wartime and showed great empathy and curiosity throughout. Also, they had the best time honing their tag rugby throwing skills – collaboration, energy, and lots of smiles all around!
Friday 12th September 2025: Week 1
Hands-on learning in full swing! Year 6 have been exploring rhythm and dynamics in Music with drums and body percussion, as well as getting stuck into sawing, assembling nets, and circuit-making in D&T. From beats to buzzers, creativity and curiosity are leading the way!
Welcome to Year 6 2024-2025
What Will My Child Learn This Half Term?
Friday 27th June 2025: Week 4
This week has been another busy week with us doing Sports Day, production rehearsals and lots of exciting learning across the curriculum. In computing, we have been using micro:bits and programming them change their display depending on the input we have designed. We thoroughly enjoyed this and impressed all the adults working with us with our understanding of using code.
Friday 20th June 2025: Week 4
This week we have enjoyed the sunny weather and being able to get outside to read our books in she shade. We have also been making our own structures and models with plasticine in Art before we designed the sculptures that we are going to make with sustainability in mind.
Friday 13th June 2025: Week 2
This week has been another busy one for us in Year 6. Production rehearsals are still in full swing and the songs are well and truly stuck in our heads now! We have also been making use of the nice weather, towards the end of the week, during Free Reading Friday.
Friday 6th June 2025: Week 1
We have had a brilliant first week back. This week we have begun to practise our end of year production, Peter Pan; continued our writing about the book Holes; and begun to look at what Andover what like during World War Two. During PE this week, we also began to practise our runnning, throwing and long jump reader for Sports’ Day!
Friday 23rd May 2025: Week 5
Another very busy, but very fun week, in Year 6 to finish the half term. This week the children have thoroughly enjoyed going out on their bikes during Bikeability and we have been so impressed with each and every one of them. They have also worked incredibly hard in their English lessons, writing non-chronological reports about the Yellow-Spotted Lizard from the book Holes. During Free-Reading Friday today, the children caught up with some of the recent news whilst reading First News.
Friday 16th May 2025: Week 4
A huge well done to each of the children in Year 6 for their hard work and amazing attitude to SATs week. We are all incredibly proud of you all!! Whilst they have worked so hard this week, there has also been lots of time to enjoying ourselves making buggies and on our trip to Trinley!
Friday 9th May: Week 3
This week the children enjoyed using different resources to create structures as part of our Art & Design learning journey. They thought about how to make them strong as well as thinking about a message that can be portrayed through art, like our Artist this term Ai WeiWei does. The children have continued to work hard towards their SATs next week and we are very proud of each and every one of them.
Friday 2nd May 2025: Week 2
This week the children have continued to work extremely hard whilst also enjoying being outside in the lovely weather playing Cricket. They also thoroughly enjoyed playing the boomwhakers in Music as part of out Pop Art unit of work.
Friday 25th April 2025: Week 1
The children have made such a good start to the Summer term: they have been working incredibly hard and for that we are very proud of them. In PE this this week, we have been learning about different types of throwing and catching – we then enjoyed playing games of Cricket and Rounders to practise these skills.
Friday 3rd April: Week 18
What a wonderful week of sunshine! In today’s outdoor PE lesson the Year 6’s had a go at playing different types of rounders, utilising all their ball skills learnt from Badminton this term. Year 6 have had a brilliant term, they have showed lots of perseverance across the curriculum, especially in Maths and Guided Reading. We hope you all have a lovely Easter and look forward to seeing you all after the break!
Friday 28th March: Week 17
In Art these past few weeks, Year 6 have been investigating tone, tint and shade. The children created their own colour wheels and thought about how opposing colours compliment each other. This will be useful next week, when the children will be creating their own painting based on surrealism. Similarly, in Science Year 6 investigated the damaging effects of smoking and vaping. The children were able to record and retrieve information from online sources and present their findings to their peers.
Friday 21st March: Week 16
Year 6 have worked extremely hard this week, especially in Maths and Guided Reading so they all thoroughly enjoyed our Fitness Friday PE session outside, where our Sports Leaders led different fitness based activities. The children enjoyed working collaboratively in group challenges as well as persevering in high-intensity fitness games. What a lovely end to a hard-working week, well done Year 6!
Friday 14th March: Week 15
Year 6 loved putting their fitness skills to the test today! From skipping to running 30 meter sprints, the children were able to record their success at completing high energy activities. Similarly, the Year 6 also enjoyed investigating how their pulse is affected by physical exercise as they have been looking at the Circulatory System in Science. To record their data, the children used pulse meters which also showed them their oxygen level. The children were able to recognise and understand that their pulse was higher after doing exercise as more deoxygenated blood is being pumped around their body.
Friday 7th March: Week 14
As it was World Book Day this week, Year 6 learnt about the Federation’s focus author: Aaron Becker. He is an author and illustrator of wordless books such as: The Journey, The Tree and the River and The Last Zookeeper. The children especially enjoyed making inferences about what was happening in the book ‘The Last Zookeeper’ and were able to use their amazing imaginations to write a narrative based on the storm image found in the book. For the rest of the afternoon, Year 6 enjoyed sharing their love for reading with each other outside in the sunshine.
Friday 28th February 2025: Week 13
Year 6 have had a brilliant first week back! The children have loved getting active this week, especially in PE. During their outdoor PE lesson, Year 6 focused on the underarm technique in Badminton. By the end of the lesson, the children were able to perform a rally using their new skills of control and precision. Watch out Gail Emms, Balksbury has some rising Badminton stars in the making!
Friday 7th February 2025: Week 12: Anti- Bullying Week
This week was Anti- Bullying week. The whole Federation learnt about how bullying happens rarely at Balksbury and how we should accept everyone’s uniqueness. Likewise, to support our learning, Year 6 looked at the story ‘Wonder’. The children discussed how the boy, Auggie, felt lonely until he was shown kindness by another boy who accepted Auggie for his individuality. This concept linked in with our Assembly focus for this term: ‘Kindness comes from the heart’.
Friday 7th February 2025: Week 12
Year 6 loved exploring and investigating how glass prisms can produce a ‘Spectrum of Light’ in our Science lesson this week. Similarly, the Year 6s also learnt about ‘refraction’ and how light rays bend when entering a thick medium such as water.
Friday 31st January 2025: Week 11
In our indoor PE lesson this week, Year 6 had to the opportunity to create their own gymnastics routine. The children were able to implement concepts they had learnt throughout the term into their routine. For example, they included: jumps, rolls, examples of counter -balance and counter- tension within their sequence. Each class enjoyed demonstrating their ideas to one and other. Great job Year 6!
Friday 24th January 2025: Week 10
Year 6 have enjoyed getting practical with their learning this week. In Design and Technology, Year 6 experimented with different materials and worked collaboratively together to create a scale model a piece of apparatus found in a playground. Likewise, in Science, the children also experimented how a light source (torch) is affected by colours, how shadows are formed and how light is reflected off an object and back into a person’s eye.
Friday 17th January 2025: Week 9
Year 6 have loved getting outside and active this week (even in the cold weather!). For outdoor PE this term, Year 6 are learning how to play a game of Dodgeball successfully utilising the skills of dodging and collaboration. In this week’s lesson the children practiced their communication skills by working in a team to get other children out with the ball.
Friday 10th January 2025: Week 8
Welcome back Year 6! All of Year 6 have had a brilliant first week back at the Federation. Year 6 especially enjoyed their Design and Technology lesson were they got to explore and test different materials. The children investigated what materials would be suitable for their final outcome which involves them working collaboratively to design and create a playground. They thought about which materials could withstand weight, which were malleable, what materials where soft and what materials they would need for different parts of their playground design. The children thoroughly enjoyed this lesson and are looking forward to designing their playground structures on the computer next week.
Friday 20th December 2024: Week 7
We cannot believe it is the last week of Autumn term! This week, we have enjoyed plotting co-ordinates to create Christmas images. In ICT, we applied the knowledge and skills we have learnt across the half-term to plan an event using Excel Spreadsheet. In English, we enjoyed writing our own poems and performing them to the class.
Friday 13th December 2024: Week 6
This week in Year 6, we have enjoyed writing our final outcome in English – The Santa Trap! In Art & Design, we applied the knowledge and skills we have learnt across the learning journey to create a draft of our final pieces – we are incredibly impressed with the artistic talent across the cohort!
Friday 6th December 2024: Week 5
This week in Geography, we thoroughly enjoyed looking at the ingredients for a traditional ramen recipe; we researched where each ingredient came from and how many miles it had travelled to reach us. Then, we identified alternative ingredients that could be sourced locally, to reduce carbon dioxide, and support the local economy. In Art & Design, we explored tone, highlight, shadow and contrast by adding shading to our Manga drawings. This week in P.E, we learnt how to shoot in netball. We loved having the opportunity to apply our defending skills to create pressure on the shooter.
Friday 29th November 2024: Week 4
This week we have loved making our bespoke gifts for the Christmas Jingle! We hope they bring everyone as much enjoyment as we had whilst making them. In English, we began our new Learning Journey; we read our new text driver Santa Trap by Johnathan Emmett; using our Guided Reading skills, we made predictions about what would happen next in the book, then presented our ideas to the class.
Friday 22nd November 2024: Week 3
This week we have enjoyed setting up circuits in Science to investigate how the brightness of a bulb changes based on how many components are within the circuit. In P.E, we enjoyed developing our teamwork and ball skills in Netball. In Art & Design, we loved exploring facial expressions and portraits!
Friday 15th November 2024: Week 2
This week in Year 6 we have enjoyed developing our netball skills in P.E, with a focus on evading defenders this week. Planning out our twisted version of the traditional tale Little Red Riding Hood has provided lots of entertainment: the Wolf faces many gruesome endings! In Health & Wellbeing, we expressed our views through silent discussion by writing our ideas on paper and responding to our peers’ ideas.
Friday 8th November 2024: Week 1
The first week back has flown by! In Music, we had an engaging lesson composing music using steel drums in the tipi. We loved acting out the story of Little Red Riding Hood in English – especially the role of the Big Bad Wolf! In Art & Design, we explored using different media such as: charcoals, pens and art pencils to create Manga art.
Thursday 24th October 2024: Week 8
Wow! What a wonderful last week Year 6 have had. We loved having the Year Rs in the classroom to test our Steady Hand Games; we were so pleased with how amazing they looked and how well they performed! Well done for all your hard work this term Year 6!
Friday 18th October 2024: Week 7
This week in Year 6, we have enjoyed playing tournaments of tag rugby in P.E. We enjoyed having the opportunity to play against all three classes. In D&T, we attached our wires onto our base boards; we are happy with how they are looking so far.
Friday 11th October 2024: Week 6
Year 6 have had an amazing week this week. Our visit from Open Box was the highlight for many of us – we always have the best time! We enjoyed using the apparatus in P.E for gymnastics; we practised our rolls, jumps and travelling (we spotted a few potential gymnasts amongst us – watch out 2028 Olympics!). In D&T, our Steady Hand Games are coming along well; we cannot wait to test them once they’re fully assembled.
Friday 4th October 2024: Week 5
Another amazing week for Year 6! Our D&T steady hand games are steadily progressing; this week we assembled the circuits that will be used. In P.E, we played games of tag rugby; we applied the skills we have learnt over the last few weeks to successfully defend and attack.
Friday 27th September 2024: Week 4
One of our favourite moments this week was during our English lesson on Monday: we took part in a rock, paper, scissors championship to kick off our new learning journey. However, a highlight for majority of Year 6 was using the saws in D&T to begin the construction of our steady hand games – we cannot wait to finish our projects and try them out!
Friday 20th September 2024: Week 3
This week we have enjoyed making use of our outdoor learning areas. In Science, we collected data on living organisms and non-living items to sort and discuss. We practised greeting each other on the playground during class assembly. In History, we used our knowledge of WWII to sort and order a series of events into a timeline.
Friday 13th September 2024: Week 2
Another amazing week for Year 6! We particularly enjoyed exploring replica WWII evacuee suitcases; it was interesting to see what possessions children would’ve taken with them to the countryside. We enjoyed dressing up in some of the items – especially the glasses and hats!
Friday 6th September 2024: Week 1
We cannot believe how amazing our first week in Year 6 has been! It has been lovely to see everyone and hear about their summer holidays. Miss Romain, Miss Hackman and Miss Cruz have been super impressed with how well everyone has settled in and they cannot wait to see what the rest of Autumn term brings. Have a wonderful weekend.
See below to see pictures of our Free Reading Friday session and our D&T lesson where we explored different construction materials.
