Year 6 News

The children have been working very hard to write a high-quality story, retelling the short film, 'Alma'. They have learnt about suspense writing and how to create atmosphere within their work. They have also worked hard to edit their own writing and that of their peers. The resulting narratives should be of a very high standard.

Year 6 carried on with lots of different core subject top ups this week, including, of course, Thursday's Year 6 only day, where the children had a balanced combination of targetted revision sessions, music and PE. They also had the school to themselves which was a rare treat! They also discussed how to notice physical concerns of health in PSHE as well as a rather frustrating sewing lesson for DT - more practise required possibly!

We are confident in saying that all of Year 6 are primed and ready to do the very best they can in their SATS next week, and we wish them all good luck.

This weekend - please insist you relax, go for a walk, do some exercise, enjoy time with friends and family, eat delicious food, drink plenty of water, do the things you love and get good sleep! The homework? Just reading for pleasure. We want our children to be well rested, well-fed and physically and emotionally prepared for next week. By Thursday lunch time SATS will all be over.

As part of our Maths learning about 3d shapes, the children were set the challenge of designing nets for dice, ensuring that opposite sides total 7. Children were surprised to find that there is more than one way to solve the challenge.

Our DT project has been hugely successful this week, and we were particularly proud of the way the children worked together so well. Collaboration is a key pillar underpinning our curriculum at Dorchester, and it was wonderful to see the children working well at both their DT skills and at working well together. Communication skills were used effectively as well as helping each other with more tricky challenges. The children's problem-solving skills were in full use!

The reaction to our History lesson about equality for women and how this had increased since 1945, produced some passionate responses from our children. One of the pillars of our curriculum is Fairness for All, and it was encouraging to see that the children in Year 6, who are nearing the end of their primary education, could recognise inequality and are so determined to eradicate it in the future.

In Maths this week, we have been exploring the volume of solid shapes. The children used cubes to explore the concept and were able to count them and then work out the formula for themselves. They enjoyed investigating various questions using the cubes too. The use of manipulatives always underpins our Maths teaching and helps us with our understanding of concepts.