Kite Class | Stretham Community Primary School

Week Beginning Monday 15th July - Last week at Stretham for Year 6

...and so we come to our last website post of the academic year. In fact, it is also the last post of primary school for our lovely Year 6s of Kite class. This week, we have made the most of all our opportunities to try different enrichment activities and spend time together. We have:

- enjoyed a final trip together to Forest School where we made pizza wraps, sang around the fire and free played in the trees,

- swam in our fabulous school pool for the last few times,

- celebrated with our familes at Leavers' Evening,

- engaged with a fantastic Lego programming Masterclass run by Mr. Everest from Kings Ely, where we created vehicles to challenge each other in a programmable tug-o-war,

- completed our final free write based on an eerie short film stimulus called Alma,

- participated in our last couple of RSE sessions,

- spent time with our little buddies,

- engaged in PE with Mr. Cox and Computing with Mrs. Bowen for one last time,

- enjoyed our final, hard-earned reward time by watching the original 'The Wizard of Oz' and sharing tasty treats,

- packed up our school possessions;

and finally,

- said farewell to Stretham Primary School for the last time at our Leavers' Events (assembly, lunch and 'Parade of Honour') on the last day.

Thank you for being an outstanding Year 6 class, Kites. We have loved watching you blossom and bloom over your time at Stretham and are glad we got to be part of your stories. We know that each and every one of your futures is bright so keep on shining! We will miss you all!

Week Beginning Monday 8th July

What an outstanding week in Kite class!

Monday was the dress rehearsal for the UKS2 production of 'The Wizard of Oz' starring our Year 6 actors in the lead roles and supported by the Year 5 ensemble. The rehearsal was enjoyed by the remainder of the school and was a helpful preparation step before our two evening performances of the show on Tuesday and Wednesday. A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make the production possible, especially Jack Stinton from JSDC who provided the the sound and lighting expertise which helped our cast show off their skills on stage to perfection. A further thank you to all the community members who gave such positive feedback about the performances and made generous donations to our collection.

(Anyone still wishing to make a donation - however big or small- to the performance donation pot to help cover costs would still be able to until the end of the final week of term when Mrs Cullum will do a final count up for us to see if we have covered costs and have anything remaining to add into the Stretham Community Primary School fundraising pot.)

In addition to performing, Kite class have also enjoyed:

- engaging with some more 'Maths Eyes' reasoning challenges across various topics;

- getting in the pool to complete some distance swims and some free swim reward time too;

- making 3d paper/ card models of our ideal playground structure designs;

- starting our eerie, descriptive narratives based on a short film stimulus called 'Alma';

- participating in our final sponsored walk event at Stretham Primary - the Step and Stride to Little Thetford and back;

- athletics and games with Mr. Cox in PE and

- Computing with Mrs. Bowen for almost the last time;

and

- a very special visit to Forest School with our little buddies from Ladybird class - where they shared their fireside bakes and we sang songs together. What a fabulous way to end the week!

On Friday, along with their reports, Kite class also brought home their SATs results. I'm sure you were as proud of your children as we were. They have done themselves proud.

Kite class, this has been a busy, challenging but brilliant week. We are very proud of all you have achieved!

Monday 1st July

This week, has been a full one with further transition days to secondary for some, as well as our usual lessons, and preparations for the production and the summer fair.

Kites have particularly enjoyed:

completing their free narrative write entitled "Made of More", based on a short film stimulus and incorporating as many author techniques as possible;
creating programme designs for their production and prepping our stall for the summer fair;
Editing their 'Made of More' write with their peers to seek advice about vocabulary, punctuation, spelling and structure choices;
discussions around our 'Maths Eyes', where we used images to inspire conversations rich in mathematical language and pose questions to one another that seem simple at the outset but are actually quite complex when paired with the images;
rehearsing as a Year 6 and also with all of UKS2 for our production - 'The Wizard of Oz' (It's really coming together now!). This production has given us valuable opportunities to develop our sense of musicality, to turn lines into drama and learn how to project our voices in a vaulted space in different ways for singing and speech;

We have also continued our swimming, PE, Computing and RHSE lessons in between all of the above.

Year 6 look forward to the week to come which will include our Dress Rehearsal - shown to the rest of the school, followed by our two performances on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th July. We hope you've ordered your tickets!

If not, there is still time so please contact the office if you would like to book your places.

Week Beginning Monday 24th June

The week started with a bang for Kite class, who enjoyed their final Sports Day of primary school with their team mates across the 4 houses on Monday of this week. Kites gave their all to the flat races and very much enjoyed their novelty ‘Water Race’. They particularly enjoyed the end where Mr. Sweeney was a very good sport and accepted a playful dowsing by Year 6.

On Monday afternoon, the stage went up in the hall in preparation for the final staging of the UKS2 production. Kites have been fully immersed in their preparations for their UKS2 production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and have enjoyed becoming their fantastical characters.

After our Rang-Tan writing project, we found out more about how palm oil plantations have been devastating natural areas of rainforest through deforestation. The children were shocked by the statistics we discovered about how many trees had been lost in the last year and the impact of the lost habitat on the rainforest homes of various creatures including orangutans. We decided to write letters to local supermarkets sharing our concerns about the number of products on their shelves that still contain palm oil and to ask them to consider our recommendation about stocking RSPO products instead.

Throughout the week, we have continued to read excerpts from our current Class Reader – ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar – and have discussed the writer’s hints at character features carefully woven within the text.

We have also been exploring the connections between Maths and Art by using number patterns and straight lines to create optical illusions.

We have enjoyed further swim sessions to continue to fine tune our strokes We have also continued our RSHE learning by comparing how the children perceive themselves physically and mentally now, how they think they will be as teenagers and then as grown-ups.

Finally, we have ended the week by going cloud gazing to inspire our planning for our writing assessment based on a short film called ‘Made of More’. Kites were given the freedom to write a piece of fiction inspired by the clouds we spotted in the skies over Stretham and the cloud that featured journeying through the short film we watched. Kites have planned in fine examples of figurative language, descriptive vocabulary and some interesting sentence structures.

Week Beginning 17th June 2024

In Kite class this week, we have leapt into production rehearsals and swimming with equal gusto.

In swimming, our focus has been developing or polishing our front and back crawl strokes. Some children have also been taking on the 'No Fear Float'. We know that if we can float...we can swim...and we can save ourselves. The resilience shown in the pool this week has been so pleasing to see.

As you can see from the photos, the production is well underway. We have started staging and marking out scenes. We have also enjoyed sessions with Year 5 to work on our collective songs. The stage will go up next week then we can really bring life to our show.

On top of all that, Year 6 have also kept going with their Rang-Tan diary writing task which deals with the topic of deforestation from the perspective of a creature living in that habitat. They have enjoyed some further Geography lessons about the Amazon Rainforest and some Maths challenges where we needed to reflect on our reasoning skills once more.

We were fortunate to have an opportunity to learn junior First Aid this week too. Annie, our trainer, gave us some very straightforward guidelines to follow so we could be the most help to someone in need if we were ever required to be. Annie also gave us our certificates and a special information booklet to take home to remind us of what we now know. It feels good to have the foundation of this important life skill before we head to secondary school.

We also enjoyed the Kickathon hosted by Premier Sport and were blown away by the powerful kicks of our classmates.

Thankfully, the sun has come out and we have been able to enjoy some sessions of outdoor learning too including working on our DT playground designs and discussing our current class reader - Holes by Louis Sachar.

Week Beginning Monday 10th June

Year 6 are back into the swing of school life and have really enjoyed the variety of activities on offer.

We have:

- enjoyed visits from the Cambridgeshire Smoking and Vaping Awareness and the Mental Health Support team as part of our transition to secondary school preparation;

- loved getting back into the new school pool for swimming lessons;

- using our programming knowledge to navigate a pathway for our M-Bots from Kite class all the way to Mr. Sweeney's office;

- leapt into the role of a young orangutan called Rang-Tan to write his diary documenting his experiences of deforestation in his rainforest home;

- completed the evaluation phase of our science invetstigations around the impact of forces of the design and flight of a hoop glider;

- reinvigorated our key Maths skills through various number challenges, where spotting the patterns in the numbers was the key to success;

- investigated structures within playground equipment and what make them structurally sound;

and

- started some intensive song and script practice for the UKS2 production.

Year 6 Residential - Caythorpe Court 2024

After a gentle start at school checking our bags and doing a quick script read through for production, we had lunch at school before hopping on the coach. We have now arrived safely at PGL Caythorpe Court. Our lovely leader Amber settled us into our rooms and took us off for a tour of the site. We marveled at the forest, lake and amazing activities on offer. Later, we enjoyed out first activity: climbing! Watch this space for photographs...

Day 2 Year 6 Residential Caythorpe Court

After a quiet night, we started our day with a hearty cooked breakfast, cereal and fruit. Then, it was off to Activity 1 - Disc Golf. We had a great time in the forest learning the art of combining golf and ultimate frisbee into a brand new sport. Later, we went back in to the woods for our Survivor sessions. It was fun to make use of our fire lighting skills and further developed our wittling and shelter building skills. We did so well we were able to 'weather the storm' that blew in as our final test.

We had a tasty lunch of chicken or cheeseburgers, chips and salad before heading off for the afternoon activities of archery and the favourite - Giant Swing. After a delicious dinner and a quick trip to the gift shop, we were out again braving the elements to take on the 'Passport to World' orienteering challenge. Well done to the winning team but a big well done to us all for surviving the session if somewhat soggy at the end of it!!

Day 3 - Year 6 Residential Caythorpe Court

Gosh! What an action packed day we have all enjoyed today! After another tasty, big breakfast, we dashed back to our dorms to get ready for our jammed packed, activity filled day. Our fun leaders led us through activities of: Raft Building, Problem Solving, High Ropes, Archery Tag and later, Balloon Splash after dinner. Our groups braved the ever changing weather during these energetic activities and loved every second. Everyone took on big personal challenges involving height or water and were really proud of breaking down their boundaries. The team building skills you are acquiring are a sight to behold. Well done everyone - you are amazing!!

Day 4 - Year 6 Residential Caythorpe Court

A fabulous, final, full day at Caythorpe for Year 6 today. The sun was out for us and we celebrated a special birthday for one of our pupils too. Another tasty cooked breakfast with sides of toast, yoghurt and fruit fuelled us for activities which included: Fencing, Abseiling, a Sensory Trail and taking on the Trapeze. You can see from the photographs how much fun we have had and how courageous we have all been when taking on new challenges. Having our friends to support us really helped and a special visit from Mr Sweeney was a lovely surprise! He was so impressed by all we have experienced and achieved this week. After a delicious dinner, where some of the options included Garlic Breaded Chicken, Homemade meat or vegetarian lasagne and tasty salad, veggie and potato side dishes, we headed off for our last evening activity - a D-I-S-C-O! The children were delighted that their favourite leaders - Amber and Benny - were hosting the disco and were there to witness their fantastic dance moves. What a great way to spend our final evening of Residential!