Welcome back to our Year 6 Summer Term Blog! We can hardly believe we are already in our final term together at primary school. The first half of the summer term has been filled with exciting learning opportunities, memorable experiences, and lots of hard work as we continue preparing for the transition to secondary school.

This term, our topic is “Scream If You Want to Go Faster!” — an exciting science-based theme inspired by roller-coasters, theme parks, and the forces behind them. We have started exploring a range of exciting activities linked to this topic across different areas of the curriculum, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and teamwork along the way.

The children have already shown fantastic enthusiasm, maturity, and determination in everything they have done so far this term. In this blog, we’ll share some of the highlights from our first half term together, celebrate achievements, and give you a glimpse into all the wonderful learning taking place in Year 6.

We are incredibly proud of the children and are looking forward to an exciting and successful final term together!

Literacy

In Literacy, we have been focusing on information writing. We were introduced to the Rhiswanozebtah through our WAGOLL text and used it to explore and analyse the key features of information texts. The children enjoyed identifying how headings, subheadings, technical vocabulary, and organised paragraphs help to present information clearly to the reader.

Using this inspiration, we then created our own imaginative creatures using Switch Zoo and have been developing a range of writing skills to ensure our final pieces include a variety of effective text features. The children have shown great creativity and enthusiasm throughout the process.  We even used AI to create a labelled diagram.

Have a look below at a few examples!

                              

Science and Technology

In Science and Technology, we have begun learning about forces as part of our “Scream If You Want to Go Faster!” topic. The children have explored how levers work and investigated how they can help us move objects more easily. We have also been learning about gravity and how it causes objects to fall towards the Earth.

As part of our investigations, we explored the strength of gravity between the Earth and a variety of classroom objects, making predictions and discussing why some objects may appear to fall differently from others. The children have enjoyed taking part in practical activities and developing their scientific thinking through observation, discussion, and investigation.

To bring our topic to life, we also used the green screen to place ourselves on exciting roller-coasters, experiencing the twists, turns, and thrills of the rides! The children loved using technology creatively, and it certainly gave us plenty to talk about when thinking about the forces involved in theme park rides.

Expressive arts

In Expressive Arts, we used our roller-coaster photographs to develop our sketching and portrait skills. The children created detailed pencil portraits of themselves riding the attractions, carefully focusing on facial expressions to capture the excitement and thrill of the rides.

Throughout the project, we explored the use of line, tone, and shading to add detail and depth to our drawings. The children showed great concentration and creativity while developing their observational drawing techniques, and the final portraits look fantastic!

Health and Well-Being

In Health and Well-being, we have had an amazing half-term filled with exciting opportunities and new experiences. We have been very lucky to work with Mark from the Ospreys schools programme, who has been delivering two sessions each week. One session focused on developing the children’s rugby skills through a range of fun physical activities, while the classroom-based sessions allowed the children to apply skills from across the curriculum.

The children used their literacy skills to write match reports and explored design and technology by designing and making their own kicking tees. It has been fantastic to see the children building confidence, teamwork, creativity, and problem-solving skills throughout the programme.  We ended the block of sessions with a coding session - we thoroughly enjoyed the challenge!

We also marked Mental Health Awareness Week by taking part in a Wear Green Day, helping to raise awareness and show support for positive mental health. This year’s theme of “Action” encouraged the children to think about the steps they can take to look after their own mental health and wellbeing. We discussed the importance of eating well, staying active, getting outdoors, enjoying mindful colouring, and taking time to go for a “walk in the wild” to support calmness and reflection. The children engaged thoughtfully with these ideas and shared some brilliant suggestions of their own.

We have also welcomed Dai and Patrick from the Cycle Proficiency team, who worked with the children on their Level 1 and Level 2 cycle proficiency training. The children thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and learned a range of important skills to help keep them safe while cycling on the road. It has been wonderful to see their confidence and independence grow during these practical sessions.

Ending a great first half-term

We ended the half-term with a fantastic visit to the New Theatre to watch The Boy at the Back of the Class, based on the book by Onjali Q. Raúf that we read earlier in the year. The children were excited to see the story brought to life on stage and thoroughly enjoyed the performance from start to finish.

The show shared a powerful and important message about friendship, kindness, empathy, and acceptance, giving the children lots to think and talk about afterwards. It was a wonderful way to end a busy and successful half-term together.  We were extremely grateful to the Arts Council of Wales for the grant funding to run this trip.  

 

We also ended the term by immersing ourselves even further into our “Scream If You Want to Go Faster!” topic by watching Wonder Park. The children loved following the exciting adventures and imaginative theme park creations, which linked perfectly to our learning this term.

To make the experience even more memorable, we awakened our senses with some classic theme park treats, including corn dogs, candy floss, and popcorn! It was a fantastic way to celebrate all of our hard work this half-term and brought plenty of smiles, laughter, and excitement to our final day together before the break.