Class Teachers: 2023 - 2024

St. Raphael
Mrs Hall

Learning Support Assistant
Mrs Green

St. Anthony
Miss Appleyard

Learning Support Assistant
Mrs Allen
Miss Hickey

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Science Scheme of Work Year 6

The latest news from St. Raphael & St. Anthony

News from 2022 - 2023

Year 6 Performance

Farmer Carl and Henny visit from Yorkshire

Today, Farmer Carl Clayton paid Years 4,5, and 6 a visit all the way from Yorkshire. He talked to the children about his farming life, showed different crops and explained how they grow and are harvester. As a special treat for the children, he even brought a hen called Henny. The children listened intently and learnt so much.

Thank you so much Carl.

Skreens Residential

Last week, our Year 6 visited Skreens Activity Park. In sunny but extremely hot conditions, they took part in many activities - wheelchair course, kayaking, raft-building, tomahawks, archery, climbing, bridge- building, fire-lighting, sumo suits, wide games, camp-fire and the infamous sensory trail.

The children were fantastic, participating fully in every activity and overcoming fears and obstacles in a mature manner.

Our thanks go to all the staff who made this possible. It is a whole team effort - we couldn't organise these events without them. Thank you!

Year 6 enjoying their new Adventure

Thank you for all the useful information Metro Bank

Loudest cheer every signals the SATS is over! Hurray!

We are so proud of all our wonderful Year 6 children for completing their SATS this week. They have enjoyed breakfast together every day and then it has been heads down concentrating on their SATS papers. Today we heard the loudest cheer in the hall - hurray SATS is over! Well done to all of you, it has been a successful week. Treat yourselves to a rest this weekend.

Celebrating the Coronation

Stephen

Year 6 acted out the story of Stephen today. He was the first Christian martyr and was stoned to death for his beliefs. Producing posters, fact-files on Stephen, Year 6 were able to quote from the bible to persuade their audience of his good work.

6 St. Anthony visit Southend Library

Mummification

Year 6 enjoyed a morning learning about the process of mummification. After watching a video regarding the process, Year 6 tried their own mummification process using Tomatoes and apples. They cut open the tomato, removing the insides before covering the tomato with a salt and soda solution. Year 6 will observe what happens in the next few weeks!

Gymnastics

Year 6 enjoyed practising routines on the Gymnastic equipment today. They devised many balances and we are looking forward to developing sequences including contrasting moves.

Catapults

Mrs Summer, a Science teacher from St Thomas More, visited Year 6 this afternoon. She discussed about Connections - the use of elastic in certain designs and the way the Roman soldiers used catapults to defeat the opposition. Year 6 experimented when making their own catapults, trying to achieve precision, resilience and distance. Continuing to experiment, Year 6 altered their designs constantly. The results can be seen below! Thank you Mrs Summers.

Women's World Day of Prayer

Year 6 have completed their collages for Women's World Day of Prayer. We will take them with us to decorate the church and hope to see many of you at the service.

Creating Clay Models

Year 6 have been creating clay models. Inspired by the art work of Daniel Popper, they designed their own models linking the sculptures to their Egyptian work. The work still needs finishing touches and some need re-modelling but they are pleased with their creations.

Preparing for Women's World Day of Prayer

Year 6 are preparing for Women's World Day of Prayer on 3 March. Today they researched the country of Taiwan discovering many interesting facts. They started to prepare collages to take with us showing life in Taiwan and linking this to Jesus' teaching. Watch this space for the finished results!

Stir-Fry Friday

Using the Bible

Year 6 had the pleasure of Andrew's company today. He discussed using the bible as a source. Year 6 had to locate references to crack the code. The code was 'Look after your mind and your body and things will go well.' Year 6 really enjoyed the talk. Thank you. Later in the day, Year 6 compared the role and life of a Baptist minister to a Catholic priest.

Feed the birds

Year 6 completed a day in the Nature Area. They undertook games involving predator and prey. They also made fat balls and cheerio necklaces to feed the variety of birds who visit our area.

Stir Fry Chefs

Performing Bible Quotes

This morning, Year 6 chose their favourite bible stories/quotes from the gospel writers - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They performed their quote and also stated what it meant to them and why they had chosen it. Some of the quotes were:

He made my word as sharp as a sword, with his hands he protected me.

It will be one of you twelve, one who dips his bread with me.

This is my body, take it and eat it.

The angels in the heaven, I tell you, are always in the presence of my Father in heaven.

He was lost but now has been found.

Do not be afraid of this who kill the body because they cannot kill the soul.

But the father called his servants, "Bring a robe."

Jesus spoke to them at once, "Courage, it is I, don't be afraid."

Jesus had pity on them and touched their eyes.

Jesus and his disciples were at the supper.

Can you match the quotes to the dramatical interpretations?

More delicious stir fry

The next group of fabulos stir-fry cookers made their food today. They visited Sainsburys and compared food privces and also the availability of some ingredients. All the children and some lucky staff said it tasted delicious.

Pulse rate experiment year 6

After designing their own experiments last week, Year 6 had the chance to carry out their fair test today. All seemed to enjoy completing the exercises although were tired after! A wide variety of exercises and results were seen.

St Raphael finding a sweet way to check their pulse rate

Year 6 tried a strange scientific occurrence today. Placing a cocktail stick within a marshmallow, they placed it on their wrist observing their pulse rate. The cocktail stick moved either gently up and down or side to side to demonstrate the children's pulse rate. This will help Year 6 as we move our learning onto how does exercise affect our pulse rate. Year 6 are keen to perform their experiments next week.

Shopping, cooking, preparing and eating stir fry

Year 6 enjoyed a visit to Sainsburys this week, comparing prices and weights of our ingredients. They returned to school, preparing their ingredients, cooking together and sitting down to share a stir-fry together. The children and some lucky staff enjoyed their food, stating it tasted delicious and fabulous.

CAM Toys

Year 6 enjoyed making their CAM toys today, they overcame many challenges along the way. Some had more success than others, some need a little more time to finish but all were able to suggest improvements and changes they would make!

Intake Farm

During the course of this term, Year 6 have, every fortnight, been talking to a farmer. Carl owns Intake Farm in North Yorkshire. During our zoom calls, we have covered many topics - sowing seeds, harvesting sugar beet, tractor maintenance, life as a farmer, life on the farm, village life, nativity services, snowmen trials, rearing cattle, looking after sheep, geese and goats. The children have been able to ask questions and have learnt many facts regarding a farmer's life. These calls will continue next year when we will discuss food - from farm to plate and keeping healthy. A huge thank you to Intake Farm from Year 6 for these informative chats!

Synagogue Visit

Year 6 enjoyed their visit to the synagogue. They were shown around by Jeffrey and Jeffrey! The children were able to answer many of the questions posed and increased their knowledge

Beginning our Cam Toys

Today, year 6 began to make their Cam Toys. They have researched and designed some. Now the making process begins. many changes/improvements and adaptations have already been made. Look out later this week for the finished versions!

Now's the Time for Change

Today, some of Year 6 received a workshop from Now's the Time for Change from Tracy and Kelly, funded by the NHS. The children participated in various activities discussing and improving their resilience. All the children involved said how much they had enjoyed it and were given so many ideas for future challenges that they may face.

The rest of Year 6 participated in a similar workshop in the hall. We discussed a variety of strategies to deal with stress including meditation, praying, exercise, breathing and stretching.

A good afternoon was had by all.

Fabulous work

Once again, Year 6 have had a busy week. They studied various artist's portrayal of The Annunciation, commenting on features, colours, contrasting light and dark, mood and style. Once this was completed, they designed their own sketch. This will be on display for Christmas very soon so watch this space for the finished versions.

Year 6 have also studied the adaptations made by a variety of animals in order to survive. This was linked to our work on Darwin and survival of the fittest.

Measuring

Year 6 undertook some practical measuring today. They used scales, trundle wheels, metre sticks, rulers, jugs, cylinders to measure weight, capacity and length. Some were able to convert their units accurately. This is the start of our unit of work on measurement.

Adaptations

Today Year 6 investigated adaptations made by birds to survive. Darwin discovered that birds, specifically finches, living on the Galapagos Islands, over time, changed their beak shape to adapt to the feeding conditions. Year 6 performed an experiment testing beak shapes with different food. Overall they said the dip-netting beak was the best when food was sorted, however a pointy beak was needed when having to sort the food from extra bits.

Rugby Skills

Year 6 are enjoying PE lessons with the Schools Partnership and the Year 6 teachers. Today, they developed their skills in Rugby - dodging, passing, tackling.

Fine motor skills

Year 6 were practising their fine motor skills. You never know when you will have to separate chickpeas and coloured rice!

Spider's Webs

Year 6 spent some of this morning trying to recreate spider's webs. As part of our outdoor learning, we have been looking at the formation of spider's webs and how effective they are. This morning, we attempted our own with varying success. A group of intrepid girls won, managing to balance 27 balls on their web - their spider would be well fed!

The Theory of Evolution

Year 6 were introduced this afternoon to the Theory of Evolution. They answered questions like - Have we always looked like this? How do we and animals evolve and change over time? They were given the same colour play dough and had to create a person using it. Every model produced looked very different, this led to a discussion about how we are all unique.

Habitats

6A enjoyed their trip to the nature area today where they undertook research about habitats. They studied the variety of habitats in the nature area including the pond where they found it teeming with wildlife! Identification of trees was the other activity so rather than just saying there are trees in the nature area, we looked at twigs and took leaf rubbings to ascertain what type of tree it was.

6 St Raphael Lifeboat Station and Beach Trip

Year 6 enjoyed their trip to the Lifeboat Station and beach today. We learnt about the life of a lifeboat person and how committed they are to giving up their time and putting their lives in danger to rescue others. We were so lucky to be at the lifeboat station when the hovercraft returned from a training mission. We could all clearly see why it is nicknamed the hairdryer!

After visiting the lifeboats, year 6 moved onto the beach where we learnt about another different habitat. We also decided to create some beach art, making pictures and sculptures.

The children, as always, were a credit to themselves and the school.

Working together, using our senses

This morning, Jellyfish and St Rapheal visited the nature area. They worked together to learn more about using their senses. Year 6 helped certain members of Jellyfish to complete a blindfold trail; there were a few obstacles in the way, just to make things tricky! Both classes also had to hold and describe items found in nature whilst blindfolded. The co-operation and team work shone through this morning.

Djembe Drums

Year 6 have been learning to play djembe drums. As part of their music lessons, the children have learnt a little about the drums themselves and where they originate from. The children have learnt how to achieve high and low pitch sounds from the drums. Alongside this, the children have also been learning how to create their own short musical compositions using basic notation.

Court Room Drama

Year 6 received a talk from Jan this afternoon. They learnt how a court room functions, is set up and what happens inside. Jan gave them many facts and assisted their learning in this area. Thank you, Jan. Year 6 are now very keen to hold their own trials.

Observational Drawing

Today, Year 6 enjoyed observational drawing. They had practised a variety of techniques including contouring, hatching, cross-hatching before being let loose drawing beetles. Eventually, the drawings will be part of a display in the classroom.

The Prodigal Son

Year 6 have been studying the parable of The Prodigal Son. They have explored the emotions of all the different characters in the story and explained their differing views and attitudes. Today, they performed some drama re-creating scenes from the parable.

Exploring Habitats

Year 6 continued investigating habitats today. They compared two locations, firstly somewhere within the nature area and secondly around the field. Two different locations and varying habitats. They also had to use square lashing and frapping to tie their frame together. Some good knot skills were evident!

Detective work

Year 6 became detectives this afternoon. Taking and analysing fingerprints, comparing footprints and hand-writing to establish whether fraud had been committed were part of their tasks this afternoon. They had success with recording their finger-prints and learnt that a person could have different patterns on each hand and even each finger! Amazing!

Pond investigations

Year 6 investigated pond life in the nature area this afternoon. Although, they didn't manage to find much, they still enjoyed researching and seeing bug life.

6 St Raphael in the Nature Area

Year 6 had an enjoyable morning in the nature area yesterday - even managing to dodge the showers. They investigated what creatures and plants live there with some unusual results! Two children found a burying beetle amongst the many spiders, earwigs and wood louse! They are looking forward to investigating life in the pond next time!