Friday 19th December
What a fun-filled final week we have had of the Autumn Term, with many Christmas celebrations enjoyed by us all. A big shout out to Freddie, Rosie and Tabitha who brilliantly supported the Reception Nativity; you did a wonderful job, and spoke clearly and with expression. Sophie did our class proud representing school in the choir, and performing a wide array of carols at care homes in our local area; thank you for doing this Sophie. Finally, we are all incredibly proud of Jamie, who won MP Liz Twist's primary school Christmas card competition this year. His design was chosen from many entries, and Liz Twist visited school this week to congratulate Jamie, and award him with a well-deserved prize. I am sure you will agree, his entry is fabulous.
We then finished our week with a well deserved Christmas party, where the children had lots of fun taking part in different games, decorating biscuits and working together in a Christmas quiz. Thank you for such a wonderful first term Year 6. I hope you have a wonderful break, and look forward to seeing you all in 2026!
Friday 12th December
I can hardly believe we are in the penultimate week of Autumn Term; it has flown over! I am so proud of the start that the children have had to Year 6, approaching their learning with a positive attitude, and growth mindset. They have made some brilliant progress which has been demonstrated in this week's assessments.
It has also been enrichment week, which has focused around the theme of "A Cultural Celebration" where we have learnt about other Winter festivals celebrated in many different cultures, and also learnt about how Christmas is celebrated around the world. We made our own "papel picado" which are vibrant Mexican folk art of intricate paper cutouts used to decorate celebrations.
As well as this, on Monday, we had a very insightful workshop with the Anne Frank Trust around the theme of racism. Within the workshop we explored who Anne Frank was, and learnt some shocking statistics about the Holocaust. If we spent one minute talking about every Jewish person who lost their life during the Holocaust, we would be talking non stop for the next 11 and a half years. We also explored the difference between prejudice and discrimination; what racism can look like and how to challenge racism, giving us examples of the type of things we could say if we heard someone using inappropriate, discriminatory language. It was a really powerful message for us all, with some hard hitting messages, but lessons that will stay with us for a long time,
Friday 5th December
A huge well done to our brilliant Year 6s for their wonderful class assembly on the theme of Advent. They performed this for their parents and carers last Friday, and then this week, shared the important messages within their assembly with the rest of the school.
Advent comes from the Latin word "adventus" which translates as coming - for Christians, this is the waiting for the arrival of Jesus, and for others, it is about spending time as a family. For us all, it is about spreading messages of joy, hope, peace and love, something which was demonstrated brilliantly through acting and singing this week. Well done Year 6; we were really proud of you all.
Friday 28th November
We have had another brilliant week in North America class. We took part in a school wide competition, based on the text "A Tiger on the Train". The author had launched a competition through The Children's Book Show to win £200 worth of books and a visit to the British Library. Year 6 were challenged to create their images using charcoal, and I am sure you will agree, they did an amazing job. They also wrote Haikus, using the 5 - 7 - 5 pattern to describe the tiger.
We had a very exciting day on Wednesday with a visit from Zakon to carry out a crime scene investigation workshop! Experienced police detectives ran this highly interactive day and brought challenge and fun into the classroom. Children were guided through a set of practically based scenarios demonstrating how science aids an investigation and how their classroom based learning facilitates this. They looked at searching, deprivation of liberty (arresting) and DNA, and the day concluded with the investigation of a “real” crime scene where all of their skills are brought together. Great fun was had by all, as well as learning some new skills, and opening our eyes to a whole new world of work!
Friday 21st November
A busy day to end our week, what with practising our skimming and scanning skills in Guided Reading, a little adjective work in French to describe the planets, some rhythmic percussion to represent a river's course in music, and a practice session for our Class Assembly - only a week to go!
Although the music lesson began as a cacophony rather than a symphony, by the time each group spent some time working out a sequence to represent their river, some quite impressive pieces emerged.
We also squeezed in a visit to Crawcrook library, where Kyle planned a fun trip down memory lane for us. We divided into four groups, each of which thought about our time at Emmaville school. Three significant events (from playing on the Hill in Reception, to going to Durham in Year 5) were recorded on a 'film strip'. The final box was a scene from the future: the last day of Year 6. We then shared our work with the rest of the class, and finished with some reading time in the carpet area.
Friday 14th November
This week's website post is dedicated to our resident Historical expert, Oliver M! Oliver has an amazing general knowledge, but shows a particular passion for World War 2, and has completely enriched our learning so far this year with facts and stories about many different aspects of the war. Therefore, I decided to set him a challenge, and over half term, he put together a powerpoint about the strand of WW2 he found most interesting to teach to the rest of the class. Oliver worked so hard on this, and produced some amazing slides all about the planes used during the war. On Thursday, he wowed us all by delivering this to the whole class with so much confidence. You are a born teacher Oliver!
Friday 7th November
A great first week back after what sounds like a fabulous half term break for North America class. We have got straight back into the swing of things in class, and are particularly enjoying our History topic of WW2 at the moment. Our knowledge has developed further as our new Guided Reading book is Rose Blanche, which follows the story of a young girl who discovers a concentration camp, and our English unit is creating non chronological reports all about evacuation.
This weekend is Remembrance Sunday, a national opportunity to remember the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our freedoms and protected our way of life, and something which our studies of WW1 and WW2 have given us a greater understanding of. Earlier in the year, we took part in a workshop with the National Literacy Trust where we created our own Remembrance poems. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to share some of these with you now.
Friday 24th October
On Tuesday, we visited SafetyWorks! which is an interactive safety education centre in Newcastle, providing realistic, hands-on safety training for schools, youth groups, and community organisations. Through immersive, true-to-life scenarios, they teach young people how to stay safe, prevent accidents, and respond to emergencies in everyday situations.
We took part in five workshops, focusing on road safety, train safety, peer pressure, antisocial fires and river safety. The children were brilliant throughout the afternoon, and engaged well, and we all took away some really valuable messages.
Friday 17th October
This half term, we have had football coaching from JJ sports coaching in Year 6. They have ran a lunchtime girls football club, coached PE sessions for Year 6 and also carried out mixed football training after school on a Monday. The children have practised a wide range of skills including improving their accuracy when passing and shooting, practising a range of different turns to move away from a defender and improving handling when moving with the football. The children have displayed enthusiasm and skill, and we have improved significantly over the half term.
Friday 10th October
This week, we started a new unit in English, based around a short animation called "The Catch". After orally learning the text, we spent time exploring the character and story with a range of drama activities, and what fun we had! Enjoy looking at some of the hilarious facial expressions below!
Friday 3rd October
Another great week in North America class, where we have been up to all sorts, including making progress in our DT projects (keep checking back for updates regarding this!!), members from our class competing in the Gateshead cross country tournament, taking part in a live National Poetry Day workshop and holding a debate about which factor was most significant and led to the start of the Industrial Revolution.
We also had a really successful science lesson, exploring different ways in which shadows could be changed. We conducted an investigation where we changed the distance of an object from a light source, and carefully measured and recorded data. A great week all round, well done Year 6!
Friday 26th September
On Tuesday 23rd September, Mrs Sanderson and I had the please of taking 20 Year 6 children to Ryton Rugby Club for a Tag Rugby tournament. The children were all an absolute credit to school and their families, displaying enthusiasm, teamwork and respect at all times. It was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for all, with lots of trys scored, and lots of tags, tagged! Emmaville A and Emmaville B finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, and came away with pin badges and certificates to celebrate their achievements. Well done to all!
Friday 19th September
I can't believe we are already three weeks into the start of a new school year, and I continue to be so impressed Year 6. This week saw our school council elections, and I was so proud of each child who stood up to speak. They spoke with confidence, passion and vision as they expressed why they would make good school councillors, and what they thought would benefit our school. Not only did they think of things that would benefit our class, but also the wider community and environment, and this demonstrates what brilliant individuals we have the pleasure of teaching. If only they could all represent us. A special thanks to Freddie and Tabitha, who launched and closed the voting proceedings. I just had to share with you how Freddie opened...
"Hello North America, Freddie speaking to you today. Just a quick reminder that all of you lot are amazing, and in my opinion, everyone deserves to be on the school council. However, there can only be two people so good luck to you all, and remember, you are all amazing."
I couldn't have put it better myself Freddie!
Friday 5th September
Hello, and welcome to our class page for Year 6!
What an absolutely fantastic first week we have had to start this new academic year, and it has been so nice to start to get to know this wonderful new group of children. They have returned to school with a spring in their step, and an eagerness to learn, and I know we have got great things to look forward to as the year progresses.
Keep an eye on this page throughout the year to see the adventures and achievements we get up to throughout Year 6!