Sycamore Class [Year 6]

Welcome to Sycamore class.

Topic Webs:

Term 1 2017-2018 - World War 2

Term 2 2017-2018 - World War 2

Term 3 2017-2018 - Victorians

Term 4 2017-2018 - Victorians

Term 5 2017-2018 - Dinosaurs

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Term 6 2016-2017 - Rocks, Fossils and Dinosaurs

Term 5 News: Dance Umbrella 2018

	On Thursday March 15th, pupils from Y2, Y5 and Y6 participated again in Dance Umbrella at The Forum in Bath This is now the fifth consecutive year in which we have taken part and it proved to be as enjoyable as ever with the children feeling a real sense of achievement at having performed on a huge stage in front of a large audience. The Y2 performed without any older pupils or teachers on the stage to guide them, keeping to time brilliantly. The Y5/6 children performed a contemporary and very moving piece entitled Trapped. A huge thank you to all the children, staff and parents who supported this event.

Term 5 News: PTA Easter Assembly

	On Friday March 23rd the whole school from Nursery up to Year 6 were invited to participate in a range of competitions to celebrate Easter. The competitions were: Easter Bonnet; miniature Easter Garden and Decorated Eggs (to roll in a race later). It was the first time we have held this event and we were overwhelmed both by the number of entrants (particularly in EYFS and KS1) and the quality of the Easter crafts entered. They made a truly beautiful spring display at the front of the Hall, making the snow of earlier in the week seem improbable. The categories were judged by the Mayor of Midsomer Norton, Mr Paul Myers. This was followed by a coffee shop and cake sale to raise money towards the Y5/6 residential trip. Thank you to all the children and parents who supported this event and a particular thank you to Amy Purchase for her tireless organisation and effort in making this a success.

Term 5 News: Radstock Museum visit

To further support their topic of Victorians, Sycamore Class visited Radstock Museum on Wednesday March 21st. It was good to add a little local history to compare and contrast to that of those living in and around Big Pit, which we visited in Term 4.

The children visited the Victorian school room where they were shocked to learn that all children were forced to write with their right hand and that ‘fidgetters’ had their fingers restricted in finger stocks! Additionally, any ‘slouchers’ or children suffering from rickets were made to sit with an uncomfortable back brace. Poor recitation of times tables resulted in the humiliation of the Dunce’s hat! The children had difficulty writing on their chalkboards in the intricate, loopy Victorian script.

Next the children split into two groups to apply their investigative skills to deduce the function of primary source artefacts before then explaining their findings to the other group.

They then compared a Victorian shopping experience with that of today and enjoyed spotting items that we still buy nowadays whilst being horrified at other aspects such as the multi-purpose bar of soap.

Lastly, they learnt about the various jobs performed by a blacksmith including shodding horses and the skill of a wheelwright. They again had to apply their deduction and discussion skills to work out the function of the various tools.

Sycamore news for website: Terms 3 and 4 2018

Although Term 3 was a short term, Sycamore, in amongst regular lessons and working hard towards their SATs, managed to pack in a couple of school trips. First, in January, the class visited Theatre Royal, Bath for the pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This proved to be a very lively performance with the pantomime Dame clambering up from the Stalls and into the Royal Circle, right among us, in pursuit of her undergarment!

Then, in February, to support their Topic work on Victorians, the children travelled across the Severn Bridge to Blaenavon in South Wales. In the morning, they explored the Industrial History side of the Blaenavon Ironworks in addition to the Social History around the workers’ cottages which were furnished in contemporary style dating from the late 1700s right up to 1967. The children were particularly interested in a cottage from the 1940s which reminded them of Mister Tom’s house from their WW2 Topic in Terms 1 and 2. They were also horrified to learn about working conditions and how short related life expectancy was.

Next, Sycamore travelled the short distance to Big Pit, a former working coal mine which is now a fascinating museum. After visiting the simulator which recreated conditions inside the mines, the children were kitted up with protective helmets and miners’ lamps before descending 90m into the ground in the cage. Our guide was extremely informative and the children were alarmed to learn how many hours they might have worked at their age, for little pay with horrendous conditions in the pitch black without head torches.

The children had an unexpected surprise during the afternoon when it snowed heavily!

On their return to school, the children not only wrote high quality recounts but they have also now started planning persuasive letters to Victorian reformer Lord Shaftesbury about working conditions for children in Victorian times.

In Art, Sycamore enjoyed learning about William Morris; creating collagraph prints. In Term 4 they will be producing Lowry-esque pictures of Blaenavon Ironworks. Additionally, in Science, the children used tights and mashed bananas to create revolting but scientifically informative digestive systems! They then wrote up instructions for the process.

Next up in March, in addition to an activity-packed Book Week, the class is looking forward to performing in Dance Umbrella and experiencing a Victorian schoolroom at Radstock Museum.

Sycamore class of 2016-17

Sycamore has had an action-packed frenetic year thus far packed with activities to extend learning beyond the classroom. Up until Christmas Sycamore carried out an array of cooking activities in Forest school including using an apple press to make apple juice and mulled apple juice, apple fritters and pancakes.

Sycamore used hand tools to create a wooden poppy field to mark Remembrance Day as well as creating their own keepsake wooden poppy pendants. In English they then applied their World War Two Topic knowledge and poetry writing skills to produce war poetry which was performed in assembly and is now displayed outdoors amongst the poppies.

In December, Sycamore was proud to be invited to perform Christmas carols at Tesco, helping raise money for local charities.

January and February saw Sycamore travelling to Theatre Royal, Bath to watch the pantomime Aladdin and to the Assembly Rooms to experience and even participate in a live performance with Bath Philharmonia (together with Willow class). The following day, members of Bath Philharmonia worked all day with Willow and Sycamore to create a performance piece based on the children’s dreams which was performed to great acclaim to parents in a concert at the end of the day.

Amid all the SATs preparation, Sycamore class has been busy in other curriculum areas. As part of Book Week, Sycamore held a sleepover fund-raising Readathon.

In addition to performing songs from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the MidSomerset Festival and rehearsing for the Dance Umbrella, to be performed in Bath on March 30th, they participated with body percussion in a performance with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Colston Hall, Bristol.

In Science, the children consolidated their learning about the skeleton and its functions by creating skeletons in Forest School, involving tool use.

They have also welcomed Spring by pond dipping in the orchard, discovering A LOT of frogs and some newts.

They also experimented with volume and pitch when learning about sound, with Owen and Noah aiding learning by playing their guitars and Frankie on ukulele. They then experimented with pitch in Science, competing to create the correct notes with water in bottles to perform given well-known songs.

On Wednesday March 22nd Sycamore visited Radstock Museum. They dressed up in Victorian costume to 'go back in time' and participated in a formal Victorian lesson, involving only being allowed to write with their right hand, writing on slates and being under threat of the dunce's hat! They then found out about life in a typical miner's cottage in Radstock, being shocked that several families would have shared one outdoor toilet and that a whole family would have used the same bath water !
The children felt sorry for the canaries used to detect gas in the coal mines and were slightly horrified by the difficulty of pulling a guss and crook in cramped, dangerous conditions.
Finally, the children handled artefacts from Victorian times and had to deduce their purpose.

Sycamore class have settled well into their new classroom and have made an excellent start to their studies.

Term 1 saw the introduction of a new Buddy system which matched Year 6 pupils to new Holly class pupils with the aim of helping them at break times and meal times and occasionally in class too.

In PE Sycamore have been improving their netball skills and have also linked Science to PE by measuring their heart rate before and after circuit training exercises. In Term 2 they will be doing Football with Mr Mason as well as Rugby with Old Edwardians. On November 18th Year 6 will be taking part in Multi- Skills at Somervale.

Sycamore are enjoying weekly Art sessions with Mr Taylor from Somervale based on street art. They are also very excited about using the brand new computers in the ICT suite in Term 2.

Year 6 have really enjoyed their current topic of World War Two. The topic has leant itself to some high quality cross-curricular writing and the children are enjoying the novel Goodnight Mister Tom so much that they sometimes don't want to go home or out to break as they want to read on! We shall watch the movie after we have finished the novel.

November sees the children beginning to practise the hymns for the annual Bath Abbey Carol Service which we are attending on December 6th.

In Forest, cooking has been a major feature with the children thus far cooking sausages, baking bread, frying apples fritters and learning how to use an apple press. They have also weaving large scale spider webs . Additionally, Sycamore have weeded and planted all the planters around the field and the hanging baskets and pots at the front of the school, to enhance our environment.

All in all, a busy time has been had by all!

Bath Lantern Festival

Longvernal attend the Bath Lantern Procession having made lanterns for the event. Enchanted Forest of birds, beasts, trees and mythical creatures travelled from the Holburne through the streets of Bath to Parade Gardens. It was an exciting event where pupils from Sycamore Class enjoyed dancing to samba music as they paraded through the streets of Bath

Holburne Museum Lantern Workshop and Procession

On Friday October 23rd Sycamore class will be bringing Forest school indoors as they prepare once again for The Holburne Museum Lantern procession. The pupils will work with staff from The Holburne Museum to produce willow-framed lanterns on a common theme with other schools within BANES. The culmination of the project will be to participate in a wonderful lantern procession through the streets of Bath, starting in Great Pulteney Street and finishing at Parade Gardens.

Sycamore Trip to Lifeskills, Bristol

On Friday October 9th 2015 Sycamore class visited Lifeskills, Bristol. Pupils experienced various ‘real life’ scenarios and learnt how best to cope with these eventualities. Situations included being short-changed in a shop, a house on fire, discovering a child unconscious in a playground in addition to various everyday concerns such as spotting hazards in the home and crossing a road safely, considering stopping distances. They learnt how to contact emergency services. The quiz carried out before and after the learning experiences demonstrated that the children had taken on board lots of life skills!

Sycamore Class residential trip to the Isle of Wight June 2015

Building on the success of the previous two summers’ Y5/6 residential Forest camps under canvas which were held locally, Sycamore Class travelled further afield in June to Isle of Wight.

After a beautiful drive through The New Forest with much spotting of wild ponies, we enjoyed a smooth crossing during which we were able to travel on deck enjoying the views of Solent. This was followed by an adrenalin- fuelled open top bus trip amid the treetops, necessitating much ducking under over-hanging branches before being deposited at Alum Bay. Here those children (and staff!) who suffer from vertigo had to overcome their fears to take the cable car down the cliff at The Needles to the beautiful beach below. The children enjoyed beach-combing, exploring the different coloured sand deposits and they also discovered an absolutely huge jellyfish!

We then set off along the National Trust track towards Totland Bay via Tennyson’s Monument. The children were eager to reach this as they had studied Tennyson’s poetry and had enjoyed finding out about more about Tennyson through the History primary source of a letter from Lady Tennyson to Abigail’s aunt, who worked for Lady Tennyson at Farringford, Isle of Wight. Unfortunately an untimely storm meant that, for safety reasons, we didn’t reach Tennyson’s Monument.

The following day the children again had to tackle any fears to participate in coasteering, involving not only scrambling across slippery rocks and ploughing through rock pools but plunging off rocks into crashing waves as they followed the coast along near Freshwater Bay. We also enjoyed kayaking lessons, which they found to be a contrasting experience to kayaking in the river on last year’s camp. The weather was glorious; we enjoyed a fun beach afternoon before walking back to the YHA Totland. The evening was then spent at the beach at Totland to enjoy the sunset and a talent competition.

On the final morning we all walked along the coastal path from Totland to Fort Victoria, famous for its sand glass, fossils and rare red squirrels. The children proved to be expert fossil-hunters, finding several pieces of turtle shell and a shark’s tooth. In addition to this foraging of several large bags of cuttle-shells, which we know several grandparents were grateful for on behalf of their pet buggies. The trip ended rather splendidly when we were invited by the ferry Captain, who had been impressed with our behaviour on the outward journey, to visit the ferry control room where we learnt all about the navigation involved.

All in all, it was a highly successful trip and we look forward to sailing even further afield in June 2016 to Granville, Normandy, France.

Sycamore News - April 2015

Sycamore has had a busy and varied year thus far. In September they travelled to Victoria Park in Bath to watch the departure of the Bath stage of the Tour of Britain road cycle race. Some children managed to acquire some famous cyclists’ autographs. They then had the opportunity to participate in activities including trialling a varied collection of often bizarre bicycles and circus skills including juggling and stilt- walking.

Also in September, Sycamore benefited from a creative writing workshop with local published author Joffre White, producing some imaginative and action-packed stories.

In November, linked to the Forest curriculum, Sycamore took part in a workshop run by The Holburne Museum in which they made lanterns created from willow on the theme of fish. On November 20th they then travelled to Bath and took part in a lantern parade together with several other BANES schools which set off from Great Pulteney Street and reached its climax at Parade Gardens.

In December, Chloe and Hannah from the egg theatre education team worked with Sycamore on a pantomime workshop in which they studied characterisation techniques and freeze - framing in addition to enjoying many Drama games. This was followed in early January by a day spent at Theatre Royal, Bath, which involved a theatre tour including an opportunity to tread the stage boards, a workshop in the Ustinov studio, meeting and interviewing cast members plus a hilarious performance of Cinderella in the main house.