Week commencing 29th September 2025
It’s been another purposeful and inspiring week in Year 6. The children have shown real resilience in their learning, empathy in their relationships, and growing confidence in their abilities. With a continued focus on high expectations and aspiration, it’s been lovely to see them challenging themselves to do their best and supporting one another with kindness and encouragement.
In English, we’ve been developing our suspense writing skills. The children have worked on using modal verbs to create a sense of possibility and uncertainty, and parenthesis to add detail and clarity. They’ve shown great effort and focus in applying these techniques, producing thoughtful and engaging pieces of writing.
In Maths, we’ve now completed our unit on decimals and moved on to explore multiples and factors. Thursday’s problem-solving challenge really stretched our thinking and encouraged collaboration. It was fantastic to see the children showing determination and aiming high as they tackled complex problems together.
In RE, we’ve continued exploring the Ten Commandments. The class wrote short stories based on one commandment of their choice, each with a clear moral. Their responses showed maturity, empathy, and a deepening understanding of how values guide our decisions and actions in everyday life.
Our dog collage art project has been a real highlight this week. Working on a larger scale has required patience and resilience, and it’s been brilliant to see how much pride the children are taking in their work. They’re thinking carefully about composition and technique, and the results are looking fantastic so far.
In Geography, we’ve been learning about different types of land use and how these have changed over time. The children asked thoughtful questions about how areas develop and why communities change, showing a genuine interest in understanding the world around them.
We also began learning about Charles Darwin in Science this week. His work on adaptation and evolution has sparked curiosity and led to some fantastic questions and discussions. The children are already showing confidence in handling new ideas and are setting high expectations for themselves as we continue this topic.
This week, we also marked Little Way Week, inspired by St Thérèse of Lisieux, who reminds us that even small acts done with great love can make a big difference. The children created beautiful flower artworks to share with our local community. Each child is encouraged to post their flower through a neighbour’s door this weekend to brighten someone’s day – a simple act of kindness that reflects our virtues/values of empathy and love in action.
Week Commencing 22nd September 2025
What a fantastic week we’ve had in Year 6 – full of creativity, teamwork, resilience and reflection. We’ve shown faith in ourselves and each other, hope in the goals we’re working towards, and love in the way we support and care for our school community.
In Art, we tackled a big challenge using the grid method to carefully translate our dog sketches onto large pieces of cardboard, ready to turn into vibrant collages. It wasn’t easy – in fact, it really tested our resilience – but we persevered and are proud of how much progress we made. Every line drawn brought our dogs closer to life!
In PE, we focused on defending skills and played team games that had everyone moving, laughing, and encouraging one another. Our teamwork shone through, and it was a joy to see everyone having so much fun while learning important tactics and strategies.
Geography took us closer to home, as we explored the economic activity and natural resources of Stroud. We discovered why it was voted one of the best places to live by The Sunday Times in 2021. Using our knowledge and creativity, we designed persuasive images to show off what makes Stroud so special – from its beautiful green spaces to its thriving local economy.
In RE, we’ve been learning about the four major covenants in the Bible – with Noah, Abraham, the Israelites, and King David. We reflected on what a covenant is and how it represents a deep promise between God and His people. These stories reminded us of the importance of trust, commitment, and faith.
Our school Mass this week was a beautiful time of worship. Marmaduke, Ellianna and Millie read wonderfully – clear, confident, and full of reverence. The whole class helped with setting up and packing away the church space, showing great responsibility and teamwork.
We’re also seeing our House Captains beginning to step into their roles, counting marbles with care and supporting their houses with pride. Meanwhile, our School Council representatives, Harry and Tom, had a great first meeting with Mrs Jenkins. She said they were enthusiastic and full of great ideas – we’re excited to see what they’ll bring to the table!
As a class, we continue to grow not just in knowledge, but in character. Whether it’s helping each other, giving our best in every subject, or taking on new roles with enthusiasm, we’re living out the values of faith, hope, and love each day.
Here’s to another great week ahead
Week commencing 15th September 2025
What a fantastic week it’s been in Year 6! From deep thinking in RE to creative challenges in Art, the class has truly shown excellent resilience, knowledge-building skills, and plenty of kindness along the way. It’s been lovely to see those little acts of kindness—a helping hand in a tricky task, kind words of encouragement, or simply a smile shared at the right moment—making a big difference in our classroom community. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from our learning journey this week:
English: Exploring Pandora with Powerful Paragraphs
Our English work has taken us far beyond Earth, all the way to the sci-fi world of Pandora! We’ve started crafting non-chronological reports on the incredible creatures that live on this mysterious planet. Children have been working hard to include ambitious expanded noun phrases and relative clauses, helping to bring their reports to life with rich, descriptive detail. From razor-winged sky hunters to glowing forest stalkers, the imagination and vocabulary on show have been out of this world!
Maths: Place Value Power!
In Maths, we’ve been diving into place value with a focus on 7-digit numbers, rounding, and even negative numbers. Several children have taken on extra challenge tasks, showing real confidence and stretching their thinking. What’s been even more impressive is the way classmates have stepped in to support each other, sharing strategies and celebrating one another’s successes—a wonderful example of how kindness and teamwork boost learning for everyone.
Geography: Our Local Economy
This week, we explored the idea of economic activity and thought carefully about what drives our local economy. We had great discussions around different types of jobs and industries, but we also reminded ourselves that not everything valuable has a price—sometimes, the best things in life are completely free, like a spectacular view, a walk with friends, or a simple act of kindness.
RE: The Ten Commandments
Our RE lessons helped us understand how the Ten Commandments show God’s power and His love for His people. We thought about how these ancient rules still guide people today and how we, too, can reflect God’s love through small, kind actions—just like so many of you have done this week.
Art: 3D Dog Sculptures
In Art, we’ve been working on our exciting 3D dog project. Using the grid drawing technique, children carefully mapped out their designs and explored the concept of negative and positive space—thinking about how we see and understand shapes in art. The care and focus everyone has shown has been outstanding—and so has the encouragement you’ve given to one another, especially when things didn’t go quite right the first time!
A huge well done to all of Year 6 for showing such a positive attitude this week. Your resilience, kindness, and growing confidence are something to be proud of. It’s the little things—both in learning and in life—that often have the biggest impact. Keep being brilliant, and have a lovely weekend St Martin’s Class!
Week commencing 8th September 2025
What a fantastic first full week back it’s been for our Year 6 class at St Joseph’s! The classroom has been buzzing with excitement, curiosity, and a real sense of purpose as we dive into our learning journey together. From House Captain speeches to scientific discoveries, our children have already shown that they are ready to meet the high expectations of their final year at primary school – and they’re doing it all while living out our REACH values every step of the way.
Resilience in Science
We kicked off our new Science topic – evolution and inheritance – with some fascinating discussions about fossils and the clues they give us about life millions of years ago. The children showed real resilience as they tackled tricky ideas around how characteristics are passed down through generations and how living things have adapted over time. It’s not an easy topic, but their determination to understand was inspiring!
Empathy in RE and with our Reception buddies
In RE, we’ve been exploring the story of Moses and thinking deeply about how God has faith in all people – even when they doubt themselves. We started to connected this to our own lives and how we can show empathy to others by recognising everyone’s potential and believing in them. On Friday, we met our Reception buddies for the first time and helped them at lunch time. The children were great role models listening and reacting to their new buddies for the year, showing real empathy for the youngest members of our school family.
Aspiration in Leadership
This week was a big one – House Captain speeches! We couldn’t be prouder of our candidates. They prepared with care, spoke with confidence, and most importantly, inspired us all with their ideas and vision. Their speeches were truly aspirational – a reminder that leadership isn’t just about a title, but about passion, effort, and believing in yourself. No matter the results, every single one of them is a winner in our eyes!
Confidence in Creativity
In Art, we’ve begun exploring the work of Lubaina Himid, an artist known for transforming 2D artwork into powerful 3D pieces. We’ve started to think about how we can take inspiration from her to develop our own projects. The class showed confidence in sharing their thoughts and responding to Himid’s bold use of colour and storytelling – we can’t wait to see where this takes our creativity this term!
High Expectations in Sport and Study
Our PE lessons have focused on football, particularly defensive teamwork. There was great cooperation, communication, and plenty of enthusiasm on the field! In Geography, we explored physical and human features of our local area, including Stroud and nearby towns, while linking it to historical periods we’ve studied. Whether on the pitch or in the classroom, the children are rising to the challenge and showing they’re ready for the high expectations we have in Year 6.
It’s only the beginning, but already we’re seeing what an incredible group of learners we have this year. They are showing that by using our REACH values – Resilience, Empathy, Aspiration, Confidence, and High Expectations – there is no limit to what they can achieve. Here’s to a year full of growth, discovery, and unforgettable moments!
Week commencing 1st September
Only a 3-day week but Year 6 have started as they mean to go on REACHing in all areas!
Lots of excitement about the Year 6 privileges – sitting on benches, water bottles at places, pencil cases etc.
A few activities that we have done this week are: created/completed some art work for our corridor considering our life now and our aspirational hopes and dreams for the future; written prayers linked to our class saint – Saint Martin de Porres; completed assessments (here we showed great resilience and determination to be the best we could be); looked at the internet and how data is sent over it during computing; and completed a football session in PE – it really has been busy!
Our pictures this week show us pulling faces for our corridor display linked to our hopes for this year and the future - my hope is that these pictures make the class smile every morning as they come in!
I can’t wait for next week – house captain speeches!