Welcome to 6S!

Welcome to our wonderful, kind, wacky, unique and hard working class! When you enter the fantastic world of 6S, you are entering a classroom filled with learning, fun, laughter, experiences and friendship. Together, we will have a fantastic final year at Brighton Avenue Primary School!

Year 6 is a year full of challenges and hard work where we will strive every day to try our best and achieve excellence, demonstrating brilliant behaviour and wonderful attitudes in all aspects of our school life. 

From exploring ancient civilisations to studying geographical features, we will develop our problem solving, reasoning and critical thinking skills. 

This year is all about developing our responsibilities, independence, maturity and confidence in preparation for Year 7! 

Keep checking this page for updates on all the wonderful learning we will be doing! 

Miss Sharp & Mrs Graham 

w.c. 03.03.25

We've had a very busy first week of Spring 2 here in 6S! We started the week by visiting Gateshead Library where we were given book titles as emojis and had to use our knowledge to decipher their names. In English, we have started looking at Historical Fiction by reading 'My Secret War Diary' which is set during WWII. We've enjoyed practising using informal language when writing our own diary extracts.

In Maths, we finished our unit on Shape and Measurement by practising use protractors to draw and measure angles and shapes accurately. We had lots of rules to remember but we were incredibly resilient and worked incredibly hard at completing lots of challenges.

In DT, we began our unit studying structures - in particular, bridges. We began by thinking about which local bridges we knew before exploring different types of bridges. We looked at the difference between beam bridges and arch bridges and built our own to investigate which were strongest. We then designed and tested adaptations to these bridges which would successfully reinforce these bridges. Later in the week, construction company Equans visited us to talk about different careers in the construction industry. We participated in a Civil Engineering workshop where we had to adopt the roles of Architect, Quantity Surveyor, Structural Engineer and Finance Manager. In groups, we were given the design brief: build the longest bridge which could successfully withhold the weight of a can of beans. We worked so well together and created some AMAZING structures. 3 out of the 5 bridges successfully withheld the weight of the tin of beans. Have a look at our designs below! 

W.c. 17.02.25 - Art!

We've had a busy final week of the half term. In particular, we have been finishing off our final pieces of art focused around our topic 'I See Space'. We created Collagraph prints using a range of materials to create texture and patterns. After this, we use our collagraph templates to print with. We thought carefully about what colours we would use and whether we wanted to layer the colours for effect - it was very messy work! 

Once our collagraph prints were dry, we used our drawing techniques to add an image to our work. Lots of us used tracing paper and carbon paper to transfer our drawings onto our prints using a range of drawing materials. We were so proud of our final pieces! Just take a look at them - aren't they amazing!!!

w.c. 09.02.25

What a whirlwind of a week it has been for all of us! With our special visitors, school trips and MOBO awards performance it's fair to say that we are all ready for the weekend!!! 

On Thursday, we visited the Careers Hub in the Metrocentre which is ran by the Newcastle United Foundation. During the session, we thought about reasons why people go to work and, in groups, ranked these reasons based on our own opinions. Lots of us believed it was really important to enjoy your job. We then looked at the skills we would need in jobs and thought about examples of when we have used these skills already. Next, we went to.... PRIMARK!!! We were so excited to walk around the shop floor before visiting the stockroom and boardroom. We met lots of workers including a regional manager, administrator assistant, HR manager and stockroom manager. We spent some time asking them our burning questions which we found very interesting! Finally, we were trained how to fold t-shirts 'the Primark way'. We were amazing at this! As always, staff commented on our children's amazing behaviour and attitudes during the session. Well done Year 6! 

w.c. 27.1.25

Another busy week has flown by in the land of Year 6! In English, we have begun a new writing unit on information texts: we have been researching Mars Rovers and using a range of skills to put our information into cohesive paragraphs. I have bene so impressed with the quality of writing already - I cannot wait to see what our extended writing will produce! In Maths, we have been tackling some reasoning and problem solving questions linked with our unit of measurement. The children have been so resilient and worked hard to answer some difficult questions. 

In Science, we have continued our tour of the solar system by learning about the lunar cycle while in RE we finished our topic learning about The Holocaust. The children have enjoyed our RE topic this half term but have certainly found it eye-opening at times. I have been so proud of the empathy and maturing shown during these lessons. Mrs Morgan, Mrs Millar and Mrs Kevan were so impressed with their thoughtful responses while we were answering our learning question: What lessons can we learn from The Holocaust. The children were able to relate these lessons to our British and school values (STARS) and talk about how they could use these lessons in the future. In Thomas' words: "We are the future. We must create a world of kindness." 

In PE, we were treated the a volunteer from the Durham Cricket Foundation giving us a taster of cricket skills; we practised batting, bowling and catching. Those who enjoyed can continue to develop their skills for FREE on a Tuesday evening at Gateshead Leisure Centre. 

Congratulations to Gul and Ellie-Mae who are our 'Pupil of the Week' winners. Gul always gives such beautiful and thoughtful responses during class discussions. What an empathetic and mature girl you are! Ellie-Mae, our little Maths whizz, always keeps me on my toes in Maths lessons with her expert knowledge and skills. Superb work both of you!

w.c. 20.1.25 - Gateshead Library!

On Monday, Year 6 had a lovely start to the week as they visited Gateshead Library. We spent some time writing book reviews of the books we had previously borrowed, as well as books we had been reading in class together. We were then given some time to explore and find a book we would like to borrow. We used a Year 6 recommended books list to help us with our choices. Miss Sharp and Mrs Graham were super proud of the children who represented the school beautifully!

w.c. 13.1.25 - Gymnastics superstars!

In PE this term,  we have been focusing on our 'Matching and Mirroring' gymnastics topic. Last week, in pairs, we created short sequences using a range of canon and unison movements which we then linked together with our routines. We thought about the speed of our movements and how we could ensure we performed with 'good gymnastics' skills. This week, we progressed our sequences by adding in a range of apparatus. We loved incorporating more complex balances and jumps using the pommel horses and trampolines. I couldn't believe the range and quality of movements the children were producing - some future gymnasts for sure!

Pupil of the Week -Anayah and Jasmine are this week's pupils of the week. Jasmine always approaches school with a can-do, positive attitude and sits through every lesson with a smile on her face - don't stop smiling Jasmine! Anayah gives 100% into EVERYTHING she does and works incredibly hard within all of her work. Well done girls, you are smashing Year 6! 

w.c. 6.1.25 

Welcome back! What a fantastic first week back we have had. The children have settled back into routines really well, I have been so impressed with their attitudes both in,  and outside of the classroom this week! We started off our week with a very cold Muddy Monsters session where we used our teamwork skills to build dens. 

In English, we have been exploring how to build tension and suspense within our writing using the clip of Alma. We ended the week writing some setting descriptions using figurative language to develop a tense atmosphere. In Maths, we have been practising translating and reflecting shapes using our knowledge of coordinates. This can be really tricky but we've used lots of resilience during lessons which has been superb!

In Science, we carried on our topic of Earth and Space by researching how sundials were used in the past and in PE we began putting together gymnastics routines in pairs. Overall, a fantastic week back Year 6. Well done!!

W.c. 2.12.24

The twinkling lights are on. The tree is up. The tinsel is strewn around the classroom. And we have paper chains galore! Christmas has definitely arrived in 6S! 

This week, our learning has barrelled on at full speed! In RE, we continued to look at our enquiry question: Why do Christians believe Jesus was the Messiah? We thought about Mary and Joseph. In particular, how they both would have been feeling and what they would have been thinking when the Angel Gabriel appeared and informed them that they would carry and raise the son of God. We got into character as investigative journalists and interviewed Mary and Joseph, asking them our burning questions! In Geography, we explored the mystery of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine: two mountaineers who disappeared during their ascent of Mount Everest. In groups, we compiled news reports focusing on the key events and interviewed eye-witnesses from the mountain that day. In reading, we continued to practise our inference skills by completing an inference ladder in pairs. We used our prior knowledge of the text and clues in the extracts given to help us make predictions about a character's thoughts, feelings and actions. 

Another fantastic week of learning Year 6! We cannot wait until even more Christmas festivities begin next week! 

Friday 22nd November - STEAM Day

Our focus for STEAM & DT Day was food technology. We spent the day exploring hazards in the kitchen and how to maintain proper hygiene in a workspace with food. We learnt what 'cross contamination' means and the consequences of cross contaminating food. We couldn't believe how much bacteria could exist on raw food!! We thought about how to store our food and how to prepare our food in a way that avoids cross contamination of raw and cooked food. After this, we used the BBC Careers website to explore a range of careers linked with food - we couldn't believe that some didn't even involve cooking!! The most popular career among us was a 'pizza restaurant manager' and a 'baker'! 

W.c. 18.11.24 

What a busy week it has been! We have finished our writing unit based on '23 degrees, 5 minutes.' We have loved watching the clip and using language to develop characterisation for Professor Orit and Babbage. In Maths, we have moved on to percentages. We found it a little tricky at first but have been using our RESILIENCE to keep going. Well done Year 6! On Tuesday, we were joined by a volunteer from the NSPCC who ran a workshop linked with speaking out the staying safe. The workshop tackling some challenging subjects and the children were incredibly mature throughout. In PE, we have transferred our rugby skills into match play mode and enjoyed scoring lots of tries against one another! On Thursday, we participated in a live reading for pleasure event where we used some art skills to visualise a scene or character from a poem using the vocabulary the author had chosen to help us create a picture in our mind. On Friday, it was STEAM day. We explore food hygiene and cross contamination. We then researched different careers in the food technology industry. Phew!! So much achieved in one week! Super work Year 6! 

Children in Need!

On Friday the 15th November, we came to school in our own clothes for the day and donated to Children in Need. The charity was selected by our school council members as they felt it was a very important cause to support! We enjoyed an assembly where we learned more about the purpose of the charity and the work it does before enjoying a few Pudsey-related activities in the afternoon with some juice and a biscuit! 

W.c. 11.11.24

Science: How can we separate mixtures?

In Science this week, we were tasked by Schweppes to test their brand new lemonade recipe. We worked in groups to follow each step of the recipe accurately. While we were following the recipe, we worked hard to think of solutions for different challenges that arose. We didn't like that the pips and flesh of the lemon ended up in the liquid after squeezing the juice in so we suggested that a sieve would be effective at separating the solids from the liquid. When we accidentally put too much sugar into our mixture, we concluded that we could use evaporation to separate our solution again. In the end, we were pleasantly surprised by the results and had a wonderful time enjoying a cold glass of lemonade together! Super investigating Year 6!!

W.c. 4.11.24

6S kicked Autumn 2 off in style with our first Muddy Monsters session of the year on Monday morning. We learned how to use a range of tools to safely cut wood from a fallen tree in our forest schools area. We then used the wood we collected to successfully build dens! It was clear to see that the children were able to use their newly acquired skills from Robinwood to support them during the morning. Well done Year 6! 

W.c. 14.10.24 - Harvest Festival!

Another busy week has flown by here in 6S! Once again, the children have impressed me with their positive attitudes, resilience and hard work - especially in maths where we have been attempting some difficult division strategies!

On Wednesday, it was our harvest festival in school and the children blew us away with their performance of 'Hurry Up Harvest'. If you missed it, don't fear! You can watch it below!

Follow this link to see our amazing harvest song.

Next week, is the week that we've all been waiting for.... ROBINWOOD!!! The children (and staff) are so excited to go and challenge ourselves at the Robinwood Centre in Alston. It's going to be AMAZING! 

Pupil of the week

Congratulations to Alyan and Omar who are this week's Pupil of the Week.

Alyan - you are such a friendly, polite, helpful and welcoming young man. You are an ASSET to our class.

Omar - you have worked so hard in Maths and your dedication is paying off with your INCREDIBLE arithmetic test scores. Well done!

Pupil of the Week 

Well done to Lewis and Grace: this week's Pupils of the Week!!

Grace has had fantastic resilience in her maths work which has grown and grown since the beginning of the year. We are so proud of your hard work Grace, keep trying your best and shining!

Lewis is our future author. His extended writing has been superb, packed full of Year 6 writing targets. Keep up the high quality work!!

w.c. 7.10.24

This week, we embarked on our first visit of the academic year to Gateshead library. Luckily for us, the pouring rain held off just long enough for us to arrive all in one pieces (and nice and dry!). We went on a scavenger hunt, trying to find as many different types of books as possible. We couldn't believe all of the interesting books we found. Next, we had some time to explore and find a book to check out to read for pleasure in school. Some of us found books about football that looked interesting, whilst some of us loved the spooky books stand! 

In Science, we were contacted by Ellie Cocoa, a barista at our local Costa Coffee shop. She needed our help as she was receiving lots of complaints from customers that the marshmallows in her hot chocolates were melting too quickly. We planned an investigation to find out which temperature of liquid would allow marshmallows to dissolve the quickest. We filled beakers with liquids at different temperatures before placing the same amount of marshmallows in each. We then timed how long it took the marshmallows in each beaker to dissolve. It only took 1 minute and 30 seconds for the marshmallows in the hot water to dissolve whilst the marshmallows in the warm water dissolved at a slower rate. We decided that suggesting Ellie's customers stir their hot chocolate might speed up the rate of dissolving. After our investigation, we even had some marshmallows left over for a treat! Super investigating Year 6, well done! 

w.c. 30.09.24

Wow! What another crazy, exciting and fun-filled week it has been! In the past 5 days, we have taken on the roles of archaeologists, scientists, authors, athletes and mathematicians to name but a few! 

In History, we studied artefacts remaining from Ancient Maya. We thought about what they depicted, what they may have been used for, where they may have been found and what we can learn about the Ancient Maya from this. We enjoyed looking at the stone carvings of Ancient Maya royalty and thinking about what they may have been wearing and why. 

In Science, we have been learning about properties of materials this half term. We explored our learning question: Which objects from my kitchen cupboard will dissolve? We made predictions about each item, based on our wider world knowledge and our knowledge of solids and liquids before testing each item. We discovered that salt and sugar were soluble, but rice and flour were insoluble. We then thought about whether the temperature of the water would affect the rate of dissolving. What do you think?

In English,  we have been completing our narratives in our extended writing. We focused on using figurative language, dialogue and characterisation to retell the story of 'Rainplayer'. For the writing, the children chose a part of the story to retell. I was absolutely blown away by the quality of writing produced - the language the children were using was out of this world! I am so excited to see where our writing can go this year!!

In Maths, we tackled the tricky skill of mental addition and subtraction calculations with large numbers. This was tricky but the children were incredibly resilient and work extremely hard to apply a variety of mental strategies to support their learning. I was so impressed. 

Pupil of the Week

A special shout out to our Pupils of the Week; Jake & Kamy! Jake is a wonderful member of our class who ALWAYS tries his best and works hard to produce work of a quality that he can be proud of. Kamy has impressed in our English lessons, using dialogue which is perfectly punctuated! She's even used 'Show Not Tell' alongside her dialogue to develop characterisation. Your writing has been superb Kamy! Well done to the both of you superstars!!!

w.c. 23.09.24

A massive congratulations to Mya and Thomas who are our pupils of the week. Mya has been working amazingly hard in English lessons to produce some superb writing, I can't wait to see her extended write! Thomas is just a ball of energy who keeps the whole class motivated. A huge well done to you both!! 

w.c. 16.9.24

We have had a busy week getting stuck into our Maths and English topics. In Maths, we have been learning to read and write numbers up to 10,000,000. We have worked incredibly hard on some tricky reasoning problems alongside this. I have been really impressed with the children's resilience in the face of tough questions! In English, we have been writing setting descriptions based on the book 'Rainplayer' which is set in the rainforest. The children have effectively used language to create an atmosphere and paint a clear image in the reader's mind. I have been blown away by the imagination of the children and the quality of work produced - I'm excited to see our extended writing in a couple of weeks time!! We finished the week by looking at characterisation of characters through dialogue. We thought very carefully about the words our characters would say and the actions that would accompany them. In pairs, we acted out our roles using roleplay. Again, I was so impressed with the children's ideas and acting! We have some future film stars in the class! 

Pupil of the Week - A HUGE well done to Lilly & Amna who were our pupils of the week. Both girls have returned to Brighton Avenue with smiles of their faces and ready to work hard. Well done girls - you absolute superstars!!! 

w.c. 09.09.24 

Wow! What a fantastic first week we have had back at school. We have been settling into Year 6 and our new routines (and responsibilities!) and finding out about all the fun that this year is going to bring. I want to say a massive thankyou to the children who have made me feel so welcome to the Brighton Avenue community and have helped me learn the daily routines as well!!!

This week, we have been busy completing our mixed-media art topic where we have focused on creating self-portraits using a range of art materials. To support us in planning our artwork, we researched Chila Burman, a London-based artist, who uses collage and mixed media to create a range of self portraits. We especially liked her pieces where she used LED lights! Using a range of materials, we created our own self-portraits thinking about how we could use style and colour to represent our unique identities. Have a look at some of our amazing creations below - aren't they amazing!!

A MASSIVE well done to our first two pupils of the week for Year 6: Ellie-Mae and Owen! Owen, you wowed me with your wonderful attitude towards your work - you are definitely ready to tackle Year 6! Ellie-Mae - what a kind, hardworking girl you are. You have worked like a trojan in all your lessons this week all while being a wonderful friend and mentor to a new student. You have truly made her feel a welcome part of our community. Well done!