Year 6 Camp Blog

Day 1

Hi Everyone,

Greetings from a slightly soggy but nonetheless beautiful Dartmoor! Having safely arrived, lunch was quicky eaten, rooms allocated and bags moved in before moving swiftly onto the first activity: team building. Some excellent leadership skills and great communication were on display as balls were rolled along drain pipes, tyres were manoeuvred, metal batons transported on hooks with ropes and teams of people travelled between crates as planks were passed between them.

Stomachs were filled in the dining room with homemade bolognaise followed by a generous helping of apple crumble and custard (some opted for just a large bowl of custard!!) and then it was off for a two-hour evening hike across the moor with carpets of bluebells, ponies, beautiful bridges and rivers.

It has been a little damp, but everyone was perfectly dressed for whatever the weather and a little bit of rain never hurt anyone!

For now, the corridors are quiet and heads have hit the pillows as a good night’s sleep is needed for Lake Day tomorrow……and it can rain as much as it likes as we will be spending the day submerged in water anyway!!

Good night from us down here and we will message with more watery news tomorrow.

Day 2

Hello on a Tuesday from Okehampton! A solid night's sleep from everyone - although some just ever-so-slightly earlier than absolutely ideal - and then straight into the day with a full cooked breakfast followed by mounds of toast and then squeezing ourselves into wetsuits! We all piled into a fleet of mini-buses and were off to the lake for a day of kayaking, canoeing and raft building . Kayaks were raced, canoes were capsized and slides were made and used - a great day was had by all. Back to the centre for a huge roast (plates were piled high.... and cleared) followed by jelly and ice cream and hot showers. 

This evening has been spent on the low ropes course and around the campfire.....and of course, we all got wet again but nothing that could dampen anyone's spirits. Think all were tired out though as people hadn't been tucked up in bed for long this evening before they were all sound asleep. 

Tomorrow is a big day as we cycle along the Granite Way to Meldon and then haul on those wetsuits again before plunging into the river for fabulous gorge scrambling, scaling the granite rocks for a climbing session........and then cycling back to the centre again for a well-earned meal.

Your children are having a great time and are excellent company so thank you for lending them to us for such a happy week!

More from us tomorrow and sleep well all.

Day 3

Greetings from the happy campers in Okehampton!

We have had a REALLY great day today!!!! An excellent night's sleep from ALL was followed by a HUGE breakfast of muffins (savoury and sweet) and piles of toast and then it was onto mountain bikes and along the Granite Way to Meldon whilst enjoying fabulous views. On arrival, for one group, it was time for the wetsuits again.....but clearly practise makes perfect as we all seemed to clamber into them much more quickly (if not quite gracefully)  today....and then into the river for gorge scrambling. Whilst no-one would describe the water as balmy, the kids absolutely LOVED it and it was brilliant to see them fearlessly sliding down waterfalls, leaping from rocks and plunging into pools....and Miss Clark was definitely spotted basking in a pool in a patch of sunlight looking every bit as though she were in a  luxury spa!! 

When not in the water, the children were scaling the rock faces and abseiling down - every single person rose to the challenge and it was so lovely to see the children's courage as well as the way they supported and encouraged each other so brilliantly.

We then leapt aboard our bikes and cycled back to the centre in time for delicious homemade chicken pie with the BEST wodge of chocolate brownie. The day has ended with much needed showers and a quiz before heading for bed to make sure that tomorrow (another busy day) can be fully enjoyed......there's a rumour circulating that the sun will be making a welcome appearance tomorrow and that we might be swapping waterproofs for suncream.......but we'll believe it when we see it.

Thank you once again for your children's company - it really is a great thing to see their joy . Goodnight for now and we'll tell you all about tomorrow before heading for home on Friday.

Parent Presentation

Welcome to Galaxy Class!

The class adults are Mrs Heath and Mrs Groves (Class Teachers) and Mrs Hamblin (LSA / Year 6 Intervention). 

Our learning experience for this term is   

 Coast to Coast 

Our PE days will staying on a Monday and Friday.  Please ensure children come to school in the correct kit on these days and that long hair is tied back. We do not allow the children to wear earrings for PE so please can they be removed on these days or taped over. 

Thank you for taking the time to read all the information. 

Mrs Heath & Mrs Groves

Class rewards 

In order to promote positive behaviour, we reward the children with: raffle tickets, smiley faces, fishy points (house points) and a reading treat. If the class is able to achieve 100 reads, then the children who contributed significantly will be able to choose a reward. In addition, we have a traffic light system for behaviour and if the children are on the star at the end of the day, they will receive a raffle ticket. This allows us to encourage the students to engage in their learning and reward those who are participating and show a positive learning attitude.  

Greater Depth 

To support our Greater Depth children (those working above the expected level), we always try to challenge them within lessons with the work set and our level of questioning.

In Year 6, some of our Greater Depth (GD) children were involved in a Maths Challenge online, where they had to answer a range of difficult problems using their mathematical knowledge and understanding of many different concepts. They enjoyed this, as it made them think ‘out of the box’.

Autumn 1 Knowledge Organisers