📚✨ Year 6 Library Adventure ✨📚

This week, Year 6 had a fantastic trip up to the school library—and what a brilliant time we had! 🏫➡️📖

As soon as we arrived, everyone settled into the cosy reading spaces, ready to explore the wide range of books on offer. From colourful picture books 🎨📘 to exciting stories full of adventure, there was something for everyone to enjoy.

One of the highlights of our visit was sharing picture books together. 👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 Even though we are one of the oldest year groups in the school, we loved diving into these beautifully illustrated stories. The artwork helped bring the stories to life, and we enjoyed discussing the characters, themes, and hidden meanings. 🖼️💡

Reading with friends made the experience even more special. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑📚 We took turns reading aloud, listening carefully, and sharing our thoughts. There were lots of smiles 😊, laughter 😂, and thoughtful conversations along the way.

Spending time in the library reminded us how enjoyable reading can be. It’s not just about learning—it’s also about imagination, creativity, and relaxing with a good book. 🌟📖

We can’t wait for our next visit!

📌 Year 6 Top Tip: Don’t forget—picture books aren’t just for younger children. They can inspire readers of all ages! 💬✨

Year 5 were delighted to welcome Nathan Parker, a Blackpool-based performance poet, author and spoken word artist, into school. Nathan, who is proud of his northern roots, shared his journey from growing up in Blackpool to becoming a successful writer and performer, explaining how his experiences, challenges and surroundings have shaped his work. 12

During the session, Nathan spoke openly about his upbringing and how he discovered a love for writing, using poetry as a way to express real-life thoughts and emotions. He performed some of his own poems, showing the children how spoken word poetry brings writing to life through rhythm, voice and performance. 3

A key part of his visit was challenging the children’s ideas about what a poet ‘should’ look like. Nathan encouraged them to think beyond stereotypes and introduced them to a wider world of poets, including influential voices such as Maya Angelou and Benjamin Zephaniah, helping pupils see that poetry comes from many different backgrounds, styles and experiences.

The session was highly interactive, with Nathan leading fun and engaging writing activities that inspired creativity and confidence. The highlight of the visit was a whole-class collaborative poem, where every child contributed their own ideas and lines. Guided by Nathan, the class worked together to shape their thoughts into a powerful shared piece of writing, celebrating their voices and imagination. 4

Nathan’s energy, honesty and relatable approach made a lasting impact on the children, leaving them inspired to continue writing and to see themselves as poets in their own right.

In Year 4, shared reading plays an important role in our weekly Guided Reading sessions. By reading together as a group, pupils build confidence, fluency, and a deeper understanding of texts in a supportive environment.

Shared reading allows children to hear fluent reading modelled by adults and peers, while also giving them opportunities to join in, discuss vocabulary, and explore meaning. Pupils are encouraged to ask questions, make predictions, and share their ideas, helping them feel more confident when talking about books.

These weekly sessions also support pupils who may feel less confident reading independently, as everyone works together and supports one another. Over time, children grow in confidence, accuracy, and enjoyment of reading.

Shared reading helps foster a positive reading culture in the classroom and encourages pupils to see reading as something to enjoy and share. It has been lovely to see Year 4 becoming more confident, enthusiastic readers each week.

As part of our Reading into Writing journey, we focused on the Immersion in Reading phase using the genre of non‑chronological reports. We previously explored a WAGOLL to identify and discuss the key features of this text type. Today, we examined a different non‑chronological report and used Post‑it notes to identify its features. We discussed how many features can be recognised without reading the text in full, such as the title, subheadings, images with captions or labelled diagrams, paragraphs and fact boxes. We then skimmed and scanned the text to identify technical vocabulary related to the specific subject of the report. Finally, we cut out the features and organised them onto a sheet to deepen our understanding of how non‑chronological reports are structured.

Year 5 enjoyed an exciting visit to The Attic, our school library, where they had the opportunity to explore a wide range of new class reading books. The children thoughtfully browsed the shelves, sharing recommendations and enthusiastically telling each other about stories they had previously enjoyed. They spent time reading the first few pages of several books that caught their interest, carefully considering which one would become their personal choice. The session was filled with animated discussions, curiosity, and a genuine love of reading, as each child selected a book they were excited to take back to class and explore further.

 

In Guided Reading this week, we focused on building confidence and expression through poetry. We explored a poem about returning to school after half term and talked about how the feelings linked to our own experiences. We used an I say, you say approach to practise prosody and intonation, listening carefully to how the poem should sound. Some of us then bravely read the poem aloud to the class, using clear voices and expression.

📚 Year 6 Class Novel Update 📚

Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed reading Pig Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman this term. The novel sparked lots of thoughtful discussion and encouraged pupils to think deeply about challenging choices and moral dilemmas. It prompted mature conversations and helped develop empathy and understanding. Although emotional at times, the children found it engaging and very memorable. A powerful story that led to great learning conversations in class!

 

In Year Two, we have been using active spelling to help us learn and remember our spellings. The children loved building words, shaping letters with pipe cleaners, using drawing pads, and practising rainbow writing. These hands-on activities helped us embed our spellings in a fun and memorable way, keeping everyone engaged and excited about learning. Fantastic effort, Year Two!

Today, our Year 4 children have been busy exploring a brand‑new reading resource in school: Reading Eggs – and the response has been overwhelmingly positive!

From the moment the children logged in for the first time, there was a buzz of excitement around the classroom. The colourful design, friendly characters and interactive activities immediately captured their attention. For many pupils, it didn’t feel like “work” at all – more like a fun challenge they couldn’t wait to get started on.

🌟 Spelling Bee Success! 🐝📚

Today, our school was buzzing with excitement as children from Year 2 to Year 6 took part in our annual Spelling Bee! 🏆✨

Over the past few weeks, pupils have been working incredibly hard to learn their spellings. From tricky letter blends to confident articulation, they have shown real dedication. 💪🧠

When the moment arrived, each participant demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage. Taking the stage in front of the whole school is no small task, yet our spellers stood tall, spoke clearly, and gave it their very best. 🎤👏

We are incredibly proud of every child who took part. Their effort, determination, and enthusiasm made today a wonderful celebration of learning. 🎉📖

A huge well done to all our super spellers! 🌈⭐

This week, Year 5 have been exploring two different chapters from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory—the chapters focusing on Veruca Salt and Charlie Bucket. The children have been comparing the two characters by finding evidence from the text to support their ideas about each character’s personality traits. 

🎬 To begin, we watched a short silent film that introduced us to the three main characters—Rock, Paper, and Scissors. Without dialogue, we had to pay close attention to their actions, expressions, and interactions to understand the emotions and relationships portrayed in the video.

🧠 As a class, we discussed what we thought the characters were feeling, why certain events happened, and how their personalities could be shown through descriptive writing. We also explored how music, movement, and timing in the video helped build tension and atmosphere.

✍️ Using the film as our inspiration, we planned and wrote our own narrative version of the story. We focused on developing:

• 🌟 Strong character descriptions
• 🌈 Detailed settings
• ⚡ Powerful verbs and figurative language
• 📖 Clear story structure with a beginning, build-up, conflict, and resolution

🖊️ Each pupil then drafted their story, edited it carefully, and created a polished final version. We are extremely proud of the creativity, imagination, and effort shown in every piece.

🌟 Have a read through some of our fantastic stories and see how we brought the characters of Rock, Paper, and Scissors to life!

What an incredible World Book Day we have had in Year 3! Mrs Rose and Miss Edge (also known today as Snow White and Happy!) were absolutely amazed by the creativity and effort the children put into their outfits as they welcomed the children into the classroom. Our classrooms were filled with a magical mix of characters, from Willy Wonka and Where's Wally to Dorothy from Oz, a Roman soldier, Matilda, Disney princesses, action heroes, Mr Men characters, Harry Potter, Darth Vader and even some brilliant David Walliams characters. We began our day with a whole‑school assembly, thinking about what we find fun and how reading can bring joy, imagination and excitement into everyday life.

After assembly, we had the fantastic opportunity to join V&A Schools Live: Primary Read and Draw-Along webinar. We listened to the wonderful Cressida Cowell, who shared how she carefully planned her How to Train Your Dragon series from the very beginning, using meticulous notes and ideas to build her world. She also read from her collection, transporting us into the adventures of Hiccup and Toothless. The children especially loved the step-by-step draw‑along where they created their very own illustration of Hiccup. It was a brilliant experience that inspired creativity, storytelling and a deeper love of reading across the year group.

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Year 6 Begin Their Persuasive Writing Journey!

This week, Year 6 have embarked on an exciting new writing adventure: letters of persuasion! Our mission is to learn how to write confidently and convincingly—just like real campaigners, activists, and opinion leaders.

To kick things off, we explored a WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like). By reading it carefully, we pulled out all the key features that make persuasive letters so powerful. We spotted things like:

• Strong opening statements
• Clear arguments backed up with evidence
• Emotive language to make the reader care
• Rhetorical questions that make you stop and think
• Powerful conclusions that leave a lasting impression

Once we understood what makes a persuasive letter successful, we moved on to reading a range of other examples. This helped us build a toolkit of useful stock phrases, such as:

• “Surely you agree that…”
• “It is essential that…”
• “Have you ever considered…?”
• “Without immediate action…”

We also learned how important it is to use the right register—that means choosing words and tone that suit the audience. Whether we’re writing to a headteacher, a local councillor, or even a famous figure, we now know how to sound polite, confident, and persuasive.

Year 6 are already showing fantastic promise, and we can’t wait to see the brilliant letters they produce next. Watch this space for updates on our writing journey!

Year 6 Write Powerful Lindisfarne Monologues

This week, Year 6 have been learning about the Viking attack on Lindisfarne in 793 AD. To help them understand what it might have felt like, the children wrote monologues from the point of view of a monk living in the monastery.

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✍️ What We Did

The class learned about:

• What life was like for monks
• How the Vikings arrived on longships
• Why the attack was so shocking
• How to show a character’s thoughts and feelings in writing

After this, the children imagined they were monks and wrote their own monologues describing the terrifying moment the Vikings arrived.

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🌟 What We’re Proud Of

The monologues were:

• Detailed – with great descriptions of sounds, sights, and emotions
• Creative – many children used strong vocabulary and dramatic language
• Thoughtful – the writing showed real understanding of how the monks might have felt

Year 6 worked extremely hard and produced some fantastic pieces of writing!