Welcome to Kestrels 25-26!

Term 1 and 2 update

What an amazing two terms we have had in Kestrels!

Our highlights have been:

  • Writing imaginative narratives about the Nowhere Emporium and the Arrival - the Kestrels really tried their best to broaden their vocabulary, advance their punctuation choices and create amazing description.
  • Mastering multiplication and division in Maths - the Kestrels took on the challenge of the infamous year 6 long division with a positive attitude and it is fantastic to see how well they have remembered the many, many steps!
  • Reading 'Wonder' by RJ Palencio and discussing it thoughtfully in Guided Reading - their retrieval and inference skills have progressed so well since September and it is a delight to discuss all the different elements of the book with them.
  • Learning about Fairtrade in Geography and creating our amazing double page spread.
  • Learning about King John and the Magna Carta in History. We explored all the evidence to decide whether he was a successful King and learnt about why the Magna Carta had to be created.
  • Exploring the impact of opaque/transparent/translucent materials on the size and density of shadows - the Kestrels planned and carried out their own detailed investigations.
  • Our wonderful trip to South Wilts to 'solve the case of the missing bunny.' We used bunsen burners, universal indicators and magnifying glasses to determine the thief!
  • Creating our moving toys in DT - the concentration and determination needed to complete these and get them working was remarkable!
  • Moulding our Giacommeti inspired sculpture's in Art - trickier than it looked!

Plus much much more!

 

We are all looking forward to a busy term 3!

Term 1 and 2

We are very excited to confirm that the Pinkery residential, available to all year 6 children, will be from Tuesday 19th May to Friday 22nd May 2026.

Further information, including cost, will be sent our shortly. 

Kestrels

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The class team includes:

Class teacher: Mrs Wood

Class TAs: Ms Hardingham, Ms Dyke and Mrs Heath (mornings)

PE teacher: Mr Cooke (Tuesday PM)

Spanish teacher: Mrs Flores (Friday AM)

Our timetable

·       Maths and Writing will be taught daily.

·       Guided Reading will be taught four times a week and Spelling three times a week.

·       We will be learning our foundation subjects in blocks, beginning with Art. Computing and Music will be taught on a Monday afternoon.

·       Mrs Hardingham will teach PSHE on a Tuesday afternoon.

·       Mr Cooke will teach PE on a Tuesday afternoon and I will teach PE on a Monday afternoon. Your child can come to school in their PE kit on these days. If this is an issue, please don’t hesitate to contact me. All PE kit should be named.

·       Please note, no pencil cases or stationery are needed.

Home learning

·       Beginning the 10th September, we will send home a menu of home learning in a similar style to last term. This will include a Maths, English and Topic task that should take no longer than 15 minutes each.

·       This will be set on a Wednesday, to be in by the following Monday.

·       Completing home learning is an excellent habit to get into in Year 6 as it will help to prepare your child for secondary school.

·       Reading at home remains a priority. Children who read to an adult, or independently, at home at least three times a week will be entered into a weekly raffle to win a small prize.

·       Individual spellings will be sent home during September. This will be 6 words to learn and will be tested once per week.

Secondary school

·       The deadline for applying for secondary schools is the 31st October 2025.

·       This is completed via the portal on the Wiltshire Council website.

·       Please let us know if we can help in anyway.

 

SATS

·       National testing for Year 6s will take place during the week of 11th May 2025 for four days.

·       Children will complete 3 Maths papers (arithmetic and reasoning), a reading comprehension paper and 2 SPAG papers (punctuation, grammar and spelling).

·       We will hold a further meeting in the spring term to discuss these in more detail but if you would like any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Pinkery

·       There will be a 4-day, 3-night residential trip to Pinkery Centre for Outdoor Learning in Exmoor.

·       Dates and prices will be confirmed shortly.

 

Extra-curricular activities

·       Clubs will start on the 22nd September 2025.

 

We are looking forward to the upcoming year! If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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