Fielding Primary School and Nursery
We have uploaded some practice SATs papers. Multiple arithmetic and a couple of reasoning maths papers are available. There is also a SPAG paper along with spellings. We have also uploaded a reading paper with an answer scheme should you wish to use it - alongside a revision PPT to help you. Please do not revise using the 2016 or 2016 sample papers. There's a SATs survival guide that should help you to understand what is needed. You are encouraged to attend the information evening to find out more. Parents consultations are another good opportunity to hear how your child is doing in the build up.
Encourage your child to read - especially some on the book list below - they can earn a certificate.
Although practising all of these papers over the holiday is a good idea, so that children come back to school prepared after Easter, we also want them to relax. Enjoy the well-earned break. Come back refreshed and ready to learn for the last 2 weeks before SATs (14th May). You do not have to sit the papers in one go they can be done over a series of days. Mark schemes are provided so that children can mark their own tests.
SATS last year: The maths pass mark last year was 57/110 and greater depth was 95/110. reading was 27/50 and greater depth was 39/50. SPAG was 36/70 and greater depth 56/70. These can be used as an approximate indication of the pass mark this year.
We'd like to reassure parents and children once more how proud we are of the kids. They are driven, reflective and know their next steps for revision. We will be doing lots of work on relaxation and test technique in the run up.
There will be a parent information session regarding the French residential trip and end of key-stage assessments (SATs) on Wednesday 25th April at 6.30pm in the main hall.
Once we approach the end of Year 6 and the amazing learning journey the children of Fielding have been on, it is a time to celebrate their successes and achievements through the various graduation events we hold. While there is currently a small team in place that are responsible for organising and arranging each of these, it would be fantastic if any other parents/carers could volunteer any spare time they have to help with organisation.
If you are interested in being involved, please contact Beth Waters at: bethwaters@hotmail.co.uk
Please be advised that the fourth payment for the French residential trip is now available on Laser.
Home-learning
This term's home learning was brilliant! Children loved the grafitti topic and their imaginations went wild. We can't wait for the next one. Look out for the new sheet - it'll be uploaded over Easter.
Reading:
Some parents asked for some guidance when asking questions to help with the reading paper. The AF sheet is now uploaded under reading below. Each AF is a different focus for the reading covered in Year 6. Please encourage children to read chapters of different genres, including non-fiction, to add to their growing vocabulary. The reading paper can be a great indicator too.
Can you help out in Year 6 for at least 1 day a week?
We would love to welcome some parents or carers to come in a help children in Year 6. So far, 6P is winning! If you can offer some frequent time, please do see Miss Calver. We welcome volunteers for maths, reading and/or writing. Thank you for all of your help to make this year successful, so far - any little you can help would be great.
Have a happy holiday!
The Year 6 team
CGP papers
Classes have now completed some SPAG and reading papers from a company called CGP. They aim to create SATs style papers and are considered the best on the market. These tests are composed in a slightly different format to the actual SATs papers and the mark schemes are less generous. This resulted in most children finding them challenging and not performing so highly on them. As teacher's we reflected on this and decided to act.
We sensed some frustration from the children over this. We spoke to the whole cohort in assembly. We let them know that the CGP tests are harder than actual SATs. They commented that it was good to do a harder paper and then feel more confident for the real thing. Some also remarked that it was hard and they were disappointed in how they felt that they had performed. We positively encouraged them not to worry as these tests were hard.
We explained that the pass mark (for any paper) uses a algorithm based on adding all of the test scores once all children in the country have sat it. This is then the pass mark. The greater depth mark is set separately. We intend to take all of the results for the CGP reading and SPAG tests and find the Year Group pass and GD mark for this Fielding cohort by finding the average score. We will then give them the results for both individual papers. Some classes have given the SPAG results as they were marked. We have encouraged them not to compare these to last years SATs pass marks.
Rest assured, the CGP difficulty does not reflect the children's SATs readiness.
Please click here for find out more about our trip to France in July 2018! Here you will information about the journey; travel dates and times; the venue; the provisional packing list; the provisional timetable; as well photos and videos from our trip last year.
Total cost of trip: £435 (Pupil Premium Grant: £125)
Deposit: £60
2nd October 2017: £75
3rd January 2018: £70
4th March 2018: £80 (NOW AVAILABLE ON LASER)
5th May 2018: £75
6th June 2018: £75
Children can also be practising times tables and place value skills ready for this week.
We will also be looking the maths tests that the children did at the end of Year 5 and they will be assessing their next steps.
Top education researchers tell us that homework has minimal impact for primary age pupils, unless it requires children to rehearse and practise. We have therefore adapted our routines to reflect this. The routines for children in this year group are as follows:
Purple home learning books will no longer being used as practice can be done at home. You will be able to see achievement and progress through the dictation and times tables challenge sheets going home weekly. You will also be able to witness progress through class exercise books for English and maths being sent home once during every half-term.
Purplemash, a fantastic resource for home learning, can be accessed through this link: https://www.purplemash.com/sch/fielding Children each have an individual login. Please ask their teacher if they don't know it. Children now login through the purple login and password on the left of the screen.
The English team in school have worked hard to identify 40 appropriately challenging books for the children in Year 6. The recommended reading lists contain 40 age-appropriate books that have been organised by lexile rating (how difficult the text is to read) and have been linked to the corresponding colour-bands. A description of the books has also been included so that children are able to 'cherry-pick' their favourites according to their book-band level and their personal interests.
While it is NOT compulsory there are school wide incentives - At the end of each half-term, teachers will award bronze, silver and gold certificates in reward assembly to pupils who have read a set number of books from their year group list AND completed a short reading response activity in their reading records (where possible).
Ideas for these short reading responses might be any one of the following;
- Describing settings and characters from the story
- Identifying possible alternative endings
- Predicting what might be in a sequel (the next book if the story was carried on)
- Summarising the story in 6 bullet points
- Writing a book review
- Creating a new character
If you have any queries or questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher.
Test the week of 8th January 2018
Learning this week
Continuing with our work on 'Odd and the frost giants' the children of Year 6 will begin writing their own viking narratives. The week will begin with a cold write where the children will have a go at writing their story opening. They will then explore the text further and reflect on their cold writes using the teacher feedback sheet.
This week will focus on fractions, decimals and percentages. Children will spend the first couple of days looking at fraction, decimal and percentage equivalence problems. They will then finish the week practising fraction calculation problems.
19.4.18 - Maths p.20 Adding and subtracting Fractions
English p.11 Pronouns
(due back 24th April)
26.4.18 - Maths p.72-73 Line Graphs
English p.52 & 53 Apostrophes
(due back 1st May)
3.5.18 - Maths p.76 & 77 Year Six Objectives Test
English p.55 Apostrophe practice
(due back 8th May)
10.5.18 - Maths p.78 & 79 Year Six Objectives Test
English p.38 -39 Sentence practice
(due back 15th May)
Children will work on the grammar skills needed to improve their narrative writing and then begin their first drafts.
Year 6 will be practising three maths assessment papers (one arithmetic and two reasoning). They will also spend three days solving measure conversion problems.
Friday 12th January was a rather unusual day for Upper Phase as we had a special visit from Neal Zetter, a London based author and poet. The children were delighted to be a part of a special performance session by Neal who shared a range of his works, including a Year 6 favourite, 'Ba nana nana nana nana.'
Alongside the performances, Neal took the time to talk to the children about what inspired him to become a poet and how he selects his content. The children were quite surprised when he told them how old he was when he first began writing!
The day ended with a book signing in the school library. Children were given the opportunity to purchase one of Neal's poetry books and have it signed by the man himself.
What a weekend we have had here at Fielding Primary School; it was the Christmas Fair! Four hours of action packed fun celebrating the season. While many of the rooms were stuffed with fun-filled activities, a Santa's Grotto and fabulous food stalls, there was one room in particular that was really drawing in the crowds... the sports hall.
Why I hear you ask? The Year 6 'Dragon's Den' stalls.
Earlier in the half term, the year 6 children broke into groups and pitched their own stall ideas to raise money for the PTFA. 6 amazing winners were chosen (however it was very hard to decide fue to the standard of entries!) and their stalls came to life at the fair. Each stall was managed professionally and sensibly by all of our Year 6 children and we are so proud of what they achieved.
With our new Geography topic covering recycling and the water cycle, Year 6 have been intermittently visiting the Sky Academy in Osterley over the previous two weeks. While at the academy, each class were introduced to the world of film-making and news broadcasting. Their mission, if they chose to accept it, was to produce a breaking news story on the topic of 'making the world a better place.' After being split into four groups (with each being given their own private studio to work in!) each group produced sections using state of the art cameras and green screen technology. This all went toward a final news report focusing on elements such as renewable energy sources, climate change and recycling. The overall project was then fused together and the children were able to watch it back.
We can't wait for Sky to send over our USB wristbands so each child will have their own video to bring home! Watch this space...