George Spicer Primary School Parent Portal - George Spicer newsletter

Year 5

Art: Portrait of Henry VIII

This week we began to finalise our portraits, as part of our Tudors and Stuarts topic. During Art this term, we looked at the Portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein the Younger. We began by looking at propaganda within art to develop an understanding of how trustworthy a source is and to understand the role of bias and propaganda to paint history in a certain way. In our second lesson, we selected the appropriate brush for different tasks and considered how we would use a selection of brushes in one piece of work to create different effects. In our third lesson, we built on our prior knowledge of colour mixing from the previous lesson, to create colours for our final piece with a focus on skin tones. In our fourth lesson, we used a range of pencils from 4B to 5H. We discussed the important of proportion and scale in portraits, focusing on accurately sketching key elements of the face: the lips, eyes, ears and nose. In our fifth lesson we sketched out the face of Henry VIII, and added watercolour, referring back to our lesson on colour palette and mixing to select appropriate tone and shadows. Finally, we evaluated out work, discussing with our talk partners the challenges we faced and what we enjoyed about the sequence of lessons. Well done Year 5 for your perseverance and creative!

Bikeability!

This week, children in Osiris and Ra have started their Bikeability training! During the week, the children looked at learning practical skills and understanding how to cycle on today's busy roads. They discussed with the instructors how to use cycle lanes safely and the most recent changes in the law about cyclists being given priority. In addition to this, the instructors spoke and the aim of the week was to develop their confidence to cycle and enjoy cycling! The children learnt how to correctly use brakes and about the ABCD of cycling (Air of the tyres, B for breaks, C for chain and D for direction). The children also learnt how to use pedals and how to stop quickly and safely, in the event of an emergency. Linking to Global Goal 3 - Good Health and Wellbeing, the children discussed the importance of cycling for both our physical and mental health. Well done to the children for showing excellent resilience and enthusiasm in your sessions! You were fantastic role models for our school and the instructors were very impressed with your maturity and teamwork. We look forward to seeing our Anubis and Thoth children taking part next week!

Year 6

How the Treaty of Versailles impacted Germany

This week, Year 6 began their new topic: World War Two. To understand how this major world event began, we went back to the end of WW1 and looked at the supposed peace treaty: The Treaty of Versailles. Using a range of both primary and secondary sources, we questioned the impact the sanctions had on Germany as well as why they were originally chosen. We discussed how the conditions of the treaty were to punish and weaken Germany rather than to seek peace. From this, we were able to understand the state (economically as well as morally) that Germany was in post-WW1 and how this could lead to an extreme ruler like Adolph Hitler seizing power.

Global Goal 16 aims to promote peaceful and sustainable societies. This treaty heavily impacted Germany in a negative way and did not allow them to develop a strong institution. We ask the question, was this really an act of justice or was this to gain vengeance?

In our Writing lesson, we read the Year 6 teacher’s 100-word stories. We discussed the stories by focusing particularly on the writing devices they used, the characters and how each story made us feel.

We then revealed the teacher who wrote the story and discussed the themes within the stories. We found a common theme of 25 and this appeared in different ways in all the stories. We made the connection that this was linked to it being the 25th anniversary of World Book Day!

Then, the Year 6 children wrote their own 100-word stories about their chosen topic. They created their own success criteria and planned their writing before they began writing. Once they finished their stories they entered the World Book Day competition too.

Last week Thursday, for World Book Day, we combined Reading and Art. We read classic fairy tales (Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk). In groups of six, we summarised the stories into six main points, then each person focused on one of the points and created a willow pattern design depicting what happens at that point of the story. Below are some images of the plates we created.

Year 6 have been learning about creating a positive online reputation. Your online reputation is based around the online information others find on you. The information you share, post or create will be used by others to form an opinion of you. We discussed the possible things that could contribute to our digital footprint and the importance of being aware of what we do online so that we can create a positive online reputation. After analysing some factors that can contribute to a positive or negative online reputation, we came up with tips for creating a positive online reputation. We also discussed how information can be accessed by people, organisations and companies without our knowledge, based on our digital personality. The Year 6 pupils could talk about how we can keep our information private by reviewing privacy settings. Finally, we looked at how we can reduce our digital footprint and digital personality by being more anonymous online. This could be as simple as using an avatar, creating a username or nickname rather than your real name, and never sharing personal information. How clued up are you with creating a positive online reputation? Ask the Year 6 and they can tell you all about it!

Year 6 make an exciting discovery!

After months of studying the lives and expeditions of polar explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton, the children were incredibly excited this week to find out that The Endurance, Ernest Shackleton's legendary ship, has been discovered 3km below the Weddell sea, 107 years after it sank. The Endurance was famously crushed by pack ice and sank in 1915, leaving the men stranded in Antarctica. This led to one of the greatest survival stories of all time! (UNCRC article 6: Life, survival and development). We found out that the ship has been perfectly preserved due to the freezing waters and scientists claim it is the most well preserved wooden ship wreck of all time! What a fantastic way to end our topic!