Hello, Sana!

This is especially for you Sana - So sorry, but I do not have access to the internet as easily now. That's the main reason for not writing back to you. I only look at the Blog every so often.

I am really pleased you are settled and happy. I saw Shameer today and it was great to see him. I am wearing the watch Humza gave me every day and do think about Victoria a lot. However, I am also very busy as a head teacher.

Happy New Year to you and all your families. Hope 2012 brings peace and happiness to everyone.

Happy Eid

Hello, everyone at Victoria, I hope you have had a lovely time at Eid. I missed not being at the school and joining in with the celebrations.

My job is going well. We had parent consultations in the week - it was strange doing them as a head teacher. We held them in the main hall, and they went really well. All my teachers went home with a smile on their faces!

Have a good week.

New year, new class, new school?

Hello, hope you are all settling in nicely into your new school. Must seem a huge place after the small Primary school setting.
Good luck to you all. Take care, and remember all those life skills! You are a role model for your community - be the best you can be! Even when others around you are challenging you to do something different.
Victoria prepared you well for high school - enjoy your new lessons!

last few days!

Hello, everybody, a quick message from Mrs bell - HAVE A GREAT LAST week! Loved your assembly, part one, but not sure if I will be able to come to part two!

CONGRATULATIONS!

VERY WELL DONE TO ALL THE YEAR 6 CHILDREN and staff. The best results ever in the history of KS2 SATs!

Mrs Bell is extremely pleased. She keeps sharing the news with all the other head teachers in Burton. Well done, Y6 - you have made us very proud!

SATs results!

The week is here, and year 6 all over the country await their results. They will arrive online but need checking before they can be released to pupils. Some marked papers were back in school last week, and results look VERY PROMISING! Fingers crossed that the thresholds are similar to ones in the past.

GOOD LUCK, Y6 at Victoria - hope all your hard work pays off!

The big week has arrived!

Mrs Lerigo, Mrs Hastings and Y6 are busy having fun at Latches Wood. It was 'Search and R' on Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Bell found out by texting Mrs Lerigo! Mrs Bell hopes everyone has fun over the week and manage some sleep too.

THANK YOU

Mrs Bell would like to THANK her wonderful class for the beautiful card with touching and thoughtful messages. The card will be treasured forever, and she will remember this class always - they are kind, caring and generous.

THANK YOU also for the many gifts - love all the jewellery, cards, flowers, ornaments, chocolates, etc. There is a need to buy a couple of new suits so that the jewellery can be matched up!

Staff at the school were very kind too - Mrs Bell felt a fraud taking presents when she is only leaving for a short while! But she said,

" I am very touched by the kindness everyone has shown."

Half Term Holidays!

Everyone in Year 6 deserves to have a thoroughly relaxing week off, after their busy time in the past few months. The Coven parents meeting went very well - just two children will not be going now. This is fantastic news! However, poor Mrs Bell will be missing the best part of the year! She is going to be the acting head teacher at Richard Wakefield from June 6th and cannot go to Laches Wood. She is very disappointed, unfortunately one cannot choose when wonderful opportunities come along. The acting headship will give her increased skills and a chance to find out if she can live without teaching a class!

The Blog will be updated, as long as children are reading and comment - please Hamza and Sana, let the class have the address when you go back. Enjoy the holiday, everyone!

SATs Week

This week was SATs week and everyone (including the Y6 staff) were a little nervous on Monday. The reading test was hard - all about caves and caving. However Tuesday's writing tests were friendly. Hopefully everyone remembered all the features of persuasive writing, and newspaper reports.
On Wednesday, there was an excited buzz as children were looking forward to maths. They all did a FANTISTIC job and we hope the results reflect their ability even though the calculator paper was hard!
Friday was a day of fun - Mr Lawrie introduced 'The Aprrentice' style project, there was a game of rounders and a PARTY in the afternoon. Everyone had fun! Mrs Bell thanked parents and pupils for contributing food. All the children had great outfits on.
The day ended with the news of Mrs Bell leaving Victoria for a while - she will be working as an acting headteacher at Richard Wakefield after half term. This is great for her. The class gave her a clap which touched Mrs Bell's heart. Thank you, Year 6 - I will miss the fun of life after SATs but Mrs Lerigo will take over teaching you.

Glorious sunshine!

Easter holidays and we are having a record breaking heatwave! This could be the warmest April for many years so hopefully most people are managing to balance revision with some time in the sun.

Chantelle's mum had a shock on the first day of the holidays - the door bell rang, she answered and there was the teacher! Mrs Bell had Chantelle's Easter egg in one hand a folder with homework in the other!

Hopefully everyone has managed to do some reading, writing and maths each day. Mrs Bell cleared some of her papers during the first two days. However, she still needs to do the planning for the first week back - she'd better get it done before her trip to London on Friday!

Last two weeks before EASTER

Time is whizzing by fast! Year 6 are busy revising as many areas as possible. This week we will be looking at how poetry is written and writing some poesm of our own. Remember everyone, poesm have to be unpicked for their messages.

In maths the last tests showed how important it is that everyone attempts to answer accurately. It is easy to slip into Level 3 by being careless. Read carefully, circle important information and focus your answer to the ACTUAL question.

Mr Lawrie is going to be teaching some of the lessons in Year 6. He has already started teaching Science and Geography and done a wonderful job. We look forward to his block teaching practice in a week's time.

Book World Day

In week beginning 7th March, we will get the chance to wear our 'Victorian' clothes again as we are basing our world book day on Street Child the book we read this year. It will be good to get the opportunity to use those wonderful outfits made by the parents.

In class we are continuing to work hard - Mrs Bell is very pleased with the way maths is going. Lots of children are getting higher marks in mental maths, and they are using various strategies to solve problems. It is all good news. We need to assess Reading again so we can work out how that is going. Standard English, not spoken English is what we are working on with writing skills. This could make a difference to the standard produced by the middle ability children.

The advice is - READ a bigger variety of books, use the style you read to improve your creative writing. More hard work next week, but rest up in the weekend, everybody!

HALF TERM!

The class have been given some reading, maths and spellings for the half term break. One hour of homework should be enough to keep on top of the academic skills! Remember to discuss the text with some-one and also to do the comprehension sheets. There is variety in what we have given so that you don't get bored!

Mrs Bell will be busy too- she needs to start the Spring Term reports and send the booster group sets to Mrs Lerigo. Additionally, she needs to read the SATs booklet so that she does not miss the deadlines. From the two tests done before half term, it appears that no-one will qualify for extra time this year. However this should not be a problem as those who need it will have a reader for the maths questions.

Don't forget everyone - there are ICT resources and links on SLN too, and of course I am happy to read any comments you wish to make on the BLOG!

Week before Half term!

Yelp, we have nearly reached half term - we could do with more weeks as there is still so much to learn and revise! Parents SATs meeting was very good with 24 out of 28 pupils represented. This is a great result. Some parents are now encouraging homework club for all Y6 and hopefully all parents will make sure children so their homework.
On the 15th (today) we did a second reading test. Staff hope results will show the progress made by all children. In the half term holiday, it will be important for everyone to read daily and keep on top of their learning. However, there has to be time for fun and relaxation too.

Week 5 coming up!

How quickly time is going by! We are already in week 5 of the Spring Term. Year 6 pupils and staff are working their socks off! There will be a little more homework this term - all to help everyone achieve the best they can! On SLN there are some internet links - these will help to practise maths skills in a fun way.

Next Monday, 7th February there is a SATs meeting to help parents and pupil understand the expectations. This is always a very useful meeting and often a HUGE eye opener for all concerned.

On Monday we will do guided writing about a report on Victoria School. This should be enjoyable. Maths this week is to secure some mental maths strategies. We need everyone to aim for 15 out of 20 in the test as it gives people a good head start.

Keep learning those multiplication and division facts, everone! Also remember the target of doubling and halving!

Black Country Museum

Wednesday arrived, and children and staff arrived at school in their Victorian Clothes - everybody looked FANTASTIC! The teachers were so pleased
that parents had made so much
effort to help us with our trip.





It was hard to decide who was more excited - the staff or the children! We left promptly at 8.30 (Mrs Bell was stressing as there can be so much traffic on that route!) and managed to arrive in time for our guides at 10 am.


What a brilliant place - spacious, full of Victorian buildings, etc ,etc. The guides were great as were the staff who gave us information in each of the buildings. Everyone enjoyed the schoolroom, the mine was dark and made us squeal a little!

There were many compliments give to the staff for taking a well-behaved, enthusiastic group to the museum.


It made the whole trip even more enjoyable. Well done, everyone and thank you for a brilliant day.

Spring Term - busy, busy, busy!

The staff keep stressing how important it is for Year to work hard, not waste any time and apply all they have learned to every task they do! However, we have managed a wonderful trip to the theatre (Derby Playhouse) to see Wind in the Willows. This was an amazing experience for everyone as the stage settings were brilliant and the characters very likeable.


Next week we are going to the Black Country Museum to consolidate all our learning about The Victorians. It promises to be a great trip; many parents have been to look at the costumes we have borrowed so they can make their child something to dress up in. Mrs Hastings has been ill with her back - we hope she will be back next Monday or certainly in time for the trip.

Remember to read at home Year 6. There will be a reading test next week to assess how well you are getting on. Staff need a level so we know if you are on track for the Level 4.Maths marks were pleasing but errors will help us to know what we need to learn next.