Guitar Showcase

Wow! Wow! Wow! What an AMAZING guitar showcase with Year 5 and 6 this morning. It was a privilege to be able to watch the children show off everything they have learned in their guitar sessions with Mr Smith this year. Thank you to all the parents that attended and joined in with some of the tricky moves!

UKS2 Presentation of Learning

UKS2 were very proud to present their learning to their adults yesterday afternoon. After giving an introduction explaining all about our expedition titled: At The Coalface, the children explained what we had done during our case studies to answer our guiding question: How has the mining industry shaped communities?

Children then got to share their amazing final product – a lapbook that brought all of their hard work from this term together whilst showing off their fantastic artwork. Adults were able to take part in a gallery walk to view their child’s work and were also able to take part in other activites – looking through expedition books, taking part in a Kahoot quiz to test their mining knowledge and an opportunity to create some charcoal art of their own!

Thank you so much to everyone who attended and made it a lovely afternoon!

Cookie and Pizza Making!

The Year 6 children who remained in school with Mr Wilkinson have been busy practising their mathematics skills to figure out accurate measurements to create their cookies and pizzas. They worked collaboratively by checking measurements, whisking, mixing, kneading, rolling and checking over the method. Everyone ended up with their own pizza and a handful of cookies for the afternoon! A skill many of them haven’t had an abundance of experience with but it is safe to say they all enjoyed baking these!

Charcoal Art Skills Practice

This week, Crew Wilkinson have been inspired by the charcoal works of Henry Moore and began practising using charcoal for artwork. We have been smudging, stippling, hatching and using a rubber to create lighter details like the light from a headlamp. This work will support us in creating our final art piece which will form the front of our lapbooks.

Locating Mines of the UK

Crew Wilkinson have been honing their geography skills by navigating maps to locate historic mines across the UK. They’ve been using compass directions—north, east, south, and west—alongside counties, regions, cities, and major roads to pinpoint sites. Their learning has also included key geographical terms, helping them build a deeper understanding of the UK’s landscape and the role mining played in its history. This navigation will aid us in creating our own map of key mines in the UK in our next Expedition lesson.

Understanding Maps and Symbols

In Expedition, Crew Wilkinson have moved onto Case Study 2 focusing on being a geographer. We began by exploring maps, symbols and our local area. Using a key, we were able to identify our own school, local golf courses, roads, woodlands, places of worship and most importantly Bullcroft Colliery! These skills will support our understanding as we explore maps further. We will be identifying changes over time and locating previous mines across the UK! Great start Crew Wilkinson.

Interviewing an Ex Miner

Crew Hamill and Crew Wilkinson were visited by an ex-miner who came to share his detailed experiences of working within the British coal mines. He shared moments of joy and camaraderie with his workers and stories of tragedy when accidents occurred. We were engrossed in his experiences and through this process, we developed a deeper understanding of how more modern mines operated and what a day in the life of a miner was like. Afterwards, the children had many prepared questions to ask to ensure that we got the most from the experience and allowed us to embed our understanding.

You can listen to the interview if you follow this QR code.