Year 6
The Year 6 Visit to the Imperial War Museum North
On Thursday 9th November, Year 6 visited the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester. When we arrived, we went into the yellow room and put our belongings in a big locker, our locker numbers were 5 and 6. We began up in the main museum section and looked at lots of different things. First, we looked at all the interesting armour. As we first walked in, there was a huge jet that was used in the war and it was hung by a load of wires from the ceiling. There were also costumes and weapons which they used in the war. After that we saw an old styled football it was the shape of a rugby ball and if you hit it when it was wet, it would sting. We saw two tanks. One was desert camouflaged and one was army camouflaged. We also saw a search light.
In the main room there were projectors shining on each wall. It was so that the audience could watch a 360 degree film about the War. There was a model submarine and a torpedo. We loved experiencing the artefacts.
After we watched the last film we went and had dinner in the yellow room. We were lucky enough to meet a war veteran who was there to share his stories of his time in the war.
After checking out the ‘camoflaged cave’ we went to the shop, at last. We bought magnets, planes, tanks, jets, a bouncy egg and some sweets. At half past two, we hopped on the bus and started playing on our phones and tablets to pass the time. We also sang songs and went to sleep. It was great at the museum. However, the bus broke down so we set off a little later. We arrived at school at half six/6:30pm and we got picked up by our parents to go home.
By Thomas, Denver and Bradley
Storyteller
On the 17th October, a storyteller came to Ashfield by the name of Emily Hennessy. First, she told a story to the whole school. Then she came to Year 6. We all heard a fantastic story and got to ask questions about her life. We think she is a very inspirational person. During the story, we all had a lot of reactions to it, like: “Oh no!” “Remember the gingerbread man? I would be smarter if I was him!” “Wow, how many giants are there?”
Her life started in London and she wanted to pursue her dreams as a storyteller. She moved north and is married to another storyteller and has two kids. When she went to college she did drama but unfortunately she didn’t like it so she changed her mind and then became what she is now……. a storyteller. Her job is really cool because she makes stories up and they can be passed through generations. She also travels all around the world to tell stories. Her favourite place to visit is India because of the cultural differences. She is also learning to speak Indonesian. She is also half Swedish and taught us some of the Swedish language. We all found her stories fascinating to listen to because of the way she emphasises it and the way she expressed her feelings through a story. She is a very good storyteller and we hope she will come back to tell more stories in the future. She is unique and interesting to listen to. To listen to the way she tells stories is really inspirational.
By Aimee and Ruby
Lakes College ‘It Takes Guts’ Science Show
On Tuesday 26th September, 2017, Year 6 went on a trip to Lakes College to see a science show. We found the show very interesting and would like to see another science show (about a different subject) which was as fun and exciting.
We were told lots of facts about food and digestion and even got to see inside the human body from a camera role. It was super good fun and we were surprised by the facts we know now. The woman used lots of resources while she spoke to us to help us understand more. She came all the way from London and works at the national science museum.
We all enjoyed it. People were extremely fascinated about the human body.
By Ellis, Callum B and Callum J
Our Memories of Ashfield Junior School
As our time at Ashfield comes to an end, we are going to miss this school very much. However, it is now time to move on in life, some of our favourite things at Ashfield have been:
Year 3: Making cereal box adverts, Derwent Water, making Victorian gruel and when John Hegley came to Ashfield.
Year 4: Learning about the Romans, Lockerbie Manor, Liverpool and when The Lions of Zululand came.
Year 5: Building a Roman Empire, chocolate maths investigation, Bede’s World and ghyll scrambling.
Year 6: School sleepover, Oliver! production, planning the Summer Fair and enjoying the last year with our friends.
Those are only a few of the thousands of memories we have made here at Ashfield junior School. It has been the best four years of our lives…..so far.
By Keeley and Brooke
Jobs in the Community
On Wednesday 21st June we visited the leisure centre to do Jobs in the Community. There were many different stalls to view such as: first aid, cookie decorating, Gen 2, Cumbria University, engineering, Sellafield, dentist, building, science and much more. Although they were all great, our favourite one was cookie decorating and the science stall.
One of the stalls (the science one) was very surprising: we had to get yellow strips of paper and dip them into different liquids and see what colour they turned into. If they turned a certain shade, then they were acid and if didn’t then they weren’t. There were liquids such as: vinegar, water, lemon juice, washing up liquid, etc. Another stall (Sellafield) was also very surprising, I didn’t realise how many different type of people worked at a nuclear power plant.
By Evie and Sadie
The Year 6 Trip to the Fire Station for the Junior Citizenship Scheme
On Wednesday the 14th of June 2017 the local schools across Workington went to the Workington Fire Station to do the Junior Citizenship Scheme. Each stall was about ten minutes long; all together there were six stalls so it took us all one hour and fifteen minutes to complete (including the introduction). We received activity booklets at the end including word searches, crosswords and a recap of what we learnt at each stall. All of the staff were really nice and friendly.
The first two stalls were about anti-social behaviour and what it was like to be drunk. The anti-social behaviour stall was very interesting. We had to circle all of the anti-social behaviour on the two cards. On the cards there were teenagers playing loud music, drinking, littering, etc. On the drunk stall, we all got into group and wore a pair of the drunk goggles. It was quite a frightening and weird experience. You could hardly see anything because it was so blurry and you couldn’t walk very well because you felt a little dizzy.
The next two stalls were about road safety and what to do and what not to do in an emergency. We all learnt a lot at the road safety stall because the staff taught us about signs, where’s the safest place to cross a road and the green cross code. The fourth stall was about what to do and what not to do in an emergency. We had to decide what was appropriate and inappropriate.
Apart from us leaving our mam (Mrs Tooley) in the burning building, we did quite well in our fire safety test. We really enjoyed our time at the fire station. We hope we can come again in the future.
By Sadie and Sophie B
Times Tables Rockstars: NSPCC Number Day
On the 3rd February, Times Tables Rockstars held their annual NSPCC Number Day. They hold this event every year to find the top TT Rock School. In this international competition, Ashfield Junior School took part and battled to be the competition champions. To celebrate the event, a group of Year 6 girls volunteered to hold a cake sale selling a variety of cakes. Meanwhile, back in the class rooms, the rest of the children pushed our school ahead from 15th place to 5th. This showed how great we can work together and achieve as a school. As lunch time arrived Year 6 were eager to push our school into 1st place and that’s just what they did. With lots of hard work and encouragement from teachers, we TT Rocketed to the top of the board and won the TT Rockstars Champions title for the second time in a row.
For the NSPCC, we raised £343. Because we won, Times Tables Rockstars doubled the amount!
Well done Ashfield Junior School!
By Alice and Sienna
Orienteering in Year 6
In Year 6 we are currently developing our orienteering skills in P.E. When it comes to orienteering we all get a bit dirty. The markers, which we need to find and write down, are football teams, just to make it more fun. There are teams like: Manchester United, Newcastle, Stoke City and Liverpool.
Firstly, we all have to warm up by running up and down the playground or sometimes we play cats and mice. Then, we all have to get into pairs, and get a clipboard and pen, then Mrs Bailey starts the timer and shouts “GO!” Next, we all run onto the field and it is chaotic – people are everywhere. We can find the markers in any combination or order, but they have to be written down on a specific number on our sheet.
Marker number one is always on the bottom playground because it is at the starting line, for this one occasion we are allowed to go on the field in winter and we are allowed to go into the forest so that we can find all of the markers. Keeley’s partner is Nathan and their best time is eight minutes and thirty-nine seconds; they won the fastest time for that session. Brooke is Paige’s partner and they came first in the first session.
That is how we develop our orienteering skills in P.E.
By Keeley and Paige
9/2/17
The Cumbria Ski Trip 2017
On 13 January, 2017, three pupils went on a ski trip to France. Aiden, Mullen and Macie took a bus to Gatwick airport; they flew to Geneva, in Switzerland. It took three hours to get to their hotel on a coach. They made lots of new friends while they were there and met some people they already knew. They woke up every morning at 8:15. They were taught by an instructor from ESF (Ecole du Ski Français). The company who ran it were called Ski Bound. Read on to see what we thought of the trip:
This trip I will remember forever – it was an experience of a lifetime. The hotel, Hotel Skilt, was very nice and the food was gorgeous. We skied down La Masse mountain behind our hotel. The bell tower behind the hotel only rang sometimes. The skiing was the best part; we went skiing every day. The best part was when we were given our certificates. We all got 1st Skier Advanced. We had a great time and learnt lots of different things that you wouldn’t learn in school.
By Macie
All the teachers were really nice. Mr Woodburn was the leading teacher. Our ski instructor was called Jean. He is French, but can speak English. All the different lifts were really cool – we went on all of them. There was: the gondola, chairlift, bucket lift and bubble lift (the bubble lifts were my favourite). I was in a room with Aiden and a boy called Curtis.
By Mullen
My favourite part was making new friends. My four best friends were called: Holly, Jess, Lucy and Tobin. On my first day we went on a conveyer belt called the Magic Carpet; I fell and skied down on my bum which was really fun. Every day I had a pain au chocolat and it was delicious. On the first day I was afraid, but I achieved and wasn’t afraid any longer. I had the most fun EVER and I will miss all my new friends.
By Aiden
Ashfield Choir
On Monday 12th December we went to Amathea care home to sing to the elderly ladies and gentlemen. It was a great experience because they were singing along. We sang: We are the World, Walking in the Air, O Little Town of Bethlehem and lot of other traditional carols. All the choir were enjoying singing for them and they hope they can go and sing again.
On Tuesday 13th December the choir went to Ashfield Infants to sing to the children, also the teachers including the new head teacher. The choir were very well behaved and sang their hearts out; hoping to inspire them to join the choir when they reach Ashfield Junior School. They all sat and listened very well and it was the first time the choir had sang at the infants and we hope to do it more often.
By Joshua and Macie
Christmas Fair
For the past few weeks our school has been thinking of activities and stalls to do for the Christmas Fair. With many great ideas, our school and Friends of Ashfield raised an incredible amount of just over £900. The fair was at 6 o’clock until 7:30pm. The stalls were all over school, also Santa came especially from the North Pole to meet the children! The Christmas Fair was on the 30th November. There were refillable refreshments in 6G’s classroom. The Monday after the Christmas Fair, we selected the winners for the raffle and all the other activities that included a prize. We are all very grateful for the time and effort everyone put into it and also a big thankyou to you for taking the time to come and for all the money you raised. Once again a big thank you to all of you!
By Sophie
Theatre by the Lake
On Thursday 1st December, we went to Keswick to go to the Theatre by the Lake, to watch the Emperor and the Nightingale. The theatre we went to was amazing; it was huge, as we are Year 6 we got to sit at the top. The play we saw was astonishing: it was about the Tiger King and the Dragon King and how the Tiger King was killed by his servant Lee Shi. The Tiger King’s son goes on an adventure in the big country of China with the daughter of the Dragon King. This play is full of adventure, love and sadness.
By Joshua and Robbie Joe
The Life Bus
On Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th November, Ashfield Junior School were visited by the Life Bus. There was a quiz about the human body where we had to answer the questions by pointing at A, B or C. We talked about all the different systems in the human body such as the nervous system, the digestive system and the circulation system. We looked at the different things that we put in our bodies and the things we need to do to stay healthy. We enjoyed the experience and we would like to thank Rachel from the Life Bus and taught us everything that we learnt.
By Sienna and Evie
WW2 Shelters
On Thursday the 24th November, Year 6 built their own WW2 shelters as part of our topic work. They paired up and started to design on paper what they wanted the inside and the outside to look like, as well as writing down the materials they wanted to use. The adult leading the activity, Mrs James, provided us with all the resources we needed. We had been given an hour to finish our shelters and the final results turned out brilliantly! All sorts of creative ideas had been put into these shelters, such as: corrugated card on the shelters, mini washing lines and corks meant to look like sandbags! We loved being given the freedom to design these shelters and we hope we get more opportunities like this in the future!
By Alice
Our Visit to the Imperial War Museum North
On the 2nd November, Year 6 visited the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. It was a fascinating day out and gave us a taster of what it was like during World War 2. There were lots of inspirational exhibits such as ‘Fashion on the Ration’ and the ‘Main exhibit’. In the main exhibit there was a big picture show, telling us the real points of view from the people who witnessed the terrible scenes of war. We learnt lots about what people wore in the 1940s in the Fashion on the Ration exhibit; there were different styles that lots of people still have a taste for now, in the 21st Century. We also got a chance to talk to the WW2 survivor David Teacher. David was in the RAF and was also there on D-Day. He was very lucky to have survived for there were 16,714 RAF soldiers that didn’t make it. We would like to thank the IWM staff for taking time to show us around the amazing museum.
By Sophie
Alan’s Visit to Year 6
On Monday the 31st of October, an evacuee from WW2 named Alan, came in to talk to us about all of his memories and experiences. He and his sister were evacuated from Bristol (by train) all the way to his grandparent’s farm in Teesdale. One time, whilst he was on the farm, he tried to run away, but he only ran as far as two miles until he got too hungry and scared and had to turn back. He brought in a ration book and a toy that they would have made on the farm. They would have made it from a cigarette card, a match stick and a pin. Alan and his sister were very thankful that they knew someone in the country and didn’t have to go with a host family. It was a fascinating experience and we are extremely grateful that he came to talk to us as we have learnt a lot about what it was like to be an evacuee during the terrible times of World War 2.
By Sienna and Sadie
Fundraising
This September was 6B’s turn to raise money for Lumiere, the child we sponsor in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
We had a class discussion and had lots of ideas. We eventually decided we wanted to run an autumn fair. We had lots of different stalls, each costing a maximum of 20p a go. For example, there was a What’s in the Bag? stall, a tombola and a marshmallow and chocolate stall. Every class had a turn to come into our classroom to have fun at our stall and each pupil added their 20p or more, which ended up with a huge total of £130.
By Grace