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On Wednesday, Year 6 took part in an exciting and informative trip to Crucial Crew, where we learned all about staying safe in a variety of real-life situations. Throughout the day, we moved around different workshops run by the police, the court service, the fire service, and other emergency services. Each session helped us understand what to do in tricky scenarios and how to make sensible choices to keep ourselves and others safe. One of the highlights was the police workshop, where we explored how to stay safe in the community. We also visited a mock courtroom and discovered what happens when someone breaks the law. The fire service taught us about fire safety at home, and we even had the chance to practice what to do in an emergency situation. Every activity was hands-on and engaging, and the children asked brilliant questions throughout. We are incredibly proud of how Year 6 represented our school. Staff from Crucial Crew commented on how polite, sensible, and enthusiastic the children were. They took part in every task, listened carefully, and showed great maturity when discussing important topics. There were lots of volunteers during the demonstrations too—everyone was eager to get involved! Overall, it was a fantastic day full of learning, teamwork, and new experiences. Year 6 came away feeling more confident about staying safe and knowing how to respond in different situations. Well done, everyone! Year 5 and Year 6 had a fascinating visit this week from two members of staff from HMRC, who taught us all about tax — what it is, why we pay it and how the money is used to support our country.
We began by looking at the incredible amount of tax collected each year: £600 billion, which looks like this: £600,000,000,000. The children were amazed to see just how big that number really is! We then explored the question: “Is it fair to pay tax?” After some thoughtful discussion, all of the children agreed that it is. We learned that tax is added to certain products, such as sweets and chocolate, because of the sugar tax. Interestingly, cakes are not taxed in the same way because, historically, they were considered part of the staple diet. This helped us answer the age-old debate: Is a Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit? Since no tax is added, we discovered that Jaffa Cakes are officially classed as cakes! The children were surprised to learn just how many important services are funded through the taxes people pay, including education, healthcare, emergency services, the armed forces, libraries, museums, road maintenance, refuse collection and more. Next, we were challenged to become “Chancellor for the Day.” The children had to come up with a brand-new tax they would introduce. Their ideas were impressive and very thoughtful, including:
The final challenge asked the children to decide what level of tax is fair. Suggestions ranged from 50% to 75%, but once we explored how much money that would leave for personal spending, the children began to rethink their choices! All in all, it was a wonderfully informative session that gave the children an early insight into tax, public services, and how our country is funded. A huge thank-you to the HMRC team for such an engaging and thought-provoking workshop! This week, Year 6 have been taking on our new hexagon tasks to help consolidate everything we’ve learned in our History and Science units. As we come to the end of our work on World War II and the circulatory system, the hexagon activity has been a brilliant way for pupils to show what they know — and to make meaningful connections between key ideas. Each group was given a set of hexagons, each one labelled with an important word, event, person, or scientific term. Pupils had to choose which hexagons to link together and then explain the reasoning behind their choices. This meant thinking carefully, using accurate subject knowledge, and justifying how ideas connect — whether it was linking evacuation to the Blitz, or showing how arteries, veins, and the heart work together to transport blood around the body. I have been incredibly impressed by the thoughtful discussions, clear explanations, and confident links pupils made. |
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November 2025
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