​What a fantastic evening we had at our FS2 and KS1 Easter Party Night!
The children had an absolutely wonderful time taking part in a range of fun, creative activities. From decorating delicious bunny biscuits to making their very own Easter baskets and bunny ears, there was excitement and smiles all around. The Easter games were a big hit, and the highlight of the evening was our special character egg scavenger hunt, which had everyone eagerly searching and exploring!
A very special mention must go to our incredible Year 6 children. They were an absolute credit to the school, showing fantastic responsibility, kindness, and leadership throughout the evening. They worked so hard to plan and organise the entire event and were so supportive and helpful with their groups.
Thank you to all the children who joined us and for your continued support to our school and fundraising.

Today, Year 6 were extremely lucky to take part in a live Zoom event with author Phil Earle, who joined us to share his brand-new book, Finn's Epic Fails.
Phil began by telling us about his own experiences at school and how he actually found reading very difficult when he was younger. He explained that some of his teachers — who he jokingly described as “dinosaurs” — believed that reading only counted if it was a very long book, with no pictures, written before the 1900s. Because of this, he said that books often looked like “walls of words”, which made them feel quite intimidating.
However, everything changed when Phil discovered comics, especially Roy of the Rovers. Comics and graphic novels helped him find a love of reading because, as he described it, reading allowed him to be “living a life that wasn’t his own.”
Phil then shared the story of how he began his journey into writing. In his twenties he worked in a bookshop in London, where he was eventually moved to the children’s department. His manager told him that if he wanted to recommend books to young readers, he would need to read them himself first.
One book in particular completely changed how he felt about reading: Holes — a firm favourite here at school too! Phil explained that Holes had drama, comedy, western adventure, love and crime all in one story, and he described it as the book that “lit a fire” in him and made him want to read more.
For the next two years, Phil read as much as he possibly could. Eventually he began to wonder whether he could write a story himself. He talked about how writers find inspiration and reminded us that we are surrounded by stories everywhere. Phil encouraged the children to think of writing as playtime, where you can be anyone, go anywhere and imagine anything — which makes the process far more enjoyable.
We were then very lucky to hear Phil read an extract from Finn’s Epic Fails, and we are very much looking forward to the book arriving in school so that we can all enjoy reading it together.
The children also loved hearing some very funny stories about Phil’s extremely naughty dog, Lenny!
It was a fantastic, informative and thoroughly enjoyable session, and we feel very honoured to have met — albeit virtually — a real author.

Today was world book day at Kexborough - and what a fantastic effort our Year 6 children went to with their costumes! Take a look at some of the characters below!

World Book Day was a fantastic celebration of reading and creativity across our school this year, with every class exploring the wonderful works of Julia Donaldson. From rhyming tales to memorable characters, her stories inspired learning in every year group.
In Year 6, our focus text was Zog — the story of a determined dragon who never gives up, no matter how many challenges he faces. We used this inspiring story as inspiration for our own writing. The children began by planning their own dragon stories, carefully thinking about characters, settings and simple yet engaging plots suitable for a KS1 audience. They considered what younger readers would enjoy and how to make their ideas clear and exciting. 
During the writing stage, pupils focused on adapting their language and vocabulary for a younger audience. They experimented with key techniques used by Julia Donaldson, including:

• Simple, clear sentence structures
  
• Repetition for effect
  
• Rhythmic and engaging storytelling
  

It was wonderful to see how thoughtfully they crafted their work, ensuring it would be both accessible and enjoyable for KS1 readers.

Finally, the children published their stories, presenting them as beautifully finished books. The effort, creativity and pride in their work was evident in every piece.
The stories were absolutely amazing to read — full of imagination, humour and heart. We are incredibly proud of the way Year 6 rose to the challenge, producing writing that was both purposeful and inspiring.
They are amazing! 🌟

To make our writing even more meaningful, we had the opportunity to share our finished stories with the children in Year 2. It was a wonderful experience to see our audience come to life, as the younger pupils listened so carefully and enthusiastically. Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed the stories, with lots of smiles, laughter and engagement throughout. Our Year 6 pupils read with great expression and confidence, bringing their dragon tales to life.
It was a brilliant way to celebrate World Book Day and truly showed the power of storytelling.

On Friday, Year 6 took part in a very exciting and eye-opening Number Day, where the children spent the whole day stepping into the shoes of adults during our Managing Money and Careers Day.
To begin the day, each child chose a career and explored what their working life might look like. They had to decide how many hours and days they would work each week and calculate their yearly salary. However, the biggest surprise for many came when they discovered that they also had to pay tax to the government — this was definitely not a popular part of the activity!
Once their tax had been deducted, the children worked out their monthly take-home wage. They were then faced with real-life financial decisions, including choosing a house, a car and paying essential bills such as gas, electricity, water and food shopping. For some, it was quite a wake-up call. A few children who initially chose a large, flashy detached house and a brand-new Range Rover quickly realised that they were left with only a few pounds to last the rest of the month.
It was fantastic to listen to the children debating which cars would be the most cost-efficient and discussing what they could realistically afford. One of the highlights of the day was seeing two pupils decide not to have a car at all and instead opt for a bus pass so that they could save money for luxury holidays!
Throughout the day, the children completed a range of mathematical activities linked to budgeting and money management. More importantly, they gained a valuable insight into what adult life can be like and the responsibilities that come with earning and spending money. The experience helped them understand that if they want nice things in life, they need to work hard to earn them — and that sometimes bigger is not always better.
It was a fantastic day filled with laughter, thoughtful discussions and plenty of real-life learning. The children learnt many important lessons and all commented on how much they enjoyed the experience.

Over the last few weeks, Year 6 have been immersed in our focus text Neverbelieve, exploring the mysterious island and the extraordinary creatures said to inhabit it. Inspired by the rich imagery and adventurous tone of the story, the children became mythical zoologists, creating their very own creatures that could only exist on the island of Neverbelieve.
To bring their ideas to life, the children wrote a field guide for explorers, carefully explaining how to identify, understand and survive encounters with their creature. Along the way, they showcased an impressive range of grammatical skills. Their writing included hyphenated compound adjectives to create vivid descriptions, modal verbs to suggest possibility and danger, and formal, scientific language to give their field guides an authoritative tone. They also confidently used relative clauses and parenthesis to add extra detail and clarity for the reader.
The results were nothing short of incredible. From razor-winged sky beasts to the depths of the magical lake, each description was packed with precise detail and imagination. To take the project one step further, we entered the children’s physical descriptions into an image generator — and the creatures were brought to life before our eyes! The images produced matched the children’s writing so closely that it proved just how powerful their descriptions were. Just look at the creatures we created — our writing must have been truly amazing to generate something so realistic and detailed!

This last two weeks in Year 6, our writing lessons have taken us on an exciting journey into the imaginative world of Never Believe. We have been exploring mythical creatures that are said to inhabit this mysterious island, using our creativity as well as our growing grammar knowledge to bring them to life. Throughout the week, we have been learning, practising and applying a range of writing skills. These have included using relative clauses to add extra detail, parenthesis to clarify meaning, and hyphenated compound adjectives to make our descriptions more precise and vivid. We have also focused carefully on choosing ambitious and specific vocabulary so that our writing really engages the reader.
A highlight of the week has been using our new writing strips. Working with a partner, we discussed grammar choices, refined vocabulary and practised applying our new skills together. This collaborative approach has helped us to think more deeply about how writing works and how to improve it.
We are now in the exciting process of designing our own mythical creatures to inhabit the island of Never Believe. Check back next week to see our finished creations and writing – you won’t want to miss them!

​A huge thank you to all the parents, families and friends who came along to our Year 6 Christmas craft fair last night.
It was amazing to see so many of you enjoying the handmade crafts, decorations and delicious baked treats. The Year 6 children worked incredibly hard over the past few weeks, designing, creating and perfecting every item on the stalls. From Christmas ornaments to sweet baked treats, they put in amazing effort, showed great teamwork and creativity! We are all so proud of what they achieved.
Thanks to your generosity and support, we raised an amazing £355 for our fundraising pot! This is a fantastic start and will go towards helping us plan a very special end of year school trip.
Thank you once again to everyone who attended, donated and encouraged the children. Merry Christmas!

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!

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.