Departments: Year 6

Year 6 (Prep. 4) is an exciting year during which the boys are prepared for their transition to Secondary school.

Entrance exams take priority at the beginning of the year. Once they have taken place we deliver a broad and balanced curriculum.

The boys are encouraged to become more independent.  They are given opportunities to research and work independently and effectively manage their time.  These are essential skills for Secondary school.

We give our boys responsibilities throughout the school to develop maturity, to encourage team work, and to increase their self confidence.  They become prefects and we select our Head Boy and Deputies from Year 6.

Head Boys and Deputies

The boys participate in many varied activities throughout the year. We take part in the Trafford Bikeability and Crucial Crew schemes organised for Year 6 children throughout the borough. Each year they are invited to sing at the Hidden Gem in Manchester for the Advent Service.  We enter the National Primary Maths Challenge and the St. Ambrose Maths Challenge each year. The boys participate in the CBS interschool quiz.

As part of our R.E. syllabus the boys visit a local synagogue which is both instructive and enjoyable.  We enjoy visits from the local magistrates and from grandparents who share their memories of life during World War II.

The boys take great pleasure in writing stories for younger children and presenting these stories as books which they make as part of their D.T. and art lessons.  They enjoy a morning of shared reading in the Early Years and Infant Departments where they read their stories aloud to their younger audience.

During World Book Day the boys organise and run a ‘book exchange’ to encourage other boys to read other authors.

As part of our History the boys enjoy a ‘Living History Day.’ They dress as Evacuees, have a war time lunch and experience a school day of World War II.  They sell cakes which they have made to authentic WWII recipes.  This raises money for local charities.

Our D.T day is another exciting experience.  The boys design, plan and construct their own motorised vehicle.  They learn to use specialised tools safely and sensibly.  Once constructed, the boys test their vehicles in a ‘race’ to find the vehicle which is the most stable and the fastest.  This aids the evaluation stage of the process.

In the Spring/Summer term the boys produce their own History projects.  This encourages independence of learning.  It gives them the opportunity to develop existing skills and to learn new ones. They research independently and develop their presentation skills.  Crucially they learn to manage their time effectively, an essential skill required for their time in Secondary school.  This is all part of our Creative Curriculum.

They also use research in History to develop a power point presentation.  We encourage the boys to become confident speakers using their ICT power point presentation as an aid.

Another highlight of our year 6 is the three day residential trip to Todmorden.  The boys learn to work collaboratively to solve problems and challenges.  For many it is their first time away from home and they surprise themselves and their parents with how well they cope.

Links with the Community are important to St. Ambrose and our Year 6 boys play a valuable role in this.  On our evacuee day we invited senior citizens from the Parish and the local community to a World War II ‘sing-a-long’.  The mums share in our day by providing refreshments.  At Christmas we have a festive sing-along.  Both occasions are thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.

The culmination of our year is the Leavers’ Mass and the party which follows.  This gives us an opportunity to say ‘goodbye’ to our boys.  It is always an emotional occasion for all concerned.

Our boys leave us having grown in confidence across all areas and well equipped to face all the challenges, academically and socially they may face in their secondary school life.