Things to do before you start school

• Research Bletchley Park, home of the code breakers.
• Take a trip to the Science and Industry Museum (online if necessary)
• Read Carol Vorderman’s coding books
• Try out your skills at the Code Academy website
• Join a CoderDojo community – Cheadle have their own!
• Watch The Enigma Code
• Join a coding club
• Visit the W3 Schools website
• Practice your programming skills using Scratch as you will have new languages to learn!

• Write a postcard to your new English teacher telling them all about you and your favourite films and books
• Find out the most unusual fact about a word in the English Language. For example: ‘Strengths’…has only nine letters, but all except one of them are consonants! This earns the word a Guinness World Record. It is also one of the longest monosyllabic words of the English language.
• Decide who your favourite TV presenter or actor is and create a fact-file about them — what is it that they do well when they speak on camera?
• Research and find out all you can about any of these famous writers: Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Maya Angelou or Roald Dahl
• Find out about the origins (etymology) of three of these words: disaster, salary, tea, umbrella, alligator, hamburger, jeans, juggernaut, coleslaw

Spanish

• Make a list of all the countries in the world that speak Spanish and try not to be astonished by how many there are!
• Research Spanish and Central/South American festivals. They have many interesting and wonderful traditions – which is your favourite one? Why?
• Listen out for Spanish songs on the radio, online, or on any games that you play. What songs are they? See if you can find out what country they are from.
• Find out some information about the Spanish royal family. How are they different from our royal family? Where do they live?
• Like cooking? Try making a Spanish tortilla, we have PP&R competitions for fun things like this – who said homework was boring!
• Can you find out how many languages are spoken in Spain? Here’s a clue: it’s not just one!
• And lastly, try watching your favourite TV shows and films on Netflix/Disney+ in Spanish, or explore Spanish films on there like Zipi y Zape if you enjoy a bit of adventure!

French

• Make a list of all the countries in the world that speak French and try not to be astonished by how many there are!
• Research Francophone (French-speaking) festivals. They have many interesting and wonderful traditions — which is your favourite one? Why?
• Listen out for French songs on the radio, online, or on any games that you play. What songs are they? See if you can find out what country they are from.
• Find out some information about a French-speaking celebrity, where do they live?
• Like cooking? Try making a French Croque Monsieur, we have PP&R competitions for fun things like this – who said homework was boring!
• And lastly, try watching your favourite TV shows and films on Netflix/Disney+ in French!

German

• Make a list of all the German-speaking towns and cities that you can think of. There are lots of famous ones – can you find out any that aren’t in Germany?
• There are six countries that speak German as an official language – can you name them all?
• Research German-speaking festivals, they have many interesting and wonderful traditions. Which is your favourite one? Why?
• Listen out for German songs on the radio, online, or on any games that you play. What songs are they? See if you can find out what country they are from.
• Find out some information about a German-speaking celebrity, where do they live?
• Like cooking? Try making a German Currywurst, we have PP&R competitions for fun things like this – who said homework was boring!
• And lastly, try watching your favourite TV shows and films on Netflix/Disney+ in German!

• Find ways to play with mathematics every single day of the summer holidays. The book ‘Maths on the Go: 101 Fun Ways to Play with Maths.’ by Rob Eastaway and Mike Askew has some fabulous ideas.
• Think about the ginormous nature of numbers! How many hours will you be on holiday for, from the time you leave your primary school, to the time you start at CHHS? How many minutes is this? How many seconds? How old will you be when you start school at CHHS? In hours? Minutes? Seconds?
• Would you rather put £3 in the bank and have it triple each week for 4 weeks, or put £4 in the bank and have it quadruple each week for 3 weeks? Be ready to justify and explain your answer.
• Visit and explore the Maths Careers website. Research some of the career profiles and think of a creative way to share your research.
• Take on the Corbett 5-a-day Maths Challenge. Can you answer five maths questions a day throughout the summer holiday? Follow the link and choose a level that will challenge you!
• You may have seen some of M.C. Escher’s amazing mathematical prints? Have a look at his work; discover the mathematics within this amazing art. Try creating your own mathematical print, Escher style!
• If you are out and about this summer, keep your eyes open for patterns and tessellations! Take some pictures of floor tiles, geometric ceilings, 3D structures and create a poster we can display in the maths classrooms. Patterns and structures are all around us – sometimes you do not see them unless you are looking!
• Do you know about the Fibonacci sequence? Find out about how this links to nature. It is fascinating!
• Have you got a cook book at home? Can you find a recipe? Look at the ingredients required and notice how many people the recipe will feed. Think about how you would change the amounts of each ingredient so that the recipe would make enough for 2 people. What about for 10 people? Make a poster to display in our classrooms.

• Science can be split up into the three different specialisms: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Present your ideas in any way about what you understand about each of them.
• Take some pictures of ‘Science in Action’ in everyday life. Find out more about the planet we are living on and its inhabitants – why not treat yourself to an episode or two of Blue Planet?
• Relax and watch some episodes of ‘Horrible Science’, or if you prefer, read one (or more!) of the ‘Horrible Science’ books.
• Find out five interesting facts about Marie Curie and her work in Science.
• Find out five interesting facts about Dmitri Mendeleev and his work in Science.
• Find out five interesting facts about Sir Isaac Newton and his work in Science.
• Visit the Science and Industry Museum, online or in-person, and find out about Manchester’s involvement in the development of Science, Technology and Industry.
• Visit Jodrell Bank, online or in-person. Discover how the telescope works and what it is looking for.
• Visit Manchester Museum, online or in-person, and observe the exciting range of collections held there.

• Visit the Imperial War Museum North, in-person or online, and explore the impact of conflicts on people and society.
• Research the land slips at Mam Tor, Castleton, and the amazing geography on offer there.
• Research Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire and see the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Manchester.
• Look up the People’s History Museum and learn about the lives, work and leisure activities of British people.
• Visit the Science and Industry Museum, in-person or online.
• Test your knowledge of countries, cities and capital cities on Sporcle
• And if you find a spare moment in between the above, why not watch an episode or two of Horrible Histories?