Year 6

Dear Parents,

Year 6 is taught by Miss Sumner and Mrs Greggan. Mrs Tuach will also be teaching on a Thursday afternoon. PE will be taught on Fridays. However, the children need their kit in school every day in case of unexpected activities scheduled in at the last minute.

For more information about the year ahead, we invite you to attend our Parent Information Session on Thursday 19^th September at 3:30pm.

Morning routine

Last year, a number of Year 6 children benefitted from arriving at school early to do extra reading or other important activities. Your Year 6 child is welcome to arrive at school at 8:45am but they must sign in at the school office and then come straight to class to be supervised by their teacher.

English

In English, we will be starting the term by looking at different recounts linked to our Combined Studies topic of World War 1. After half term, we will be using Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo to influence our descriptive writing and poetry. English homework will be given on Wednesday to be completed and returned by the following Monday where the feedback on the homework will form part of the lesson. The English homework will be linked to the grammar taught that week. A spelling list broken down in to weekly lists will be given to your child to learn for a spelling test every Tuesday. It is vitally important that the children learn their weekly spellings and complete all homework tasks set to highest possible standard.

Reading

Although the children are in Upper Key Stage 2, it is vitally important for them to continue to read every day at home (ideally 20 minutes or more). The children need to be building up their stamina in reading, not only for the upcoming SATs in May 2020, but also in preparation for their move to secondary school in September 2020. Discussing the content of the books both in school and at home is very important. Taking a short time to talk to your child about their books will help in many ways to improve their enjoyment and understanding of the texts. Weekly guided reading sessions will take place every Thursday on texts focused around our Combined Studies topic of World War 1.

In Year 6, we still provide children with a reading record to record the books they are reading at home and in school. If your child is still on a coloured benchmarked book, your child should be reading their book to an appropriate adult every day where possible. Where children have completed the school reading system and are considered ‘free readers’, they are welcome to read to themselves at home provided that an adult is monitoring this reading, asking questions on what they have read and signing their reading record daily. We have a variety of books for the children to borrow from our own classroom libraries and we welcome children to bring their own books in from home to read too for pleasure at different points during the school day.

Maths

In Maths, we will begin by looking at place value, moving onto the four operations and then fractions. Times tables should be rehearsed at home daily and there will be weekly mental maths or arithmetic tests during the lessons to determine progress. Maths homework will be sent out every Friday to be completed and returned by the following Wednesday. It will be either paper or computer based on mymaths.co.uk (individual login details will be sent out to each child).

Combined Studies

During our Combined Studies sessions (History, Geography, Art, DT, ICT and Music) this term, we will be focusing on the Edwardian Era and World War 1. Our topic work will consider life in the Edwardian times, the causes of the war and life during the war at home and on the battlefields. Please see our Combined Studies overview for more information.

Communication

We will continue to use Classdojo as a way of communicating information, alongside letters and messages in book bags and via texts from the school office. However, if there is an urgent matter, it is best if you make an appointment via the office to speak to us at a time after the school day has ended.

We look forward to a great term.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if there are any problems or queries about any aspect of your child’s school experience.

Miss Sumner and Mrs Greggan