Year 6

Miss Naden – Mrs Leigh

Welcome back after what we hope has been a very enjoyable and restful Easter break. I can’t believe that we are already going into our final term! We have a very important time ahead of us as we prepare for SATS, but we also have lots exciting plans towards the end of the year - trips, parties and also an end of year play! You don't have that long to wait, we will reveal the name of our year 6 production after SATS week!

Below you will find details of what we hope to cover during the Summer Term in Year 6.

 As always, Year 6 pupils are called to lead by example by living our mission statement and our motto each and every day.  Together, we strive to grow in faith and love as we look beyond ourselves.

Learning in Year 6

RE
In RE, pupils will study ‘Easter’ and ‘Pentecost’ which is an important unit for those children working towards their confirmation. Following on from those units, we will focus on ‘Belonging to the church community’ and 'Celebrating the lives of Mary and Saints'. 

Whilst studying these units of work, we will be covering key aspects of our catholic life as we work to be considerate and caring members of society and our community.

We will be taking part in collective worship and focusing our prayers during times of reflection.

 
We will have opportunities to attend Mass as a class during the term. Children in Year 6 will be encouraged to take part by reading.  Please do your best to get to Mass at the weekend, as a family, whenever possible.

RHE
In our RHE (Relationships and Health Education) lessons, pupils will continue to learn about and reflect upon many of the issues they will face during puberty and beyond.  Pupils will be given strategies with which to manage the emotional challenges they may experience on their life-journey.  They will continue to try to discover who God is calling them to be, each and every day, as they follow their unique vocation.

Maths
In Maths, we will begin with Decimals and Percentages, before moving on to Geometry - properties of shape and statistics. We will use and apply our skills to solve word problems set in different real-life contexts. This is an incredibly important time as we prepare during the first few weeks towards the SATS. All children will continue with their Maths booster sessions and we will be practicing the skills we need to achieve marks in the relevant papers. Miss Naden and Mrs Haines will be running morning booster sessions, Miss Ridge will be running afternoon booster sessions and Mrs Fountain and Mrs Brown will also be running after school booster sessions.

During these sessions, tutoring will focus on specific areas of need to tackle tricky concepts in order to prepare for SATS.

English

In English this term, Year 6 will continue to develop their writing through a variety of genres:  Narrative - Characterising Speech, Recount – Newspapers, Narrative - Extended
Discussion, Visual Text and finally, recount -Diaries towards the end of the term.  We will be practicing Grammar questions and Spelling techniques as we work towards the SPAG SATS Papers. The class will also study a range of texts in preparation towards the SATS Reading paper during guided reading sessions. We will be focusing on specific comprehension strategies to improve our understanding of the text and to answer exemplar SATS paper questions.

PE
In PE, Year 6 will have one lesson with a coach from ASM and a lesson with Mrs Brown where they will continue to practise and improve their fundamental movement skills and striking & fielding work with a focus on tag rugby, cricket and athletics.

 Please ensure that PE kits are kept in school.  (Lessons are normally on Thursdays and Fridays, but occasionally timetabling can be changed at short notice.)
We are very much hoping that some more inter-school competitions will be held this term. Year 6 were incredibly successful last term! We hope this will continue throughout the year.

History 

In History, we will learn about ‘The Kingdom of Benin’.  This will draw on geographical knowledge, historical knowledge as well as introducing new learning. We will develop our chronological understanding to place historical events on a timeline and we will compare this civilisation to others at a similar time.       

Geography 
In Geography, pupils will study ‘Energy and Sustainability’.  They will explore different forms of energy, and energy sources have developed over time. We will identify how we are working to create a more sustainable future and ways that we can work towards protecting the planet. 

Science

Our Painsley Science specialist teacher, Mrs Swinson, will teach Science in year 6. Pupils will continue to focus on the biology strand this term as they study ‘Evolution and Inheritance’. Pupils will be developing their skills to work scientifically by organising and carrying out several investigations over the term.

Art
In art, Year 6 will take inspiration from Henri Rousseau as they develop sketching skills, observational skills, a sense of proportion and their use of colour to create their own final piece in the style of the artist studied.

Design Technology
In D&T, we will begin the term by focusing on Food - Come Dine with me. We will be using our prior knowledge from cooking and nutrition to design a three course meal as a team.

We will then move on to the little inventors challenge which is an exciting enterprise opportunity for the children to learn about designers and inventors that have followed careers in Design and Technology. They will then create their own inventions to contribute towards the whole school inventors exhibition.

Music
In Music, Year 6 learn to listen, appraise, sing with control and play tuned percussion to accompany songs.  They will continue to learn to read music on the treble clef and will understand an ever-wider range of musical terms.

French
In French, Year 6 will continue to widen their working vocabulary and learn to read and write simple and compound sentences about our school.  Pupils will focus our learning on 'then and Now: Comparison of modern day settlements with those from a period in the past.' In doing so, we will work towards writing a guide for tourists about our local area.

Pupils will continue to revise their prior learning.

Computing

In Computing, Year 6 will be taught by subject specialist, Mr Reynolds.

SATs

We thank you for your continued help and support as we assess your child and decide upon the best ways to help them to make the progress necessary to meet their aspirational targets. We will be assessing the children each week to ensure that they are progressing towards their SATS.

If you have any worries or queries, please send a message in the home school diary, telephone or e-mail the office or contact us through Class Dojo.  We will do our best to answer your queries as soon as we can.  Many thanks.

Homework (Policy on website)

Reading at home - Pupils should read for 30 minutes a day and this should be recorded in their diary.  Reading really does enrich the mind and has proved to have a great impact on progress.  Thank you for your continued support in this area. Pupils are able to visit the school library and we will share novels in class throughout the year.

Homework, other than reading, is usually set on Wednesdays and is due in on Mondays.  Tasks may be in an exercise book or on-line.  Pupils should have their log-in details in their diary.  It is important that diaries go home each day and come back into school every morning.

Please encourage your child to do extra practice on multiplication tables too EVERY week, as recall speed still needs to be improved.

Communication

We strongly believe that your child will do better if we work as a team.  If you have any worries or concerns about your child, please do let us know so that we are aware.  You may message on Class Dojo or, if you prefer, you can send an e-mail to the office.  Alternatively, one of us is on the playground before and after school if it is a quick word you need.

Thank you

Thank you for choosing St Giles’ Catholic Primary School and for trusting us to do the very best that we can do for your sons and daughters.  We are proud to be spending our year with such a fantastic group of children. It is a privilege that we take seriously!

Year 5 and Year 6 Curriculum and Expectations

With the new National Curriculum, the Department for Education has produced new expectations for the end of each curriculum year. These will replace the old system of levels and provide you as parents with a clear idea of what the children should be achieving at the end of the year.

Below you will find the expectations for Year 5 and Year 6 in Reading, Writing and Mathematics. We have also produced ‘deepening’ targets for parents to show you the targets that the children will be working towards if they have met all of the ‘expected’ targets to master their learning skills.

As a school we report your child’s progress against these end of year expectations at our parent evenings during the year.

The following terms will be used:

· Your child is not on track to meet the end of year national expectations.

· Your child is on track to meet the end of year national expectations .

· Your child is on track to exceed the end of year national expectations.

Any extra support you can provide in helping your child or children to achieve these will benefit them greatly.