Year 6
Welcome to Year 6’s Class Page!
Teaching us in Year 6 we have Mr Cassidy (6C), Miss Logue (6L) and Mrs Fernando
Year 6 have made an impressive start to the new academic year; they have shown drive to succeed and a mature attitude towards their work! Year 6 are aware of the importance and challenges of this year and have discussed strategies we can adopt to help us reach our personal and academic targets. We know that a resilient attitude towards challenges and a growth mindset will help us to make progress in all areas. We look forward to being ambassadors for our school and undertaking our prefect roles!
Religious Education
Our topic this Autumn in R.E. is ‘Beginning with the Church’ where the children will be learning about how we get our current Church practices from Scripture and Human Tradition. We will then delve deeper into looking at how the Church, along with the Sacraments, helps to prepare us for our spiritual life and life in general. In Year 6, we will take a closer look at the Old and New Testament scripture to explore how places of worship have been pivotal to beliefs and connections with God. Children will also explore the layout of the Church and how it has evolved over time. During this topic, we will make connections to the II Vatican Council and the documents produced from this: Dei Verbum · Lumen Gentium · Sacrosanctum Concilium · Gaudium et Spes and Nostra Aetate.
Children throughout the school will be constantly reminded of the importance of Laudato Si - a document produced by Pope Francis on how to care for our common home - and how we as Christians and occupants of the Earth are duty bound to look after it more than ever. After half term, our RE topic will be ‘From Advent to Christmas.’ During this topic we will gain a deeper theological understanding of the preparation and celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
All pupils will also be taking part in Collective Acts of Worship and Hymn singing.
English
During English lessons, we have been working on our first Power of Reading text for this year: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. We have been learning all about the story of Bruno, a German child who lived during World War II. The children have been very engaged so far and we are sure that they will write some fantastic pieces inspired by our text and informed by their learning in History lessons. We are also working on our reading comprehension skills and understanding of SPaG whilst learning lots of new challenging terminology.
Maths
We will be revising the key basic skills of Mathematics this term, including: place value, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as well as fractions, decimals and percentages. We are starting to prepare for our SATs with arithmetic fluency and reasoning practice in our lessons. We continue to encourage the children to be proficient in their times tables as this is something which is vital for every aspect of mathematics. We ask that you encourage your children to use Times Tables Rockstars and SATs Companion to support their learning.
Science
During our Autumn 1 topic, Living Things & Their Habitats, children will be aiming to answer their enquiry question: “How can we identify, group and classify animals, plants and microorganisms?”
To do this, they will explore the conditions for life and the differences between living and non-living things. Children need to understand the criteria for living and non-living things. An animal is living because it can breathe, move, eat, grow, excrete and reproduce. A plant is living because it can move towards sunlight, make its own food, grow and reproduce.
Children will be carrying out an identifying, grouping and classifying enquiry. They should think of ways that animals and plants can be grouped based on their features. They will also explore microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi and should understand that some microorganisms are helpful and vital for humans to function properly. We will also learn about the work of Carl Linnaeus and his system of classifying organisms and how he classified organisms based on their physical appearances.
In Autumn 2, children will build on their understanding of circuits to construct and draw series circuits as they begin their new topic: Electricity. They will look at complete and incomplete circuits, explore reasons why a circuit may be incomplete, explore variations within circuits and the effects of having fewer or more components. Children will complete a fair test to explore how the voltage in a circuit affects the brightness of bulbs and the loudness of buzzers. Children have already been introduced to variables in Year 5 and, when planning this investigation, they should identify the independent, dependent and controlled variables. They will then be encouraged to evaluate their results and suggest experiment improvements.
Expectations
We encourage all children to demonstrate a high standard of behaviour at all times in order to create a safe, respectful and happy learning environment.
Hygiene - We ask that children are encouraged by parents and guardians to know that good hygiene is paramount. Children will continue to follow the rules and procedures to ensure the safety of all.
Each class has participated in the process of making a set of ‘Golden Rules.’ The children have agreed to follow the rules as they understand that this will help their learning.
Respecting each other and all members of staff is expected and reflects the ethos of our school.
The children are required to listen carefully and to develop their self-control and concentration in class and in the playground.
Working together with parents and guardians plays a big part in establishing good relationships and standards of behaviour. Thank you for your continued support.
The children are aware of the school system for house points which will reward positive behaviour - they can use the online ‘shop’ to buy items in trade for House Points!
Homework
We are encouraging children to take an active role in their own learning as they will soon be coming to the end of their time at primary school. We will be giving out a larger volume of homework both weekly and during the holidays. We expect the children to take responsibility for their own learning and to organise their workload accordingly. Failure to submit homework on time will result in an immediate detention.
SATs Companion and Google Classroom
Please check your child’s SATs Companion accounts for tasks set- this is a useful tool to support their learning at home and prepare them for their tests. As teachers, we will be able to monitor your child’s progress and use this as a teaching tool to enable them to meet their individual targets.
Please attend our Curriculum Talk and refer to our Curriculum Map for further information about your child’s learning and how to support at home. There are also some website links under the ‘revision’ tab which will be useful for revision after a topic is taught.
We ask that you continue to support your child with daily reading at home and a little and often approach to revision to ensure that concepts taught are embedded fully.
Swimming
Every Friday during Autumn term, one year 6 class will go swimming. Please check the dates for this carefully. On their swimming day, the children will need to bring their swimming costumes/trunks, a towel, a swimming cap and a packed lunch.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to working with you this year!
Mr Cassidy and Miss Logue ☺