Year 6

Hello again to all Year Six and their parents!

Welcome to our updated webpage which will give you information about up and coming events, projects, homework and assessment schedules. Spellings and Times Table Tests along with differentiated Reading Comprehension and Maths tasks, are a regular and vital part of our homework schedule. Pupils should all have a hard copy of these in their Partnership Books. We also hope that you will find our student & parent friendly websites useful too, such as BBC Bitesize for KS2, NRICH Maths (University of Cambridge) which is interactive and provides excellent problem solving extension activities for all levels. This is an important year for learning, with target setting and SATS practice before half term on the horizon. By now, every single pupil should have had time to settle in and be focussed on their curriculum and extra-curricular activities: if your child attends a club in house we are likely to already know about it - we have marquetry and fencing, choir and music lessons here for example, but sometimes if they are involved outside of school, we may not always be aware - so do please keep us updated as we love to hear about our children's successes and interests! Some of you are doing really exciting things outside the school walls such as filming, horse-riding and swimming. We have just started a weekly Show and Tell in class, and enjoyed hearing Uzuri tell us about her grandfather making handmade mirrors with stunning engraved emblems.

We very much enjoyed our lovely Harvest Service on Friday 26th September at St Mary's Church, White Waltham, led imaginatively by Rev Dave Atallah. We were very proud that the Year 6 walked the Year 1 really responsibly, hand in hand, up to the church; every pupil and staff sang heartily with some fun actions for the Harvest Song. We also sang a gorgeous new hymn called Amazing Grace specially chosen by our Head, Mr Thompson! Well done to Louise and Thomas who after much practice, read out our bible readings, and to our form tutor for playing the piano. Thanks too for the Lower School prayers read out by our Collective Worship Team, who are also busy redecorating our indoor display and outdoor Prayer Pod at school, and filling it with fresh, fun resources for Faith. Year 6 are also busy with their various roles and responsibilities Green Team, Playground Pals, Library and Digital Monitors. We are in the process of getting all our class laptops updated.

Year 6 had a tremendous couple of 'full on' days (in the sunshine and the rain!) at Warwick Castle, where we enjoyed staying in medieval lodges, and we all learnt a huge amount about its history right from the time of William the Conqueror who built it in 1068. There have been many residents of all religions in the castle and chapel over the centuries. Bats and Rats galore! Plus many beautiful birds of prey which we witnessed in flight and food mode, and enjoyed hearing all about from a young storytelling lad. We witnessed the red and black knight jousting in the banquet hall as we ate a sumptuous supper, and our children were lucky enough to try archery and sword training. Pupils are still studying the ongoing topic of the Knight's Crusade, making Trebuchets and following up the invaluable Warwick experience. They will integrate their historical research and literacy skills, into their classroom work by writing a non chronological report for extended write.

Currently we are reading Morpurgo's Arthur: High King of Britain. We will be moving from fifth to fifteenth century history, to read Sparrow, about the legendary girl soldier Joan of Arc, known as The Maid of Orléans in medieval France.

Friendly and well informed Year 6 Tour Guides enjoyed guiding prospective parents around the school on our recent Open Morning (1st October). They proudly and proactively showing them our range of classrooms, indoor and outdoor facilities, and fantastic displays. People enjoyed seeing our 'Big Book' and 'Philosophy for Children' book which hold examples of pupil work, and pupil voice. Visitors were impressed at the range of opportunities for learning, clubs and trips at our school.

Please contact me your child's teacher, or Mrs Bain (Key Stage 2 Co-Ordinator) if you have any queries about Year 6. We are here to help!

With kind regards,

Ms S.L Shaw, Staff.

Important Dates

OCTOBER

04.10.2019             PTA Quiz Night

23.10 - 24.10.19     Year Six Target Setting Parents' Evening

28.10.2019             Half Term Break

11.11.2019               Remembrance Day

SUBJECT INFORMATION

OCTOBER 2019

English

We have recently written a diary entry for King Arthur and looked at fiction and non-fiction resources and their features. We are currently working on extended writing for a non-chronological report for the Knight's topic, based on our historical research from Warwick and improving our English literacy skills. SPAG skills under the spotlight are subordinate clauses and fronted adverbials.

Guided Reading, Storytelling and Newsround

We are currently reading King Arthur: High King of Britain by Michael Morpurgo, and doing activities in our English/Topic book, based upon certain chapters, passages and themes. In Storytelling pupils can enjoy hearing a book read out aloud and we do Show and Tell once a week. We listen to daily CBBC Newsround, discuss current affairs and relevant issues in society and around the world. We can record our viewpoints in our class book. We feel confident to be able to express ourselves.

P4C (Philosophy for Children)

Pupils and staff, we sit in a circle of trust, and with a theme or question in mind, discuss what we feel and what really matters, in a constructive and empathetic way. Our Voice is important, as is listening to others' opinions. We are looking as part of our Guided Reading lesson based on Arthur and Merlin, at whether or not Good will prevail over Evil in the end.

Maths

We are working in our current block on the topic of FOUR OPERATIONS composed of these elements and mathematical skills:
add and subtract integers, multiply 4 digits by 2 digits, short division, division using factors, long division, common factors, common multiples, prime numbers, square and cube numbers, order of operations, mental calculations, and reason from known facts. We use White Rose Maths resources and the workbook is called Power Maths Book 6. Intervention is in place for some pupils who may be going at a slower pace and need more support. We want all of our pupils to feel confident to cope with Maths for the future.

Geography

For Geography, we are using atlases to learn about location, landmarks, capital cities, counties, climate and environment. We label this on a big map for our class book.  We will be finding out about where to find historical castles in the United Kingdom. We will be writing about all of this in our class book.

PE (Physical Education)

Children have 'Real P.E' once a week for an hour on a Monday with their form teacher. We are practising our ball skills currently. They also have an hour a week with our sports coach Mr Edwards, split into two half hour sessions on a Tuesday and Thursday. Do remember to bring fresh PE kit and provide a medical and/or parental note for planned non-participation.

Useful Websites

Stars of the Week

Star of the week was awarded to Jeremiah for his excellent attitude to learning and cheerfulness. Additionally, Mercy was awarded the Head's Star of the Week for her outstanding attitude to learning and being helpful to other pupils and teachers. From Ms Shaw.

Dojo Points Winner = Louise. Congratulations for achieving the highest number of DOJO!

SPELLING & TIMES TABLES

Year Six pupils are given a weekly spelling test and fortnightly times tables test, normally on a Friday. Details and due dates for both are on PDFs on this webpage.  You will shortly be getting a letter about logging onto Times Table Rockstars which is good fun for pupils to play!

MATHS AND ENGLISH R.C.

Every other Monday, YEAR 6 pupils are given TWO sets of homework tasks, for both Maths and English. Maths tasks is usually based on their current topic, and English is

a Reading Comprehension. These are given as worksheets to take home and complete, then to be stuck in their Homework books, which are kept in their locker or bag. This work is collected on the Friday the week after. Sometimes pupils are asked to do a little bit of independent research at home to compliment class work.

Due dates are written down in their partnership books. Parents should check these.

Reading & Book Reviews

READING CHALLENGE

Pupils are to write down the name of their book and record any weekly reading in their partnership planners. If children record their reading endeavours four times a week, and get a signature from home, they can win a badge and certificate!

The Year 6 pupils' favourite book reviews are about to be completed. We must ALL encourage our children to read as widely as possible, whether fiction, non-fiction or magazines. The style of book is very much dependent on their diverse interests.