Welcome to Year 6!
Year 6 will be working with Mr Burns (Class Teacher) and Mr Hunter (Teaching Assistant) this year. Our classroom will be an a positive and encouraging learning environment, where children are given the tools to support one another and encouraged to show great resilience in their learning. Together, we will support one another and prepare the children for their futures beyond Witton Gilbert Primary School. Our aim is to ensure that the children are happy coming to school and show eagerness in learning about the range of fantastic topics we cover in Year 6.
Reading is an essential part of the curriculum throughout school, and this is no different in Year 6. Doing so consistently will help the children to develop their skills across the breadth of the curriculum, including expanding their vocabulary, the modelling of successful writing, and comprehending a range of texts. The children in Year 6 are encouraged to read regularly, with three times a week being the MINIMUM expectation, both independently and with support from adults at school and at home. To foster a love for reading is our ultimate goal, and with your support this becomes much more realistic – please make sure reading records are signed at least 3 times a week to acknowledge both the children and you have enjoyed reading sessions.
Core number skills are also key to Year 6, including times tables, which can be practised on a range of technology devices via the Times Table Rockstars App/website. This will be a weekly part of the children’s homework, and the aim is to have three 15–30-minute sessions practising their times tables. Having instant recall of key number facts and times tables will assist the children in a range of mathematical topic areas, not to mention in other curriculum areas also.
Physical Education is paramount in promoting the health and well-being of the children. As such, we expect all children to bring their PE kits to school on a Monday morning and take them home at the end of the school week on a Friday. This will allow the children to be prepared for their scheduled PE lessons, as well as allowing for spontaneous outdoor lessons and activities when the weather allows. For example, we may complete orienteering tasks (linked to the curriculum) during the year which will allow the children to develop arithmetic, problem solving and reasoning and SPAG skills.
Curriculum Information
During the Autumn term, we will be working very hard to set the standard for the remainder of the year. In English, we will be reading The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse (Charlie Macksey), followed by Howl! (Allan Ginsberg), Room 13 (Robert Swindells) and Skellig (David Almond). We will use these rich texts to inspire and influence our skills in spelling, grammar, and punctuation, as well as creating a raft of writing opportunities where we can practise and showcase our writing skills. In Maths we will be following the Teaching for Mastery approach and expanding our mathematical knowledge in fluency, problem solving and reasoning in topic areas such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, decimals, fractions, percentages, and algebra. In Science, we will learn about living things and their habitats, followed by Electricity.
Our topic work will be based on Forests in Geography, and then the Victorians, in History. These topics will be explored, taking into consideration these topic areas within our local area. In PE, the children will play hockey and tag rugby, as well having the local School Sports Partnership coming in on a Friday morning to deliver the Walk and Talk scheme (focussing on PE and PSHE).
Please find our Long Term Learning Plan below:
Weekly Timetable
In the first Autumn 2023 half term, our timetable will be as follows (please note that this is subject to minor changes on a weekly basis):
Y6 2023-24 Class Timetable AUT1
Homework
Homework will be handed out to children on a Friday, with details either in their homework books (most often) or posted on Class Dojo (occasionally). Reading and TT Rockstars is additional to whatever is detailed, however. This will be required to be handed in no later than a Tuesday. Failure to do so will mean children will complete their homework on a Tuesday lunch time. In the event that children have found homework particularly troublesome, then the children can work with Mr Burns and/or Mr Hunter on a Monday at break or lunch time to ensure it is still handed in prior to the Tuesday deadline. Similarly, any children that do not have three signatures in their reading record each Tuesday, will be given the opportunity to read in school on a Tuesday break time.
Communication
At Witton Gilbert Primary School, we use Class Dojo to communicate class messages and celebrate successes with families and carers. In the unlikely event of having to employ remote-learning, we will share learning and resources through Class Dojo. Parents and children are able to post messages, photos and videos and parents can see work and send messages to the teaching staff too. This is a really strong way of keeping our learning up to date and staying connected with our class. If you have any difficulties accessing Class Dojo, please contact the school office for further support.
