Year 6
Key dates for the year group (Autumn term):
Tuesday 12th September - Hampshire Fire and Rescue Visit to Y6
Wednesday 27th September - Mini Me Yoga taster sessions
Tuesday 3rd October - Flu immunisations
Wednesday 4th October - Harvest assemblies
Wednesday 4th October - School nursing team (Y6 heights and weights)
Wednesday 11th October - Y6 Mini-Medics sessions
Wednesday 18th & Thursday 19th October - Parents evenings
Thursday 2nd November - Y6 Reading cafe 9-10am
W/b 13th November - 'It's Cool to be Kind' week (activities in school)
Friday 17th November - Children in Need (own clothes for a donation)
Thursday 30th November - Y6 Outcome event
Monday 11th December - Listen2Me concerts
Tuesday 12th December (am) - Y5/6 Pantomime (in school - more information to follow)
Wednesday 13th December - Christmas lunch (details to follow nearer the time)
Welcome to Year 6!
The Year 6 Team
This year in Year 6, our teachers are Mrs Hagger (Year 6 Team Leader), Mr Finklaire and Miss Grainger. We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistants (LSAs): Miss Byrne, Ms Fisher, Ms Green, Mr Norgrove and Mrs Venner. They support us throughout the day in and out of the classroom.
PE
Each week, the children will have two sessions of PE - one indoor session (Wednesday) and one outdoor session (Monday). Children should come in to school wearing their PE kits on these days.
PE kit should consist of a red or white t shirt and black shorts (no football kits thank you). Black leggings/tracksuit trousers are advisable for colder weather. Dark blue or black hoodies are also advised for outdoor PE (no brightly-coloured hoodies please). For more information about PE kits, please see our school uniform section.
Please note - long hair must be tied back for PE and earrings must be removed.
Homework
Each week we will set a reading, maths and spellings task for homework. All will be available on Google Classroom.
Maths - The maths homework will be linked to their times tables using the TT rockstars website. There will be one set session each week, but your child can play as many of the games on TTRS as they wish.
Spellings - The children will be asked to learn around six words each week from the year 3/4 and 5/6 lists of spellings. These should be the words you and your child has highlighted as ones to focus on. There will also be a short spelling task linked to the rule covered in class that week.
Reading - Your child should read for at least ten minutes per day. If your child can read aloud to an adult at least once a week, they are able to improve their reading fluency. A reading task will be set each week linked to their current reading book.
The homework will all be set on a Thursday and then due back in on the following Tuesday. As we are trying to develop the independence of the children it will be their responsibility to complete their work on time.
If your child is having problems completing the homework, please speak to their class teacher.
Year 6 Reading Cafe Presentation November 2023
Follow the link below to the 'If you like...try...' book suggestion lists.
Topics
In Autumn 2, our topic will be Globalisation. In Geography, we will look at the impact of globalisation on the way we communicate and trade as well as its impact on food and fashion. Our English and Guided Reading units will be based around books linked to difference and how we treat others, including the books 'Wonder' and 'The distance between me and the cherry tree'. We will investigate sound as our Science topic, while the Art unit will look at Pop Artists, including Andy Warhol.
Our Topic for Autumn 1 is the Industrial Revolution. In History, we have looked at the social and economic aspects, as well as some of the inventions. We looked at the impact of the Industrial Revolution on Basingstoke - did you know there were two workhouses in our local area?
In English, we have read the book 'Street Child' by Berlie Doherty which looks at the plight of a young Victorian child. The children really immersed themselves in the characters and wrote amazing diary entries, as well as informative non-chronological reports about workhouses. Our science has seen classes investigating electrical circuits and we have used our understanding to help us build motorised vehicles in DT.
We are looking forward to showcasing our hard work to you all at our outcome afternoon in November.
What have we been up to?
Tuesday 12th September saw a visit from Hampshire Fire and Rescue to teach Year 6 about fire safety. Our School Council leads were eager to write about it for the newsletter.
On Tuesday, Jo from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service visited each of the three Year 6 classes.
Jo told us how to stay safe in case of a fire and also told us the three main things a fire needs. We watched a video about what would happen if you left your device charging on a flammable surface. The results in the video was that the whole room caught fire in less that 2 minutes as the charger was damaged. We learnt that the four main things that could cause a house fire are cooking, electrical, smoking and candles. Jo showed us different fire alarms and talked about the importance of testing them weekly. We were given booklets to take home and encouraged to think about escape plans with our adults, just in case.
Lola and Asmara
Mini Medics sessions took place on Wednesday 11th October as part of our PSHE curriculum.
Some of our DT vehicles
Monday 27th November - we had a very informative visit from Fyffes - AKA the Banana Man!
When the Banana Man came into school, we learnt that one banana was called a finger, a cluster is 5-6 bananas, a hand is 10 -20 bananas and a bunch is 100-120 bananas. He told us that bananas do not grow on trees, they are a plant - in fact they are a herb. It takes 6-7 days to ripen the bananas in a hot space. They are imported from countries with hot climates, such as Columbia.
Orlagh and Winn
Thursday 30th November was our Outcome event and we were pleased to welcome visitors into our classes. We shared our English work for the term, especially our Wonder diary and letters, and were keen to talk about JIBO. Our DT vehicles were on display and some of them were working! The singing balloons returned and our visitors enjoyed playing with them as much as we did. Finally, everyone enjoyed relaxing with some Pop Art colouring in the style of Roy Lichtenstein.
SATS Week 2024
SATS week for this academic year is week commencing Monday 13th May 2024.
Year 6 Reading Cafe Presentation - March 2023
Year 6 SATS information parent meeting - March 2023
If you have specific questions about how your child will access the SATs tests and the writing assessments, your child's class teacher can discuss this with you at your parents' evening appointment. There are lots of things we can do to support children during the assessments but they will be specific to individual children.
We tend to use revision/test materials from the CGP website. Please make sure that you refer to the presentation so you know which ones not to buy! Again, class teachers would be happy to give you advice about which books etc to purchase. The children already have their 10 minute test books for homework so these are always a good place to start. There are additional 10 minute test books to purchase from the CGP site if you wish.
If you do have any further questions, please do either speak to your child's class teacher or email your questions via the school office.