A Parent Guide to Year 6
Mrs Dunbobbin is teaching Sydney
Miss Willington, Mrs Watson and Mr Lewis are teaching Melbourne
Our teaching assistants in Year 6 are Mr Farrall, Mr Raiswell and Mrs Simpson
A Fighting Chance
This Autumn term our learning focus is entitled ' A Fighting Chance.'
During this term we will study WW2. We will look at the war's immediate impact upon the UK and its post-war impact upon the country, leading to the migration of the Windrush generation.
English - Writing
During the second half of this term we will be looking at the The place For Me: Stories About The Windrush Generation by K. N. Chimbiri
Our writing pathways expectations are below:
English - Reading
Our reading text for this half term is Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah.
The skills we will be looking at are:
Maths
In maths this half term we will be looking at:
- Fractions
- Measurement - converting units
- Ratio
- Geometry - Position and Direction
Useful Websites:
To help you along the way we have found some websites which they may find useful. Many of these are interactive and use brief tutorials or engage the children to use their knowledge through the playing of games.
- Maths Primary Homework Help
- Hit the Button
- Daily 10
- Times Tables Speed Test
- IXL have separate pages of skills linked to individual year groups. The Y6 page has links to practise both English and Maths skills. Pages are then split into skills of which has a practise question for the children to think about. ixl English & Maths
- BBC Education have produced a whole host of materials for KS2 SATS. Follow the KS2 link and then select either Maths or English. Each area usually has an information section for reading, plus an activity and then quiz which is marked online. Some aspects require a subscription. See link below.
- A site with both Maths and English based quizzes which are marked as you go along. http://www.educationquizzes.com/ks2/maths/
- A site with a range of information and questions – great for revision purposes! http://www.icteachers.co.uk/children/children_sats.htm
- A site with links to old style Key Stage 2 Maths Papers, Maths Tutorials as well as Maths Games. Some of these games are linked to Memory and would therefore help pupils to retain key information. http://www.online-maths-tutor.com/
- This site has lots of Maths games which help to practise a range of skills Maths Playground Games
- Lots of maths games on a range of Mathematical concepts. sheppardsoftware Maths
- A range of English games and activities. http://www.crickweb.co.uk/ks2literacy.html
Other areas of the Curriculum
Science: Light, Living Things and their habitats
PSHE: Being Me in My World, Celebrating Difference
PE: Sports Hall Athletics, Tennis,
History: WW2 Battle of Britain and the Blitz, Link with Remembrance, Evacuation, Timeline of events, VE day
RE: Why does religion look different all around the world?
Art: 2D drawing to 3D making
French: Telling the time, everyday life, House and Homes
Computing: Spreadsheets and blogging
Long Term Plan
PE
This term the Year 6 children will have PE on a Tuesday and Thursday with WCLA staff
On these days we ask that children come to school in their PE clothes rather than their school uniform.
Weather dependant they can wear their shorts and school coloured PE T- shirt and House PE sweatshirt. If the weather is cold, then tracksuit bottoms/leggings would be more suitable. Trainers are preferable to pumps as it is possible the children may be outdoors for some lessons.
Please ask at the office if you are unsure on the expectations of PE kits as they have recently sent out an email detailing appropriate school PE kit.
Year 6 Weekly spellings.
The Y6 spellings will be put onto the website each week. At the moment you will find them on the weekly learning poster.
To encourage the children to use an online system for homework (as they will at high school) and to promote sustainability in school, please note that these spellings will not be given out on paper. Children will be expected to access the website at home to learn their spellings.
Year 6 Homework
Homework is always set on a Friday and is completed by 8am on the following Wednesday. Children will be asked to find their homework online. If a child is off on a Friday, the expectation is that the child will ask a friend/teacher or use the website for the homework before the Wednesday deadline.
Y6 homework in a nutshell:
- Spellings (test every Weds)
- Reading (3 times a week)
- Planner signed every week
- 15mins of TTRS a week
Reading
Children in Year 6 are expected to read with an adult once a week to ensure comprehension and decoding skills are in-line with the books they are reading. A signature in the planner will let us know that this has been done.
Spellings
Spellings are given out on a Wednesday and the children are tested the following Wednesday. The spellings we use are mapped in the school spelling curriculum and we may revisit some of them over the year to embed them.
Completing homework
To prepare the children for the demands of high school, homework is monitored by the class teachers each week.
To reward children for completing homework and learning spellings, there are lots of positive reinforcements in place to encourage them to make positive choices.
We will also let you know if your child has not completed their homework so that you are kept in the loop.
Thank you for your support.
SATS 2025 information
The KS2 SATs are scheduled for Monday 12 May to Thursday 15 May. Please do not book any holidays during this time.
Monday
English GPS Paper 1: questions
English grammar, punctuation and spelling Paper 2: spelling
Tuesday
English reading
Wednesday
Mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic
Mathematics Paper 2: reasoning
Thursday
Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning
The papers are both set and marked externally. Your child’s marks will be used in conjunction with teacher assessment to give high schools a broader picture of their attainment.
Reading paper
The reading test is a single paper with questions based on three passages of text. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test.
There will be a selection of question types, including:
- Ranking/ordering, e.g. ‘Number the events below to show the order in which they happen in the story’
- Labelling, e.g. ‘Label the text to show the title of the story’
- Find and copy, e.g. ‘Find and copy one word that suggests what the weather is like in the story’
- Short constructed response, e.g. ‘What does the bear eat?’
- Open-ended response, e.g. ‘Look at the sentence that begins Once upon a time. How does the writer increase the tension throughout this paragraph? Explain fully, referring to the text in your answer.’
GPS and spelling
Usually, the GPS test consists of two parts: a grammar and punctuation paper requiring short answers, lasting 45 minutes, and an aural spelling test of 20 words, lasting around 15 minutes.
The GPS test includes two sub-types of questions:
- Selected response, e.g. ‘Identify the adjectives in the sentence below’
- Constructed response, e.g. ‘Correct/complete/rewrite the sentence below,’ or, ‘The sentence below has an apostrophe missing. Explain why it needs an apostrophe.’
Maths
Children sit three papers in maths:
- Paper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutes
- Papers 2 and 3: reasoning, 40 minutes per paper
Paper 1 will consist of fixed response questions, where children have to give the correct answer to calculations, including long multiplication and division. Papers 2 and 3 will involve a number of question types, including:
- Multiple choice
- True or false
- Constrained questions, e.g. giving the answer to a calculation, drawing a shape or completing a table or chart
- Less constrained questions, where children will have to explain their approach for solving a problem
Results
After SATs, each child will receive a scaled score for each subject (reading, maths and GPS) and whether they have reached the expected standard set by the Department for Education.
The range of scaled scores available for each KS2 test is:
- 80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded)
- 120 (the highest scaled score)
The expected standard for each test is a scaled score of 100 or more. If a child is awarded a scaled score of 99 or less they won't have achieved the expected standard in the test.