Year 6

Curriculum Overview

Meet the Teacher 2020

Meet the Staff

Termly News

Trips and Events

Letters

Home Learning

Year Group Spelling List

Gallery

Year 6 Curriculum Overview

Please click on the links below to access the latest newsletter and topic web.

Year 6 Newsletter Spring 2021

Year 6 Topic Web Spring 2021

Year 6 Topic Web Autumn 2020

Year 6 Newsletter Autumn 2020

Autumn Term 2020:

This term, Year 6 have been taking a trip back in time to learn about what life was like during World War II.

Within English lessons, we have delved into a huge variety of war-themed stories and information books including:

The children used these inspirational stories to write poems, letters home, character descriptions, setting descriptions and so much more! Here are a couple of examples of our English activities from the first half term:

Within our History lessons, we have explored many aspects of the war including creating timelines of key events, investigating the role of propaganda and exploring life during the Blitz!

We also held our fantastic World War II Creative Day where we learned about the Battle of Britain, clothes during the war, war medals, Morse Code, gas masks, rationing and the Allies and Axis Powers. Here are some examples of our Creative Day activities and also some of our incredible costumes!

We have also been exploring Blitz scenes within our Art lessons as well and Remembrance poppies by experimenting with different art skills and techniques.

Within Science, we have investigated the properties of light including the processes of shadow making, reflection and refraction. This is only a small snapshot of the learning and hard work that the Year 6 children have shown during their first half term; we have so many exciting opportunities coming up such as Bikeability, learning skills in netball and tennis, exploring that factors that led to the start of World War II, radio shows and so much more! 

We look forward to sharing our next adventures with you soon!

Spring Term 2020:

This term, our overarching theme has been: Location, Location, Location! We have been focussing on investigating our local area which includes the UK, Yateley and comparisons to the nearby town of Camberley.  We have explored the counties and capital cities of the UK as well as key human and physical geographical features such as land use, natural resources, trade links and landmarks.           

During our studies, we also developed our mapping skills whilst on a field trip to Yateley High Street.  We began by creating our own symbols to use to label our maps, ensuring that they could be used to categorise the types of facilities located in the town.  Following on from this, we observed the shapes, sizes, position and types of buildings within the high street and all of this information was used to create a detailed map with a key. 

We have also been working hard to develop our mathematical knowledge of fractions, decimals and percentages.  Our learning has included converting, ordering and also problem solving.  We have investigated lots of methods in order to support us in multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting fractions and decimals as well as finding percentages of amounts – we are so much more confident in solving arithmetic and tackling problem solving questions!

Carrying on our theme of ‘Location, Location, Location’ we have explored different expeditions and settings within our writing learning journeys.  We began with sharing ‘Kensuke’s Kingdom’ by Michael Morpurgo and learning about the travels of Michael.  During our reading, we learned that Michael went missing from his sailing boat and ended up in an unknown land.  Taking inspiration from this, we wrote newspaper articles about a missing character and narrative scenes imagining our characters were lost in unknown environments.

Following on from this, we shared ‘Shackleton’s Journey’ which is the story of how Shackleton and his crew braved the perils of the Antarctic, even though the odds were stacked against them!  We used this to inspire our writing of personal statements to join his fearless crew, speeches to inspire and even travel brochures to convince people to go on dangerous Antarctic expeditions – we definitely had to use our persuasive language techniques!

Our Science topic this term was ‘Electricity’; we have recapped how electrical circuits work, the symbols used to draw electrical circuits and how varying components will impact on the circuit output.  We also applied all of our knowledge to design circuits for a house with the specifications of creating different levels of brightness through changing components, including buzzers and motors and considering the number of batteries to use within a circuit to create our desired effects. 

Autumn Term 2019:

Year 6 have had an extremely busy first term; we have immersed ourselves in learning about World War 2! Within writing, we explored the text Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden and wrote letters from the perspective of different characters in the book.  We focussed on what it might have felt like to be an evacuee and the different experiences children may have had living with their foster families.  From this, we wrote incredible discussion texts where we considered the important question: “Should children have been evacuated during World War 2?”  Following on from this, we explored the text The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis and wrote detailed setting descriptions of the Land of Narnia.  We also considered the roles of different leaders.  We used our understanding of leaders to write biographies about key figures during World War 2 including Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler.

We have also developed our road safety skills through the Bikeability Programme. During our training, we learned how to look after our bikes, how to signal and the rules to keep us safe when riding on the roads.

Following on with our theme of safety, we also completed a  ‘Restart a Heart’ first aid workshop.  We learned about the dangers to ourselves when assisting a victim, how to place our casualty into the recovery position and finally how to carry out CPR on Resusci Anne (we learned different tunes to help us keep to a rhythm such as Baby Shark, Nelly the Elephant or Staying Alive – it was exhausting!)  This opportunity also taught us the important of surveying surroundings and knowing what we can do in an emergency situation.

Continuing on with our World War 2 theme, we visited the Military Museums in Winchester.  It was an action packed day with several practical and informative workshops.  We learned how propaganda influenced thinking during the war, the importance of rationing, how uniforms evolved from World War 1, the importance of gas masks and so much more…    

As well as our World War 2 trip, we also held a history-themed Creative Day.  During our fun-filled day, we cooked war-time carrot cakes, choreographed tea dance routines and imagined what life would be like as an evacuee.  We rounded off our day with a tea dance celebration and a feast of our creations!

For our DT project, we investigated what makes a structure strong and how we could emulate this in order to design a new style of Anderson Shelter.  We were given a brief to design, build and test out a structure that would keep our occupants safe, dry and also comfortable – this was a very difficult task and we definitely learned some valuable lessons about strengthening our models during the testing process!

Summer Term 2019:

The Summer Term has been action packed so far for Year 6! Not only did they work exceptionally hard during their SATs tests but they also gained a variety of skills whilst developing their independence away from home at Mill Rythe. We learned how to work as a team during a range of challenges and also conquered so many fears along the way!

Within our topic lessons, we studied the features of mountains and coasts. We have learned how erosion processes impact on our ever-changing coastline as well as explored the different mountains of the world. We displayed some of this knowledge using StopMotion to create movies of how our coastline changes from cliff, to cave, to arch, to stack and finally to a stump.

Here are some snapshots from our projects:

Year 6 also rehearsed and put together our fabulous play: Pirates of the Curry Bean! As a team, we sang, choreographed dance routines, created props and even wrote our own pirate prologues. Everyone in Year 6 worked extraordinarily hard to put together a fantastic show to be proud of!

We all enjoyed performing under the spot lights at Yateley Comprehensive School and the audience seemed to be very impressed!

Spring Term 2019

This term, we have been learning about our local area. We have studied the landscape and land use of the areas surrounding our school and have learned about the different symbols used on Ordinance Survey maps. We used this knowledge when visiting Yateley high street and created maps of human and physical features. Year 6 then used this knowledge to explore features that could be added to our local area to improve it further. When deciding which features to add, we considered how much it would cost, the benefits it would bring and also the impacts on the local environment. Finally, we explored local history. Year 6 discovered some of the myths and legends associated with Yateley. Who knew that our town could have been linked to a highwayman and also the gunpowder plot?!

Autumn Term 2018

What a busy term we have had! It has been action packed and fun-filled whilst going back in time to experience the events of World War 2.  This captivating topic has taken us on a journey through the events that led up to the war whilst also learning about the impact it had on our country and the people within it. We have studied the chronology of events, learned from artefacts, reviewed the impact of the war from various perspectives (including the role of women) and so much more! 

Within this topic, we also studied the structure of the famous ‘Anderson Shelter’ and the reason it saved so many lives during the horrendous Blitz. We then applied this knowledge to designing and creating our very own stable structures.

Year 6 also held a World War 2 Creative Day. We learned about styles of dance brought over from America by the soldiers, we used role play to imagine life as an evacuee and we also used our ration recipes to create food for our tea dance. 

During English, we used information from our topic to write our own World War 2 inspired poems. Year 6 read a variety of poems written either as a result of or during the war. We included a range of poetic features including onomatopoeia, personification, figurative language and so much more!  We also used the model text ‘The Paintball Game’ to write our own war-themed Tale of Fear.

For the following trips and events, further details will be communicated to parents in due course.

September 2020

07.09.20                   First day of term

14.09.20                   Whole School Reading Matters Week

15.09.20                   Virtual PAWS Welcome Meeting

17.09.20                   Cardwell & Simmons individual pupil photos

18.09.20                   Year 6 Virtual ‘Meet the Teacher Meeting’ live on website

October 2020

01.10.20                   Virtual Year 5/6 Parents Maths Workshop – tbc

05.10.20                   Walktober (Walk to School Week)

05.10.20                   Year 6 PAWS Film Night

09.10.20                   Cardwell & Simmons (for children absent on 17.09.20)

14.10.20                   Virtual Year 6 SATS Information Meeting

16.10.20                   Christmas Card Order Deadline

16.10.20                   Year 6 WWII Creative Day

23.10.20                   PAWS Mufti Day

 November 2020    

03.11.20                   Whole School Charity Fun Run

03.11.20                   Virtual Year 5 & 6 Parent SPaG Workshop live on website

04.11.20                   Whole School Flu Immunisations

11.11.20                   PAWS Virtual Committee Meeting (7.00-8.00pm)

13.11.20                   Time to Shine – be bright non-uniform day and road safety

16-20.11.20             Year 6 Bikeability

16-20.11.20             Anti-Bullying Week (Theme – United Against Bullying/16^th Odd Socks Day)

16-20.11.20             Road Safety Week

25.11.20                   Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

26.11.20                   Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

30.11.20                   Year 6 Schools Education Safety Unit with Hampshire Fire and Rescue

December 2020                                    

03.12.20                  PAWS Christmas Pop-Up Shop

17.12.20                   Year 5 & 6 Christmas Lunch

18.12.20                   Last day of term

 January 2021                                         

04.01.21                   Inset Day

05.01.21                   First day of term

 February 2021

1/2/3.02.21             Auditions for Westfields Has Talent

01.02.21                   Year 6 PAWS Film Night (3.15-5.00pm)

09.02.21                   Safer Internet Day

12.02.21                   PAWS Mufti Day

12.02.21                   Westfields Has Talent

March 2021           

04.03.21                   World Book Day – dress up

15.03.21                   Year 6 Local Area Walk

15.03.21                   Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

17.03.21                   Year 6 Local Area Walk

18.03.21                   Year 6 Local Area Walk

17.03.21                   Parents Evening (3.45-6.45pm)

19.03.21                   Whole School Poetry Slam (World Poetry Day – 21^st March)

30.03.21                   Potted Sports Afternoon

30.03.21                   PAWS Easter Raffle

30.03.21                   School Spring Disco (Year 5 and 6 from 6.30 – 7.45pm)

31.03.21                   Last day of term

 April 2021

01.04.21                   Inset Day

 May 2021                                               

05.05.21                   PAWS Virtual Committee Meeting (7.00-8.00pm)

10-14.05.21             SATS week

14.05.21                   Inter-house Debating Challenge

20.05.21                   PAWS Film Night

28.05.21                   Inset day

 June 2021                                               

07-11.06.21             Year 6 Residential Visit

Week of 14^th           Year 6 and class photos

July 2021                                                

06.07.21                   Sports Day

07.07.21                   Celebration Evening (3.30-5.30pm )

13.07.21                   Reserve Sports Day

15.07.21                   School Summer Disco (Year 5 and 6 from 6.30 – 7.45pm)

16.07.21                   Year 5 Business Fair (3.15-4.15pm) All Welcome

19.07.21                   Year 6 Leavers BBQ

20.07.21                   Year 6 Leavers Assembly

23.07.21                   Last day of term

Whole school letters and newsletters can be found under the Parents tab (link to whole school letters)

Home Learning

Year Group Spelling List

The National Curriculum set out the spelling rules and patterns as well as spelling lists children in each year group need to learn. To help you spell these words, we set weekly spellings for you to learn and we provide spelling booklets which contains all your weekly spellings for the year.

Each week, you will learn a set number of spellings that follow a spelling rule or pattern and then you will have additional words which are words children in your year group should to be able to spell. To help you with your spellings, your teacher will teach you the rules and patterns and in your booklets, there is space for you to carry out the ‘Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check’ strategy at home. This will help you learn your spellings; you can also practise rainbow writing (writing out your spellings on top of each other in different colours, spell them out to an adult, be tested by an adult, write sentences with the spelling word in and you can also make mnemonics e.g. because – big elephants can’t always use small exits.

You will be tested on a Monday and on Tuesday, after your teacher has checked your spellings, you will tick the words you have spelt correctly in this booklet so you can keep a record of your progress. At the end of each half term, you will have a spelling test of selected words from the previous half term to see what you can remember!

Remember…Practise makes perfect!

Spelling Booklets will be handed out at the beginning of the academic year and need to be in school every Monday and Tuesday. If they are lost, please see your classteacher. You will need to bring 50p in for a replacement booklet.