Year 6
Welcome to the Year 6 page!
Teachers:
Miss Lockyer and Miss Withers
Teaching Assistants:
Miss Barnes, Mrs Broadribb, Mr Bates and Mrs Stanfield
Year Group News:
It has been wonderful to welcome the children back after the Summer holidays. We are really pleased to see them ready and eager to learn - excited about the opportunities that await them.
During the Autumn Term, the pace of learning is set from the very start. We have a lot of learning to explore and recap and so it is essential that all children are punctual and ready to learn each morning. A quick reminder that the gates open at 8:40 and the children should be in the line, ready to go in, at 8:55 when the bell rings.
Year Group Information:
In this section, we will keep you updated about any key organisational information you may find helpful.
P.E
PE will take place every Wednesday. Your child will be required to arrive at school on a Wednesday in their school PE kit. This includes trainers, a green P.E shirt and black bottoms. A plain, ideally black, jumper may also be appropriate as the weather turns colder along with a waterproof coat for those drizzly days. Additionally, long hair should be tied up and earrings removed or covered with tape/ plasters.
Attendance and Punctuality
If your child is not here or they are consistently late, they are not able to learn and make the same level of progress as their classmates. There will be times when your child is unwell and will need to stay at home - however, time off school has a dramatic and significantly negative impact on a child’s ability to achieve expected standards for their age. We ask that all children are here, lined up and ready to go to class when the bell rings at 8.55am.
Uniform
It is important that the children attend school in the correct uniform. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, it creates a level playing field for our children, allowing them to learn without distraction. We also believe that when the children look smart, they feel ready to learn. It is also a great way to prepare the children for Secondary school. Therefore, please ensure that your child attends school in the correct uniform – more information about this is on our website – including black shoes. It is really helpful for us if all uniform items are clearly labelled. At this time of year, it would also be great if they could have a named, waterproof coat in school so that they can enjoy time outside too.
As part of this, we do encourage the children to also bring a named water bottle with them.
Homework
We are trying something a little different with homework this year! We will be expecting the following:
- Every child will read at least three times a week at home – this is the biggest key to success! As a result, we expect to see either their initials or your initials in the reading diary at least three times a week. This is something we monitor and discuss with the children. We also review their Accelerated Reader progress regularly to support this.
- Every child will also be required to complete a minimum of 15 minutes on TTRS. Their logins and passwords can be found in their reading diaries. Please come and see us if you have any problems with this.
- There will also be some additional activities that will be sent home - please see their homework grid for more information.
As the year progresses, we may choose to send home specific tasks, linked to our learning in class. For example, we are likely to send arithmetic papers closer to our SATs. We will not be sending spellings home because we will be learning these in class altogether.
Phones and technology
Please remember that our site is a mobile-device free site. This means that no devices (including phones, smartwatches or any other electronic device) should be used on our site by any children or adults in order to keep our children and our community safe.
We know that some children will need to bring their phones in to school when they are walking to or from school on their own and you feel it necessary - this is fine but we have guidelines to follow when doing so. Firstly, we need parental permission through a form available in the office. This way we know which children should or should not have their devices in school. Phones must be switched off at the start of the day before they enter the school gates. They are then given in to their class teacher and stored securely for the duration of the school day. At the end of the day, they are given back to the children but they must not turn their phone on until they leave the school gate.
We take our phone use and technology seriously - any children who do not comply with these rules will have their phone confiscated to the office and it will need to be picked up at the end of the day by an adult. We can also ask particular children to not bring their device to school altogether if necessary.
Travelling to and from school
Different families have different situations for arriving and leaving school. If you would like your child to walk home without an adult, please let the office know so that we can ensure we have the correct consent for the correct children. This enables us to keep everyone safe. Additionally, if your child will be cycling to school, we need to know this through the office so that they have permission to have their bicycle on school grounds. Please ensure that they wear a helmet too.
As always, please let us know if you have any major concerns regarding internet use and safety. The link below is to a fantastic resource that covers all aspects of internet safety and provides step by step guides to improving internet safety in the home.
Reading
Reading is this most important learning habit your child can develop. In order to access any aspect of the school curriculum, children need to be able to read. We are committed to every child becoming a reader; a reader who reads for pleasure and is able to access the written world around them. This only becomes more important as they grow older and move through secondary school. We would hope that the children are growing their independent learning skills and organising their time appropriately to ensure they are reading daily (or at least 3 times a week). If this is not the case, and you can clearly see that your child has yet to take responsibility for this vital skill, please contact us to discuss this further.
Maths
It is really important that children continue to develop their Maths fluency and basic skills. We are regularly practicing arithmetic skills in class and this is something you can support at home. We will also be sending home arithmetic tasks as part of our homework as the year progresses. Below is a link to Times Table Rockstars - this is a great resource for the children to use to practice their recall of times tables. They all have a login - the details should be inside of the front cover of their reading diary. If not, please speak to your child's class teacher and we can share their username and password with you.
As you can see, we are covering a range of subjects this term! If you child would like to explore these in more detail, here are a few websites which could be helpful:
Homework Grid
year 6 autumn term homework.pdf