Hello and Welcome to Year 6!
Year 6 September Workshop for Parents
Our Newsletters
Our Curriculum Newsletters provide parents with an overview of the half terms teaching and learning in year 6.
Autumn 1 - Vikings
Autumn 2 - South America
Spring 1 - Britain at War WW2
Spring 2 - Crazy Climates - Climate zones
Summer 1 - Local History - Victorian Knaresborough
Summer 2 - Rivers
In Year 6 teaching and learning is focused on completing the final stage of primary school education and preparing the children for their transition to Secondary School. The classroom environment is designed to help create independent learners with the use of working walls, Maths, Reading and English areas and a designated intervention space for small groups to work in.
You can view our long term plan here.
English
Reading
In Year 6, Reading is taught through the use of quality whole class texts which have been carefully selected to challenge and inspire our learners. We have whole class daily reading sessions linked to our class novel which is linked to a current curriculum area. We develop reading comprehension skills through the use of VIPERS (Vocabulary; Infer; Predict; Explain; Retrieve and Summarise) to teach all areas of the curriculum reading domains.
We also teach a discreet weekly comprehension lesson which enables our children to apply the VIPERS work which they have done during the week. The children also have access to Reading Plus which is a fantastic online resource which further develops their comprehension skills with texts and questions tailored to their individual reading ability. Children also have access to this at home and use it as part of their homework tasks. We pride ourselves on the range of high-quality texts available in our class reading areas, which the children can access daily.
Writing
In Year Six, we write for a wide range of purposes and audiences linked to our year group topic. These writing activities have a mission statemen, which allows the children to put their writing into a context to ensure it is meaningful. In Year 6 we focus heavily on incorporating all taught grammar skills into their independent writing and developing their independent editing skills to improve the quality of their writing. Children are proud of our ‘Writing Wall’ where each child’s work is celebrated and then kept in our ‘Wonderful Writing Books’ which is a fantastic collection of their published written work.
Maths
Maths is taught daily following the White Rose scheme, which builds on prior knowledge and skills. Maths lessons follow a daily sequence of Morning Arithmetic followed by a main maths lesson which includes: KIRF practise (please see the Maths page for more information), Active Mental Maths. The main body of the lesson begins with a concept or question, recaps previous learning, formal teaching of fluency, reasoning and problem solving. In Year 6 we try to make Maths lessons as fun and active as possible using our outdoor environment as much as possible. Children have the opportunity to self -select a range of challenges depending on their confidence promote independent learning.
In Year 6 it is expected that children have learnt their times tables up to and including 12 x 12 and continue to improve the speed of recall of these facts. We use Times Time Rockstars in school and at home to develop these skills.
Topic
In Year 6 we have some inspirational topics which allow the children to explore their understanding of the world we live in today. Many of our lessons are enquiry led with an over-arching question which the children investigate.
Science: We study Light, Electricity, Classification/Micro-organisms, Evolution and Inheritance, Circulatory System, Healthy Living (including puberty).
History: In History the children study: Victorian Knaresborough, Remembrance, Britain at War (focusing on World War 2) and Maafa (Africa’s past and present and the creation of the slave-trade).
Geography: Children have the opportunity to study the characteristics and polar regions in our topic called ‘Frozen Kingdoms’.
Computing: We use Purple Mash to look at online safety, spreadsheets, blogging, coding and adventure stories.
Music: Our lessons continue to follow the Charanga scheme framework where the children are exposed to a range of musical styles and use instruments to improvise and perform.
French: We follow the North Yorkshire scheme and deliver weekly lessons which continue to focus on children’s phonetical and grammatical awareness of the language. The lessons include both written and oral tasks and cover useful topics including: families, celebrations, ordering food at a café and comparing animals.
RE: We follow the North Yorkshire syllabus for RE. During each RE topic we study a variety of world religions and make comparisons between the similarities and differences of different beliefs.
PSHE: We use the Jigsaw scheme of learning which covers the topics of: Me in My World, Celebrating Differences, Dreams and Goals, Healthy Me, Relationships and Changing Me.
PE: We follow a skills - based approach to the teaching and learning of PE. Each week the children have two PE lessons in which they are taught new skills and given to time practise and enhance them independently, in groups and then take time to reflect and evaluate themselves.
Home Learning
Children are given a Maths and English homework each week alongside their spelling and KIRF tasks. We take this opportunity to recap skills taught during the week. Children are also asked to log onto Reading Plus and Times Table Rockstars from home.
