Welcome to Year 6 

Welcome to the Year 6 class page from Mr Minett, Mrs Celikay Mrs Carey.

Year 6 is nearly always one of, if not the most, memorable times in a child's education. Old enough to fully appreciate the things going on around them and opportunities they receive, the final year of primary school is a chance to achieve, reflect and then celebrate this stage of their childhood. The transition to secondary school can be daunting for some (parents included!) but we will ensure that everyone in our class is adequately prepared as much as is possible, both academically and socially, for this crucial next step.

As ever, we will be working hard to keep our class safe, whilst providing them with lots of opportunities to learn, have fun and grow up to fulfil both their academic and personal potential.

If there is every anything we can do (or that you feel we need to know), please don't hesitate to get in touch.

SATs

As you will all be aware, Year 6 is especially important to both children and their primary school. The end of Year 6 National Curriculum tests are used to measure the progress of your child (and their year group) over their time in our school. The children will be supported in their preparation for the test and our priority if for the children to feel confident and relaxed about their SATS. The tests will take place early in May. A more detailed timetable will be relayed to you once it has been made available.

Please avoid booking any holidays during (or in the run up to) May. Furthermore, your child's regular attendance, including arriving at school on time, throughout the school year will play a significant part in allowing us to help them achieve their full potential.

They are vital to us in that they are an opportunity to show the excellent progress they have made to those outside of our school community in addition to giving the children's new schools an insight into a suitable starting point for them in Year 7.

We will be practicing for these tests throughout the year alongside our regular curriculum. If you have any questions, however trivial they might seem, please speak to me about them after school.

Daily Reading

We ask all children in Year 6 to read for at least 15 minutes per day and quiz regularly using Accelerated Reader. While I recognise that families are sometimes busy on a night time, establishing a short daily routine of homework (rather than a block of time at the weekend) will make the transition to Year 7 a lot easier.

Homework

From September, we will hand out a short daily homework, usually based on work we've done in class that day or are about to cover the next day. This will help with preparations for secondary school. Children are expected to do as much as they can within 15 - 20 minutes and most tasks should be possible to complete within this time.

We would expect that daily homework would be completed the vast majority of the time, though we do understand things might crop up preventing the children from completing pieces from time to time.

Reading is always given in addition to these daily homework tasks and should be for a minimum of a further 15 minutes.

Spellings

Spellings patterns will be covered in blocks of 3-4 weeks per spelling rule. The spelling frame codes and lists will be sent home but we tend to build in short quizzes rather than a traditional set spelling test on one day. 

Intervention and SATs Boosters

To help some Y6 children prepare for secondary school we will be running some 'booster classes' over the course of the year. Children will work with an adult in pairs or very small groups to help them meet their academic potential in Maths and English. These sessions will not necessarily just be for children who need to 'catch up', we aim to run sessions to push  more able children onto even greater things and to support some children with social and emotional development. All boosters will run after school and you will receive a letter if your child is selected, telling you who will be teaching them, which subject will be the focus and the day/finish time of the weekly session.

Prefect System

The aim of the prefect system is to recognise and reward children who consistently act as excellent role models for other children in our school. Prefects will be trusted to complete small jobs for adults around the school, set a good example when playing on a lunchtime and be a visible presence around school generally.

All children will begin the year as prefects. As long as children continue to demonstrate the six Rs they will remain prefects throughout they year. We do not expect anyone to be perfect but we do expect everyone to be capable to trying to be the best person they can, even when things do go wrong. Throughout the year (and especially in the summer term) there will be rewards for prefects to thank them for being such positive role models throughout their time in Year 6.

Wednesdays

On a Wednesday Year 6 will be taught by Mrs Carey. This is to allow me to have PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) and leadership release time, as well as giving the children experience of working with different adults within the school week.

PE

Our scheduled PE days are on a Monday and Wednesday. Children are required to come to school dressed in their school allocated PE kit on our PE days. 

Secondary School Transition

Application information for parents can be found here and is usually updated to go live in September.

Though we are happy to discuss the various options for different secondary schools, particularly if you have specific concerns linked to transition, ultimately the choice as to which schools to apply to is entirely at parental discretion.

Please note that we have no involvement in secondary school selection or the transition days each school will arrange for the summer term. If you have any questions it is always best to contact the relevant school directly.