Year 6

Welcome to Year 6.

Welcome to our page and thank you for visiting! Here, find out what Year 6 are up to, view some of our amazing work and keep up-to-date with notices and dates important to our year group.

Please use these clickable links to navigate our page.

Welcome Year 6, Class of 2024

Year 6 Staff Team:

Miss C Reeves (6CR Class Teacher and Upper Key Stage 2 Phase Leader)
Mr A Rock (6AR Class Teacher)
Mrs D Cooper (6CR Teaching Assistant)
Mrs M Rowell (6AR Teaching Assistant)
Mr N Edensor (Additional Teaching Assistant)
Mr B Coombs (Maths Teacher)

April 2024

WOW! We can't believe how quickly this year is racing by. Before we know it, this lovely lot of Y6s will be heading off for pastures new; transition conversations are already starting and children are looking forward to their next journey in their academic careers.

The Spring term is always a favourite amongst teachers: children know their teachers well and their progress absolutely sky-rockets! This is especially true of our Year Sixes who are getting ready for their end-of-KS2 assessments. Our lessons are quick-paced, varied and focused on covering elements of the full Key Stage 2 curriculum so we feel confident going into those test rooms in May.

Writing
We are starting to pull together all of our skills in Writing that we've been carefully practising all year! Our favourite ask at the moment is creating our own fictional Holiday resort and using our powers of persuasion to get prospective holidaymakers booking in! So far, we have drafted and re-drafted powerful openings to grip our readers and give them a summary of what is on offer; tantalised their taste-buds through description of mouth-watering food and are now inviting them to explore all of the wonderful activities our resorts have on offer: from skiing to water parks to afternoon tea to inflatable Laser Mazes, our resorts have something for everyone!

Maths
The KS2 curriculum for maths is absolutely enormous, but this isn't stopping Year 6 from expertly retrieving this wealth of information! We have been focusing on upping our stamina and speed in Arithmetic and refining our skills in Reasoning. Y6 have absolutely blown their teachers away with their determination and resilience as we complete the maths curriculum and focus on recapping certain areas. Area, perimeter, volume and angles seem to be sticking points that lots of children are also opting to work on at home or in our weekly Revision Club.

Science
Now the weather is brightening up, Y6 have taken advantage in our latest Science unit, Living Things and Their Habitats. For our final lessons of the unit, we have been out into the enviable Leasowes grounds to classify the plants and animals in our local area and utilise our cross-curricular maths skills to publish our findings in a Leasowes Field Guide.

Wider Curriculum
New to academic year 2023-24, Year 6 have a few new units in the Spring and Summer term that are hooking us into our learning and providing meaningful, real-life concepts for us to explore. In Art, we are exploring the work of Mary Edmonia Lewis, a sculptor who highlighted under-represented groups, such as women and indigenous people, in her work; we are preparing to showcase ourselves in her style at the conclusion of this unit. In Geography, we are learning about what Trade looks like around the world which is excellent background knowledge to our upcoming Business Enterprise Project. Year 6 are also looking forward to Summer 2, which will bring our final History unit on the Ancient Greeks.

January 2024

Please read below all the exciting things Year 6 have been up to this academic year so far. A few notices from us as this new term begins:

SATs Information Evening for Parents - Monday 15th January at 5pm- SLIDES FROM THE SATS INFORMATION EVENING CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
PE Days are now Monday and Thursday afternoons
Revision Club begins 29th January, running straight after school until 4:20pm.

This term, we are looking forward to reading David Long's Survivors book in our English lessons, supporting our understanding of our Geography unit, Survivors. We will be learning about climate, weather, and extreme natural disasters!

December 2023

Another half-term has flown by. Throughout the last few months, Year 6 have been learning about World War II. Our brilliant text that drives our English learning was Once by Morris Gleitzman. This story tells the tale of Felix, a Polish Jew who breaks out of the Catholic orphanage his parents placed him in for safety as Hitler's Nazis sweep through occupied Europe. Children have been gripped as he journeys through the war-torn continent searching for his parents. As we finished the story, you could hear a pin drop! We are so pleased that so many of our children have been inspired to read the rest of the series: Then, Now, After, Soon, Maybe and Always.

In History, we have charted the chronology of events from the end of WW1. We learnt about how the Treaty of Versailles and the rise of Hitler led the world into another war just 21 years after the conclusion of the Great War. We focused on how life changed for the people left at home as millions of people left their homes through Operation Pied Piper and were evacuated to safer areas. We added further context to our understanding gleaned from Once to understand how the persecution of the Jews lead to the Holocaust. Children were enthused and outraged in equal measure as they charted the laws through the 1930s and 40s.

Science

This half term, children concluded their learning of Animals Including Humans and got underway with our second unit on Light. Children brought an impressive store of knowledge with them from their previous learning in Year 3. Across the half term, we have learnt that light travels in straight lines (and can even do this in a vacuum), planned and conducted a comparative test to understand what factors influence the size of shadows, debated the invention of the light bulb and argued over who deserves the credit for it and finally, learnt about the anatomy of the eye. After Christmas, we look forward to stretching our knowledge further with some learning on reflection and refraction.

October 2023

World War I

This term, we have started our learning of our Autumn history unit focusing on the First World War. Children have been enthralled in the historical learning as we chart the war from its roots in pre-war Empire and Alliances and through the catalyst assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Throughout the unit, we have discovered how life in the trenches of the Western Front added to the danger of the war and how the dire conditions claimed the lives of thousands. As we head off on our half-term break, we have recently learned how the arrival of the United States of America, the departure of Russia and the British Naval Blockade of Germany contributed to the war's end. We are already intrigued into how our next period of history, World War II, gets underway having discussed the rise of Adolf Hitler, starting with his withdrawal from the League of Nations and the policy of appeasement from the British and French.

Reading

At Leasowes, we are rooted in reading and are very proud of the reading spine our children enjoy as part of their English lessons. This half term, we have read Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo. This fabulous text has gripped the Year 6s and even prompted some parents, excited by their children's summaries at home, to read the book too! We followed brothers Tommo and Charlie from their quiet lives in Devon to the front line of World War I. With themes of betrayal, love, courage and cowardice, we already have some children desperate for a copy to re-read. To further supplement our reading here, children have studied some iconic war poems: The Call by Jessie Pope, In Flanders Fields by John McCrae, Dulce et Decorum Est by Wilfred Owen, Aftermath by Seigfried Sassoon and For the Fallen by Lawrence Binyon. Our reading lessons enthused children to such a level that they asked to write their own poems, which of course we loved doing. The finished pieces are currently being made into a book that will be added to our classroom libraries.

Science - Animals including Humans

This term, Year 6 have been exploring the circulatory system, following on from their learning in Year 4 about other bodily systems including the digestion system. Starting with the heart, we learned how it is an organ, a muscle, a powerful pump. From there, we learned how blood flows around the body to become oxygenated in the lungs and supply the body with the fuel it needs to keep going. We put this to the test in an enquiry that aimed to discover what impact exercise has on the heart. Children have also been practising their skills of scientific reporting through presenting their learning on both the circulatory system and the lifestyle factors that can impact our health including diet and drugs. We are looking forward to beginning our next science unit, Light, in Autumn 2.

Important Information
Here, we will post important dates and information.

In Autumn 2 (October half term-Christmas break), children will require their PE kits on Fridays where PE will take place in the afternoon. Please ensure children are equipped with kit for both indoor and outdoor lessons. Where children have ear piercings, they must remove these for PE and be capable of taking out their own jewellery. Please see our uniform policy for further information. On Thursday afternoons Year 6 will be engaging in their annual Forest Schools sessions. Please put all of those residential supplies to good use, sending waterproofs and coats ready for all weathers.

Condover Hall residential - Monday 6th November - Friday 10th November
Kit lists and additional medical forms can be found for download at the bottom of this page.

Useful Links for Year Six
Please let me know if you discover another great one!

BBC Bitesize KS2 - English, Maths and Science videos, games and more.

Spelling Frame - A simple website for practising the Year 3/4 and 5/6 spelling lists.

Espresso Learning - A site school has bought into; see your teacher for your login.

Compare4Kids - Some free activities, including Year 6 SATs 'online boot camps'.

Sumdog - Online maths games. Please see your teacher for your login.

Parkfields Links - Links to a raft of helpful sites for revision.

iXL Maths - a subscription site, with limited free activities. Great for focusing on specific maths skills.

Clarity Maths - 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.

Mad4Maths - Click on “For Kids” to access some fun games to practise speed of recall of times tables.

Crickweb - A range of English games and activities.

KS2 Literacy - Activities to reinforce and practise a range of spelling rules.

Spellzone - A range of activities and games to practise a range of spelling rules and patterns.

For printable resources, please access our Pupil Secure area for Year Six.