St. Peter's C.E. Primary School

Hello and welcome from all of the Year 6 staff at St Peter's this year.

The staff in year 6 this year are:

• Miss Pickersgill (Teacher, Assistant Headteacher and KS2 lead)
• Mrs Eccles (Y6 HLTA)
• Mrs Todd (Teacher)
• Mrs S Stirrup (HLTA Y4 and Y6)

Autumn Term: A Child's War

For our first topic, this term, we are going to be studying WW1 and WW2 looking at what life was like during these difficult times and providing comparisons to conditions then to now. We are going to try and link the areas of the curriculum in with this topic to allow pupils to become fully immersed in this area of study. We are really looking forward to seeing what the pupils can produce at the end of this unit. 

English

Writing

We are going to be covering a range of text types linked to the topic such as instructions, poetry, diary entries and non-chronological reports. The writing expectations for KS2 require pupils to incorperate high-level grammar and punctuation in their writing, which will be taught throughout the planning process and then used for purpose and effect for each text type. 

Reading

Guided Reading will be taking place 3 times a week with two adults. Guided groups will focus on key reading objectives tailored to develop reading skills ready for the KS2 tests as well as practising reading fluency. Independent groups will focus on understanding word meaning in context; using dictionaries and thesaurus'; inference and prediction skills. 

Spelling

Miss Pickersgill or Mrs Eccles will test pupils on their 3/4 spellings and 5/6 spellings weekly. Any words misspelt will then be reviewed in the following week's testings. The above spellings will also be incorperated within the unit of writing. Homework is the opportunity for pupils to learn their spelling ready for the week's testing. 

Handwriting

Legible, neat and joined handwriting is a requirement of the KS2 writing assessment. We will provide opporunities for pupils to practise their handwriting skills at school and as part of the unit of writing. This may be part of their homework if required. 

Mathematics

This half term we will be covering place value and four operations objectives to ensure pupils are confident with their foundational skills in maths ready for their KS2 tests. This will take place over 5 maths lessons a week. Guided maths groups will be put in place tailored to the needs of the pupils to ensure they are confident in all areas of the maths curriculum. 

Timestables

These will be tested by Miss Pickersgill and Mrs Eccles once a week. Those pupils who are confident in their timestables up to their 12's will be tested by Mr Wilson and if successful will become Maths Champions. This is an important part of the maths curriculum so pupils can have a fast recall of table facts which will then allow them to answer two or three step multiplication questions. Time for times tables revision will be part of the homework requirements each week. 

Topic

History 

We will be creating a case study about what life was like during WW2 in Ashton for a Y6 pupil covering areas of: family, education, games, rationing, evacuation and historical map work. In the second part of the term we will be creating a case study about what life was like during WW2 in Ashton for an adult covering: family, occupation, enlisting and propaganda. Comparisons will be made with other counties such as Australia and their conditions during this time. 

Geography

Alongside the above History coverage we will be covering geography objectives such as map work skills; looking at mapping longitude and latitude; covering differences in nothern and southern hemespheres and time zones. 

D.T

In keeping with our topic, we will be developing our designing, making and evaluating skills for our war time recipies and Spitfire designs. 

Art

We will be studying artistic works from Italy during the second part of the Autumn term, practising our sketching and shading skills. 

Science

Science, this year, will be taught by Mrs Todd. Year 6 will be covering light and shadow this term - linking at what part this may have played during WW2.

Homework

This will be sent home every night and an adult's signature is required as proof of homework completion. They will be required to practise their spelling and times tables. If they have not had their homework book signed they will be asked to stay in at lunch time to complete their homework from the previous night. 

If you have any questions you would like to ask any Year 6 staff please do not hesitate to ask. 

Important notice:

If your child is walking home, can you please make sure you have communicated this to school to avoid any delays in your child getting home. Thank you. 

PE: PE kits should be in school every day. We do PE lessons every Wednesday in the Sports hall. Kits can be taken home to be cleaned at the end of every half term.