Year 6

Welcome to our Year 6 Class at St James’

Welcome to Year 6, my name is Mrs Hayden and I am the Class Teacher. Our Teaching Assistants in Year 6 are Mrs Judd, Mrs Camm and Mrs Hudson, who support at various times throughout the week. In Year 6, the children will focus on SATs preparation during their Maths and English lessons. However, we make sure we have a lot of fun in all other subjects along the way. Our one class rule is “try your best”; this is all I ever ask of the children in Year 6. We have lots of rewards for 100% effort in class, one of which is meeting up with our special friends in Reception Class during “Golden Time”.

Year 6 Noticeboard

Homework is given out each Friday and should be returned for the following Tuesday.
Spellings are handed out on a Friday and will be tested on a Friday. In Year 6 if children misplace their spellings spares are readily available.
Accelerated reader – The children will read their reading books for 15 minutes every Wednesday and Friday. The children can take their book home for extra reading at the weekend, but this must come back on Monday ready to read in class.
Children have access to SATs Bootcamp which is a fantastic additional resource. If your child needs reminding of their login then please don’t hesitate to ask.
PE in Year 6 is on Thursdays. Make sure you have your full St James PE kit.
Please bring fresh water daily.
We pray every day in school. Please help your child to become familiar with our prayers here Little Book of Prayers Upper KS2

Summer Term in Year 6

As the summer term begins, Year 6 pupils find themselves in one of the most significant and memorable times of their primary school journey. It’s a term filled with mixed emotions as they approach the final weeks of primary school.

This term starts will begin with an important milestone: the SATs tests. We’re incredibly proud of how hard everyone has worked in preparation, and we know they will do their very best. While the tests are important, we also remind the children that they are just one part of their learning journey – and there is so much more to celebrate.

Once the SATs are behind us, the focus shifts to enjoyment, creativity, and celebration. Summer in Year 6 is a time to relax a little, reflect on achievements, and make lasting memories. We have a packed calendar of exciting activities and events to look forward to, including our much-anticipated leavers’ celebrations and the unforgettable trip to Thurston. These special moments are a chance for pupils to bond as a class, enjoy new experiences, and mark the end of their time in primary school in style.

The summer term is not just a farewell – it’s a celebration of all that Year 6 have achieved, and a chance to enjoy every moment before the exciting transition to secondary school begins.

Spring Term in Year 6

After an action-packed Autumn term, Year 6 will be entering the Spring term with a busy curriculum and the introduction of some exciting topics. In English, we will move on from our historical narratives based on the Titanic and will focus on poetry and the Tudors which links to our core text ‘Treason’ by the author Berlie Doherty.

In Maths, the children will be revisiting fractions and well as decimals and percentages. The children have been working incredibly hard to build up their maths fluency in Year 6 and have fully embraced the regular times table tests and arithmetic tests which we complete at the start of each morning. They have shown great resilience and confidence and I know this will continue throughout the year as they prepare for their SATs.

The children will begin their new geography topic this term which explore the continent of South America, with a particular focus on physical geography and natural disasters. We will also begin our first Design and Technology unit which may involve a little bit of cooking!

Tips on how to help your child’s learning during the Spring Term:

Times table knowledge is needed in all areas of the maths curriculum so it is crucial that the children are fluent in knowing their times tables up to 12×12. Children should be practising their times tables for at least 10 minutes per day, particularly if they are not secure. The children all have times table rockstar accounts; if would like a reminder of their login details then please do not hesitate to ask.
Spellings make up 20 marks out of 70 in the Year 6 SPAG paper so it is important that the children learn their spellings which are provided each week. Whilst we review spellings within class, the more they practise at home, the more confident they will feel when they enter their SATs in May. If your child has lost their spellings then spare sheets are always available.
SATs Boot Camp is a fabulous resource which is designed to help your child feel more prepared for their SATs tests. Children are not classed as being secure in a topic area unless they are achieving at least a 70% pass rate. Please monitor your child’s progress and encourage them to use SATs Boot Camp at least three times a week.

Autumn Term in Year 6

The children have already made fantastic progess in their first few weeks in Year 6 and are demonstrating the maturity and determination we expect of our oldest pupils. The children have already engaged in various PSHE lessons through the Healthy Minds team and during their visit to South Shields Fire Station. The children were thoroughly enaged throughout all the wonderful workshops delivered by the fire service, RNLI and road safety volunteers who reminded the children of safeguarding risks in our local area and how best to keep us safe. From mid-October, the children will also be receiving weekly Kidsafe lessons from Mrs Gofton.

Year 6 have also had the opportunity to engage in many extra curricular activities throughout this half-term, with many of the class participating in our fantastic Arts Award scheme and Faith in Action. The children have really impressed us all with their commitment and enthusiasm and we look forward to seeing their achievements by the end of the term. Year 6 have also had a great start in their weekly swimming lessons with fantastic progress being made to help them all achieve their 25 metre certificate.

Beyond Maths and English, the children haven been looking at ‘Evolution and Inheritence’ in science, ‘Crime and Punishment’ within History and propaganda posters during their art lesson. The children have had the opportunity to hold a trilobite fossil that is over 300 million years old and which they enjoyed comparing to its closest living relative today- the horseshoe crab! We are starting to see some wonderful pieces of artwork collating in their books and I expect to see some eye-catching final pieces on one of our display boards in a few weeks to come.

In the second half of the Autumn term, the children will love on to their first geography unit which will be North America with a particular focus on map work and physical geography. We will also continue to focus on biology in science by beginning out unit on the human body, with a focus on how drugs and exercise have an impact on our bodies. Our first Design and Technology unit also falls within this half-term which will look at cooking and nutrition.

Tips on how to help your child’s learning during the Autumn Term:

- Encourage your child to spend 10 minutes a day in Sats Boot Camp- it is an easy way to build up their learning and understanding of the English and Maths curriculum
- If you can take a trip to the Great North Museum where they have a fantastic exhibition on evolution and fossils
- When taking local walks with your child, look around and discuss the potential hazards in your area. Are there any busy roads they should take extra care when crossing? Is there a pylon nearby or a train track? Discuss with your child how they can keep themselves as safe as they possibly can, particularly when playing out with friends.

It’s the end of our Autumn Term

As always by the end of Autumn term, the children in Year 6 have been incredibly busy. Alongside watching pantomimes, Christmas parties and Christmas performances, the children have been working hard in class and preparing themselves for SATs with a packed curriculum and lots of flashbacks and revision sessions.

The children have enjoyed our ‘active maths’ sessions where they were able to take their maths learning outdoors. The children all excelled in a BODMAS challenge which was set within the playground and they showed how creative they were able to be with their maths problem-solving. They also demonstrated brilliant teamwork and resilience. The children also finished their science unit, ‘Evolution and inheritance,’ and are ready to begin their new unit, ‘the human circulatory system,’ after the holidays. In ICT, the children collectively developed a video using IT software to enter a national competition on behalf of CAFOD which promoted Climate Justice. The end results were incredible and the children showed great proficiency in using iPads to develop visual media.

Many of our year 6 children have joined the wide range of after-school clubs on offer, including, Chess club, Creative Arts club, Arts Award and ICT club. It is wonderful seeing them take their interests further and engaging in a wide range of hobbies and activities.