Year 6
Summer Term
Friday 21st April is Class Photo Day. Children will be told to come to school in full school uniform and not PE kit on this day.
This is the final term for Year 6 children and is one of mixed emotions. On the one hand, there is the looking ahead to the exciting prospect of a new school in September; on the other, there is the bidding farewell to familiar routines and, above all, long-established friends as pupils go their different ways.
We hope that this term will be positive and memorable for everyone.
SATs Week
The SATS tests start in the week beginning Monday, 8th May. We feel sure that all of the hard work that pupils (and their parents) have put in will be rewarded. This is a chance for the children to show off what they know and demonstrate just how much progress they have made!
The timetable is as follows:
| DATE | TEST |
| Tuesday 9th May | SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR – PAPER 1 (questions) AND PAPER 2 (spellings) |
| Wednesday 10th May | READING |
| Thursday 11th May | MATHS – PAPER 1 (Arithmetic) AND PAPER 2 (Reasoning) |
| Friday 12th May | MATHS – PAPER 3 (Reasoning) |
Reading
Our goal is to create confident, fluent, independent readers. We prioritise reading at Latchmere School and have very carefully chosen the texts your child will study this term. We focus on word reading to develop fluency and encourage the whole class to join in through strategies such as choral reading (the whole class read together) and echo reading (the teacher models the reading and the class echo back). We also have the Latchmere Reading skills. These are based on comprehension skills such as retrieval, inference, summarising, making links, prediction and vocabulary.
Maths
Our curriculum is based on the White Rose Maths programme. This research-based initiative ensures that the skills and concepts children are taught are fully embedded before moving on. The children are taught strategies such as bar modelling and have plenty of opportunities to use ‘manipulatives’ such as counters and dienes all the way through the school.
This term we will be consolidating the learning from the year and completing investigations and challenges to apply our knowledge.
Children should also use the Times Tables Rockstars program to increase their quick recall of multiplication and related division facts.
Curriculum Highlights
Learning about rainforests is a great topic to explore in the summer term. Did you know, for example, that more than half of the world’s species of animals and plants in found in rainforests. We’ll be looking at the ecosystem of the rainforest, wildlife and culture, as well as the human impact on rainforest areas.
Updates and reminders
The children should arrive at school between 08:45 and 09:00, and if they have a morning snack it should be a healthy one.
Please ensure that all medication is within date. Please speak directly to the main office regarding medication that is kept in school.
Class teachers liaise with their class reps on a regular basis. Please keep an eye out for emails or Whatsapp messages they may send regarding dates, PE kit etc. Please note that PE will now take place for all children on Mondays and Friday afternoons. Please ensure that your child is dressed appropriately for the forthcoming outdoor lessons, and as the weather gets warmer, please provide water and sunhats and ensure your child comes to school with sun screen applied.
Homework
Reading books and reading records should be brought to school every day. In the meantime, we hope that your child will maintain a regular reading habit at home and complete at least two in-depth entries per week. This has been discussed already during lessons.
To support the transition to secondary school, the Year 6 Team feel it important that homework is set during the Summer Term. Literacy homework will be given out on a Wednesday, due in the following Monday. Maths homework will be given out on a Friday, due in the following Tuesday.
Trips and Activities
To link to our rainforest topic, we have arranged visits to Kew Gardens where children will take part in an educational workshop. Thanks to those parents who are able to help on the trips. They will take place as follows:
6C/6H – Tuesday 16th May
6B/6L – Wednesday 17th May
Many Year 6 children are looking forward to spending a week at Fairthorne Manor, just east of Southampton. There are some great outdoor activities to enjoy, with each night being spent under canvas in tents! Special activities are also being arranged for those children staying behind during this week beginning 12th June.
Parents, along with the Year 6 children attending Fairthorne Manor, are invited to a briefing in Innovation House on Friday 12th May at 2:45pm.
At this meeting, the staff attending Fairthorne Manor will present an overview of the residential trip. There will be an opportunity for parents and children to ask suitable questions on anything not covered.
Key dates
Monday 15th May – Year 6 in-class workshops for year 6 production
Week commencing 5th June – Sports Week
Week commencing 19th June – Latchmere Goes Global Week
Tuesday 20th June – year 6 height and weight measuring
Tuesday 27th June – KS2 Sports Day
Thursday 29th June – KS2 Sports Day – reserve day
Monday 3rd July – Richmond secondary schools visit day
Wednesday 5th July – Kingston secondary schools visit day
All children in Year 6 will be working extremely hard in the second half of the term in order to stage this year’s production. Details of this will be revealed to the children towards the end of the first half of term! The show itself takes place in the penultimate week, with performances scheduled for the week commencing Monday 10th July 2022. The performances to parents will take place Tuesday (matinee) and Wednesday and Thursday evenings. Further details to follow.
The Leavers’ Assembly will take place on Friday 21st July commencing at 9:15am taking place in Innovation House. The assembly will include the presentation of a number of awards.
As always, thank you for your support.
We wish all of you and your children well during this final term at Latchmere.
Kind regards,
The Year 6 Team