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. The Year 6 team will continue to support and guide the children through this transitional phase.
We hope that this term will be positive and memorable for everyone.
On Thursday 25th April, ‘Growing against Violence’ (a charity that aims to prevent youth violence) will be delivering two in-class workshops to year 6 pupil: ‘So Social Media’ and ‘Friend vs Friendly’.
‘So Social Media’ - aims of the session:
- This session seeks to keep young people safe online, whilst demonstrating what happens online can hurt them offline
- ​Explores how digital technology has changed the way in which young people communicate​
- Signposts to support services that can assist victims of cyber bullying ​
- Provides advice on social media safety to help improve online resilience
‘Friend vs Friendly’ - aims of the session:
This programme helps students understand how gangs recruit members and subsequently be more likely to:​
- Recognise the difference between friendship and friendly​
- Understand that gangs are not conventional friendship groups and that they exploit young people​
- Identify strategies for keeping themselves safe and avoid becoming gang involved
The timetable is as follows:
|
DATE |
TEST |
|
Monday 13th May |
SPELLING, PUNCTUATION AND GRAMMAR – PAPER 1 (questions) AND PAPER 2 (spellings) |
|
Tuesday 14th May |
READING |
|
Wednesday 15th May |
MATHS – PAPER 1 (Arithmetic) AND PAPER 2 (Reasoning) |
|
Thursday 16th May |
MATHS – PAPER 3 (Reasoning) |
During SATs week, the children will be encouraged to come in early for a SATs breakfast provided by the school. We have found this an excellent way to make the children feel more relaxed about, and prepared for, the tests each morning. Further information will be provided closer to the time.
Reading
Our goal is to create confident, fluent, independent readers. At Latchmere, we prioritise reading and have carefully chosen a variety of texts which your child will study this term. To develop fluency, we use a number of strategies such as choral reading (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 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 focusing on ratio, algebra, decimals, fractions and percentages, area and perimeter and statistics. Children should also use the Times Tables Rockstars programme 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 are 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.
We believe working with families is very important, therefore when a child’s attendance falls below 94% we intervene quickly to work with parents to identify any barriers to regular school attendance and identify how we can support further.
To support the transition to secondary school, the Year 6 Team feel it important that homework is set during the summer term. English 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.
We also encourage your children to use Century to consolidate and practise the learning they have been doing this year. They have all been given their user names and passwords.
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/6B – Wednesday 22nd May
6H/6L – Thursday 23rd 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 10th June.
Parents, along with the Year 6 children attending Fairthorne Manor, are invited to a briefing in Innovation House on Friday 17th May at 2:30pm in the Drama Hall.
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.
As always, thank you for your support.
We wish all of you and your children well during this final term at Latchmere.
The year six team
Mr Cooper Mrs Ko Mrs Board Mr Lamb Miss Haffejee