Year 6

Summer Term - Literacy

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick tells the story of a dystopian future where sea levels have risen and Britain is now a series of islands where people have to fight to survive. Pupils thoroughly enjoyed reading about Zoe’s search for her parents, the difficulties she experienced and who she met on the way. This exciting novel allowed pupils the opportunity to discuss the impact that stories can have. As part of the History World War 2 study, children listened to Carrie’s War by Nina Bowden. Using the audio book gave a different dimension to the story and developed listening skills. Children used the excellent descriptions in the book to compose their own short historical fiction narratives, ensuring that life in the 1940s was accurately represented. Spelling patterns are taught weekly with a greater emphasis on the use of the words in their own writing. Weekly Word Aware challenges have seen six of the class receive their wordy bird award - hopefully a challenge to the rest of the class.

Summer term - Maths

During the Summer term, children consolidated their understanding of decimals, solving problems involving tenths, hundredths and thousandths. Using this knowledge, they converted between metric measurements showing thor abilities to multiply and divide by 10, 100 and 1000 too. BIDMAS helped them to remember the order in which calculations are completed and brackets were used to change this order if needed. Formulae and the input and output of numbers allowed the first real exercises in algebra with children trying to solve simple equations using their knowledge of inverse operations too. Passports continue to be tested weekly with most children on the third or even fourth passport since the beginning of the academic year.

Summer Term - Science

“What is electricity and how it works” was the introduction to Science this term. Children learnt more about subatomic particles and the differences between conductors and insulators. Children then looked at components in a simple circuit and used symbols to accurately represent the circuits they made. This topic was completed when children studied the effects of changing certain components in a circuit, making motors reverse and even change speed.

Summer term - other curriculum areas

World War 2 and the impact it had on Guernsey was the focus for History. Children learnt about the causes of the war, how the Germans came to invade the Island in 1940 and how life changed dramatically for the Islanders still here. Reasons for evacuation were studies as were the deportations and internments of groups of people. The work of the Red Cross Society was seen through the delivery of messages via Geneva and through the arrival of the SS Vega which brought much needed food supplies towards the end of the conflict. Skills such as cause and effect and the ability to place a number of events on a timeline were consolidated.

In Geography, children studied settlements and where they are found  with a specific study on the differences between urban and rural settlements. Children studied satellite images of the UK taken during the night to show heavily populated areas and compared these to relief maps, looking for similarities. Areas of low population density were looked at in more detail. Finally, the movement of people from the days of the trans-Atlantic slave trade through to the movement of refugees from Ukraine were studied to see if there were any similarities.

Codes and code breaking allowed the children an introduction to the work at Bletchley Park during World War 2. Children studied four different types of codes and used these to decode messages and then send messages to each other. Computer coding was provided by PwC Hive Hackers which included concepts such as looping, conditionals and sequencing.

Guernsey Sports Commission continues to support the school with sessions on hockey, cricket and golf. A weekly swimming session has resulted in most children achieving their next ribbons. Sea swimming is again scheduled for later in the term.

Spring Term - Literacy

Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo was the inspiration behind a wealth of reading and writing tasks in the Spring term. The story of how Michael was rescued and how he survived on the island inspired Y6 to develop their own adventure stories. Children also wrote ship’s logs and described characters with a wider range of stylistic devices such as alliteration, metaphor and simile. The Journey by Francesca Sanna was a very different text which exposed children to the hardships faced by refugees fleeing their homes because of war. Persuasive letters were written to the family, giving them reasons for leaving and to border guards, asking them to allow the family to cross the border. All this ended with the children’s own version of a journey undertaken by refugees.

Spring Term - Maths

Children continue to consolidate their understanding of the four operations, extending their working into decimal fractions with three places. This understanding of decimals has been invaluable when dealing with shape and measurement. Measurement of angles was reinforced when children created their own pie charts. This linked well with the sum of angles around a point. Problem solving has introduced the children to algebraic methods. Weekly Ninja activities help to practise table and mental skills and passports have now reached Mercury - the first planet in the solar system!

Spring Term - Science

The circulatory system, the heart and blood were all studied. Children learnt what blood is and its importance and were able to explain the 4 key components of blood. This lead to children naming different types of cells as well as different nutrients and explaining why they are important and how they are transported around the body. After acting out the journey of blood around the body, children larnt about the function of the heart and how it works, putting together an information text showing their learning.

Spring Term - Other curriculum areas

After looking at the work of Paul Cezanne, children sketched their own still life, with a selection of 5 objects. They learnt how to sketch from observation, using light pencil marks and view finders to help with accuracy. This led to charcoal work, where the same still life was given depth and shadow through the use of white and black. Finally, an enlarged picture was painted in one colour, using multiple hues to show depth and shadow.

Cams and how they transfer rotation to vertical movement were studied in Design and Technology. Children looked at shop automatas and designed their own for a specific shop and time of year. Careful measurement was required before a wooden frame was constructed and glued. Different shaped cams were studied and chosen for the correct resulting movement. Displays were decorated with some images printed and others hand drawn.

The class has continued to enjoy their hockey with great skills being show. During PE, advanced gymnastic skills including vaults and balances have been undertaken.

As part of PSHE, the class welcomed Rachel Sykes who explained more about the Heroic Imagination Project. This project tries to prevent people acting as bystanders, and gets them to act in situations where help is needed. This was introduced to the school through a series of role plays, showing the difference that one person acting as a hero can make.

Action for children came in to present a workshop on drugs and acohol awareness. This was well received and sensibly approached.

Autumn Term - Literacy

This term, pupils learnt more about explanation and instruction texts. They identified features from recipes and in non-fiction texts looking for stylistic features such as the tense of the writing, how formal it was and if the author had used items such as headings and subheadings, bullet points, text boxes and annotated diagrams. Using work by Richard Platt, children designed their own explanation text. This needed careful research which was then grouped into three paragraphs. A suitable layout was planned and images that explained more were added.

Autumn Term - Maths

Pupils have been consolidating their understanding of the 4 operations, using compact and efficient methods to work with numbers up to a million as well as into three decimal places. The computations have been supplemented with a greater amount of reasoning activities, getting pupils to use the skills they have learnt in everyday contexts as well as using inverse operations to solve problems. Tables work has continued and Times Table Rock Stars remains a big push in the Year group. Passports are still tested weekly although we have had a major drive to get children closer to more age appropriate targets.

Autumn Term - Science

Carl Linnaeus and his method of classification was the focus for the first Science block this year. Children learnt about this famous scientist and then looked at the classification of animals, learning more about the different phylums, orders and groups. Using this information, children undertook a study of the area around the school, looking for any animals in a 1m square which were then classified.

Autumn Term - Other curricular areas

As an introduction to the year, children used the healthy eating knowledge from Year 5 to create healthy snacks that could be sold to the school. This linked well with Financial Literacy and children were expected to not only generate recipes to serve 30 children, but also had to cost out all the ingredients that were needed. Children then looked at how food was advertised in the media and studied slogans that companies use to make their products more recognisable. This helped in the making of posters that were used to advertise a sale of the goods to the school. All year groups were invited and Year 6 pupils sold, gave change and adjusted prices as the day progressed. The money was counted, expenses repaid and the profit calculated. This will be going towards the Year 6 camp in June 2023.

In Geography, the childrn learnt more about developing and devloped countries and the push/pull factors influencing people to migrate. A comparative study was made between Brazil and the UK in terms of climate, relief, population and population density and trade.

The class welcomed a visiting drama expert who taught the skills of mime through the story of Phileas Fogg. Children became waiters and customers at a French cafe, while one was even the dog!

Paulo from the Badminton Association, once again revised skills with the class during Games. The class progressed on to overhand and underhand clearing and smashing.