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.
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. Measurement of angles was reinforced when children created their own pie charts. This linked well with the sum of angles around a point.
Summer Term - Science
Water transportation around the body saw children learning about the kidneys and how they regulate blood pressure as wel las filter out impurities. The importance of staying hydrated was discussed - an important topic especially at this time of year! “What is electricity and how it works” was the second topic of 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 curricular 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 studied 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.
Guernsey Sports Commission continues to support the school with sessions on hockey, cricket and athletics. A weekly swimming session has resulted in most children achieving their next ribbons. Sea swimming is again scheduled for later in the term.
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 viewfinders 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. 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.
Spring Term -Literacy
Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo was the inspiration behind a wealth of reading and writing tasks. 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 part of the journey undertaken by refugees. This narrative used a variety of sentence openers, description and complicated punctuation.
Spring Term - Maths
Children continue to consolidate their understanding of the four operations, extending their working into decimals and fractions with three places. Children used short and concise methods of multiplication and division with decimals, including those with a variety of decimal places. This understanding of fractions has been invaluable when dealing with ratio and proportion. Problems involving making amounts and shapes larger and smaller by set proportions tested accuracy and understanding. Multiplication and division of fractions has now checked our understanding of improper fractions and mixed numbers. The new Number Sense tables initiative has helped to revise the essential table facts. There is fierce competition to achieve full marks in the daily test. Passports continue to be completed, helping woith basic recall of number facts.
Spring Term - Science
The work of Isaac Newton and his discoveries of light and the colour spectrum started the next Science block. Children learnt about the visible spectrum, making colour wheels which when spun, created a mixture of coloured light, seen as white light. The circulatory system, the heart and blood were also studied. Children learnt what blood is and its importance and were able to explain the 4 key components of blood. This led 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 learnt about the function of the heart and how it works, putting together an information text showing their learning.
Spring term - Other Curriculum Areas
An in depth study of Monarchs over time in History saw the children learn about the impact of the rule of William I, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Charles II and Queen Victoria. Monarchs were then compared according to their reach and the impact on society during their reign. This needed careful arguing, with children expected to answer as a historian, providing facts from what they had learnt.
In Geography, children learnt about the different layers that make up the Earth. The tectonic plates and how they can cause earthquakes, volcanoes and mountains were labelled and discussed. Children learnt more about why people choose to live in dangerous places that are prone to volcanic activity. These reasons included tourism, fertile soils for farming and the use of the heat for producing electricity.
After studying the charcoal work of Kath Kolwitz in art, children created their own self portraits using charcoal shading. This image then became the stimulus for a sculpture that could be used to fill the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. For their calendar, children created some graffiti art for the new year.
The Guernsey Sports Commisssion continued to offer support in the teaching of football and hockey. Children learnt control and the ability to work in small teams, using this in small two-sided games. In PE, after completing work on fitness and agility, children learnt about movement, balances and shapes, rounding off the term by creating a short gymnastic sequence.
During the two days of Design and Technology, children worked on coding a BBC Microbit, a programmable mini computer. They designed a handheld GPS with inbuilt compass which also worked as a pedometer. CAD tools helped with the design of a container to house the device while different materials were studied for their suitability and environmental impact.
Autumn Term - Literacy
Children started the term consolidating the skills learnt in Year 5 and writing a five part narrative based on a short animated video. This allowed children to showcase great vocabulary choices, a range of sentence constructions as well as checking basic punctuation skills. Following that, 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. A new spelling programme has been introduced which adds to the Word Aware work completed in class.
Autumn Term - Maths
Pupils started the term by looking at the values of numbers up to 10,000,000 and beyond, ensuring they understood the relationship between numbers and their location on a number line. Since then, they 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. Use of concrete apparatus has helped to emphasise difficult concepts of carrying and substitution. 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 there has been a major drive to get children closer to more age appropriate targets.
Autumn Term - Science
Charles Darwin and Carl Linnaeus were two significant scientists studied this term. Children looked at adaptation and evolution and how species were adapted to the environments in which they lived. A study was undertaken of the white and black pepper moths which were suited to their environments at different times. Children looked at the Linnaen classification of animals, learning more about the different phylums, orders and groups. Using this information, children classified different vertebrates.
Autumn Term - Other Curriculum 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 2024.
In Geography, children compared two countries, the United Kingdom and Brazil as examples of a developed and a developing country. Comparisons were made regarding location using lines of latitude and longitude, relief the climate, vegetation and population. Sao Paulo and London were examined in terms of population density and reasons for migration to the cities was examined.
Building on from the introduction to badminton last year in Year 5, the Year group was taken to the Rohais badminton halls where Paulo again offered coaching. Children improved their overhead shots and serving, playing in a mini tournament by the end of the term. Indoor PE included work on street dance. Children were exposed to a variety of dance steps and then in small groups, choreographed their own routines which were presented to the group.