Welcome to Year 5 & 6 Wednesday 11th September 2019

Topics Each term we have a different topic which is taught in a cross-curricular way. This will be communicated at the beginning of each term via the school website and newsletters.

Topics for 2019-2020 Diamond class: Autumn: World War 2 Spring: Mexico Summer: The Maya Ruby class: Autumn: World War 1 Spring: The Romans and the Greeks Summer: Rivers, canals and a local study

Routines and Reading The mornings usually have an English and Maths focus and children will sometimes work in groups or pairs for this. Interventions often start at 8.45am. Dedicated time for doing corrections and improving work is between 8.45am and 9.00am. Extra physical activity may take place during this time. Guided Reading takes place every afternoon in groups and there is a big focus on comprehension, as well as the features of different genres of writing. Grammar Punctuation and Spelling lessons take place in the morning. Handwriting over the week.

Rewards and Sanctions Children earn team points for good behaviour and work or for upholding the values/Golden rules of the school (kindness to others etc.). These are added up at the end of each week. Children can earn star of the day certificates/stickers and also be mentioned in the weekly praise book and wear head teacher’s pin badge. Super speller Certificates for achieving recall of times tables. Our class follow the ‘Good to be Green’ behaviour system. Yellow and red cards are used for children who are breaking the Golden rules. The class can earn rewards for whole class effort.

Wellbeing Every class has a ‘Worry Monster’, a calm box and a calm space. We teach strategies for wellbeing such as mindfulness and visualisation. Children’s emotional vocabulary is developed. New footpath to encourage extra walking during the day with their class. Music is used to create a calm environment for learning.

Resilience Passports

Mrs McKee Mrs McKee will cover the classes in an afternoon when teachers have time out of class for planning and assessment. She will be teaching French and Music.

PE Malbank PE teacher this half-term. Forest Schools for whole class in Summer term. Bikeability in Year 6. Children need to be able to swim 25m by Summer half-term. It would be useful if the P.E kit is brought to school every Monday. Children will need an indoor PE kit and a warm outdoor PE kit in school. Trainers are better for outdoor PE. No football kits, please. Earrings should be removed or covered and hair tied back. No watches/Fitbits or nail polish.

Healthy snacks and water Named water bottles. Piece of fruit or snack from the kitchen only. We are a ‘nut-free’ school. Please take care with ‘birthday treats’ or cakes coming into school.

Homework Children will usually receive a piece of English and maths work on Friday. All homework needs to be handed in for the following week. MyMaths and TTRockstars may be used for maths (logins are the same). Free app for TTRockstars now available. Children will be given spellings on Friday to learn for the following Friday. Children will be given specific times tables to learn. Children are also asked to produce topic related pieces of homework. Spellings and homework will be uploaded onto class pages on school website.

How you can support your child at home Spelling – supporting your child to learn their weekly spellings to improve the quality of their writing. Reading – developing comprehension skills, reading for meaning, discussion about characters etc. Recording in Home/School book for team points! Maths – mental recall of times tables facts. We will send a weekly note home for the following week, every Friday, so that you know what your child will be covering in class each week.

Communication Weekly class newsletter Home school diary needs to be in school every day. Please sign this, weekly. Talk to the teacher, email, phone, note in the diary. Opportunity to speak to teacher before school if urgent, but please arrive before 8.40am. All medical or dental appointments to be approved by Mr Perry. Teachers cannot approve any time away from school. Class pages on school website.

Year 6 SATs are in May 2020 Preparation builds gradually over the year Booster sessions are offered when appropriate Completing homework, and learning spellings and times tables are crucial Attendance and punctuality impacts upon learning Mrs Bird meets with all future secondary schools in May Remember to apply for your secondary school place by 31st October 2019 There will be a SATs information meeting for parents, next year (usually January 2020)

Thank you for coming this evening Thank you for coming this evening. You are welcome to now go to your child’s class to collect some information about how you can support your child and to ask any questions. Thank you.