1. Year 6 Autumn Term– Mr Haws
Local Area Study: Mining – Parent Overview
Areas of Learning
During this topic we will focus on a number of areas within the mining tradition of this area and this country. We will take a step back in time and consider how it was for children to work in the mines, and how the rights of children over the years have developed. We will focus on the Miner’s Strike of the 1980’s, the reasons behind it and the hardships faced. We will consider the equipment miners had to use and think and plan alternatives.
Year 6 Autumn Term– Mr Haws
How can I help?
Numeracy
Practice all table facts on regular basis, through online games and apps as well as regular written practice. Challenge your children to a times table quick quiz. Ask your child to show you the formula they have been using in class. Let them be the teacher. Some of the methods might be alien to you, others might be familiar. If your child is struggling with their homework, take a break and come back to it later or take it in bitesize chunks. Engage in practical maths – cooking, measuring, volume and capacity, shopping, estimating – these can all be done within your usual routine to reinforce knowledge.
Literacy
Read wherever and whenever possible – any type of literature is better than none-so try to make your child’s reading experience fun and engaging with books, ebooks, reading apps, blogs, media feeds etc.
Point out spellings around you and the environment, on signs, in books etc.
Listen to audiobooks.
Engage in conversations about what kind of literature your child enjoys the most – motivate them through the choice of literature they have access to. RE
Where possible, talk to your child about what they have been learning, Can they tell you any Bible stories or parables? Can they talk about their feelings and engage in some of the bigger questions of life?

2. Learning & Thinking Skills Geographical Understanding
The children in the class will be challenged regularly with a series of challenges, brain teasers and puzzles to help develop problem solving and determination.
Social Skills
We will work on inviting others into our friendships, recognising when someone may feel left out.
We will engage with our Statement of the Week so that each child is able to comment on each other’s behaviours.
Geographical Understanding
We will find out the local area, looking at maps old and new. We will consider the effect of the Industrial Revolution on our climate and how the landscape of our country was changed through mining. D & T Skills
We will plan and design suitable clothing for keeping a miner dry as well as looking at the designs of the safety lamps .
Science Skills
We will be testing materials for their different properties and investigating reversible and irreversible changes of matter. We will create circuits for a new, safer miner’s lamp.
Art
We will study some of the Pitmen Painters and use their work as inspiration for our own. We will continue with areas of perspective drawing.
Physical Education
We will begin the year with a series of conditioning sessions, focusing on why we need to stay fit and healthy and the benefits to our bodies. We will make and devise team games that require certain throwing, catching, kicking or hitting skills. We will focus on movement after a pass and creating space. We will engage with building gymnastics routines that require shape and balance.
Music
Our music this term will mostly centre around singing and performance.
Communication, Language & Literacy
During this term, we will immerse ourselves into reading and writing about the coal mines. We will study and learn from a number of relevant stories and recounts, and through discussion and planning, we will use these examples as a basis for: retelling our own experiences, role playing people from the past,, writing from the perspective of others and explaining the different jobs people undertook in the mines. We will write rallying speeches from the perspective of Trade Unionists.
Religious Education
Refer to main RE planner
Mathematics
Over the next term, maths will include learning about:
Place value of digits including: decimals including tenths, hundredths and thousandths; negative numbers in order; recognition of Roman Numerals and using within context.
Four operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, using a range of formula; estimation and rounding; knowledge of factors and multiples.
Prime numbers and divisibility rules
Statistics: line graphs, pie charts and tables
Computing
Much of our initial focus will be on staying safe online and what to do if and when you feel unsure of things on the internet. We will engage with programming and multimedia, using sequences and logical reasoning to detect errors in computing algorithms.