Our topics this term are Britain and WWII, and Britain since WWII. We start the first topic by watching the film adaptation of ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ and reading extracts from the book, comparing the two. We link our literacy, geography and history work closely, by focusing on life for evacuees, the Blitz and the effect on civilians. Later this half term we write poetry for our WWII Tea Party, which is in November, and write recounts as evacuees. In art, the children create Blitz scenes with watercolours and silhouettes. After the half term break we start the next topic which focuses on significant events, people and changes since the end of the war. In literacy, the children learn more about persuasive writing, modern fiction and the children write their own autobiographies.

Maths sets continue in Year 6 and the children follow the National Curriculum 14 in preparation for their SATs in May. Areas of focus are place value, the four operations (including mental strategies and written methods), decimals, fractions, measurement and problem solving and reasoning. To help the children prepare for their SATs and their final year in primary education, in Personal, Social and Health Education (PHSE) and Philosophy for Children (P4C) we discuss risks in the community and how to have a positive growth mindset, approach new challenges and become increasingly responsible as an individual.

For our WWII Tea Party, Mr Rhys-Morgan teaches the year group WWII songs to sing and Mrs Thomson teaches the children some dances. As well as the Tea Party, we have the residential trip to Overstrand in Norfolk in October to look forward to!

As part of the PE curriculum, the children take part in swimming lessons this half term, games lessons with Mr Harrington, and gym lessons and dance lessons taught by Mrs Thomson. In RE, the children learn about Hinduism and with Mr Donnellan in ICT, the children design and programme their own games. In French, Mrs Rivers teaches some of the basics including greetings, numbers, colours and months of the year. Our design and technology lessons give the children the opportunity to research WWII shelters. The children also learn about rationing and experience what can be eaten and made with the wartime restrictions. Finally, our science topics are ‘light’ and ‘evolution and inheritance’.

Previous WWII Tea Parties

Costume ideas:

With only four months until SATs in May, the children are prepared for the tests. Alongside spellings and other written homework, the children are given CGP revision and activity books which they use on a weekly basis at home. We continue to test every half-term to help monitor the progress of every child to support their learning further.

Our topic this term is Africa. We look at human and physical geography of this vast continent to help the children understand how diverse it is. In literacy we find out about the life of Nelson Mandela, and some of the difficulties South Africans faced during apartheid, and write biographies. The children write their own animal imagery poems, letters for different purposes and a discussion text about whether or not animals should be kept in captivity. We also read traditional African folk tales and modern fiction including ‘Journey to Jo-burg’. We link our literacy work closely to our PSHE work on human rights.

Maths lessons continue to focus on fluency, arithmetic and problem solving and reasoning skills, as well as measurement, geometry and shape amongst other areas of the curriculum. In science, our topics are living things and their habitats plus the different diets of both animals and humans. We link our art lessons closely to our topic and looking at African textiles, patterns and traditions.

As part of the PE curriculum, the children take part in swimming lessons this half term, games lessons with Mr Harrington, and gym lessons and dance lessons taught by Mrs Thomson. In RE, the children learn more about Hinduism: life and death; worshiping at temples; and India and other significant places. Mr Donnellan teaches the children how to create their own website and how networks work in ICT. Music lessons continue with Mr Rhys-Morgan and in French, Mrs Rivers teaches the children how to order food and comment on the weather. We visit Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford.

With only a couple of weeks until SATs our initial focus is working towards the assessments. 

In literacy, we look at chillers and fiction from our literary heritage. We also focus on different writing skills and other genres to prepare for our final writing assessments in June. We continue to follow the National Curriculum after the SATs and cover the remaining objectives.

We start to work on our end of year production. The children watch the film and start to understand the key events and characters. They learn the songs and audition for roles after the SATs. We rehearse weekly in order to prepare for this exciting performance. Music and PE lessons will focus on rehearsals. Details about the performance are sent out at the time.

In PE the children finish their African dance unit with Mrs Thomson and they also have swimming and rounders lessons. Later in the half term, children practise their athletics skills – which continue for the rest of the year. This term in science, we look at electricity and changes with our bodies. Geography lessons focus on volcanoes and earthquakes. ICT is based on keeping safe in the community and online. PSHE focuses on relationships and moving on to senior school. French lessons continue with Mrs Rivers teaching the children about French grammar (including adjectives, plurals, dictionary and translation skills). In D&T, the children make their own moving vehicles.  

In the second half term we support children with their transition to senior school. Towards the end of the school year we have lots of whole school events, but we have a leavers BBQ just for the year 6 children, which is a brilliant way to end the year and their time at the school.