Year 6 Summer Term 1

In English,  we will complete our study of the text, ‘Rose Blanche’, a moving story of a girl’s life at the outbreak of the Second World War, written by Robert Innocenti and illustrated by Ian McEwan. 

Following this, our main text during this term will be Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick.  This narrative fiction book is set in an all too believable near future when many parts of England are submerged in water and people drift into gangs, divided due to the scarcity of resources.  As part of this study, the dilemmas and challenges experienced by the protagonists will allow our children to explore character development by writing in role;  they will develop creative responses to the text through drama and they will write with confidence for real purposes and audiences.

In Maths, pupils continue to build confidence and independence in mathematics, applying their skills to increasingly complex problems. The focus is on deepening understanding, developing reasoning, and preparing for the transition to secondary school. Children explore how data can be represented and interpreted in meaningful ways. They learn to read and construct pie charts and line graphs, using these to solve problems and draw conclusions. Pupils also calculate and interpret the mean as an average, helping them understand how data can be summarised. Pupils develop their understanding of both 2-D and 3-D shapes. They draw shapes using given measurements and angles, and build three-dimensional shapes, including creating nets. Children learn to classify shapes based on their properties and use this knowledge to solve problems involving unknown angles in triangles, quadrilaterals and regular polygons. They also explore circles, identifying key parts such as the radius, diameter and circumference, and understanding the relationship between them. Children work with coordinates across all four quadrants, describing positions accurately on a grid. They also learn to translate and reflect shapes, developing spatial awareness and precision.

In PE This term the children will be learning about Athletics in their PE lessons. They will develop their running, jumping and throwing techniques across a variety of track and field events over the term. They will also learn how tactics are used within athletic events.

In their second PE lesson, the children will learn about the sport of cricket. They will be developing their throwing and catching abilities through a range of activities to enable them to play the game. The children will learn a variety of batting strokes, how to bowl and will learn the basics of fielding over the term. The children will also learn about the rules and scoring used in the game.

Other than English, Maths and PE, Year 6 will largely be concentrating on revision until the SATs have been completed in May.  We will then continue our learning in the following subjects:

In Science, we will be studying the body. Children will work towards answering the question ‘How can we stay healthy?’ Children will learn that there are many different but related aspects to keeping healthy. They will investigate the functions of the heart and circulatory system and will describe how nutrients and water are transported in human and animal bodies. 

Working Scientifically, children will investigate how exercise and heart rate are related.  They will also find out how scientific ideas about health have developed over time. They will plan an investigation and will take measurements with accuracy and precision. Children will present their findings in a number of ways, and will explain causal relationships emerging from their own data. 

This unit builds upon children’s existing knowledge, covered in Year 4 Human Nutrition, about their body parts and internal body systems such as the digestive system. They will develop their existing knowledge about the importance of diet and exercise to promote good health.

In Geography, Year 6 will be looking at the country of Mexico, one of the World’s most vibrant. The children will begin by using world maps, atlases and digital mapping to locate Mexico in relation to the equator and surrounding countries. They will then learn how to identify and describe aspects of human and physical geography. Our pupils will use the eight points of a compass, grid references and keys to build their knowledge of the wider world and they will develop their understanding of the geographical similarities and differences between Mexico and their own location. 

In Art this term, we will be studying a unit called, ‘Bees, Beetles and Butterflies’. The children will learn about observational drawing techniques and how to create a mixed media collage. We will look at examples of work by contemporary artist, Lucy Arnold, we will and investigate why insects make such a rich and interesting subject matter for artists.

In Music this term, we will be studying a unit of work entitled 'Theme and Variations: Pop Art'.  Pupils will have the opportunities to perform rhythms confidently either on their own or in a group; identify the sounds of different instruments and discuss what they sound like; make reasonable suggestions for which instruments can be matched to which pieces of art; name and draw rhythms accurately and show a difference between each of the variations that they create.

In PSHE, pupils will study the unit 'Relationships'. Lessons include looking at mental health, and discussing strategies on how to take care of this.  Pupils will also look at how to keep safe online and how to take responsibility for their own safety and wellbeing.

In RE, Year 6 will learn more about Islam. Focusing on the following key questions:
Why is the prophet Muhammed so special to Muslims? How might this help Muslims lead a good life?

In French, the children will start a new unit, ‘Planning a French Holiday’, where they will be developing their recall of the countries in the world in French; the present and future tense of ‘aller’ in French; the present and future tenses in reading and listening. They will begin to understand the general meaning of a text to be able to answer some questions, speak in sentences and write a paragraph.

SATs Information