Welcome
Hello and welcome to Year 6’s class page. I feel very lucky to be having your children for their last year of primary school and want it to be the most fun, special and memorable one they’ve had! All I ask is for children to work hard, try their best and be kind. Children will be sitting their SATS tests in May 2026 so we have a lot of hard work to do to prepare them so they can achieve their full potential. For this reason, our mornings will focus on reading, writing (including handwriting, spelling and grammar) and maths. Our afternoons will be dedicated to RE, science, PE, history/geography, DT/art, Music, French and computing/RSHE.
Our PE day is Wednesday and children are expected to come to school dressed in their PE kits. This half term, we are lucky to have a dance specialist working with us on a Wednesday afternoon to help us to develop our dance skills. We also have a music specialist led session on a Thursday afternoon where we are learning to read music, play the keyboard and learn some fabulous songs.
Children are expected to read at home at least 3 times per week and have their reading records signed by a parent or guardian once per week. They will have a Reading Plus session in school on a Monday morning but are expected to access this at home too. Each child also has a Times Tables Rock Star login that they can access at home and this is an excellent learning tool to help them to learn their times tables which will support them in all areas of the math’s curriculum. I will also be setting a weekly maths and reading comprehension reading homework activity.
If you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to speak to me at the end of the day or I am on morning gate duty on a Wednesday morning.
Thank you,
Mrs R Cunningham
Make sure you sign up to our class Seesaw pages where I will post messages and updates of our day to day learning so you can see what fun and exciting things we are getting up to in Year 6!
Maths
At St Alban’s we follow a Mastery Approach to teaching Maths, ensuring children have a firm understanding of the different Mathematical concepts through Varied Fluency, Reasoning and Problem Solving. During the Autumn Term we will be covering a range of Maths topics such as:
- Place Value
- Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
- Fractions
- Converting units
- Ratio
We also practice our arithmetic and times tables skills weekly.
English
For our English lessons, we follow the Pathways to Write Scheme. In Autumn 1 we are studying the book Star of Fear, Star of Hope by Jo Hoestlandt and learning how to write a story with a flashback from another character's point of view. As part of this topic, our Mastery Keys are:
- Use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated information concisely
- Use passive verbs
- Link ideas across paragraphs using a wider range of cohesive devices
- Integrate dialogue to convey character and advance the action
Children will have the opportunity to develop their writing skills across a range of genres from narratives, diary entries, letters and newspaper reports.
Autumn 2
In Autumn 2 we are studying the book Can we save the tiger? by Martin Jenkins and learning how to write a hybrid text. As part of this topic, our Mastery Keys are:
- Enhance meaning through selecting appropriate grammar and vocabulary
- Use modal verbs and adverbs to indicate degrees of possibility
- Use brackets, dashes or commas to indicate parenthesis
Reading
Reading plays a vital role in our English curriculum. We have a thirty minute reading session four times per week where we will read and enjoy a class text while developing our comprehension skills. Within each reading session we focus on developing our reading and comprehension skills by exploring the different reading domains.
- Vocabulary
- Retrieval
- Inference
- Predicting
- Summarise
- Compare, contrast and comment
- Author's choice
In autumn 1, we will read the book When we were Warriors by Emma Carroll and in autumn 2 we will be exploring the work of Katherine Rundell in her book Into the Jungle.
In Year 6, we have acsess to Reading Plus and the children have a weekly targetted reading session online. We also have a weekly written comprehension session to prepare us for answering test style questions.
RE
As a Catholic School, the teaching of the church is at the heart of everything we do. As well as daily worship, we follow the To Know You More Clearly. Our topics for the Autumn Term are:
- Branch 1-Creation and Covenant
- Branch 2-Prophecy and Promise
History
The Vikings
Where the Vikings victorious in their invasion of Britain?
When you think of the Vikings you often think of invaders in big longships however there is so much more to the Vikings. In this topic, year 6 will explore how the Vikings arrived in Britain, what it was like to be a Viking and the battles and conflicts for the kingdom against the Anglo Saxons. But who will be victorious?
GEOGRAPHY
In Geography this term we will be learning all about the countries of South America. We will be exploring both the human and physical geographical features of this facinating continent as well as development our map skills.
DT
Global Food
This term our DT topic is Global Food. During this topic we will be exploring, cooking and tasting a range of foods from around the world before planning and creating our own recipe.
SCIENCE
Autumn 1
In Autumn 1, our science topic is Animals, including humans where we will focus on how the heart works and how to keep it healthy.
Autumn 2
In Autumn 2, our science topic will be Evolution and Inheritance. Throughout this unit, we will learn about the fascinating history of the human race and discover links between extinct animals and those which are still living today.
ART
Drawing
This term in art we will be focusing on drawing and studying the work of Veri Apriyatno. We will focus particularly on the skills required for self-portraits and drawing people such as adding fine detail, creating texture, accurate scale and light/shadow.
PE
In Autumn 1 we will be developing our dance skills led by dance specialist Miss Lily.
In Autumn 2 we will be working on improving our Netball skills particularly in a game situation.
Computing
Online Safety
This term our Computing topic is all about Online Safety. Within our sessions, year 6 will learn how to deal with issues online and how to keep themselves safe online.
FRENCH
A l'ecole
By the end of the unit year 6 will have the knowledge and skills to talk about the subjects they like and dislike at school (along with a justification) and at what time/day they study various subjects.
MUSIC
Developing Melodic Phrases
This focus will focus on how music brings us together and celebrates a wide range of musical styles. Within lessons year 6 will continue to develop listening, singing, playing, composing and performing skills.
