Year 6 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

In the second half of the Autumn Term, year 6 will have the fantastic opportunity to listen to the class novel of Omar Rising by Aisha Saeed. The story centres around a boy named Omar Rising, who was very poor.  However, one day, he got accepted to a prestigious school called Ghalib with a scholarship.  This is an exciting story which looks at student activism, believing in yourself and fighting for justice.  The content within this book will also allow the children to ponder vital topics including access to education, inequality and class disparities. We will also be reading our everyone’s welcome book, ‘Where the poppies grow’ by Hilary Robinson which is set during the First World War and explores the themes of friendship, innocence of war and then peace.  

Throughout the half-term, the children will continue to develop their knowledge and skills in a variety of subjects.  We will continue to develop our writing skills, focusing on using a wide variety of punctuation and different sentence structures. The children will be given the opportunity to write an adventure story based on Kensuke’s kingdom, a letter in role as a solider based on the book ‘The best Christmas in the world,’ and to be able to write a recount based on their trip to the ’Warning Zone.’

In history, we will be learning about World War 1.  We will learn about what life was like on land, sea and in the air, the Home Front and the consequences of War.  Alongside learning about this period of history, the children will read the picture book ‘The Best Christmas in the World’ From our in – depth study the children will then answer our Big Question : Why was World War 1 different to any previous war? In geography, the children will learn about the countries, rivers cities and environmental regions of South America.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our geography Big Question: What would you see in South America?

During the Autumn Term – the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will build on their prior learning and remind themselves about what classification is and who Carl Linnaeus was.    They will learn about classifying organisms including vertebrates and invertebrates and also develop their knowledge about plant and animal cells. In science, we will be asking ourselves: How are plants and animals the same and how are they different

As Christmas is fast approaching, the children will explore the religion of Christianity and how Christmas celebrations and traditions help Christians understand who Jesus was and why he was born.  In PSHE, we will also look at the theme of celebrating difference and develop our understanding of inclusion, disability and challenge our perceptions of what ‘normal’ is.

We have many more things planned for this half- term: including a museum session which focuses on Remembrance and WW1, a military resilience training day, an art session which includes the children creating a piece of art work based on Richard the III and an interactive assembly learning about how Christmas was celebrated in 1891.  The children will also continue with their swimming lessons up and will also have the opportunity to develop their dodge ball skills in PE. During this half-term, we also be working on our community pledge to develop our relationships with the residents at the Amwell centre. If this wasn’t enough - the year sixes will also have the wonderful opportunity to take part in an interactive session with the award-winning and bestselling children’s author Joseph Coelho to celebrate his new book Relic Hamilton – Genie Hunter. What a busy but interesting half-term.  Let the learning commence!

Year 6 Autumn Term 1 Curriculum Information

Well, welcome back to your final year at primary school! I can’t wait to be your teacher again and create even more amazing memories. This year we have so many great experiences planned.

Our first class read will be ‘The Final Year’ by Matt Goodfellow. This book centres around a boy called Tate, who is ten years old.  The children will love listening to this incredibly powerful novel, which is written entirely in free verse. Nate’s innermost thoughts burst from the pages, which will allow the children to really connect with his intense feelings of pain, anger and love. This heart-wrenching book is a perfect vehicle to explore the values of friendship, resilience and empathy.

During our class novel time, the children will also experience listening to some classics which will be read to them by Mrs Cheeseman.  These classics include: ‘The Railway Children,’ written by Edith Nesbit, ‘Black Beauty’ by Anna Sewell and ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ by Jules Verne. They will also listen to the Everyone’s welcome book ‘King of the Sky’ by Nicola Davies which looks at starting a new, which links in brilliantly with our PSHE topic of identifying goals and new beginnings.

For Maths we will be continuing to develop our Times-Tables knowledge. However, our main strand of Maths is an important part to learn which is ‘Place Value’ that’s why we are beginning our maths looking at numbers up to ten million.

In history, we will be exploring the suffragette movement and women’s rights alongside the picture book ‘Suffragettes: The Battle for Equality; by David Roberts, linked to our school value: respect. From our in depth-study the children will then answer our Big Question – How would British culture be different without the work of the suffragette movement? This fascinating change in women’s rights will expand and develop our knowledge of what it sometimes takes to change policy even in democratic societies like Great Britain. A very relevant topic even in today's world.

In geography, the children will develop their map reading skills and learn about longitude and latitude, time zones around the world and the Arctic and Antarctic Circles.  From their learning, the children will then try and answer our geography Big Question: What can we learn from studying maps?

During the Autumn term - the children will continue to develop their scientific skills.  They will learn about the heart, the circulation of blood, the function of blood vessels and blood pressure.  The children will also develop their investigative skills and have the opportunity to carry out an investigation linked to what happens to your heart when resting and after exercise.  In science, we will be asking ourselves: ‘Why is our circulatory system important?

The children will also have the wonderful opportunity to develop their creative skills and will study and re-create pieces of art in the style of artists: such as Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin.  They will also be learning about music and technology in their music lessons and learning to sing songs such as ‘Sunshine on a Rainy Day’ and ‘It’s all about love.’  Our computing lessons will have a focus on E-safety a very important part of our curriculum. We will delve deeply into how to stay safe online. Something we believe at school is an important part of our curriculum.

Please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. We have lots more exciting experiences planned for this half-term - including celebrating Roald Dahl day and Poetry Day. The children will also have a wonderful opportunity to take part in a ‘bonanza workshop’ where they will learn about the dangers of carbon monoxide (C0), understanding what it is and how they can keep themselves safe.