Welcome to Year 6!

Meet the team: 

6L - Mr Lloyd is the class teacher and Mrs Saunders is the teaching assistant.

6P - Miss Podbury is the class teacher and Mrs Reynolds is the teaching assistant. 

Miss Podbury is the Year 5 and 6 Phase Leader.

Summer Term 2025

English

In English, we will be focusing on the following genres of writing:

• Persuasive writing
• Narrative
• Biography
• Writing from another character's perspective.
• Non chronological reports

Throughout the Summer term we will be reading ‘Pig Heart Boy’ as our class book and using the film Alma. We will also be taking part in SPaG activities and guided reading comprehensions.

Maths

Over this term we will be focusing on geometry, properties of shapes and statistics. We will also be completing TT Rockstars as well as weekly arithmetic papers.

History

In history we will be investigating the growth of the Sikh empire and the reign of Ranjit Singh. We will use key concepts to investigate this civilisation and the impact on government and culture.

Geography

The children will be observing, measuring, recording and presenting their own fieldwork study of the local area.

Science

Our topics this term is Animals including Humans. Children will be given the opportunity to investigate and answer their own questions and will include the function of the heart through a dissection.

Art and DT

We will be creating a personal memory box using a collection of found objects and hand-sculptured forms, reflecting primary school life with symbolic and personal meaning.

We will research existing playground equipment and their different forms, before designing and developing a range of apparatus.

PSHE

In PSHE the children will be learning about caring for others, recognising discrimination, valuing diversity and national democracy.

PE

Both classes have PE on Monday and Friday.

All children must have black or white trainers or black plimsolls, Brushwood t-shirt, yellow socks, navy tracksuit bottoms and navy shorts for the warmer weather. Any children with pierced ears must remove their earrings or place tape over their ears for PE sessions. We will be focusing on cricket, tennis, rounders and athletics.

Please ensure all the PE kit is clearly named.

Music

In Music this term, students are exploring how different styles of music can shape the mood and storytelling of a film. They are learning to identify key musical elements such as pitch, tempo, dynamics, and whether music is in a major or minor key, using these terms to discuss and justify their ideas. Through class discussions and listening activities, students are discovering how instruments and sound choices evoke different emotions. They’re also getting creative by using their voices, bodies, and instruments to represent scenes and themes, designing their own graphic scores, and performing their compositions in groups. It’s a hands-on and imaginative way to dive into the world of film music!

French

This term, we will learn ten phrases for activities children may do at the weekend in French. They will also be presented with further extension on telling the time and opinions / justifications.

Computing

We will be learning about the use of big data including data transfer and storage and designing a ‘smart’ school.

Spring Term 2024

English

In English we study 'Skellig' by David Almond. This is about a boy who discovers a creature living in a disused garage in his new home. Together with his neighbour Mina, the two take care of it nursing it back to health. But what is this creature and will it help his baby sister's illness? The children will link their writing to the story, including innovating a chapter themselves and writing a balanced argument for and against home schooling. The children will also study 'Fantastic beasts and mythical creatures'. They will produce an explanation text of a beast of their own imagination. Guided reading will base around the books as well as independent pieces supporting inference, retrieval and explanation skills. Spelling will be following the Spelling Shed scheme of work.

Maths

Over this term the children will be focusing on multiplying and dividing fractions and finding fractions of numbers. They will cover further topics of measurement, ratio and proportion and decimals and percentage. Arithmetic papers will be done weekly and homework set on Atom learning. Regular practise of times tables will take place using TTRockstars.

History

In history we will be investigating what life was like in Victorian times. Children carry out an enquiry using census and factory records following a family history over the time period and use inference skills to suggest reasons for the changes, linking them to national events. They will plan their own enquiry and research based on a local family.

Geography

We will be investigating why certain parts of the world are more populated than others; exploring birth and death rates; discussion social, economic and environmental push and pull factors and learning about the population in Britain and its impacts.

Science

Our topics this term are evolution and inheritance and humans and classification. Children will be given the opportunity to investigate and answer their own questions.

Art

In art the children will explore a selection of paintings through art appreciation activities. They will be collecting ideas in sketchbooks and planning a final piece after researching the life, techniques and artistic intentions of an artist that interests them.

DT

This term the children will be considering their design to create a waistcoat. They use a template to cut out then use running stitches to join fabric before attaching fastenings and decorative objects.

PSHE

This term in PSHE, we will be learning about diet, oral hygiene, physical activity and the facts around immunisation. Exploring rest and relaxation and how they affect physical and mental health and identifying strategies for being resilient in challenging situations and planning for long-term goals.

PE

6L and 6P have PE on Monday's and Friday's. Please ensure all the PE kit is clearly named. The children will be participating in dance, gymnastics and fitness training.

Music

Music will be continuing with our topic learning African drumming on Thursday afternoons. In Spring B the children will learn about and appraise the work of Mendelssohn and further develop their improvisation and composition skills.

French

This term, the children will be learning about different French speaking countries of the world and introduced to some characters to learn about.

Computing

The children will be learning about the history of computers and be introduced to basic programming using the language of Python.

Autumn Term 2024

English

This term the children are reading the book 'Letters from the Lighthouse' by Emma Caroll. This is a story about a group of children who have been evacuated from London to Devon during the Blitz. A story of mystery and intrigue including secret codes and captured German pilots. The children will have the opportunity to step into the role of the main characters as they were being evacuated from the cinema during an air raid. Through hot seating and freeze framing, the children will be able to empathise with children from this era.

They will write a diary entry through the perspective of one of the characters using emotive and descriptive language and will apply the appropriate grammar and punctuation.

In spellings will we be following the Spelling Shed Stage 6 scheme.

Maths

This term, the children will secure their knowledge of place value and the four operations. The children will be using visual and practical manipulatives before moving onto concrete methods to embed fluency. Within each lesson, we continue to stretch the children's understanding through applying and reasoning questions, as well as investigations and discussion. 

Each week, the children will also be completing times tables practice, starting with the 2's, 4's, 5's 8's and 10's.

History

In history, Year 6 are exploring WW2. We  will begin the topic by investigating primary and secondary sources of historical information and asking questions about  how the artefact could help understand what life was like in the war and its reliability. The children will have the opportunity to take part in an evacuation drill where they will be asked to sit underneath the table to take cover during an air raid. We will analyse Hitler's rise to power, Chamberlain's appeasement strategy and debated as a class as to whether it was the right policy to follow.

They will investigate the government's evacuation policy and will discover first hand experiences of evacuees. The children will investigate whether the Battle of Britain was a turning point in the war. They have been encouraged to look into their own family's experiences of the war and have found out so many stories!

Geography  

In Geography the children study different types of energy sources. They learn the difference between renewable and non renewable including the benefits and drawbacks. They compare energy sources in Midland, Texas to Port of Blyth in England. They advise an urban planner on which source of energy to use to supply a new village that is being built and finish the topic with a field study of where the best location for solar panels would be at Brushwood, justifying their choice.

Science

This term, the children in Year 6 begin the year by learning about electricity and light. They will participate in a practical lesson where they will need to demonstrate collaboration and resilience to produce a circuit. They will use a range of equipment, such as, batteries, buzzers, lightbulbs, motors, wires and switches. All children participated and were success in creating a working circuit. They will work collaboratively to investigate the changing volume of buzzers and brightness of lightbulbs. 

Art

From the Ancient Maya to modern-day street art, children look at how artists convey a message. Exploring imagery, symbols, expressive mark making and ‘chiaroscuro’, children consider audience and impact to create powerful drawings to make their voices heard.

DT

The topic this autumn will be 'Come dine with me'. In small groups, the children will have to design, prepare and taste a three course meal focusing on recipes that compliment, balance and enhance each other.

PSHE

Children will be exploring how to create a successful learning environment for our lessons lessons. They will also be understanding how to resolve conflict, through negotiation and compromise, about respect, understanding that everyone deserves to be respected and about grief.

RE

To extend their learning in PSHE the children will be looking at diversity across religions and within religions, exploring why and how Britain is so diverse. They will be looking in particular at the different forms of Christianity and the different forms of Islam. 

Music

Year 6 have been very fortunate and have been given the opportunity to learn how to play the 'djembe drums'. Each week Year 6 take part in a whole class music lesson, taught by Bucks Music Trust. The children will learn how to play various tones on the drums as well as rhythms and songs too. 

Whilst learning how to play the drums, the children will also develop sight reading skills through reading pieces of music. They will identify: crotchets, quavers, minims, semibreve and a semi quaver. 

French

The children will explore World War 2 in French which links to their topic in History. They will learn some key vocabulary and will write some short sentences about facts they have learnt relating to World War 2. The children will be focussing on all four areas of learning a language: reading, writing, speaking and listening.

P.E.

The children will be playing netball this term. They will be practising each different pass whilst building up the stamina to take part in matches. They will also be learning hockey skills and will be taking part in inter-year group matches. This will develop teamwork and sportsmanship whilst developing skills in hockey. There will also be matches organised with the Chiltern league for Netball, football and Cross Country running.

Computing

Children will be discovering the history of Bletchley Park, historical figures and computer science. Children learn about code-breaking and password hacking as well as decoding messages. They will present information about historical figures and look back in time at how computers have evolved, finally designing a computer of the future and creating an audio advert for their designs.

Forest School

This autumn, the children will be able to experience learning in the outdoors with our new Forest School area. They will be able to experience building fires, bug houses, mud kitchens and more!

In October, the Year 6 children set off for a week away at Condover Hall in Shropshire. The children took part in a range of activities from archery and aerial trek to survival and raft building. It was a chance to build resilience, friendships and have lots of fun!