Bartons are holding two Open Afternoons for prospective parents to visit for Reception places in September 2025. These are Thursday 10th October and Tuesday 12th November both at 1.30pm - 2.30pm. Please make an appointment with the school office if you'd like to come.
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Cedar Class

Cedar Class: Year 6
 
Here you will be able to find our Year 6 curriculum overview and our termly newsletters, as well as other important information and updates on our learning.
 
I have also included the 50 books to read in Year 6 list and I strongly recommend that the children have a go at trying some of these titles.
Jan 24 Spring Term Newsletter.pdf
Reading - Booklist Year 6.pdf
Secondary School Open Evenings
 
The Autumn Term is a busy one for Year 6 parents as the application window for secondary school places opens at the start of September and closes at the end of October. 
 
We will list the dates here of open evenings at the local secondary schools as and when we get them. We would recommend parents take their child to look around at the schools to give you an idea of what each school can offer your child. 
 
You will find the link to West Sussex County Council's key dates for secondary school places webpage below. 
 
Thursday 21st September 2023 - The Regis School open evening
Thursday 21st September 2023 - Ormiston School open evening
Tuesday 26th September 2023 - Felpham Community College open evening
Thursday 28th September 2023 - St Phillip Howard open evening
Wednesday 4th October 2023 - Chichester Free School open evening
Thursday 5th October 2023 - Bishop Luffa open evening 
 
Key dates: 
Friday 1st March 2024 - Offer day - this is the day you will be informed of your child's offered place at secondary school. 
West Sussex County Council Secondary School Places

Cedar Class - Year 6 Key information

PE

In the Autumn Term Year 6 PE days are Thursdays and Fridays and children are expected to take part in all PE lessons. They should come to school in the correct PE kit on these days.  

Water Bottles

Please ensure that your child comes to school with a named water bottle every day.

Homework

Homework will be set via Seesaw on a Saturday and unless specified, will be due in the following Saturday. In Year 6 we set one piece of Maths homework and one piece of English/GPS homework a week. Your child should upload their homework to Seesaw by the due date. It is essential for children to get into the habit of completing this regularly on time in preparation for their transition to secondary school.

Children are also expected to complete one piece of topic homework per half term which they will choose from the homework grid below. This is in-line with our homework policy which states: 

"We believe that education is a life-long process.  A child’s education does not cease when they leave our school premises; learning at home is an essential part of good education.

Home Learning is any work or activity completed outside lesson time, either alone, with parents, or others. Home Learning makes an important contribution to progress at school. It is used to enhance and support the pupils’ learning within school and also to prepare them for secondary school.

At Bartons, we see the purpose of Home Learning as an opportunity to:

  •         develop an effective partnership between school and parents because children achieve more when teachers and parents work together,
  •         consolidate/reinforce skills and understanding, particularly in English and Maths,
  •         extend school learning,
  •         provide opportunities for parents and children to work together to enjoy learning experiences, develop confidence, independence and the self-discipline needed for personal study in preparation for secondary school and beyond."

Additionally, Children are expected to read either to an adult at home or to themselves for at least 15 minutes a day. If your child reads competently to themselves, ask them some questions about the book so that you can see if they have understood what they have read. Discussing different texts with your children will help them to develop their own love of reading. 

Logins for Seesaw, MyMaths and TTRockstars can be found inside your child's reading diary. 

Spelling:

We will be looking at rules around different spelling patterns each week.

Additionally, children should know how to spell all the KS2 common exception words. These can be found here:

Year 3/4 https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2019/08/29/13/54/08/76f1443d-9b6d-4030-be0d-25fcfef01438/SpellingWordList_Y3-4.pdf 

Year 5/6 https://cdn.oxfordowl.co.uk/2019/08/29/13/56/09/5a42eb6a-f57f-4dc4-a66e-bd4c5e27e4b7/SpellingWordList_Y5-6.pdf

You can test your children on these regularly by choosing a few words (up to 5) and asking them to say, cover, write, check their words. Any that they get wrong they can then practice over a few days before trying again.

Enterprise Week 2024
 
Every year in June, Year 6 take part in an enterprise challenge - 'Make £5 Grow'. The aim is to come up with an idea, carry out some market research across the school and use £5 starter money per group to buy the initial supplies.
They then run their business across 3 lunchtimes at school, reinvesting their profits where needed to buy more supplies and eventually turn their £5 into a bigger profit.
This year the children worked in groups to come up with 7 businesses which included selling food and drink products, as well as putting on activities for the children to take part in. 
The profits from these businesses are then used to pay for the end of Year 6 treat days. Cedar Class were very excited to find out that they had beaten the record set by last year's class by £25. 
Enrichment Week
Celebrating The 80th Anniversary of D-Day
 
For Enrichment Week this year, the whole school took part in a mixture of activities that explored World War II. 
 
In Year 6, we continued to build on our learning from the Spring Term and the children enjoyed finding out more about the countries involved in the war, rationing, the Enigma Machine and codebreakers as well as creating two pieces of art; one inspired by Henry Moore and another inspired by the idea of Hope at the end of the war. 
 
On D-Day itself, we dressed up in traditional 1940s outfits. In the morning the Year 6 House Captains went to the community centre in Chalcroft Lane to take part in a raising of the flag ceremony in honour of D-Day. They shared some of the poetry they had written on Rose Blanche and enjoyed looking at some WWII trucks. During the afternoon we had fun dancing to some live music from Mr Hodge and his band. 
Tangmere Aviation Museum 
 
On Monday 18th March, Cedar Class went on a trip to Tangmere Aviation Museum. The purpose of the trip was to find out more about how our local area was impacted by World War Two. 
 
The children took part in 3 activities: 
1) They went on a tour of the Battle of Britain Hall - looking at all the artifacts and learning about significant events and people. 
2) They went on a tour of the aircraft - investigating how aircrafts have changed over time and the impact these changes had on our air defenses during the war. 
3) They had the opportunity to sit in a model cockpit, fly a simulator and sketch parts of an aircraft. 
 
The children were amazingly behaved on this trip, they asked some fantastic questions and shared some impressive knowledge. They were a perfect example of Team Bartons. 
Creative Arts Day 2024
 
Each year, in March, the whole of the school take part in a creative arts day - we have a theme and create some artwork linked to the theme. 
 
This year, our theme was the school skills and values. Year 6 were given the value of: Respect and the medium of: Mixed Digital Art.
 
I was really impressed with the ideas that the children came up with to represent 'respect', they thought really carefully about how this could be demonstrated through their artwork. They then planned and took some photos, manipulated these using photoshop techniques and added them to a bold, painted background to create a whole class collage. 
 
The end result looked really effective.  
 
Book Week 2024
 
For book week this year we had an author focus. The author for Year 6 was Ali Sparkes and we spent the week immersing ourselves in her book '100 Summers'. The children were enthusiastic and engaged throughout the whole week - they really enjoyed this text and could connect with some of the characters. 
 
Throughout the week, we took part in lots of activities related to the book including: solving and creating ciphers, writing character profiles, reviewing the story and writing a letter to the main character. 
 
At the end of the week, the children took part in a really exciting workshop with the author herself - Ali Sparkes. This was an amazing opportunity for the children and the feedback from Ali was incredible - she really enjoyed working with Cedar Class. 
 
 
Science Week - January 2024
 
The start of the Spring Term brings my favourite week of the year - science week! Year 6 spent the week learning all about the circulatory system and I was so impressed by their amazing attitude and hard work all week. 
 
We learnt about the function of the circulatory system, the heart and its chambers, blood and the things that make up our blood and the impact exercise has on our heart health. This also links to our RSE learning this term which focuses on the impact smoking, alcohol and drugs has on our health. 
 
The week ended with our school science fair where the children were able to show off all their learning from the week to the other classes. 
Maths Week 2023
 
In the Autumn Term each year the whole of Bartons takes part in Maths Week. The week is designed to inspire a love of maths within the children and for them to further develop their skills. 
 
This year, the theme for Maths Week was 'Maths in Real Life'. 
 
Year 6 spent the week discussing all the different places we might use maths in our every day lives. We investigated ratio and proportion linked to baking, looked at time linked to timetables (which will be important when we move on to secondary school) and we estimated measures and distances. The children were really enthusiastic this week and I was impressed with all the ways they could share their understanding of 'Maths in Real Life'. 
Survival Night 2023
 
Every year, Cedar Class take part in an annual sleepover at school as part of their topic Mission Survive. The aim of the sleepover is to survive the night in the school! 
 
The evening is designed to allow the children to develop their confidence, independence and resilience prior to heading off on their Year 6 residential later in the year. 
 
The class love this exciting evening, here is what some of them had to say about it: 
 
"Survival night was extraordinary, we had lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed playing Hide and Seek in the dark." Bea.
 
"I enjoyed this night the most because it made me feel more independent and closer to my friends. " Marcus. 
 
 
Maths Investigation Day 2023
 
Year 6 had a great start to their Maths journey by getting stuck into Maths investigation day. We spent the day investigating shapes and patterns. It was great to see the children begin to develop their logical thinking and reasoning. We finished off the day with some active Maths outside. 
Working With Others
 
During our first week back at school we revisited our working with others skills and had a go at some activities where we had to use good team work and communication as well as respect. We particularly enjoyed the challenge of 'Save Fred The Snake'. This task required a lots of resilience and real growth mindset attitude.  Luckily we did manage to find some solutions to save Fred from the pond. See below for some pictures of us completing this task - the concentration on our faces shows just how challenging this was. 
Welcome To The Autumn Term Of Year 6
 
It was lovely to welcome the children back to school this week as we begin our Year 6 journey together. I have really enjoyed getting to know the class this week and it was great to hear about all the fun things they have done over the Summer.
 
This week we have set out our Year 6 expectations - this involves developing 3 core skills, which will ensure we all grow and develop as learners in preparation for the transition to secondary school. 
 
Our 3 focus skills are: 
 
Independence - we will take responsibility and ownership of our learning, trying our hardest with every task. 
 
Positivity - we will show a growth mindset towards our learning by having a positive attitude towards all opportunities. 
 
Respect - we will be respectful of all those around us, treating everyone with kindness. 
 
Year 6 is definitely a year that is full of fun and adventure, as well as challenge and it is great to see the children already excited for all that is to come.