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.
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.
Tuesday 17th September 2024 - Felpham Community College open evening
Thursday 19th September 2024 - The Regis School open evening.
Tuesday 24th September 2024 - Ormiston open evening
Thursday 26th September 2024 - St Phillip Howard open evening
Wednesday 2nd October 2024 - Chichester Free School open evening
Thursday 3rd October 2024 - Bishop Luffa open evening
Key dates:
Monday 2nd September 2024 - applications open for 2025 secondary places.
Thursday 31st October 2024 - deadline for 2025 secondary place application.
Monday 3rd March 2025 - Offer day - this is the day you will be informed of your child's offered place at secondary school if your application was completed by the deadline.
Cedar Class - Year 6 Key information
PE
In Year 6 PE days are Wednesdays 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 Friday and unless specified, will be due in the following Thursday. 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 and 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 child 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.
Active Maths Day 2025
The first day back of the summer term was active maths day - a chance to mix activity and maths together.
In Cedar class the children started the day off with an arithmetic relay, this was fast paced and really fun. The children worked hard to solve the questions in their groups as quickly as possible. All the teams did really well, but the winning team with 24 questions solved correctly was Harry R, Deniz and Annabelle.
Next, the children practice their dividing of fractions skills with an intense game of beanbag toss. The children passed the beanbags across the circle until the music stopped, then they worked in pairs to solve the fraction calculation.
Finally, the children explored area and perimeter by drawing rectangles and finding someone to swap with in order to calculate the area and perimeter of their partners rectangle.
Evacuee Dress Up Day 2025
To celebrate the end of our World War 2 topic, the children in Cedar class took part in an evacuee dress up day. They came to school dressed as evacuees, bought a bag with the precious things they would take with them, made evacuee tags, rushed to shelter when the air raid sirens went off and explored what life would have been like for different children when they were evacuated.
The day was a great success and the children looked fantastic in their evacuee costumes.
Trip to Tangmere Aviation Museum
As part of our Battle of Britain topic, Year 6 went on a visit to Tangmere Aviation Museum. They took part in 3 workshops: touring the Battle of Britain hall, where they learnt lots of facts and information about what life was like during the war; exploring the aircraft in the hangers, where they explored the changing technology of aircraft since WW1 and they experienced 'flying' by sitting in the cockpit and using the simulators.
The children really enjoyed the day and their behaviour was exceptional, with the staff even commenting on what a fantastic group they were.
Science in Year 6
During the second half of the spring term, Year 6 have been exploring classification in science. They have learnt about grouping living things according to observable features and how scientists use systems (such as Carl Linnaeus' order of classification) to develop their understanding of newly discovered species.
The children have investigated the features of living things through classification keys, further developing their understanding of the natural world around them. This will support their learning in Biology when they move on to secondary school in September.
Book Week 2025
Book week is one of our favourite weeks of the year - a chance to explore different text types and to celebrate all things reading.
This year our theme was graphic novels and comics and we were lucky enough to be able to work with author - Steve Webb - who spent time talking to KS2 about the process of creating graphic novels.
The children really enjoyed seeing how Steve works through the steps: from character creation to story development and the drawing process that happens along the way.
Throughout the week, the children took part in a range of activities including: learning how to draw comic book style characters, creating their own characters for a graphic novel, exploring onomatopoeia and how it is used in graphic novels and they even had the chance to draw their own comic for a competition.
On Thursday (World Book Day), the children came to school dressed as characters from comic books or graphic novels and took part in a costume parade in the hall. The whole week was a huge success with the children inspired to expand their reading materials at home as well.
Creative Arts Week 2025
The first week back after the February half term was a very creative one for Team Bartons. We were lucky enough to have Darrell Wakelam in school. Darrell is an artist who creates 3d masterpieces out of cardboard. We were set the task of exploring different ways to create 3d effects; using the techniques that Darrell had shown the teachers during INSET training.
In Cedar class we began by exploring how to use slits, scoring and zips to create 3d masks and fish out of cardboard. We then took on a class project to recreate the gorilla from our class text. We also started to work on some group animal projects and will finish these in the summer term.
The children really enjoyed this week and some were really inspired to use the techniques they had learnt at home.
Visit from Alison Wright
As part of our work on celebrating diversity and recognising that we are all unique, Bartons welcomed Alison Wright from Look, Listen and Learn to the school to visit all of the classes.
Alison worked with the Year 6 on developing their understanding that being different doesn't mean you want to be treated differently.
She demonstrated how, even though she has shorter arms, she is able to still do all the same activities as everyone else. She talked to the children about how she drives, writes, carries out every day tasks like cooking and how she even competed in the Paralympic Games as a showjumper.
The children then had a go at writing their names using their feet. They really enjoyed her visit and definitely felt inspired by her.
Lunar New Year
Year 6 were excited to take part in a dance workshop to support their understanding of Lunar New Year. They learnt about the meaning behind it, the story of the Great Race and the different animals that took part.
They enjoyed discussing the different characteristics of the animals and thinking about ways in which you can bring those characters to life through dance.
Science Week 2025
Every January the whole school take part in a week of science learning, designed to spark curiosity, engage with scientific thinking and inspire a greater interest in STEM based learning.
Year 6 spent the week learning all about the Circulatory System. I was so impressed with their attitude towards their learning all week. The children asked fantastic questions, showed genuine interest in understanding how the circulatory system works and how this in term contributes towards our health.
The children explored their learning in lots of different ways, from enquiry based questions about the different parts of blood, to hands on and active learning when they became their own circulatory system.
The week finished with our annual science fair and the children really enjoyed showing off their learning to the rest of the school. We were also lucky to have a visit to the fair from one of our governors and our local MP.
Visit From The World's Tallest Basketball Player
On Wednesday 11th December, Bartons was very lucky to have a visit from the world's tallest basketball player - Paul Sturgess. He came to discuss how his differences have helped make him successful. He inspired the children in Year 6 to embrace the things that make them unique, a perfect message as they prepare for their transition to secondary school.
The children took part in some basketball drills with Paul and thoroughly enjoyed his visit.
Wellbeing Wednesday
Our wellbeing champions from KS2 ran some wellbeing workshops linked to anti-bullying week. It was fantastic to see the children so confident in presenting their information and activity to children across the whole school.
Bartons 10th Birthday
This half term we celebrated Bartons Primary School's 10th birthday. This was a really fun day and the children really enjoyed celebrating the day with some cake whilst completing some maths challenges and maths themed party games.
Maths Week 2024 - The Crystal Maze
The second half of the autumn term always starts with one of our favourite weeks of the year - Maths Week.
This year we were really excited to use our whole school theme of The Crystal Maze to explore maths challenges linked to ancient civilizations. In year 6, we explored ancient fractions, properties of pyramids and ancient number systems.
The children explored their maths learning with enthusiasm all week and it was brilliant to see them soe engaged with the activities.
PGL Residential 2024
Last week Year 6 went on their annual residential to PGL in Osmington Bay. The children had a fantastic time taking part in a range of activities from archery, to abseiling, street-surfing to Jacob’s ladder. Throughout the week, the children demonstrated the full range of our Team Bartons skills and values. We were really impressed with their attitude towards all the activities, despite some rainy weather. They showed determination, resilience and independence.
Maths Investigation Day
For this year's Maths investigation day we explored different mathematical concepts linked to the Olympics. In Year 6, we looked at the how to read, measure and present different types of data and how to calculate the mean average.
The children were really enthusiastic all day and it was great to see so many different Maths themed outfits.
WWO - Save Fred
The children came back to school positive and ready for Year 6. During the first week, we developed our WWO skills by taking part in a range of activities including 'Save Fred'.
The children demonstrated brilliant communication, both verbal and non-verbal and worked well in their pairs.