Year 6 - Magpie Class

Welcome to Year 6 Magpie Class​

Class Teacher: Mr Chappell

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Dwyer and Miss Warrener

 

Welcome back to Term 2

An exciting term, with the lead up to Christmas, our winter class party celebration and, of course, the final term in our mobile classrooms.

                                                     

In English we will be writing to inform by writing a set of instructions for survival in the wilderness, inspired by our continued reading of 'The Girl Who Speaks Bear'. The children will be using prepositions, relative clauses, imperative verbs and modal verbs. Later in the term, we will be writing to entertain, where we have the opportunity to write a dialogue for the film 'The Snowman'. This will involve developing the skills of inverted commas and reported clauses. Our year 6 writing consists of vital skills that we need to practice and master throughout the year, preparing us for the writing challenges throughout our education.

In Reading, we will continue to follow the story of Yanka and her journey through the Snow Forest to discover her true identity and her destiny in 'The Girl Who Speaks Bear'. Our focus will continue to be around our fluency, class-based discussions and our comprehension skills. We will also be looking at other comprehension reading texts to support us with the skills of inference, retrieval, recall and our vocabulary knowledge. I will also be monitoring our home reading this term. We have also now secured a reading volunteer, Mr Peregrine Swann, who I have had the pleasure of reading with before. He loves hearing children read, so please ensure you have your reading records and books in school every day.

This term, our enquiry will focus on our science topic of circuits, batteries and switches. This links in well with our previous geography topic, talking about sustainable energy. We will be developing our knowledge of circuits, the effects of changing voltage and how switches contribute to different devices. With our new school being built, we have tapped into the expertise of the electricians who have also arranged to provide us with the schematics of the electrical setup in our new school. This will help us understand how electrical circuits are drawn.

 

In maths, we continue to work in our new groups, further developing our number skills with the four operations and later moving onto fractions. With over 70% of the year 6 SATS paper focusing on number-based knowledge questions, mastering these skills and having an effective strategy to use and apply to solve the problem is important.

Forest School and PE Days

              

This term there is a change to Forest School. Magpie class will not be attending forest school this term and will instead ask Woodpecker class to attend. In the future, it will work with some children going for the first three weeks and the rest of the class will be going the following three weeks of term. This will prove better for the children as there will be less up there at a time, and I will be able to complete targeted work back in class with smaller groups of children.

PE is an important part of our weekly routine, and we ask that children come to school prepared and ready for their sport lessons each week. We have now decided as a school that on PE day, the children can attend in their PE kits. There will be no need to get changed. However, the children are welcome to change and freshen up after these sessions.

We’ll be taking part in Netball sessions led by the Team Theme group — a great opportunity to build teamwork, fitness, and confidence.

• Earrings must be removed/covered for health and safety.

• Long hair should be tied back.

• Children may bring deodorant or body spray for personal hygiene (roll-on only).

                             

All children have access to their TTRockstars accounts to practise timetables regularly. We’ve also introduced a new platform called Twinkl Learner, which can be accessed both at school and at home. It’s packed with learning games, challenges, and opportunities to practise weekly spellings and maths skills in a fun and engaging way.

Please support us by encouraging your child to use these accounts at home to reinforce their learning. If you’re unsure of any login details or need help accessing the platform, just let me know — I’ll be happy to assist.

Every child will have a home reading record and is expected to read frequently throughout the week. Reading records should be in school every day, so adults can check progress and listen to children read during the week.

We’ve updated how we use Dojo points and Merits to celebrate positive behaviour and learning achievements.

Each pupil will begin the term with 0 dojo points and aim to reach 30. Once they hit this target, they’ll earn a prize from the class prize box — then their points will reset, ready for the next challenge!

Children can earn merits for:

• Demonstrating school values

• Exceptional work in class

• Receiving the weekly Star Award

• Other learning achievements

Once they collect 12 merits, they can trade them in for a gold coin to use in the school book vending machine — a brilliant way to reward reading and effort.

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You’re welcome to speak with me or a member of the class team — we’re always happy to help. We’re available before and after school, or you can message me via Class Dojo to arrange a meeting.

We’re looking forward to continuing this amazing Year 6 journey with you and your child — full of growth, curiosity, and memorable moments.

The Year 6 Magpie Class Team

The Term 2 vocabulary sheets below will help you to know more about what your child will be learning this term. 

Teachers can be contacted via Class Dojo if you have any questions or queries regarding home learning. 

Please click here to access extra phonics, reading and spelling resources.

Please click here to access links to other useful home learning resources published online.

If you are unsure of any log-in details, please contact the teacher through Class Dojo or email office@pilgrims-way.kent.sch.uk