Year 6

Welcome to Year 6

Welcome to Year 6! We would like to take this opportunity to say how excited we are about the new school year ahead. The children are about to start their last year at The Discovery School (and of their primary school education) and throughout their time in Year 6 they will be making many happy memories to take with them when they leave us. We have had a brilliant start to the year already and we are confident it's going to be a fantastic year!

Please click on the link below to access the Year 6 Meet the Teacher presentation:

Year 6 Meet the Teacher Presentation Sept 2023

What to expect in Year 6

Being in Year Six comes with a lot of responsibility; the children are expected to be role models and ambassadors for the school.  Year Six pupils are the children that the rest of the school look up to and the students that define our school vision and values.  As such, we expect exemplary behaviour from all the children in Year Six at all times during the day. These behaviours are shared and discussed with the children and are underpinned by our school values. 

Although there is a lot of hard work in Year Six, there are lots of things to look forward to as well, including fun and exciting topics, the PGL residential trip and the end of year production. 

Year 6 classes and staff

Galileo Class is located in Pavilion One, on the right-hand side as you come into the door.  Miss Stock is the class teacher and is supported by Mrs Higginson and Miss Bennett. This class was named after the famous scientist, polymath and astronomer Galileo Galilei. 

Winston Class is also located in Pavilion One, on the left-hand side as you come into the door.  Mrs Wilce-Cordner and Mrs Bates are the class teachers. They are supported by Mrs Garwood and Mrs Campbell. This class was named after the famous scientist Robert Winston (not Winston Churchill).

Turing Class is located in Pavilion Two, on the right-hand side. Mr Stannard and Mrs Patel and are the class teachers, and are supported by Mrs Tobin. The class was named after Alan Turing who was a mathematician and helped to crack the Enigma machine during WW2.

Should you need to contact any member of the Year 6 team, please use the following email addresses:

Mrs Wilce-Cordner: jwilce@discovery.kent.sch.uk

Mr Stannard: kstannard@discovery.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Patel: fpatel@discovery.kent.sch.uk

Mrs Bates: rbates@discovery.kent.sch.uk

Miss Stock: lstock@discovery.kent.sch.uk

PPA time and covered lessons

PPA time is time set aside for teachers, during their timetabled teaching day, to allow them to carry out planning, preparation and assessment activities. PPA time is covered each week by the Year 6 Teaching Assistants. The lessons are planned by the class teachers and delivered by a Teaching Assistant. PPA cover lessons in Year 6 take place every Wednesday afternoon and the subjects they will be teaching will change on a termly basis.

Secondary School Transfer and the Kent Test (11+)

Please see the information on the 'Transfer to Secondary School' page for current advice and information on the secondary school application process and the Kent Test (11+).

Weekly Timetable

You can download our Y6 timetables below. Please note that Computing is not included on the timetable as each Year Group has dedicated time to teach the Computing curriculum across the year.

Winston Class Timetable

Galileo Class Timetable

Turing Class Timetable

PE Days

Each class will have a weekly indoor and outdoor PE lesson. Please see below for which day your child's class will have these lessons:

Galileo Class: Indoor PE Monday pm and Outdoor PE Friday pm

Turing Class: Outdoor PE Tuesday pm and Indoor PE Friday pm

Winston Class: Outdoor PE Monday pm and Indoor PE Friday pm


Children are expected to come into school dressed in full, correct PE kit on their class PE day.  Please make sure children have the correct, named kit for lessons, especially a plain, warm, navy tracksuit and trainers for the colder weather. 

For indoor PE, children will need to have bare feet in the hall or bring in a pair of plimsolls. 

If children have their ears pierced, they will be expected to take out their earrings or cover them with medical tape for PE lessons, and please also make sure all long hair is tied up. 

General Reminders

Homework

In line with the school's Homework Policy, children in Year 6 are expected to complete homework tasks in English and Maths which should take approximately one hour. Daily reading is in addition to these tasks. A discussion with the class teacher will take place for any children who cannot complete the homework tasks, within the given timeframe, to enable them opportunities to access and complete the work set. Homework set revisits prior learning and supports children to consolidate and extend their current knowledge and understanding of the content taught in recent lessons. 

This year, we will continue to use online systems for setting and monitoring homework in Year 6 - these include Reading Plus and SATs Companion. Each child has their own unique login for both platforms. Every Friday, the homework tasks will set on the previously mentioned platforms, and the children will have until the following Wednesday to complete these.  If your child is having difficulty accessing or completing the tasks set, please contact the class teacher to discuss this further.

Reading

Regular reading is of vital importance to support children's academic progress so please encourage your children to read as much as possible. We expect children to complete their set reading tasks (3 reads and 2 vocabulary from their dashboard) on the Reading Plus online platform both in school, but also where possible, at home.  In addition to the Reading Plus tasks, we would love children to read as much as possible for pleasure at home and at school. Library books, Reading Tree books, class book corner books or personal books are all accepted and welcome. 

Recommended Reading List to support your children's reading at home:

The Year 6 Curriculum

The curriculum at The Discovery School is based on enquiry; children are encouraged to ask and answer questions about their learning.  

Through our enquiry based learning approach, children will get the opportunities to experience a range of learning activities which will help to develop their knowledge and skills of the wider world. 

Year 6 Learning experience guarantees 2023 - 2024  

Throughout the year the children in Year 6 will be trying to discover the answers to these 'Questions for Discovery':

Term 1 and 2: What was the Home Front?

What was the Home Front Web of Discovery

English: key texts - The Little Ships (Louise Borden) Friend or Foe (Michael Morpurgo)

Writing genres: Diary writing, poetry, letters home, discussion, instructions.

Mathematics: number skills, place value, calculations (written methods), fractions, decimals, percentages and ratio.

  • History - Aspects of British History during World War 2
  • Geography - Understanding and creating maps/ using grid references
  • Music - WW2 Composers and War-time songs
  • Art - Artist study - Michael Foreman: War images in watercolour
  • DT - 'Make do and mend' - VE Day
  • Science - Light/ Electricity (periscopes and Morse Code machines)
  • Computing - Block Coding/understanding the internet/Internet safety/checking the reliability of sources online 
  • PSHE - Diversity/Choices and Consequences in society
  • RE - What does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain today?
  • PE - Outdoor: Invasion games Indoor: Gymnastics
  • French - Le Weekend!
  • Educational Visits - Horton Kirby WW2 Time Travellers trip

Term 3: How powerful is the earth?

Extreme-earth-topic-web.pdf

English: Non-fiction information texts about Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Instructional and explanation texts.  Survival stories and Michael Morpurgo's 'King of the Cloud Forests'.

Mathematics: Fractions, decimals and percentages, algebra, ratio and proportion, scaling, measures, area, perimeter and volume.

  • Geography - Physical geography and World map work (Earthquakes and Volcanoes)
  • Science - Amazing Humans: understanding/ describing the main functions of the human circulatory system
  • Computing- Internet safety, checking the reliability of sources online and exploring apps
  • PSHE - E-safety/ staying safe online/ how to be a responsible digital citizen
  • PE - Rugby and dance
  • RE - Is it better to express your religion in arts and architecture or in charity and generosity?
  • Music - composition based on natural disasters. The inter-related dimensions of music/ playing and performing together: 'Happy'
  • French - Les vetements (clothing) et Ma journee (talking about daily routines)

 

Term 4 and 5: Who were the Ancient Maya?

English: Key texts - Mayan myths. Extended narrative, descriptive diaries, formal letters and persuasive writing.

Mathematics: Measures, geometry, statistics and revision in preparation for SATs.

  • History - The Mayan civilisation, including culture, reliability of sources, comparisons with other cultures
  • Geography - Compare UK with Central America (Mexico), Physical and human characteristics of Central America.
  • Science - Evolution and inheritance/ Living things and their habitats
  • RE - What do religions say to us when life gets hard?
  • Art - artist study - Nikki Farquharson
  • Computing- Internet safety, checking the reliability of sources online and exploring apps/ Programming and coding using Scratch
  • PE - Tennis, multi-skills
  • PSHE - Strategies for coping with the pressure of school e.g. SATs/ strategies for coping with mood changes, beneficial and harmful substances
  • Music - The inter-related dimensions of music/ composing, playing and performing - 'Music at Malling' festival
  • French - Ma journee (talking about daily routines) et Les transports (talking about forms of transport)
  • Educational experiences - 'Ancient Mayan Day'

 

Term 6: What makes a successful entrepreneur?

English: Biographies, playscripts, drama, oral presentations, persuasion and character monologues

Mathematics: finance, spreadsheets, event planning, using a calculator, mathematical investigations

  • History - Continuation with the Mayan civilisation, including culture, reliability of sources, comparisons with other cultures
  • Geography - Continue comparing UK with Central America (Mexico), Physical and human characteristics of Central America.
  • DT  - market research and design linked to Young Enterprise
  • PE - Athletics and cricket/ rounders
  • PSHE - relationships, sex education, living in the wider world, careers talks and mental health
  • Music - performing together - Y6 production
  • Computing - Spreadsheets, multimedia presentations
  • Educational visits - PGL residential
  • Science - Continuation of Evolution and inheritance/ Living things and their habitats

Curriculum Resources


Y5/6 Common exception word list

SPaG Glossary for parents

Reading Plus

To support the children in reading this year, we are continuing with the exciting Reading Plus online programme. Reading Plus targets the children's fluency and comprehension, directly improving their reading skills. As a result, we hope that the children will become quicker, more efficient readers.

Reading Plus has a variety of texts for the children to choose from and their progress can be monitored by school staff. This is an amazing benefit, as it means that we can see if the children are reading regularly and offer support where needed. The texts and comprehension questions are tailored for each child, making this accessible for everyone!

Reading Plus can be accessed on: https://student.readingplus.com/seereader/api/sec/login#

Our school's site code is: rpthedi2

SPaG.com

Following on from previous success, Year 6 will be using SPaG.com to aide the children in learning Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar. This website is enjoyable for the children and we have found it to be highly effective. SPaG.com homework will be set by the class teacher alongside regular homework. 

Provision  Maps

Please click here to access the whole school provision map outlining all the interventions taking place in the school. If you have questions about any of the provision that is taking place for your child, please ask your child's class teacher.

Initial PGL Presentation for June, 2024

Dear parents / carers, please find below a link to the slides that we shared at the initial PGL presentation talk. Hopefully, the slides will help you and your child to make an informed decision about the residential in June, 2024.

PGL Initial Presentation to Parents - October, 2023

If you do have any questions or queries about the trip, please email or book an appointment with a member of the Year 6 team.