Dear Year 6 Parents and Guardians,                                               

 

Welcome to the second half of the spring term! Hopefully you have a good half term break and are all ready and eager to come back and get to work. The spring term is such an important one in Year 6, as we gear up towards SATs, not to mention London.

 

Our topic for this half term is based around South Americal and its rainforests. We are going to be doing a lot of focussed work on reading, grammar and maths, as well as continuing to develop our writing skills. We are going to have ‘science Fridays’ from now until half term, to ensure that we manage to cover the Year 6 science curriculum in good time. PE will remain on Wednesday and Thursdays, as well as any clubs that they need to be in PE kit for. With children being more independent around going home, please let myself, Ms Jenkins or Mr Bain know if they are not planning on attending a club, so that we can be certain of the safety of your children at the end of the day.

 

SATs

 

SATs are ‘Standardised Assessment Tests’ administered by the government to measure schools. Children are typically assessed though teacher assessment, moving to secondary school. They will take place in the week of the 9^th of May. It is not typical for secondary schools to look too much at SATs data, as often, they, as we do, see it as a ‘snapshot’ of a child’s ability, not always a full picture. Therefore, we encourage children not to worry or stress too much about them. That said, the school is judged on our SATs results. Regardless of people’s opinions on this, it means that we hope that the children in Year 6 do as well as they can. This means that we are going to have some extra adults to help ‘boost’ children’s confidence, in the assessed subjects (reading, writing, spelling in English and arithmetic and reasoning and problem solving in maths). I will also offer some early morning sessions, to help with confidence and to give some children a chance for some small group time to go over practice questions and any areas they may have questions about.

 

Many of you have asked about homework in the past and the school has a homework policy, mainly around enriching learning in the classroom, reading and arithmetic. For Year 6, in this term and the beginning of the summer term, I will be offering small SATs packs for children to have a go at while at home. These packs can then be completed and marked in school, where we can help give children more support with any areas that they need. The school day is tightly packed, so I would suggest that the best time to support children would be in the mornings, before school. I’ve designed a timetable for children to come in at 8.15am (or there abouts) to have an extra chance to work on these packs or get support with them (while also having access to a kettle and toaster, if that takes their fancy? No coffee, thoughJ). I’ve tried to arrange them in social groups, for the most part – I’ll send each group out to you and children in the next few days. If you would like a particular day, then please do get in touch.

 

London

 

I’m sure that it has not escaped your attention that our London residential is fast approaching. At this time, there is no guidance to suggest that it should not go ahead. We are going to suggest a few measures that we should take to keep us as safe as possible while in London and, hopefully, virus free, as we return home.

• Children should take a lateral flow test in the week before, day before and morning of travelling to London, to minimise the chance that we take something up with us or become ill while up there.
• Children should bring disposable face masks to wear in crowded areas, such as the tube. This isn’t compulsory, but might help prevent picking up a London variant while we are up there. All adults will be wearing facemasks in accordance with PHE guidance. Any more open areas or spaces will not require masks unless children wish to wear them.
• We will wash hands and sanitise regularly
• Mr Towe has made sure that his schedule is ‘clear’ (or as clear as it can be) to enable him to collect any children who might need to come home during those 3 days, to enable the rest of the group to remain in London.

 

I want to assure you that are continuously thinking about and evolving our risk assessment for London and want to manage the risk in such a way as to minimise its impact on our trip.

 

I would like to propose a meeting about London, next week on Tuesday 18^th January at 5pm in the hall. Myself and Mrs Cook (who is also coming with us) will be there, as well as a few of the other adults going. By then, the itinerary and cost will be 95% confirmed, so we can talk about what the children will see and experience, as well as give you a chance to ask any questions you might have. If you cannot make the meeting, I will host a Zoom meeting for those who cannot be there in person.

 

I’m hugely excited for London, not to mention this half term. Here’s looking forward to another successful few weeks. Please get in touch if you need anything or have any questions and stay healthy! Your kind messages and Christmas cards and so on really made a difference to me, so very heartfelt and person thank you for that too.

 

I remain grateful for your continued support.

 

 

Tom Lumby