Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back to a new academic year! I hope that you and your families have had a restful break over the holidays.

It is an absolute delight and privilege to be teaching your children in Year 6. Very naturally, there can be mixed feelings and a sense of trepidation when beginning a new academic year and meeting a new teacher; however, year 6 really does have so much to offer and there are lots of exciting times ahead, including (but not limited to) the following:

• The London residential
• Running the Pupil Parliament
• Having a common room for the children at break and lunchtimes
• Sitting on benches in assembly!
• Being the oldest children, and therefore role-models for the rest of the school
• The Year 6 Production
• Leavers’ events
• Secondary school visits and transition days

It is my aim that your child’s final year at Stoke Climsland will be an enjoyable and exciting one that will enable them to transfer to secondary school feeling happy, successful, prepared and confident. I will post details, updates (and polite requests!) throughout the year using Class Dojo; however, if there are any specific questions that you may have at any point, or you have any concerns or important information pertaining to your child, please don’t hesitate in sending me a message on Class Dojo or emailing me at dharris@stoke-climsland.cornwall.sch.uk.

Please note that PE will be held on Mondays with Mr Bain and on Fridays with myself, starting from next week.

I very much look forward to meeting you all in person as the year progresses!

This term’s learning

Our project focus this half term is all about the Amazon. We will be learning all about the following:

• More than half of the world's species of plants and animals are found in the rainforests.
• The Amazon jungle is the world's largest tropical rainforest (2,100,000 square miles). The forest covers the basin of the Amazon, the world's second longest river.
• There are two different types of rainforests: temperate and tropical.
• The average temperature for the Amazon rainforest range between 18 and 22.4° C or 64 and 73°F.
• The Amazon Rainforest is located in the continent of South America.
• The Amazon Rainforest spans across the countries of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname and French Guiana.
• The trees of the Amazon Rainforest produce more than 20% of the world’s oxygen.1 in 10 of all know plant and animal species on the planet live in the Amazon rainforest.
• The Amazon can receive up to 430 inches of rain per year.

For additional subject-specific detail about this half-term’s curriculum, please see the separate project map, which will follow shortly.

KS2 SATs

Our aim is to prepare the children for these tests in a way that is helpful but does not put undue pressure on them. These are important, but not the be all and end all, and certainly not the focus for the year. A SATS information evening will be arranged at a later date to be confirmed. For this academic year, the key stage 2 tests are timetabled from Monday 11 May to Thursday 14 May 2026. Please avoid booking holidays or other events during this week.

Supporting your child at home

Reading is possibly the single-most important activity your child can do to improve achievement in school, across a range of curriculum subjects. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between regular reading for pleasure and mental wellbeing. Please encourage your child to read for a minimum of 20 minutes (ideally half an hour) at least 5 times a week. Please make sure that you listen to your child read and/or discuss what they are reading.

Practising Times Tables. The importance of knowing these and being able to recall them rapidly cannot be overstated. Secure knowledge of the times tables facts (and the related division facts) up to 12 x 12 underpins the majority of the Year 6 Maths curriculum, and working on these can really boost progress. If your child if not yet confident with their times tables, please support them in learning and practicing them.

Each child has a personal login for Times Tables Rockstars and I would highly recommend regular practice using this website. Please follow the following link to log in.

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student

Please also encourage your child to make use of ‘real world’ Maths. Encourage them to use their mental maths to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers in everyday life; discuss weights and measures when cooking and ensure your child is confident at telling the time.

Encourage and involve your child in age-appropriate discussions on current affairs and issues that appear in the news.

Allergies

As I’m sure you are well aware, we have several children within our school with a nut allergy, so please remember that, according to school policy, no nuts or products containing nuts should be brought into school at any time. To help keep these children safe, please note the following:

a) Avoid giving children nuts or nut products in their packed lunches

b) Avoid giving nuts or nut products or snacks/bars containing nuts for break time snacks

c) Avoid supplying the school with cakes or food items containing nuts for birthday celebrations, sales or events

d) Avoid sending containers such as cereal boxes for DT / Art lessons into school which may have contained produce made with nuts

Thank you for your support

With kind regards,

Miss Donna Harris