Year 6

What’s New In Year 6?

Each and every year at Catton Grove is an exciting new adventure. Year 6 is certainly no different! Read on to learn more about our SATs week, School Residential and Musical experiences! This page will also provide some clarity on what the expected standard is at the end of Year 6.

Year 6 Staff Team

SATs

The Standard Assessment Tests (otherwise known as SATs) check pupils’ knowledge of the National Curriculum. The tests are compulsory for Year 6 students and are used to assess pupils against age-related expectations. Some secondary schools may use Year 6 SATs results to determine what set a child will be assigned to in Year 7.

In Year 6, the SATs week is in May. This means that pupils will have almost all of the academic year to prepare for their SATs. We will ensure that pupils are prepared for this week through regular revision and SATS specific activities. Furthermore, pupils will have plenty of opportunities to familiarise themselves with previous SATs papers and the types of questions they will see during SATs week. We will also run extra booster sessions during school time to support pupils who need an extra little push to achieve their potential.

Over the course of SATs week, children in Year 6 take six different papers. These are spread across the week, with children taking a maximum of two tests per day. We will also ensure that the week is as relaxing as possible for the pupils by providing them with healthy snacks and regular breaks.

• English SPaG Paper 1 (Short Answer Questions)
• English SPaG Paper 2 (Spelling Test)
• English Reading Paper
• Mathematics Arithmetic (Paper 1)
• Mathematics Reasoning (Paper 2)
• Mathematics Reasoning (Paper 3)

CGP Books and Homework

In order to help prepare the pupils for their SATs, we have invested in 3 CGP study books for each pupil to have.

• Arithmetic Books
• Reading Book
• SPAG Book

Each pupil will receive their own copy and will be set a specific task from the books to complete at home. Each book will be given out at separate points in the year in order to manage pupil workload. This will provide you with a good understanding of what pupils have been learning in their lessons at school.

Pupils will also be given the opportunity to come in once a week before school in order to ask about the questions they have come across. The books will be marked by the pupils in class.

We use Times Table Rockstars often at school to help lock these important facts in our memory. If children are able to, we recommend playing for 5-10 minutes each day at home to help. Your children will each be given target times tables to work on - try to focus on these!

School Residential

As well as the SATS, Year 6 contains many other exciting challenges and opportunities to develop skill. In June, the Year 6 pupils will have the amazing opportunity to be part of the school residential trip. We will be visiting Caythorpe Court in Lincolnshire. We have chosen this location as it is packed full of adventure activities on land and water. From high ropes to the giant swing, each challenge will help pupils reach further and achieve more. Pupils will be staying in chalet-style tents with proper beds! All activity sessions are led by  well trained, enthusiastic instructors and are specially designed to motivate, build confidence and encourage development in pupils.

Musical School Performance

One of the defining moments of Year 6 is the end of year musical, which gives the pupils the opportunity to hone their drama, singing, dancing and design skills. The sense of creating something together as a whole year group provides a sense of unity and team spirit. Previous performances (Oliver, Mary Poppins, Lion King, School of Rock and Shrek) have been a huge success thanks to the hard work of pupils and staff. Similar to the previous years, we are very confident that this year’s performance will also provide pupils with special lasting memories before going up to high school.

Example Timetable

Our week is packed full of important and exciting lessons. Here is an example timetable of what our week looks like in terms of subjects and length of time studying. Please note each class has a slightly different timetable and sometimes there are changes that happen within the week. This is just to show a general overview of what our week may look like.

End of Year Expectations

Staff and pupils work hard to ensure that each child is making great progress from their starting point. Here are some examples of what the expected standard looks like for pupils at the end of Year 6.

Maths: Children will be expected to understand and recall key knowledge such as this and apply it in a range of unfamiliar problems. In Year 6, children will explore: Place Value, Addition & Subtraction, Multiplication & Division, Fractions, Decimals, Percentages, Ratio, Algebra, Geometry, Statistics and Measurement .
Reading: Children will be taught to read and comprehend a range of text types. This is just a snapshot of a text children would be expected to read and an example of a comprehension question to be answered.

Writing: Pupils will write for a wide range of purposes and audiences including: biographies, explanation writing, stories, journals. setting descriptions and persuasive speeches. They will apply their growing knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and text structure to their writing and develop their planning, drafting and editing skills.

Pupils will be also using a writing framework to ensure that they are including the necessary punctuation and grammar into their work.

Year 6 Curriculum Overview