Year 6 Blog

We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing Easter break. We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for the Summer 1st half term and the beginning of their final full term at Yardley Primary School. As always, it’s going to be a busy half term but we also hope an extremely enjoyable and memorable one. There are many things coming up to look forward to; read on to find out more.

SATs will take place the week beginning Monday 13th May. We will be using the three weeks prior to revise and practise key skills in Reading, Writing and Maths. The children have all made fantastic progress in their learning this year and this is their opportunity to demonstrate all the knowledge they have gained during their time at Yardley Primary School. We have had many conversations with the children around worry and stress this year surrounding these tests and the importance of sharing these with adults. If your child has any concerns, please speak to any of the Year 6 team as we would be more than happy to support.

We will be coming to the end of our History topic on significant figures and unheard stories and moving on to our next D&T Topic: Pulleys and Gears. 

In Science, we will continue with our learning in our new topic: Electricity. We will continue to conduct investigations using electrical components, learn more about drawing circuit diagrams as well as understand and use relevant terminology to explain our findings. 

In Computing, we will be looking at web design using Microsoft Sway, as well as continuing to learn about Digital Safety and how to use the internet responsibly as part of our transition to secondary school. 

In PE, we will spending our time outdoors doing Athletics and Rounders. We will be practising our Athletic skills in preparation for Sports Day later in the year. In Rounders, we will be further developing our team skills as well as throwing, catching, batting and fielding. 

On the days of P.E. lessons or after school sports clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates - use the buttons below.

The latest 'Learning At Home’ pack is available to download using the button below.  You can also visit our Learning Hub using the button below.

We also encourage the use of websites such as Times Table Rockstars.

As we head towards the warmer weather, please ensure children put sun cream on before school, have a water bottle with them every day and a sun hat if possible. 

Thank you for your continued support.

The Year 6 Team.

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Don’t forget to follow our classes on Twitter.  Click a button below to find your child's class on Twitter.

We have reached the end of yet another term. It feels like the year is racing away and it won't be long before the children leave for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have been focusing on speech punctuation, narrative writing and writing a balanced argument about renewable and non-renewable fuels. In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts and have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and answering 3 mark questions.    

Our Maths focus has continued to be on securing arithmetic skills as well as developing reasoning and problem solving. In particular, we have been looking at shape and space including measuring and drawing angles, area and perimeter, and properties of 2D and 3D shapes.  

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at shadows, how light travels and reflection. We have also conducted comparative investigations such as the effect on shadows and light caused by different materials.   

In Art we have been learning about different sculpture techniques before producing our own ‘memory art’ about our time in primary school.  

In PE, 6H have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Netball. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to not running with the ball (this has been a challenge). 

Computing has seen a continued focus on coding and programming using Micro;Bits 

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

We have reached the end of another half term and again it has flown by!

We have finished reading Letters from the Lighthouse and really enjoyed learning more about life for children and evacuees during World War 2. We also read A Street Dog Named Pup, by Gill Lewis, which we absolutely loved. In our writing, we have had the opportunity to write narratives, including and ending and a prequel to two short films. 

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including Leisure, Harry Potter and Alice in Wonderland to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skill, focusing on supporting impressions with evidence.  

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at reflection and refraction in more depth and even had the chance to visit the light dome. We have also seen how these concepts can be observed all around us in every-day life, such as how refraction can create a rainbow when the light from the sun is bent through water droplets when it rains.  

We have completed an Art topic on sculpture, creating ‘memory museums‘, that represent our memories of primary school. We are now beginning a History topic on significant people from the past.

In PE, we have been practising our netball skills, though the weather has seen us have to take more of a focus on passing and teamwork indoors. We have had the chance to practise shooting and apply our skills to some team games before moving on to our next topic, Tennis. 

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school and many of us have been completing the weekly revision pack to help support our learning.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Mr Lloyd

It’s that time again! I can’t believe we have reached the end of another half-term. As always, the year seems to be flying by and it is hard to believe we only have Summer Term left before you leave us for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have been writing standalone pieces based on short clips we have watched. We were able to write an ending to a story called ‘The Lighthouse’, where we as authors, decided the fate of a ship coming into land! The last piece we wrote was a scary tale based on a clip called ‘Francis’. The children enjoyed using language to develop their writing and immerse the reader. Our final piece is a non-fiction text about whether we should use renewable energy sources. We are using our knowledge from our last Geography topic to help write it. I can’t wait to read the finished pieces. 

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including Harry Potter, Lockwood and Co and The Nowhere Emporium. We are focusing our skills on understanding language and vocabulary, as well as thinking about what impressions we have of characters. 

In Maths, we have made so much progress with our arithmetic skills and are continually scoring highly on the weekly arithmetic tests in preparation for SATs in May. We have also covered several of the other areas in the Maths curriculum including fractions, decimals and percentages, shape and measures (converting units and reading different units). Alongside this, we have been further developing our reasoning and problem solving skills. 

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at how light travels and how shadows are formed. We have conducted several investigations to prove and disprove this, as well as looking at how light travels through different materials. We will be finishing this topic before the Easter break and then we will be moving on to Electricity. 

Our topics this term have included Art and History. In Art, we focused on sculptures, looking at artists and their creations. We then used our memories and experiences from our time in Primary School to create our own relief sculptures, as well as memory boxes. We have recently started the History topic, analysing bank notes and considering historical figures and their significance. 

In PE, we have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Netball and Tennis. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to passing and not moving with the ball. In tennis, we have used our hand-eye coordination skills. Towards the end of the term, we have enjoyed participating in an inter-house tournament. 

As always, I am so proud of the resilience and determination that each and every one of you in 6P demonstrates on a daily basis. You have already made so much progress and it has been a pleasure to see how far you have already come. I am looking forward to the final term with you all! 

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Miss Potter.

Spring 2 is over already and it’s the Easter holidays; just one more term to go in Year 6! We have been busy as always trying to get lots done.

In English, we have created some great narratives- building suspense and excitement with our vocabulary choices and use of punctuation. The use of more advanced punctuation is becoming more secure in our writing, which is fabulous to see. Towards the end of the term we used our Geography knowledge to discuss the use of different energy sources, considering the advantages and disadvantages. 

In Maths, we have continued to keep our arithmetic skills going by doing a bit each day. Keep learning those times tables- the more fluent you are the easier it will become. Our understanding of decimals has really improved, as has our ability to multiply and divide by 10, 100, 1000. Also, we have looked at percentages and have started looking at some aspects of shape.

In Art, we used cardboard and clay to make sculptures, using our memories of our time at Yardley as inspiration.  Then we made memory boxes to celebrate our ideas.

In History, we have looked at some significant people and researched their life stories. Looking at all kinds of different sources, including pictures and historical extracts we have been identifying why they are significant.

During Science, we have been finding out about light and we were lucky enough to experience a light show in the Explorer dome. We have investigated reflections and shadows and used our increasing scientific understanding to plan, carry out, record and interpret a variety of different investigations.

In P.E. we have challenged ourselves with some great netball matches and are developing our ball control in tennis.

Hello everyone!  We hope you have had a wonderful half term break and a well-deserved rest.  We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for Spring 2 and a brilliant five weeks of learning.  We know it’s going to be a busy half term but also a hard-working and rewarding one. There’s lots coming up and much to look forward to; read on to find out all about it. 

During ‘Yardley Loves Reading’ time and in Reading lessons, we will be finishing reading of our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse. Since starting Year 6, the children have progressed and established a good understanding of retrieval, inference, summarising and vocabulary, which we aim to embed this half term. The children will have the opportunity to access and analyse other standalone texts: poetry, extracts from fiction texts and non-fiction texts such as biographies and reports.  

In our English lessons, we will continue to look at a variety of different genres and use links from the curriculum to inspire our writing. The children will be encouraged to independently write and showcase their fantastic knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling, aimed at an appropriate audience.  

In Maths lessons, the children will develop their arithmetic fluency by completing a weekly assessment.  We will be actively encouraging them to increase their confidence and pace.  We will introduce the children to properties of shape, transformations, measurements, time, data handling and coordinates. In addition, we will be teaching the children to understand different types of mathematical vocabulary in order to successfully pursue reasoning and problem solving type questions.  

This half term we will be starting a new Art topic, Making Memories. Pupils learn to create expressive sculptures and reflect on artistic decisions. Children will learn to represent memories through Art, using various materials and techniques, and develop skills in planning, creating and evaluating 3D sculptures.

In Science, we will continue with our Light topic before moving onto learning about Electricity.  We will be doing lots of experiments with circuits, learning about the purpose of a battery and will be analysing electricity usage at home and around school.  

In Computing, we will be moving on to using Micro:bits to practice our coding skills.

In PE, we will be spending the first part of the half term developing our netball skills. The children will work on their ball handling skills and will work in a team to use the pitch effectively to score points. We will then move onto tennis - practising the different strokes and building rallies.

On the days of P.E. lessons or after school sports clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers.  As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Outdoor Learning sessions. 

If you haven't booked an appointment already, we would like to invite you to attend our Parents Evenings, taking place on the following dates:

• Wednesday 6th March 3.40pm - 6.50pm

• Thursday 7th March 3.40pm - 5.30pm

Click here for further information and to book.

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates - use the buttons below.

The latest 'Learning At Home’ pack is available to download using the button below.  You can also visit our Learning Hub using the button below.

We also encourage the use of websites such as Times Table Rockstars.

Follow us on Twitter!

Don’t forget to follow our classes on Twitter.  Click a button below to find your child's class on Twitter.

Half term already? It only feels like a few weeks ago we were celebrating Christmas!

It has been yet another busy half term with lots of fantastic work taking place. 

In English we have been writing a narrative based on the short animation ‘Alma’. This involved using figurative devices to make our writing more descriptive and engaging. We have also been focusing on speech punctuation and using dialogue to develop characters and advance the action.    

Our Reading lessons have focused on developing our ability to answer different types of comprehension questions including: retrieval, inference, vocabulary and summarising. We have also been reading the excellent ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. We are thoroughly enjoying learning about evacuees and about life during World War II through this text.   

In Maths we have been working on fractions, decimals and percentages. We have also continued to consolidate the four operations, practising our arithmetic skills on a weekly basis.  

We have been working very hard in our DT topics this half term. We have been designing our own protective cases, including drawing exploded diagrams and making prototypes. Our challenge has been to make a functioning holder for a phone or tablet using fabrics and different sewing techniques.

In Science, we have finished our topic on ‘Inheritance and Evolution’. We have now moved onto learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines and recapped how shadows are formed. 

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term.  

Mr Haigh

We have packed a lot into a short half term!

We have begun reading Letters from the Lighthouse this half term as our class text and are thoroughly enjoying learning more about life during World War II through this book, as well as a range of other texts, including non-fiction and poetry. We have also had the opportunity to write a narrative based on the short film, Alma.

In Maths we have been building on the number and arithmetic skills covered so far, learning about fractions, decimals and percentages and how these are interlinked.

We have completed our new D&T topic on textiles, using our sewing skills to design and make a functional case for a piece of technology. We have begun learning and making use of many new sewing skills using a needle and thread. We then moved on to looking at energy as part of our Geography lessons, learning about different types of renewable and non-renewable energy. 

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye and how they enable us to see. We have conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests using mirrors and torches, investigating reflection and how we can increase the number of reflections we can see.

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term, 6L.

Well, we are officially half-way through your final year at Yardley Primary! The year really is flying by! 

In Maths, we are continuing to work our way through the curriculum and I have been really impressed with the progress made by the children. They now have a secure understanding of number, place value and the four operations. They are also becoming much more confident with fractions, decimals and percentages. We are seeing some great progress in our weekly arithmetic tests and I am so proud of the resilience and determination shown by all children. 

In English, I was very impressed with the stories written about Alma. The children used lovely language and created suspense through vocabulary choices. We are now using more grammar and punctuation 

In Science we have enjoyed starting our new topic on ‘Light’. We have already learnt that light travels in straight lines and have put it to the test! We really enjoyed our visit to the Explorer Dome and learnt even more about the wonders of light. 

Our foundation topic has gone really well and we have thoroughly enjoyed making our own cover for a piece of technology. Our sewing skills have definitely been put to the test and we have enjoyed learning new stitches and problem solving! As well as this, we have enjoyed our new Energy topic in Geography and were even able to get to do some fieldwork around solar panels and where these would be most beneficial on our school site.  

I hope you all have a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing you next half term for what will be another short but busy half term in the run up to SATs! 

Enjoy the well-earned rest! 

Miss P

This half term has been such a short one; however, we have covered lots of different aspects of the curriculum.

In English, we have had a narrative focus using the short film; Alma as inspiration. We looked at how to build suspense and use dramatic descriptions in our own versions. We have also looked at speech punctuation. We have practised using “” and associated punctuation accurately, and also how to use dialogue to convey character and advance the action.

In Maths, we have been using fractions in calculations – adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. During Maths, we have continued to recall our times tables and reinforce our understanding of basic skills, multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1000 and using the four operations.

In Science, we have continued to looked at how plants and animals are adapted to their environments and how these help these organisms be successful. 

In D.T., we designed, created and evaluated cases to protect a piece of technology. During this topic, we had to use our sewing skills and create an exploded diagram to show our design. 

In Geography, we have been looking at how energy is created and used in the U.K. We have also looked at the benefits and drawbacks of each type of energy.

Have a lovely break and come back ready for another busy half term.

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to as we start the Spring Term. 

In English, we will be moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. The story is set during The Blitz in the Second World War and we will also have the opportunity to learn about the history of Britain, through new vocabulary and first-hand accounts of what life was like at this time. We will have the opportunity to write descriptions, newspaper reports and diary entries. Our GPS lessons will also continue, where we will focus on perfecting our grammar and punctuation knowledge. 

In Maths, we will be focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages. We will be calculating using the four operations and converting between them. As well as this, we will be looking at shape, with a focus on calculating, drawing and measuring angles.

In Science, we will finish our Evolution topic and start our new topic of Light. We will be learning about how light travels, reflection and refraction, as well as shadows, natural and man-made light sources and how our eyes function. We are also lucky enough to have a visit from the ‘Explorer Dome’, where will be able to investigate light even further. 

Our next foundation topic is Design and Technology, which will have a sewing focus. We will be designing and creating a functional cover for an item of technology. After this, we will be moving onto Geography, where will be looking at a new topic all about ‘Energy’. We will be looking at renewable and non-renewable energy, how we generate it and weighing up the positives and negatives of this. Within this topic, we will have another opportunity to conduct some fieldwork on the school site. 

In PE, our focus will be Hockey and Archery. We will develop a range of individual and team skills such as communication and hand-eye-coordination, and learn different techniques applicable to both sports. 

On the days of P.E. lessons or after school sports clubs, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here. Please ensure that they still have a warm, waterproof coat for lunch and play times on these days too.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Forest School will continue as usual this half term. The sessions are as follows:

• 6P and 6H – Friday

• 6W – Tuesday 

• 6L – Wednesday 

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Forest School sessions. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates - use the buttons below.

The latest 'Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download soon using the button below.  You can also visit our Learning Hub using the button below.

We also encourage the use of websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Children have requested additional opportunities to practise test style questions before they sit the SATs tests in May. Therefore, starting on Friday 26th January, all Year 6 children will be receiving weekly revision tasks to complete at home, including Maths, Reading and/or GPS (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling) practice questions.

The revision packs will be given out on a Friday and should be returned to school on the following Wednesday. Although completing the work is not compulsory, please encourage your child to complete the tasks as this will really help them to prepare for the tests and increase their confidence. Finished packs need to be returned in time for the class to review the questions on Wednesdays.

If you have any questions about this, please see one of us.

Please also look out for the email and Twitter updates regarding our SATs parent workshop. We would love to see as many of you there as possible. It is a wonderful opportunity to work with your child and see the expectations around SATs. 

Please remember, we are also here at the end of the school day if you wish to discuss anything with us. Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another great half term. 

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Don’t forget to follow our classes on Twitter.  Click a button below to find your child's class on Twitter.

It’s Christmas already! This term has been packed with interesting activities and lots of incredible work.

In English, we have been reading the novel Holes and have used this to inspire some great writing. We have written some amazing instructions, with lots of clever details and interesting points. We have also created informal letters and diary entries where pupils have shown their empathy with the main character, Stanley. Lots of pupils have shown progress in their writing.

In Maths, we have continued to develop our written methods of the four operations and are now looking at fractions.

In Science, we have been looking at how animals have evolved over time and the characteristics that can be inherited by offspring.

In Art, we have looked at a variety of different artists and their varying styles. These have included modern contemporary artists, abstract artists as well some more traditional styles. Pupils used these styles to inspire their own art work. We were also extremely fortunate to have a visit from Mr Thacker, who showed pupils how to create a page for a graphic novel, with great success.

In History, we have looked at the information that we can find out about the local area using censuses from the past. Pupils were able to find lots of interesting information as well infer ideas about people from the past.

We have also had the opportunity to learn new skills whilst visiting Brighouse and had the chance to visit Cockshut, to watch a great performance.

Well done 6W, you have worked extremely hard this term. Enjoy your rest this holiday. Happy New Year and I’ll see you on January 8th 2024.

So, we’ve made it to the end of this term – the last Autumn term at Yardley Primary School. The whole term has flown by. I can’t believe we’re almost into 2024. I would like to express how well the children have settled into Year 6 and the maturity and hard work they have shown.  

In English, we have been reading the fantastic book ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. The children have been enjoying this quirky text and we have used it as a stimulus for our writing including writing a letter and an instructional text.  The children have had to show empathy with the main character and consider his feelings and emotions at different points of the story. I have seen progress in all of their work and have been impressed with their willingness to act upon feedback to improve their writing.

Our Maths focus has been working with fractions including: equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, calculating with fractions and converting mixed numbers and improper fractions. The children have quickly realised how important it is that they have a sound understanding of times tables, factors and multiples. 

In Science, we have been learning all about ‘Evolution and Inheritance’. We have had lots of interesting conversations about what we inherit from our parents, Charles Darwin and ‘The Theory of Evolution’, and animal adaptations. It has led us to question why animals and plants have the features they do and how these may have evolved.

In Art, we have been looking at the artwork of David Hockney, Paula Rego, John Singer Sargent and Fiona Rae.  Our task was to incorporate their styles and techniques into our own piece of art.  

During our History lessons, we have been learning about the census and the knowledge about life in the past that we can gain from them. 

On top of all this, we have also been studying Computing, PE, RE, Music and Spanish!

As you can see, we have had a very packed half term and the children have worked really hard. The Christmas break is thoroughly deserved.

Have a great Christmas everyone. See you in 2024.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr Haigh.

What a busy half-term we have had!

We have nearly finished reading our class text: Holes, by Louis Sachar. We really enjoyed reading about Stanley and discovering the reason the real reason the boys had to dig a five-foot hole every day at Camp Green Lake. This half-term we have also had the opportunities to write a non-chronological report, a set of instructions and a winter poem.

In our Maths lessons, we have learned written methods for division before moving on to fractions, recapping and building upon our prior knowledge and making links between this and our division work. 

We have begun our new Science topic this half-term: Evolution and Inheritance. We have seen how animals have evolved and adapted over periods of millions of years, as well as discussing Darwin’s theory of evolution and our own evolution has humans. We have looked at inheritance and how genes pass on characteristics in animals and humans to their offspring. 

We have begun our History topic, looking at how we can use a census to make inferences about what life was like in the past. We also had the opportunity to visit Brighouse and take part in a range of fun activities. 

6L have continued to work extremely hard this half-term and it has been a pleasure to teach them every day. 

Have a fantastic Christmas all and a very happy New Year. See you when we return to school on the 8th of January 2024.

Mr Lloyd

Well, we come to the end of another year and what a busy one it has been!  

As always, 6P have made me proud with their hard work and maturity shown this term. They have adapted well to year 6 and continue to try their very best every day.  

In English, we have truly enjoyed reading Holes and it has been wonderful to witness moments of joy when reading the story. Linked to this, we have written some brilliant instructions about how to dig a hole. The children were very good at taking snippets from the book and including this in their own writing. We have also written some very clever poetry from the point of two people or objects. The children wowed me with their clever use of language and rhyme. 

In Maths, we have made huge amounts of progress in all aspects of number, but especially with fractions. We are developing our fluency skills really well and are getting much quicker at calculating numbers mentally. To aid our understanding of fractions, we have been using bar modelling and I am really proud of how quickly the children have taken to this and how useful it is. 

In our Science topic, we have enjoyed learning about how animals have evolved over time. We have built on our year 3 learning about fossils and how animals are adapted to their environment. We have particularly enjoyed the many investigations that have allowed us to collect and record data and draw conclusions. 

Our foundation subjects this half term have included Art, DT and History. In Art, we have been studying different artists and then creating our art work either in the style of one of the artists, or taking ideas from each artist. We were very lucky to have a workshop with our very own Mr Thacker, who taught us how to draw in the style of a graphic novelist. In DT, we spent the day cooking! We enjoyed a workshop with Mr Giles, who talked to us about seasonality. We then spent time tasting foods, researching and creating our own apple crumble. Lots of children enjoyed taking their crumble home and sharing it with their loved ones. In History, we have enjoyed using primary sources to find out about the past. We have looked at a range of census documents for areas within London and our own local area. We have used the information to learn about people and their lives. 

In PE, we have been working hard to build upon our fitness levels and have weekly circuits that included a range of different exercises. The children have enjoyed a variety of challenges and have pushed themselves to improve their own fitness. 

Well done 6P on a wonderful start to the academic year.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the well-earned rest. Happy New Year and I’ll see you in 2024! Miss P.

Welcome back to the second half of our Autumn term. We hope you had a relaxing half term break and are ready for the next part of our learning journey! We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to in the run up to Christmas. 

In English, we will be coming to the end of Point Blanc and moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Holes’ by Louis Sacher. This is a relatively new text in year 6 and we will be linking lots of our future writing with the story. We will be completing speaking and listening activities to support our writing and embedding some of our newly learnt GPS skills. In addition, our reading lessons will continue where we will analyse and engage with a variety of short texts and extracts to continue to develop our reading skills. We will continue to focus on retrieval and understanding of vocabulary. 

In Maths, we will still be using our place value knowledge but linking it with the four operations and written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be practising the long methods for multiplication and division and applying these to problems and worded questions. In addition to this, we will begin working through the fractions, decimals and percentages element of the Maths curriculum. To help with this, please continue to practise your times tables at home. Remember you can use Times Tables Rock Stars to help you. 

In Science, our new topic will be Evolution and Inheritance, where we will study how animals and humans have evolved over time. We will be looking at inheritance and genes and how we inherit features from our family members. We will be studying Charles Darwin and the research he conducted into evolution. 

As part of our foundation topics, we will have a special 'Artist in Residence' workshop to look forward to, as well as beginning a new D&T topic on designing and making a seasonal fruit crumble. 

In PE, our focus will be breakdancing and boxercise. We will be learning new moves and then working collaboratively to create routines in dance. In boxercise we will be focusing on cardio exercise, getting our bodies moving and hearts beating to keep fit. This will be lots of shorter, but more intense exercises.

Please remember to come to school in P.E. kit on your P.E. days. This consists of plain black/grey shorts (or leggings if required) and a plain white t-shirt. For outdoor P.E. lessons during cold weather, pupils should wear plain black/grey tracksuit bottoms (normal fit, not 'flared') or leggings. School sweatshirts/cardigans should be worn over P.E. t-shirts.  Full details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Outdoor Learning will also be continuing this half term. Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. Please, as soon as possible, send in wellies to be kept in school and a waterproof coat is also advisable. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates - use the buttons below.

The latest 'Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download soon using the button below.  You can also visit our Learning Hub using the button below.

We also encourage the use of websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Please remember we are also here at the end of the day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your support.

Follow us on Twitter!

Don’t forget to follow our classes on Twitter.  Click a button below to find your child's class on Twitter.

We’ve finally reached the end of Autumn 1 already. A long half term, but we can now look forward to the break. 

I just want to start saying how impressed I have been by the maturity and focus all the children have shown since our return, and how caring and supportive they have been of each other.

We’ve been working incredibly hard and the children have adapted well to the increasing level of pace and challenge as the term has progressed.   

In our English lessons, we have been reading the excellent ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz (the follow up to ‘Stormbreaker’ which they enjoyed in Year 5).  We have used the text as our stimulus for writing a character description, and formal and informal letters. We have also been focusing on extending our understanding of new vocabulary, as well as developing our comprehension retrieval and summarising skills.  

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. The children have remembered lots of the knowledge and understanding gained from previous year groups and have applied this well during lessons. However, times table fluency is a key target area for all children to focus on throughout the rest of this year.     

We have been learning all about the human body in our Science lessons. We have learned about the functions of the heart, blood, water and the circulatory system - learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have also considered living a healthy lifestyle, including the impact of diet, exercise, alcohol and drugs on our physical and mental health.   

In Art, we have been ‘Making My Voice’ by using mixed media and a range of techniques to create powerful artwork with a message. 

In Geography, we have been looking at populations around the world and the push and pull factors which encourage migration. We have also been looking at climate change and how we have impacted on it.   

Have a well-deserved rest everyone.

Mr Haigh

What a great start 6L have made to Year 6!

We have been reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz in our English lessons which has provided some excellent writing opportunities. We have written a character description and both a formal and informal letter, considering the audience and purpose of each. We have enjoyed becoming familiar with a range of new vocabulary which we have included in each piece. Next half-term we are moving on to reading ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. 

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition and Subtraction. We have revised and applied these methods to a range of arithmetic problems, making use of our own number sense to know when it is more appropriate to use a written method or a mental method.

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about the human body. We have learned about the functions of the heart and digestive system, learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have considered what we put into our bodies as part of a healthy diet, looking at food labels and nutritional values. We have learned about the function blood plays in our bodies, as well as the effects of drugs and alcohol.

In Art we have learned about expressive art, using a range of techniques and mixed media such as Chiaroscuro, meaning light and dark. In our Geography topic, we have looked at the global population, considering what factors effect populations, such as migration and climate change. 

Have a great half term and well-deserved rest. 

Mr Lloyd

Our first term is already over and what a busy one it has been! I am very impressed with how well 6P have settled into year 6 and the standard of their work so far.  

In English we have focused on formal and informal writing and have been writing letters linked to our text Point Blanc. Alongside this, we have been revisiting lots of previous learning from year 5 in grammar, punctuation and spelling. We have focused on the use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. We are now trying to embed these in our writing. Next term, we will be extending this to use apostrophes, commons, colons and semi-colons. Our reading lessons have been spent analysing and discussing several different types of texts. We have focused specifically on the skill of retrieval – finding specific answers in a text. Next half term, the text we will be enjoying is called ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.  

In Maths we have covered so many skills already but have focused specifically on Place Value and the number system. We have been working on developing our fluency skills and mental maths, improving our pace when calculating numbers mentally. In addition to this, we have worked on our written methods including long multiplication and a new method of long division.  

In Science, we have enjoyed learning about the body and the circulatory system. We are able to recall the main parts of the circulatory system, including the main parts of the heart and explain in detail how it works. We have conducted a few experiments that observed our heart rate and how different exercises can affect this. Next half term, we will be focusing on Evolution and Inheritance.  

In our foundation subjects, we have completed Art and Geography. In Art, we completed our topic where we developed our mark making skills using a range of different equipment such as sticks, cones and even spaghetti. We learnt a new 3D skill known as 'Chiaroscuro', which was all about light and dark. Our final piece brought all these skills together and I was really impressed with the talent and level of art work that 6P demonstrated. In Geography, we completed our topic about the world's population. We looked at what affects the population and factors for migration. We even squeezed in a quick field study where we conducted a survey about traffic around the perimeter of school and how this contributes to climate change. The children were very sensible when out and about and I'm looking forward to out next fieldwork in the Summer term. 

In PE we have been building our team skills and our gymnastics skills. We have refined our skills from year 5 and are now putting it ll together to create our own short performances.  

Thank you for all your hard work this half term and for the support from parents; we really appreciate it. Have a well-deserved half term break and I’ll see you for the next term in the run up to the Christmas holidays.

Our first half term is coming to an end, we have settled quickly into 6W with everyone working well together and already showing progress in lots of areas. 

We have started Point Blanc and used this as a source for different types of writing, including tackling a challenging formal letter. We have also worked on our punctuation and grammar and this will continue to be a focus. Another important focus has been our handwriting, which is another area we will continue to be aware of.

In Maths, we have tackled place value, looking at numbers up to 10 000 000 and started to look at the all-important 4 operations including our times tables.

We have shown our creative flair in Art and Design, where we have studied using different mark making techniques and how we can use symbols in our art to show things we enjoy, we also looked at some different Street Art methods. 

In Geography, we have looked at conditions that may affect population and the possible push and pull factors. We investigated how population affects our environment by carrying out a traffic survey.

In Science, we have studied the circulatory system, made blood, and investigated the structure and function of the heart. We have also considered what our bodies need to stay healthy. 

We have lots more to look forward to next half term. In D.T. we will be using seasonal fruit in some exciting cooking! In Science we will look at evolution and inheritance. Our Winter Disco and the Christmas Fayre will be just around the corner. 

It has been a lovely half term. Enjoy your break!

Mrs Wainwright

Welcome back to all our new, year 6 pupils. We hope you had a wonderful summer and a well-deserved break. We are very much looking forward to getting to know you this half term and working together over the next year. 

We have an exciting curriculum to teach this year and lots to look forward to. Please read on to find out what we are going to get up to this half term. 

In English, we will be reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz. This follows on from the Year 5 text, ‘Stormbreaker’. We will analysing the text, the characters and comparing the story to similar texts. We will also use this text as a stimulus for writing and our writing will focus on narratives, report writing and descriptive writing. Alongside this, we will have daily GPS lessons, which will focus on grammar, punctuation and spelling needed for the writing. 

In Maths, we will focus on place value and the four operations. Children will practise their basic skills and number knowledge to secure their understanding. There will also be a focus on fluency in arithmetic and times tables. 

In Science, our new topic will be ‘Animals, including humans’. This topic focuses on the human body, the heart and keeping healthy. There will be opportunities for investigative work and group work. 

We have begun our Art topic 'Make My Voice Heard', looking at expressive drawing techniques. We have begun our topic by looking at Mayan art. There will be opportunities to practise the skills shown in this style of art and create our own in the same style.

P.E. this half term is team building and street dance. Please remember to come to school in P.E. kit on your P.E. days. This consists of plain black/grey shorts (or leggings if required) and a plain white t-shirt. For outdoor P.E. lessons during cold weather, pupils should wear plain black/grey tracksuit bottoms (normal fit, not 'flared') or leggings. School sweatshirts/cardigans should be worn over P.E. t-shirts.  Full details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Outdoor Learning will also be continuing this year. Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. Please, as soon as possible, send in wellies to be kept in school and a waterproof coat is also advisable. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The latest ‘Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Please remember we are also here at the end of the day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you.

6P, what can I say other than how proud I am of you and how sad I am to see you go. What a year it has been! You have been incredible and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you. You have worked incredibly hard and I know you will all continue to achieve even more in the future. Thank you for being kind, funny, resilient, and so much more. You are all truly wonderful. I can’t wait to hear all about your next adventure at secondary school. They are lucky to have you. Have a well-deserved summer break and please come back and see us!

From Miss Potter

It is the end of Year 6 already. It has sped past. Pupils have worked incredibly hard and should be very proud of themselves. 

In English, we have continued to develop our writing styles using increasingly complex punctuation. We enjoyed completing our novel ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’. It was full of drama with many highs and lows.

In Maths, we have continued to work on our understanding of number including algebra. Pupils have grown more confident at drawing connections from different areas of Maths and using these to answer reasoning questions.

In Science, we have looked at how animals are classified into groups and how we use these to identify organisms.

In D.T, pupils used their skills to design and build an electrical vehicle, combining their previous skills of building structures and circuits. There were some excellent examples off sturdy vehicles that moved really well. We also enjoyed our visit to the British Motor Museum and got to see some incredible cars and even race some using remote controls. Some of us with more control than others.

In Geography, we carried out a local study where we looked at litter in our local environment. Pupils carried out surveys and identified where litter was a problem and also the type of rubbish that was found. They also decided how the problem could be improved.

Pupils have worked very hard on their Leavers’ production and are also looking forward to other special events such as the Leavers’ disco and park visit.

I wish 6W lots of success as they move onto their secondary schools.

So, here we are, the end of Year 6 and the children’s time at Yardley Primary School. I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.

It’s always an emotional time for the children with mixed feelings of both sadness and excitement. However, I am fully confident that each one of them is ready and prepared to start secondary school. 

Summer 2 is always a fun term where, as well as continuing with regular lessons, we focus on making happy memories and the transition to secondary school. The children have enjoyed extra play, a trip to the local park, a picnic on the school field, water play, a graduation ceremony, a leavers’ disco and of course our end of year performance. The children worked incredibly hard putting the show together. They have made me so proud with their motivation, confidence and enthusiasm. 

It is with sadness that I say goodbye to this class. They have been an absolute pleasure to teach. They are fun, hardworking, kind, caring and supportive of each other.  They have all grown in maturity and have made great progress. They have coped well with the pressures of SATs and all their hard work has been reflected in the great results achieved this year.  I am so proud of all them and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them all.

I would also like to say thank you to all the parents and carers for their support and understanding throughout the year. It makes such a difference and I am always grateful.  

Good luck in September 6H – not that you will need it. I will miss you all.

Have a great Summer break everyone!

What a brilliant year we’ve had together in 6L!

We have made many memories in this term alone and I will remember them fondly for years to come. 

We have enjoyed a visit to the park, a picnic on the field as well as a monumental water fight. I think the Year 6 teachers enjoyed it as much as the pupils did! 

Together with 6H, we have thrown ourselves into rehearsing our end of year production ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Mr Haigh and I have been blown away by your dedication and talents in both singing and acting. Some of you are natural performers and it has been an absolute joy to see you perform. 

Your attitudes to learning this year have been nothing short of fantastic. All pupils have faced several challenging and disrupted years but this has not hampered your enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge.

I hope you will remember your time at Yardley Primary School, and the year we have spent together as fondly as I will. 

I would like to wish all of our Year 6 pupils the very best of luck as they begin their next chapter and start secondary school in September. 

It has been a pleasure to teach 6L this year and I hope many of you will come back and let me know how you’re doing in the future.

Have a fantastic summer everyone.

Mr Lloyd

We hope you have had a wonderful break and a well-deserved rest. What a marvellous time we’ve had so far this year - we can’t quite believe that we’re saying hello to the last half term of the year. It’s been a fantastic year and we cannot wait to see what our final half term will bring. You’ve done us so proud thus far, and we’re sure that’ll continue to be the case going forward. 

We are beginning preparations for our end of year performance, holding auditions at the end of last half term. We look forward to perfecting our performances in Summer 2 and welcoming parents and carers to come and watch towards the end of the term. We shall spend lots of time rehearsing and we ask you kindly to help your pupils learn their lines and the song lyrics whilst at home.   

The pupils have learnt so many brilliant grammar, punctuation and spelling skills this year, in which we look forward to seeing displayed confidently in their written work. The pupils have blown us away with their fantastic knowledge pre-SATs, which we’re sure will be shown in their imaginative writing going forward. We’re looking forward to teaching the pupils how to write newspaper reports, flashbacks, and persuasive arguments– enabling them to showcase their fantastic knowledge in unique ways.  

In Maths, we’re going to be looking at algebra, ratio, pie charts and timetables. The pupils have already impressed us with their progress this year and it is inevitable that they will continue to do so going forward. Year 6 is a year group full of avid mathematicians and we look forward to seeing how they excel in the next few weeks. 

Our next class text will ‘Can You See Me?’ by Libby Scott and Rebecca Westcott, and will be having many a discussion based upon this brilliant text. The pupils will continue to engage with a wide-range of text such as poems and non-fiction texts.

In Science, we will be continuing our work on ‘Living things and their habitats’. Whilst introducing our new topic, the pupils seemed most interested - which was a lovely start. We will learn about animals and plants and how they survive in their environments.

In addition to the above, we will be starting a new Design and Technology topic; we will be making a motorised vehicle in teams of two. This is a very exciting concept, which the pupils are very much looking forward to! They will be able to pull apart a pre-made vehicle, see how it works, plan their own vehicle design and then make said design with their partner before evaluating it. We will also be going on an educational visit to Gaydon Motor Museum.

In PE, we will focus on Football and Basketball. The pupils will focus primarily on playing as part of a team and working together effectively. The pupils already know lots of the rules for these topics, so we’re looking forward to seeing many confident players in competitive games!

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

 In Computing, we shall be making websites on ‘Sway’. During the latter part of the previous half term, the pupils were able to explore Sway and have already showcased their fantastic understanding. We look forward to seeing their further progress during our last half term with the current Y6. We are sure their hobbies and interests will be portrayed during the design process!

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 2 Learning At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Another fast–paced half term, with lots of hard work taking place.  

The main focus has obviously been SATs. The children have shown great resilience and determination in ensuring they were fully prepared and able to show off all of the understanding they have gained throughout Key Stage 2. I am tremendously proud of all their efforts and I am confident this will be reflected well in the end of year results. 

In Maths, the children have continued practising their arithmetic skills as well as working on their problem solving and reasoning skills. Next half term, we will be consolidating our understanding in preparation for Year 7.

During English lessons, we have been securing our knowledge of GPS, whilst developing our understanding of using speech to convey action and dialogue and writing a newspaper reports. 

In Science, we have been exploring electricity including drawing circuits (using the correct symbols) and then making and testing circuits.  

In P.E. we have been developing skills in athletics and rounders.

During Art lessons, we have been learning about conveying emotions and identity through art.      

We’ve had a great end of term too, with some children having a fantastic time on the residential. Those who didn’t go, went off timetable to enjoy activities including Art, PE and Forest School.    

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term. 

Our half term together has once again flown by.

SATs are now complete and we have made it to the end of another half term. Every pupil has worked so hard and I am sure their excellent efforts and determination will be reflected in their results. 

Some of us have had the chance to take part in the residential trip to the Frank Chapman Centre in Bewdley. We had a fantastic time and have made many memories. I was extremely impressed with all of our pupils and their willingness to get stuck into every activity, such as tree climbing and catapult building. 

It has been great way to reward ourselves after putting so much into revising for the SATs.

We will now begin to look towards the end of the year, getting ready for making the transition to secondary school and beginning to rehearse for our end of year production.

Have a brilliant half term, 6L, and come back refreshed and ready for your final half term of primary school. 

Mr Lloyd

We come to the end of yet another half term! The year is racing by and yet again I am immensely proud of everything year 6 have achieved this half term. It has been a short one but as always a very busy one. We finally completed the SATs tests and I am so proud of the resilience and determination shown by each pupil. They tackled each test with confidence and a smile on their face. I know that their hard work will be reflected in their results when they are released at the end of the year. Many of us also enjoyed a great residential at the Frank Chapman Centre, where we completed a range of fun activities that pushed us out of our comfort zone. I know Mr Haigh and Mrs Wainwright were also proud of the children who stayed at school and enjoyed getting stuck into lots of exciting activities. 

We now head into what will be our final term at Yardley Primary School and I know it will be another jam-packed 7 weeks. We have productions, secondary school preparations, leaver’s assemblies and much more to prepare for. So, enjoy the half term and the well-deserved rest and I’ll see you on the 4th June!

Miss P :)

I know I keep saying it but this half term has certainly flown by. Pupils were great and showed fantastic resilience and determination during SATs. Their focus was a credit to them. They also showed great talent whilst auditioning for the Year 6 Leaver’s Production.

In English, we have continued to enjoy reading Good Night Mister Tom and have also produced more written work, which has continued to show their developing skills, including a diary entry and a more challenging newspaper article.

In Maths, we have continued to work on our understanding of fractions, decimals and percentages as well as looking at ratio problems. We have also looked at calculating areas of rectangles, triangles and rectilinear shapes and their perimeters. We have interpreted bar and line graphs and also pie charts.

In Science, we have continued to look at Electricity- making circuits, problem solving and carrying out a variety of practical investigations- to develop our planning skills. We have started to look at how animals are classified and the structures of these groups.

We have enjoyed making Music using clapping and different rhythms working in unison and cannon. 

In Art, we have produced some beautiful pieces of art with important messages and symbols to express our ideas.

Have a lovely half term- hopefully the sun will continue to shine.

We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing Easter break. We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for Summer 1 and the beginning of their final full term at Yardley Primary School. As always, it’s going to be a busy half term but we also hope an extremely enjoyable and memorable one. There are many things coming up to look forward to; read on to find out more.

SATs will take place the week beginning Monday 8th May. We will be using the three weeks prior to revise and practise key skills in Reading, Writing and Maths. The children have all made fantastic progress in their learning this year and this is their opportunity to demonstrate all the knowledge they have gained during their time at Yardley Primary School. We have had many conversations with the children around worry and stress this year surrounding these tests and the importance of sharing these with adults. If your child has any concerns, please speak to any of the Year 6 team as we would be more than happy to support.

We will be coming to the end of our Geography topic of North America, where we will consolidate everything that we have learned and answer our enquiry question. We will be starting our new Design and Technology topic, where we will be looking at pulleys and gears. We will be designing and building a racing car. 

In Science, we will continue with our learning in our new topic: Electricity. We will continue to conduct investigations using electrical components, learn more about drawing circuit diagrams as well as understand and use relevant terminology to explain our findings. 

In Computing, we will be completing our coding unit using the programme of Kodu and starting the topic of Binary, which will allow us to develop our coding skills even further. 

In PE, we will spending our time outdoors doing Athletics and Rounders. We will be practising our Athletic skills in preparation for Sports Day later in the year. In Rounders, we will be further developing our team skills as well as throwing, catching, batting and fielding. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

Forest School dates will be changing next half term, however letters will be sent out prior to this to keep you informed. Please also remember to check on Twitter as your class teacher will let you know when it is your Forest School week.  

We also have the Year 6 Residential at the Frank Chapman Centre to look forward to on Wednesday 24th - Friday 26th May. Details of this will have been communicated to parents of those attending. For those children staying in school, we have lots of fun activities planned to keep you busy so you don’t miss out either. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

As we head towards the warmer weather, please ensure children put sun cream on before school, have a water bottle with them every day and a sun hat if possible. 

Thank you for your continued support.

The Year 6 Team.

We have reached the end of yet another half-term. It feels like the year is racing away and it won't be long before the children leave for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we been writing a diary entry, poetry and editing and improving previous pieces of work. After finishing our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse, we have started reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London.  

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills, answering 3 mark questions and understanding a range of poetry.    

Our Maths focus has continued to be on securing arithmetic skills as well as developing reasoning and problem solving. In particular. We also been looking at shape, space and time including area, perimeter and volume, properties of 2D and 3D shapes, calculating time intervals and interpreting line graphs and pie charts.      

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at shadows, how light travels and reflection. We have also conducted comparative investigations such as the effect on shadows and light caused by different materials.   

In Geography we have been comparing Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs

In PE, 6H have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Netball. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to not running with the ball (this has been a challenge). 

Computing has seen a continued focus on coding. We have been using Kodu to create our own two player games. 

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

We have reached the end of another half term and again it has flown by!

This half term, we have been writing a diary entry based on our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse. We have just begun reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London. 

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and covered a range of poetry too.  

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at reflection and refraction in more depth and even had the chance to visit the light dome. We have also seen how these concepts can be observed all around us in every-day life, such as how refraction can create a rainbow when the light from the sun is bent through water droplets when it rains.  

We have begun our Geography topic, which has seen us begin to compare Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs and also undertaken a field study of the sounds we hear around local Birmingham and compared them with sounds recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.  

In PE, we have been practising our netball skills, though the weather has seen us have to take more of a focus on passing and teamwork indoors. We have had the chance to practise shooting and apply our skills to some team games before moving on to our next topic, Tennis. 

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Mr Lloyd

It’s that time again! I can’t believe we have reached the end of another half-term. As always, the year seems to be flying by and it is hard to believe we only have Summer Term left before you leave us for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have written some super poems using speech, questions and rhyme. We thought carefully about the structure and rhythm. We also worked really hard on a diary entry based on our book, Letters from the Lighthouse. As we have now finished that text, we have begun reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London. The children are thoroughly enjoying learning about the war experiences and empathising with the main characters. 

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and covered a range of poetry too.  

In Maths, we have made so much progress with our arithmetic skills and are continually scoring highly on the weekly arithmetic tests in preparation for SATs in May. We have also covered several of the other areas in the Maths curriculum including fractions, decimals and percentages, coordinates, graphs and measures (converting units and reading different units). Alongside this we have been further developing our reasoning and problem solving skills. 

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at how light travels and how shadows are formed. We have conducted several investigations to prove and disprove this as well as looking at how light travels through different materials. We have also recently started a new topic on Electricity, looking closely at series circuits and drawing circuits using scientific symbols. This will continue after half term. 

Our Geography topic this half term has allowed us to compare Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs. We have also used data to compare weather and the economy. We were also lucky enough to have the pictures from the Dyche picture collection, which we were able to analyse and talk about what we can learn about people who migrated to England. 

In PE, we have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Netball and Tennis. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to passing and not moving with the ball. In tennis, we have used our hand-eye coordination skills.  

As always, I am so proud of the resilience and determination that each and every one of you in 6P demonstrates on a daily basis. You have already made so much progress and it has been a pleasure to see how far you have already come. I am looking forward to the final term with you all! 

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Miss Potter.

It’s been a short but productive half term. It was lovely to be back to face to face parent’s evenings and great to be able to meet and chat about everyone’s progress. We also had a lovely Geography workshop with lots of activities reinforcing our understanding and knowledge.

In English, we have continued to challenge ourselves tackling a variety of different writing genres including diary entries. Pupils have shown increasing organisation and punctuation, as well as showing a real flair for poetry. We have now completed ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ and moved on to ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ as our class novel. 

In Maths, we have continued to work on written skills as well as looking at calculating percentages and developing greater understanding of coordinates and translations. We have also worked on our angles- measuring and calculating missing angles in a variety of shapes.

In Science, we had a fantastic visit from a light dome to help reinforce and build our understanding of how light travels and how it is reflected. We have also carried out lots of investigations to develop our practical skills.

In Geography, we have compared Birmingham U.K. and Birmingham U.S.A. identifying differences in populations as well as physical and human features. We have used graphs to compare climates.

  We also had a chance to revisit the Sampad Heritage project, identifying how the city of Birmingham has changed since the war.

  Hopefully the weather will settle down and we can have a lovely Easter break. Enjoy the rest and be ready to come back for another busy term.

Hello everyone!  We hope you have had a wonderful half term break and a well-deserved rest.  We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for Spring 2 and a brilliant five weeks of learning.  We know it’s going to be a busy half term but also a hard-working and rewarding one.  There’s lots coming up and much to look forward to; read on to find out all about it. 

During ‘Yardley Loves Reading’ time and in Reading lessons, we will be moving onto a new class text – ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ by Michelle Magorian.  Since starting Year 6, the children have progressed and established a good understanding of retrieval, inference, summarising and vocabulary, which we aim to embed this half term.  The children will have the opportunity to access and analyse other standalone texts such as: poetry, extracts from fiction texts and non-fiction texts such as biographies and reports.  

In our English lessons, we will continue to look at a variety of different genres and use links from the curriculum to inspire our writing. The children will be encouraged to independently write and showcase their fantastic knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling, aimed at an appropriate audience.  

In Maths lessons, the children will develop their arithmetic fluency by completing a weekly assessment.  We will be actively encouraging them to increase their confidence and pace.  We will introduce the children to properties of shape, transformations, measurements, time, data handling and coordinates.  In addition, we will be teaching the children to understand different types of mathematical vocabulary in order to successfully pursue reasoning and problem solving type questions.  

This half term we will be starting our Geography topic, we will be learning all about North America. We will discover how to read maps accurately and will learn lots of new geographical vocabulary such as latitude and longitude. We will be looking at biomes, climate, mountains and different locations within the area.  In addition, we will be learning about the cultures within North America and will be making comparisons between North America and the UK.  

In Science, we will continue with our Light topic before moving onto learning about electricity.  We will be doing lots of experiments with circuits, learning about the purpose of a battery and will be analysing electricity usage at home and around school.  

In Computing, we will be using Kodu to create competitive games and we will progress from using keyboards to controllers. 

In PE, we will be spending the first part of the half term developing our netball skills. The children will work on their ball handling skills and will work in a team to use the pitch effectively to score points. We will then move onto tennis- practising the different strokes and building rallies.

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

Forest School will continue as usual this half term.  6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6W will continue on alternate Thursday afternoons.  

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers.  As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Forest School sessions.  

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

If you haven't booked an appointment already, we would like to invite you to attend our Parents Evenings, taking place on the following dates:

• Wednesday 8th March 3.40pm - 6.50pm

• Thursday 9th March 3.40pm - 5.30pm

Click here for further information and to book.

The Book Fair will also be in school at the start of the half term. Pupils will have an opportunity to visit in class time and it will also be open after school.

Half term already? It only feels like a few weeks ago we were celebrating Christmas!

It has been yet another busy half term with lots of fantastic work taking place. 

In English we have started to show the progress we are making with several extended pieces of extended writing. We made links to our Ancient Greeks History topic through a balanced argument discussing whether it would have better to live in Athens or Sparta.  We have also written our own ghost stories, based upon a sinister tale called ‘The Hairy Hands’, looking at building fear and tension in our writing using different techniques.  

Our Reading lessons have focused on developing our ability to answer different types of comprehension questions including: retrieval, inference, vocabulary and summarising. We have also been reading the excellent ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. We are thoroughly enjoying learning about evacuees and about life during World War II through this text.   

In Maths we have been working on fractions, decimals and percentages, area, perimeter, volume angles, drawing shapes from given dimensions and recapping the properties of shapes. We have also continued to consolidate the four operations, practising our arithmetic skills on a weekly basis.  

We have been working very hard in our DT topics this half term. We have been designing our own protective cases, including drawing exploded diagrams and making prototypes. Our challenge has been to make a functioning holder for a phone or tablet using fabrics and different sewing techniques.

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye. We have also conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests. 

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term.  

Mr Haigh

In our English lessons, we have had the opportunity to write several extended pieces of writing. We written a balanced argument about the Ancient Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, as well as a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur. We have also written our ghost stories, based upon a sinister tale called ‘The Hairy Hands’, looking at building fear and tension in our writing using different techniques. 

We have been reading Letters from the Lighthouse this half term as our class text and are thoroughly enjoying learning more about life during World War II through this book, as well as a range of other texts, including non-fiction and war poetry,

In Maths we have been building on the number and arithmetic skills covered so far, learning about fractions, decimals and percentages and how these are interlinked.

We have recently moved on to our new D&T topic on textiles, using our sewing skills to design and make a functional case for a piece of technology. We have begun learning and making use of many new sewing skills using a needle and thread. 

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye and how they enable us to see. We have conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests using mirrors and torches, investigating reflection and how we can increase the number of reflections we can see.

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term, 6L.

Well, we are officially half-way through your final year at Yardley Primary! The year really is flying by! 

In Maths, we are continuing to work our way through the curriculum and I have been really impressed with the progress made by the children. They now have a secure understanding of number, place value and the four operations. They are also becoming much more confident with fractions and decimals and we will be linking this soon to percentages. This half term, we have also been looking at angles: measuring and drawing them and we have recently started to find missing angles on lines and in common 2d shapes. Next half term, we will be looking at shape more in-depth. 

In English, the children have impressed me again with their writing. We have been revisiting learning from other subjects and writing about the lifestyles of the Ancient Greeks and Spartans. We have also written a Greek Legend, using our knowledge of sentence types and vocabulary to build suspense. Lastly, our term has ended with writing a scary story based on a legend called ‘The Hairy Hands’. We have spent some time editing and re-drafting, continually trying to improve our writing and show off the skills that we are capable of. 

In Science we have enjoyed starting our new topic on ‘Light’. We have already learnt that light travels in straight lines and have put it to the test!

Our foundation topic has gone really well and we have thoroughly enjoyed making our own cover for a piece of technology. Our sewing skills have definitely been put to the test and we have enjoyed learning new stitches and problem solving! We will continue with our topic of North America after the half-term break. 

I hope you all have a wonderful break and I look forward to seeing you next half term for what will be a short but busy half term in the run up to SATs! 

Enjoy the well-earned rest! 

Miss P x

Another half term draws to an end; yet again it’s been a busy one.

We have produced some dramatic narrative writing in English: a Greek legend and our own version of the Hairy Hands Legend. Both produced writing with tension and description. Pupils also showed how hard they trying hard to also use more advanced punctuation for effect. We finished our class novel of Holes and are now enjoying reading Letters from the Lighthouse.

In Maths, we have worked hard on our understanding of fractions and using these in calculations. We have also looked measuring and drawing angles. As well as calculating missing angles on lines, in triangles and in quadrilaterals.

During Science, we have started our Light topic and are working hard to develop our working scientifically skills: planning, carrying out and displaying our own data. We have been finding out how light travels in straight lines and how shadows are made. We are looking forward to a visit from the Light Dome.

We have been busy creating our own protective cases in D.T using sewing skills and exploded diagrams to help create our ideas.

In P.E. we have developed our passing, dribbling and shooting skills in hockey. In archery, we have impressed with some sharp shooting.

It’s been a long half term, enjoy the break. We will see you for our Geography workshop and Parents Evening next half term.

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year.   We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to as we start the Spring Term. 

In English, we will be moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. The story is set during The Blitz in the Second World War and we will also have the opportunity to learn about the history of Britain in this time, through new vocabulary and first-hand accounts of what life was like at this time. We will have the opportunity to write descriptions, newspaper reports and diary entries. Our GPS lessons will also continue, where we will focus on perfecting our grammar and punctuation knowledge. 

In Maths, we will be focusing on fractions, decimals and percentages. We will be calculating fractions, decimals and percentages using the four operations and converting between them. As well as this, we will be consolidating written methods and linking those to reasoning and problem solving questions. 

In Science, our new topic will be Light. We will be learning about how light travels, reflection and refraction, as well as shadows, natural and man-made light sources and how our eyes function. We are also lucky enough to have a visit from the ‘Explorer Dome’, where will be able to investigate light even further. 

Our next foundation topic is Design and Technology, which will have a sewing focus. We will be designing and creating a functional cover for an item of technology. After this, we will be moving on to Geography where we will be looking at North America. We will be examining the physical geographical features, such as mountains, rivers, climate and terrain as well as the human features through map work and case studies. We will also observe changes that have occurred over time and compare and contrast North America with other locations around the world. 

In PE, our focus will be Hockey and Archery. We will develop a range of individual and team skills such as communication and hand-eye-coordination, and learn different techniques applicable to both sports. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils should come to school in their P.E. kit.  Details of kit required for P.E. can be found here.

Forest School will continue as usual this half term. 6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6W will continue on alternate Thursday afternoons. 

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Forest School sessions. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Please remember, we are also here at the end of the school day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another great half term. 

So, we’ve made it to the end of this term – the last Autumn term at Yardley Primary School. The whole term has flown by. I can’t believe we’re almost into 2023. I would like to express how well the children have settled into Year 6 and the maturity and hard work they have shown.

In English, we have been reading the fantastic book ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. The children have been enjoying this quirky text and we have used it as a stimulus for our writing including an information text and an instructional text.  The children have had to show empathy with the main character and consider his feelings and emotions at different points of the story. I have seen progress in all of their work and have been impressed with their willingness to act upon feedback to improve their writing.

Our Maths focus continued to be on written methods for the four operations. This has helped to secure understanding and enabled us to catch up from last year. We have now moved onto working with fractions including: equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, calculating with fractions and converting mixed numbers and improper fractions. The children have quickly realised how important it is that they have a sound understanding of times tables, factors and multiples. 

In Science, we have been learning all about ‘Evolution and Inheritance’. We have had lots of interesting conversations about the features inherit from our parents, Charles Darwin and ‘The Theory of Evolution’, and animal adaptations. It has led us to question why animals and plants have the features they do and how these may have evolved.

Our YPC topic this term has been all about ‘Ancient Greece’. This has included religion, architecture, monetary systems, the structure of towns and cities, wars and leisure activities. We have also discussed their impact on the modern world. 

On top of all this, we have also been studying Computing, PE, RE, Music and Spanish!

As you can see, we have had a very packed half term and the children have worked really hard. The Christmas break is thoroughly deserved.

Have a great Christmas everyone. See you in 2023.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr Haigh

What a busy half-term we have had!

We have nearly finished reading our class text: Holes, by Louis Sachar. We really enjoyed reading about Stanley and discovering the reason the real reason the boys had to dig a five-foot hole every day at Camp Green Lake. This half-term we have also had the opportunities to write a non-chronological report, a set of instructions and a winter poem.

In our Maths lessons, we have learned written methods for division before moving on to fractions, recapping and building upon our prior knowledge and making links between this and our division work. 

We have begun our new Science topic this half-term: Evolution and Inheritance. We have seen how animals have evolved and adapted over periods of millions of years, as well as discussing Darwin’s theory of evolution and our own evolution has humans. We have looked at inheritance and how genes pass on characteristics in animals and humans to their offspring. 

We have continued to study Ancient Greeks in our History topic, looking at the influence they have had upon the western world. We have compared what life was like in Athens and Sparta, looked at what artefacts and vases can tell us about what life was like then and learned that Ancient Greeks have given us lots of words we use today through studying etymology. 

6L have continued to work extremely hard this half-term and it has been a pleasure to teach them every day. 

Have a fantastic Christmas all and a very happy New Year. See you when we return to school on 3rd January.

Mr Lloyd

Well, we come to the end of another year and what a busy one it has been!  

As always, 6P have made me proud with their hard work and maturity shown this term. They have adapted well to year 6 and continue to try their very best every day.  

In English, we have truly enjoyed reading Holes and it has been wonderful to witness moments of joy when reading the story. Linked to this, we have written some brilliant instructions about how to dig a hole. The children were very good at taking snippets from the book and including them in their own writing. I also really enjoyed reading the non-fiction reports that explained how the circulatory system works. The children were able to draw upon their learning in Science and put into their own words.

In Maths, we have made huge amounts of progress in all aspects of number, but especially with fractions. We are developing our fluency skills really well and are getting much quicker at calculating numbers mentally. To aid our understanding of fractions, we have been using bar modelling and I am really proud of how quickly the children have taken to this and how useful it is. 

In our Science topic, we have enjoyed learning about how animals have evolved over time. We have built on our year 3 learning about fossils and how animals are adapted to their environment. We have particularly enjoyed the many investigations that have allowed us to collect and record data and draw conclusions. 

In History, we have been learning about the Ancient Greeks. We have looked at lots of primary and secondary sources to help draw conclusions about the impact of the Greeks on our world today. We have had some wonderful discussions and have learnt a lot about life in Ancient Greece. 

In PE, we have been working hard to build upon our fitness levels and have weekly circuits that included a range of different exercises. The children have enjoyed a variety of challenges and have pushed themselves to improve their own fitness. 

Well done 6P on a wonderful start to the academic year.  I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy the well-earned rest. Happy New Year and I’ll see you in 2023! Miss P x

It’s the end of another busy half term, we have been busy learning new skills and facts. We have been enjoying reading our class novel “Holes” and are looking forward to finding out what adventures Stanley gets up to.

In English, we have tackled lots of different genres of writing. I was very impressed with the class’s nonfiction writing. We have written about the circulatory system using our knowledge gained from Science. We also wrote detailed instructions for digging a hole, which linked to the book ‘Holes’.  Recently, we created some fantastic winter poems, using personification effectively.

In Maths, we have had a focus on calculating using fractions including: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We have also used our Maths starters to maintain our written methods and times table skills.

In Science, we got to look at a heart, which helped consolidate our understanding of the structure of it. We then moved on to evolution and inheritance looking at the variation and inheritance of offspring and how adaptations might make a species more successful.

In History, we have been finding out about the effect the Ancient Greek society had on the western world, and how we can use different sources of information to learn about societies from the past. We enjoyed looking at real Greek artefacts.

In Computing, we have been using spreadsheets to make calculations and using formulas to carry these out. 

During P.E. we have been improving our fitness using boxercise.

There’s lots more to enjoy next half term, including some sewing! Have a lovely holiday and enjoy the break.

Happy Christmas!

Welcome back to the second half of our Autumn term. We hope you had a relaxing half term break and are ready for the next part of our learning journey!

We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to in the run up to Christmas. 

In English, we will be coming to the end of Point Blanc and moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Holes’ by Louis Sacher. This is a relatively new text in year 6 and we will be linking lots of our future writing with the story. We will be completing speaking and listening activities to support our writing and embedding some of our newly learnt GPS skills. In addition, our reading lessons will continue where we will analyse and engage with a variety of short texts and extracts to continue to develop our reading skills. We will continue to focus on retrieval and understanding of vocabulary. 

In Maths, we will still be using our place value knowledge but linking it with the four operations and written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be practising the long methods for multiplication and division and applying these to problems and worded questions. In addition to this, we will begin working through the fractions, decimals and percentages element of the Maths curriculum. To help with this, please continue to practise your times tables at home. Remember you can use Times Tables Rock Stars to help you. 

In Science, our new topic will be Evolution, where we will study how animals and humans have evolved over time. We will be looking at inheritance and genes and how we inherit features from our family members. We will be studying Charles Darwin and the research he conducted into evolution. 

In our foundation subjects, our new topic will have a History focus and we will be learning all about the Ancient Greeks. This is a new topic to year 6 and will focus on Greek life and achievements and their influence on the western world. We will study life in Ancient Greece using primary and secondary sources, artefacts and stories that help us build a picture of what life was like and compare it to the western world. We will also be reading myths and legends and generating thoughts and ideas from these. As a treat after this topic, we will also get a special visit from Professor McGinty. 

In PE, our focus will be breakdancing and boxercise. We will be learning new moves and then working collaboratively to create routines in dance. In boxercise we will be focusing on cardio exercise, getting our bodies moving and hearts beating to keep fit. This will be lots of shorter, but more intense exercises. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

P.E. Kit reminder

On the days of P.E. lessons, pupils in Years 1-6 should come to school in their P.E. kit.

Indoor and outdoor P.E. lessons (during warm weather):

• Plain white t-shirt.

• Plain black/grey shorts (or leggings if required).

• Black pumps/plimsoles (slip-on or velcro) or appropriate trainers (suitable for sport, not fashion trainers).

Outdoor P.E. lessons (during cold weather):

• Plain white t-shirt.

• Plain black/grey tracksuit bottoms (normal fit, not 'flared') or leggings.

• School sweatshirts/cardigans to be worn over P.E. t-shirt.

The following items are not appropriate:

• Football (or other sports) kits or tops.

• Hoodies or non-school sweatshirts.

• Coloured t-shirts or t-shirts with slogans or pictures on.

• Coloured shorts or shorts with patterns or pictures on.

ALL P.E. KIT MUST BE LABELLED WITH YOUR CHILD'S NAME AND CLASS

Forest school will also be continuing this year. 6L and 6H will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6W will continue on alternate Thursday afternoons. 

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. As the weather is now getting much colder, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for forest school sessions. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Autumn 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Christmas Fayre

Yardley Fundraisers (our PTFA) are pleased to announce that our Christmas Fayre will return this year!  It will take place on Friday 2nd December 2022, 4.30pm-7.00pm.

Please visit our Christmas Fayre page here for full details of the event, including:

• Details of what to expect at our fayre

• Details of our ‘Bring a Donation’ non-uniform day

• Raffle and tombola donations

• Information for people interested in having a stall

Year 6 will be there with a stall, we hope to see you there too!

Please remember we are also here at the end of the school day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another great half term. 

We’ve reached the end of Autumn 1 already. How quickly has the time passed? 

I just want to start saying how impressed I have been by the maturity and focus all the children have shown since our return, and how caring and supportive they have been of each other.

We’ve been working incredibly hard and the children have adapted well to the increasing level of pace and challenge as the term has progressed.   

In our English lessons, we have been reading the excellent ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz (the follow up to ‘Stormbreaker’ which they enjoyed in Year 5).  We have used the text as our stimulus for writing a character description, and both formal and informal letters. We have also been focusing on extending our understanding of new vocabulary, as well as developing our comprehension retrieval and summarising skills.  Next half term, we are moving on to reading the amazing ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. 

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. The children have remembered lots of the knowledge and understanding gained from previous year groups and have applied this well during lessons. However, times table fluency is a key target area for all children to focus on throughout the rest of this year.     

We have been learning all about the human body in our Science lessons. We have learned about the functions of the heart, blood, water and the circulatory system - learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have also considered living a healthy lifestyle, including the impact of diet, exercise, alcohol and drugs on our physical and mental health.   

In Art, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist piece. 

In DT, we have been investigating seasonal food, which has including tasting and cooking our own soup recipes. 

We have also been to the Brighouse Centre where we took part in lots of brilliant outdoor activities.

Have a well-deserved rest everyone.

Mr Haigh

What a great start 6L have made to Year 6!

We have been reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz in our English lessons which has provided some excellent writing opportunities. We have written a character description and both a formal and informal letter, considering the audience and purpose of each. We have enjoyed becoming familiar with a range of new vocabulary which we have included in each piece. Next half-term we are moving on to reading ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. 

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition and Subtraction. We have revised and applied these methods to a range of arithmetic problems, making use of our own number sense to know when it is more appropriate to use a written method or a mental method.

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about the human body. We have learned about the functions of the heart and digestive system, learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have considered what we put into our bodies as part of a healthy diet, looking at food labels and nutritional values. We have learned about the function blood plays in our bodies, as well as the effects of drugs and alcohol.

In our Art topic, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist painting on canvas. We have also completed a D&T topic, designing and making our own healthy soup. We used fresh ingredients and a range of cooking skills to make them.

We are excited to go on our first trip of the year to Brighouse Centre where we are looking forward to taking part in lots of brilliant outdoor activities.

Have a great half-term everyone.

Mr Lloyd

Our first term is already over and what a busy one it has been! I am very impressed with how well 6P have settled into year 6 and the standard of their work so far.  

In English we have focused on formal and informal writing and have been writing letters linked to our text Point Blanc. Alongside this, we have been revisiting lots of previous learning from year 5 in grammar, punctuation and spelling. We have focused on the use of capital letters, full stops, question marks and exclamation marks. We are now trying to embed these in our writing. Next term, we will be extending this to use apostrophes, commons, colons and semi-colons. Our reading lessons have been spent analysing and discussing several different types of texts. We have focused specifically on the skill of retrieval – finding specific answers in a text. Next half term, the text we will be enjoying is called ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.  

In Maths we have covered so many skills already but have focused specifically on Place Value and the number system. We have been working on developing our fluency skills and mental maths, improving our pace when calculating numbers mentally. In addition to this, we have worked on our written methods including long multiplication and a new method of long division.  

In Science, we have enjoyed learning about the body and the circulatory system. We are able to recall the main parts of the circulatory system, including the main parts of the heart and explain in detail how it works. We have conducted a few experiments that observed our heart rate and how different exercises can affect this. Next half term, we will be focusing on Evolution and Inheritance.  

In our foundation subjects, we have completed Art and Design Technology. In Art we have been learning a new skill painting in the style of impressionists. This was a tricky skill, which we mastered by the end of the topic. Our Design topic was all about seasonal vegetables and we had great fun tasting soups and creating our very own! We learnt how to cut vegetables and cook to create our own carrot soup. Our topic next term is History based and focuses on the Ancient Greeks.  

In PE we have been building our team skills and our gymnastics skills. We have refined our skills from year 5 and are now putting it ll together to create our own short performances.  

Thank you for all your hard work this half term and for the support from parents; we really appreciate it. Have a well-deserved half term break and I’ll see you for the next term in the run up to the Christmas holidays.

Gosh this half term has flown by. We have settled quickly into 6W with everyone working well together. 

We have started Point Blanc and used this as a source for different types of writing. Including tackling a challenging formal letter. We have also worked on our punctuation and grammar and this will continue to be a focus. 

In Maths, we have tackled place value, looking at numbers up to 10 000 000 and studied some of the formal written methods we need to use in Year 6.

We have shown our creative flair in both Art and Design, where we have studied ‘The Impressionists’ and created some fantastic oil paintings on canvas.  In Design Technology, we celebrated Seasonal foods and tasted and created soups.

In Science, we have studied the circulatory system, made blood, and investigated the structure and function of the heart. We have also considered what our bodies need to stay healthy. 

We have lots more to look forward to next half term. In History, we are going to study the Ancient Greeks and in Science we will look at evolution and inheritance. Discos are back on the calendar and we also have a library visit in November.

It has been a lovely half term. Enjoy your break!

Welcome back to all our new, year 6 pupils. We hope you had a wonderful summer and a well-deserved break. We are very much looking forward to getting to know you this half term and working together over the next year. 

We have an exciting curriculum to teach this year and lots to look forward to. Please read on to find out what we are going to get up to this half term. 

In English, we will be reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horrowitz. This follows on from the year 5 text, ‘Stormbreaker’. We will analysing the text, the characters and comparing the story to similar texts. We will also use this text as a stimulus for writing and our writing will focus on narratives, report writing and descriptive writing. Alongside this, we will have daily GPS lessons, which will focus on grammar, punctuation and spelling needed for the writing. 

In Maths, we will focus on place value and the four operations. Children will practise their basic skills and number knowledge to secure their understanding. There will also be a focus on fluency in arithmetic and times tables. 

In Science, our new topic will be ‘Animals including humans’. This topic focuses on the human body, the heart and keeping healthy. There will be opportunities for investigative work and group work. 

In YPC, we will start with an art focus looking at impressionists. We will be studying the artists, ‘Monet’, ‘Cassatt’ and ‘Adam Ralston’. There will be opportunities to practise the skills shown in this style of art and create our own in the same style. We will then move onto Design and Technology, where we will focus on cooking. 

PE this half term is team building and street dance. Please remember to come to school in PE kit on your PE days. This consists of plain black/grey shorts (or leggings if required) and a plain white t-shirt. For outdoor P.E. lessons during cold weather, pupils should wear plain black/grey tracksuit bottoms (normal fit, not 'flared') or leggings. School sweatshirts/cardigans should be worn over P.E. t-shirts.

Also, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson. This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered. Children will need to do this themselves, teachers are not able to.

Forest school will also be continuing this year. Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. Please, as soon as possible, send in wellies to be kept in school and a waterproof coat is also advisable. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Autumn 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Please remember we are also here at the end of the day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you.

So, here we are, the end of Year 6 and the children’s time at Yardley Primary School. I can’t believe how fast the year has gone.

It’s an emotional time for the children with mixed feelings of both sadness and excitement. However, I am fully confident that each one of them is ready and prepared to start secondary school. 

Summer 2 is always a fun term where, as well as continuing with regular lessons, we focus on making happy memories and the transition to secondary school. The children have enjoyed extra play, a trip to the local park, a picnic on the school field, water play, a graduation ceremony, a leavers’ disco and of course our end of year performance. The children worked incredibly hard putting the show together (our first in 2 years) and it was so great to be able to have parents back into the school to watch the performances. The children made me so proud with their motivation, confidence and enthusiasm. They truly did put on ‘The Greatest Show’.

It is with sadness that I say goodbye to this class. They have been an absolute pleasure to teach. They are fun, hardworking, kind, caring and  supportive of each other.  They have all grown in maturity and have made great progress. They have coped well with the pressures of SATs and all their hard work has been reflected in the fantastic results achieved this year.  I am so proud of all them and have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the parents and carers for their support and understanding throughout the year. It makes such a difference and I am always grateful.  

Good luck in September 6H – not that you will need it. I will miss you all.

Have a great Summer break everyone!

Take care and stay safe.

Mr Haigh

"What a year we’ve had together in 6L!

We have made many memories in this term alone and I will remember them fondly for years to come. 

We have enjoyed a visit to the park, a picnic on the field as well as a monumental water fight. I think the Year 6 teachers enjoyed it as much as the pupils did! 

Together with 6H, we have thrown ourselves into rehearsing our end of year production ‘The Greatest Show’. Mr Haigh and I have been blown away by your dedication and talents in both singing and acting. Some of you are natural performers and it has been an absolute joy to see you perform. 

Your attitudes to learning this year have been nothing short of fantastic. All pupils have faced several challenging and disrupted years but this has not hampered your enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge.

I hope you will remember your time at Yardley Primary School, and the year we have spent together as fondly as I will. 

I would like to wish all of our Year 6 pupils the very best of luck as they begin their next chapter and start secondary school in September. 

It has been a pleasure to teach 6L this year and I hope many of you will come back and let me know how you’re doing in the future.

Have a fantastic summer everyone.

Mr Lloyd

6NP, what can I say other than how proud I am of you and how sad I am to see you go. What a year it has been! You have been incredible and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each and every one of you. You have worked incredibly hard and I know you will all continue to achieve even more in the future. Thank you for being kind, funny, resilient, and so much more. You are all truly wonderful. I can’t wait to hear all about your next adventure at secondary school. They are lucky to have you. Have a well-deserved summer break and please come back and see us!

Love Miss Potter

Wow – I can’t quite believe we have come to the end of the year! I am feeling rather emotional to be saying goodbye to what has been a wonderful bunch of children. What a delightful year it has been; full of hard-work, fun and enormous amounts of progression. The children should be extremely proud of their achievements this year.

In English, we have enjoyed publishing many of our favourite pieces of writing throughout the course of the year. We’ve worked hard to edit and enhance our work, ensuring high levels of grammar, punctuation and vocabulary choices are used throughout. The children have enjoyed doing this and it has been lovely to see the pride they have for their work and progress.

We’ve spent lots of time this half-term rehearsing for our end of year performance – ‘The Greatest Show’. 6P joined with 6NP to deliver what can only be described as a fantastic, professional production to parents and other year groups. A lot of hard work was involved and the children slowly but surely increased their confidence whilst playing their roles and as a result, sang, danced and performed beautifully. Miss Potter and I are so proud of them and we hope ‘The Greatest Show’ is a fond memory in which the children and adults who watched it will treasure forever.

6P – please remember what a fantastic year you have had and I hope you have many fantastic memories of this year, like I have! You have been a fantastic class, full of wonderful characters, whom I’ll remember forever! Best of luck for the future, you’re all going to be amazing.

Come back and visit! :-)

Miss Perkins x 

Hello Y6! We hope you have had a wonderful break and a well-deserved rest. What a marvellous time we’ve had so far this year - we can’t quite believe that we’re saying hello to the last half term of the year. It’s been a brilliant year and we cannot wait to see what the last few weeks bring. You’ve done us so proud thus far, and we’re sure that’ll continue to be the case going forward. 

Towards the end of last half term, the children were grouped into classes (6H and 6L, 6P and 6NP) and were given their roles for our end of year performance – ‘The Greatest Show’. All four teachers commented upon how well the children embraced their roles and are giving their all to their characters. We look forward to perfecting our performances in Summer 2 and welcoming parents and carers to come and watch towards the end of the term. We shall spend lots of time rehearsing and we ask you kindly to help your children learn their lines and the song lyrics whilst at home.   

In English, we intend to focus solely on writing. The children have learnt so many brilliant grammar, punctuation and spelling skills this year, in which we look forward to seeing displayed confidently in their work. The children have blown us away with their fantastic knowledge pre-SATs, which we’re sure will be shown in their imaginative writing going forward. We’re looking forward to teaching the children how to write newspaper reports, flashbacks, and persuasive arguments– enabling them to showcase their fantastic knowledge in unique ways.  

In Maths, we’re going to be looking at algebra, ratio, pie charts and timetables. The children have already impressed us with their progress this year and it is inevitable that they will continue to going forward. Y6 is a year group full of avid mathematicians and we look forward to seeing how they excel in the next few weeks. 

In Reading, we’re continuing to read ‘Can You See Me?’ and will be having many a discussion based upon this brilliant text. So far, the children have had many enlightening things to say about this text and we look forward to seeing how they respond as we read the text further. The children will also be shown many alternative texts such as poems, non-fiction texts and reports, in which we will discuss in detail via reciprocal reading.  

In Science, we will be continuing our work on ‘Living things and their habitats’. Whilst introducing our new topic, the children seemed most interested - which was a lovely start. We will learn about animals and plants and how they survive in their environments.

In addition to the above, we will be starting a new Design and Technology topic; we will be making a motorised vehicle in teams of two. This is a very exciting concept, which the children are very much looking forward to! They will be able to pull apart a pre-made vehicle, see how it works, plan their own vehicle design and then make said design with their partner before evaluating it.  

In PE, we will focus on rounders. The children will focus primarily on playing as part of a team and working together effectively. The children already know lots of the rules in rounders, so we’re looking forward to seeing many confident players in competitive games!

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

 In Computing, we shall be making websites on ‘Sway’. During the latter part of the previous half term, the children were able to explore Sway and have already showcased their fantastic understanding. We look forward to seeing their further progress during our last half term with the current Y6. We are sure their hobbies and interests will be portrayed during the design process!

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

Here’s to a magnificent Summer 2… we’re sure each moment is going to be memorable! 

Thank you for reading.

From the Year 6 team x

A short half term this one, but one with lots of hard work taking place.  

The main focus has obviously been SATs. The children have shown great resilience and determination in ensuring they were fully prepared and able to show off all of the understanding they have gained throughout Key Stage 2. I am tremendously proud of all their efforts and I am confident this will be reflected well in the end of year results. 

In Maths, the children have continued practising their arithmetic skills as well as working on their problem solving and reasoning skills. Next half term, we will look in more detail at areas including algebra, data handling, shape and multi-step problems.

During English lessons, we have been securing our knowledge of GPS, whilst finishing off our narrative based on the short film ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors.’

In Science, we have been exploring electricity, including drawing circuits (using the correct symbols) and then making and testing circuits.  

In P.E. we have been developing our strength and stamina through Boxercise and circuit training.

During Y.P.C lessons, we have been learning about the artwork of Banksy and have created our own artwork using his techniques.     

We’ve had a great end of term too, with some children having a fantastic time on the residential. Those who didn’t go, learnt all about the Commonwealth Games and took part in our own Yardley Primary School Games.  

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term.  

SATs are now complete and we have made it to the end of another half term. Every pupil has worked so hard and I am sure their excellent efforts and determination will be reflected in their results. 

We took part in the residential trip to the Frank Chapman Centre in Bewdley. We had a fantastic time and have made many memories. I was extremely impressed with all of our pupils and their willingness to get stuck into every activity, such as tree climbing and catapult building. 

Those that stayed in school took part in their own Commonwealth Games; forming their own country and flag and then taking part in lots of different sporting events with their team. It has been great way to reward ourselves after putting so much into revising for the SATs.

We will now begin to look towards the end of the year, getting ready for secondary school and beginning to rehearse for our leaver’s production.

Have a brilliant half term, 6L, and come back refreshed and ready for your final half term of primary school. 

Mr Lloyd

We come to the end of yet another half term! The year is racing by and yet again I am immensely proud of everything year 6 have achieved this half term. It has been a short one but we have as always a very busy one. The last 5 weeks have been busy with revision and we finally completed our SATs tests. The children showed so much resilience and determination throughout the whole week and I know their hard work will be reflected in their results when they are released at the end of the year. Many of us also enjoyed a great residential at the Frank Chapman centre where we completed some fun activities that pushed us out of our comfort zone. I know Mr Haigh and Miss Perkins were also proud of the children who stayed at school and enjoyed getting stuck into lots of exciting activities centred on the Commonwealth Games. 

We now head into what will be our final term at Yardley Primary School and I know it will be another jam-packed 7 weeks. We have productions, secondary school preparations, leaver’s assemblies and much more to prepare for. So, enjoy the half term and the well-deserved rest and I’ll see you on the 6th June!

Miss P :) 

Another half term is over and it must be said that 6P have done a fantastic job! I continue to be so proud of them and I hope they are proud of themselves, too.

We began Summer 1 by preparing for SATs. In Maths, we did lots of arithmetic practice and focused on mathematical vocabulary to assist us in answering reasoning questions. We also did lots of GPS practice (Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling), ensuring we underlined our understanding of previous skills. We read lots of short extracts in Reading and answered comprehension questions based upon this. We discussed the different types of questions we may come across in great detail and showed excellent understanding of different texts such as poems, fiction and non-fiction ones. 

We were half way through Summer 1 when SATs week came along – which didn’t phase 6P! Each and every child presented themselves in a positive manner and gave the tests their all. I can honestly say that each pupil did their absolute best, which is all we could have asked for. I am sure their determination and hard-working attitudes will reflect in their results. 

Some of the children also enjoyed going on the residential to Frank Chapman. Those of us still in school really enjoyed following their antics via Twitter and it was brilliant to see them having a brilliant time. I have heard many positive comments about their behaviour and attitude during this trip. Meanwhile in school, the children enjoyed participating in Yardley Primary School’s very own ‘Commonwealth Games’. We spent lots of time learning about the Commonwealth and enjoyed getting into teams to participate in sports. 

I am very much looking forward to Summer 2 - the last six and a half weeks of us being 6P! Although I will be sad to see the children go, I know we will have lots of fun in the time we have left. It has been wonderful watching the children grow into confident young people, whom I know are already ready for ‘the big wide world’ that is secondary school. 

We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing Easter break. We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for Summer 1 and the beginning of their final full term at Primary School. As always, it’s going to be a busy half term but we also hope an extremely enjoyable and memorable one. There are many things coming up to look forward to; read on to find out more.

SATs will take place the week beginning Monday 9th May. We will be using the two weeks prior to revise and practise key skills in Reading, Writing and Maths. The children have all made fantastic progress in their learning this year and this is their opportunity to demonstrate all the knowledge they have gained during their time at Yardley Primary School. We have done a lot of talk with the children around worry and stress this year surrounding these tests and the importance of sharing these with adults. If your child has any concerns, please speak to any of the Year 6 team as we would be more than happy to support.

In YPC, we will be learning about Perspective in Art, practising how to use techniques in our drawings. We will then be conducting artist studies, looking at the works of Jackson Pollock and comparing and contrasting them with the style of street artist, Banksy.

In Science, we will continue with our learning in our new topic: Electricity. We will continue to conduct investigations using electrical components, learn more about drawing circuit diagrams as well as understand and use relevant terminology to explain our findings. 

In Computing, we will be creating our own blogs using the software, SWAY. This will involve researching, formatting and presenting information and looking at aspects of web design to present our blogs to suit our intended audience.

In PE, we will be spending three weeks taking part in Boxercise, building our fitness and stamina levels through a series of circuit training stations. We will then move on to our Rounders unit, applying skills such as throwing and catching and hand-eye coordination, as well as team work, communication and determination. 

In PE, we will be spending the entirety of the six weeks playing tag rugby.  The children will work on their ball handling skills and will work in a team to use the pitch effectively to score points.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

Forest School will continue as usual this half term. 6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6NP will continue on alternate Tuesday afternoons. 

We also have the Year 6 Residential at the Frank Chapman Centre to look forward to on Monday May 16th – Wednesday 18th May. Details of this will have been communicated to parents of those attending. For those children staying in school, we have lots of fun activities planned to keep you busy so you don’t miss out either. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Summer 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

As we head towards the warmer weather, please ensure children put sun cream on before school, have a water bottle with them every day and a sun hat. 

Thank you for your continued support.

I can’t quite believe that we have completed yet another school term. Spring is over and after our Easter break, we’ll be saying hello to the Summer holidays. The children have worked so incredibly hard this half term and I continue to be immensely proud of them. 

In English, we have been writing a variety of narratives, some including speech and some written in the first and third person. We have enjoyed exploring our imaginations and have written some fantastic stories from comedy to horror. We’ve also been working hard to embed our Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling (GPS) knowledge, so these can be used without effort in our writing. 

In Reading, we have been enjoying reading ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ as our class text. We have been answering lots of comprehension questions based upon given extracts and have explored lots of different poetry. The interest and understanding the children have shown to the range of texts has been impressive. 

In YPC, we have been looking at North America. In particular, we have been making comparisons between Birmingham, UK and Birmingham, Alabama. We have learnt a lot about the culture of North America and have made a holiday brochure, encouraging people to visit either Birmingham, UK or Birmingham, Al. 

In Science, we have been looking at electricity. We have thrived in creating circuits and looking at the different scientific symbols used when we draw a circuit diagram. We have looked at different variables that may change the way in which a circuit may work and made predictions and conclusions based upon this.

In PE, we have enjoyed playing tag rugby. We have worked in teams to prevent the other team from scoring a try. We learnt how to pass the ball backwards in order to do this successfully.

It has been a wonderful half term, 6P! I look forward to seeing what Summer 1 brings. Have the most wonderful Easter break.

Miss P x

We have reached the end of yet another half-term. It feels like the year is racing away and it won't be long before the children leave for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have written a narrative based on the short film ‘Teeth’, learning how to use speech to convey character and for the purpose of moving the narrative on. After finishing our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse, we have begun reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London.  

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and covered a range of poetry too.  

Our Maths focus has continued to be on securing arithmetic skills as well as developing reasoning and problem solving. In particular. We also been looking at shape, space and time including area, perimeter and volume, properties of 2D and 3D shapes, calculating time intervals and interpreting line graphs and pie charts.      

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at reflection and refraction in more depth. We have also seen how these concepts can be observed all around us in every-day life, such as how refraction can create a rainbow when the light from the sun is bent through water droplets when it rains.  

YPC has allowed us to compare Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs and also undertaken a field study of the sounds we hear around local Birmingham and compared them with sounds recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.  

In PE, 6H have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Tag Rugby. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to passing backwards rather than forwards (this has been a challenge), as well as working together to score a try.  

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

It’s that time again! I can’t believe we have reached the end of another half-term. As always, the year seems to be flying by and it is hard to believe we only have Summer Term left before you leave us for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have written a narrative based on the short film ‘Teeth’, learning how to use speech to convey character and for the purpose of moving the narrative on. After finishing our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse, we have begun reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London.  

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and covered a range of poetry too.  

In Maths, we have made so much progress with our arithmetic skills and are continually scoring highly on the weekly arithmetic tests in preparation for SATs in May. We have also covered several of the other areas in the Maths curriculum including Volume, Area and Perimeter, Measures (converting units and reading different units), ratio and reading and interpreting tables. Alongside this we have been further developing our reasoning and problem solving skills. 

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at reflection and refraction in more depth. We have also seen how these concepts can be observed all around us in every-day life, such as how refraction can create a rainbow when the light from the sun is bent through water droplets when it rains.  We have also recently started a new topic on Electricity, looking closely at series circuits and drawing circuits using scientific symbols. This will continue after half term. 

YPC has allowed us to compare Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs and also undertaken a field study of the sounds we hear around local Birmingham and compared them with sounds recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.  

In PE, we have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Tag Rugby. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to passing backwards rather than forwards, as well as working together to score a try. 

 As always, I am so proud of the resilience and determination that each and every one of you in 6NP demonstrates on a daily basis. You have already made so much progress and it has been a pleasure to see how far you have already come. I am looking forward to the final term with you all! 

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Miss Potter. 

We have reached the end of another half-term. As always, the year seems to be flying by and it is hard to believe we only have Summer Term left before you leave us for secondary school!  

In English this half-term, we have written a narrative based on the short film ‘Teeth’, learning how to use speech to convey character and for the purpose of moving the narrative on. After finishing our class text, Letters from the Lighthouse, we have begun reading the book ‘Goodnight Mr Tom’ by Michelle Magorian. Also set in World War II, it follows the story of an evacuee from London.  

In our Reading lessons, we have studied a range of texts, including The Spider and The Fly, The Fallen, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to name but a few. We have spent several lessons further developing our inference skills and covered a range of poetry too.  

We have revisited Fractions, learning how to add and subtract fractions with different denominators and done lots of work on decimals, including multiplying and dividing numbers by 10, 100 and 1000. We have continued to hone our skills at using written methods, introducing long multiplication to help us multiply larger numbers together.  

In Science we have continued to learn about Light, looking at reflection and refraction in more depth. We have also seen how these concepts can be observed all around us in every-day life, such as how refraction can create a rainbow when the light from the sun is bent through water droplets when it rains.  

YPC has allowed us to compare Birmingham in the UK with Birmingham, Alabama in the USA. We have made comparisons using a range of sources, such as maps and photographs and also undertaken a field study of the sounds we hear around local Birmingham and compared them with sounds recorded in Birmingham, Alabama.  

In PE, 6L have been enjoying learning the rules and skills required in Tag Rugby. This has seen us develop all important team-work and communication skills. We have had to get used to passing backwards rather than forwards, as well as working together to score a try.  

We have also been revising for the upcoming SATs in May. We have discussed how to become more independent in our studies as well as good habits to get into for secondary school.  

Have a fantastic Easter break and a well-deserved rest. 

Mr Lloyd 

Hello everyone!  We hope you have had a wonderful half term break and a well-deserved rest.  We are extremely excited to welcome the children back for Spring 2 and a brilliant six weeks of learning.  We know it’s going to be a busy half term but also a hard-working and rewarding one.  There’s lots coming up and much to look forward to; read on to find out all about it. 

During ‘Yardley Loves Reading’ time and in Reading lessons, we will be moving onto a new class text – ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ by Michelle Magorian.  Discussion about the book will be encouraged across the year group and the children will be given a wide range of comprehension questions based upon it to enhance their understanding.  Since starting Year 6, the children have progressed and established a good understanding of retrieval, inference, summarising and vocabulary, which we aim to embed this half term.  The children will also have the opportunity to access and analyse other standalone texts such as: poetry, extracts from fiction texts and non-fiction texts such as biographies and reports.  

In our English lessons, the children will use their class text as a stimulus for writing for a variety of purposes.  We will also be using visual literacy to encourage their imagination to blossom.  The children will be encouraged to independently write and showcase their fantastic knowledge of grammar, punctuation and spelling, aimed at an appropriate audience.  

In Maths lessons, the children will develop their arithmetic fluency by completing a weekly assessment.  We will be actively encouraging them to increase their confidence and pace.  We will introduce the children to properties of shape, transformations, measurements, time, data handling and coordinates.  In addition, we will be teaching the children to understand different types of mathematical vocabulary in order to successfully pursue reasoning and problem solving type questions.  

In YPC, we will be learning all about North America.  We will discover how to read maps accurately and will learn lots of new geographical vocabulary such as latitude and longitude.  We will be looking at biomes, climate, mountains and different locations within the area.  In addition, we will be learning about the cultures within North America and will be making comparisons between North America and the UK.  

In Science, we will move onto learning about electricity.  We will be doing lots of experiments with circuits, learning about the purpose of a battery and will be analysing electricity usage at home and around school.  

In Computing, we will be using Kodu to create competitive games and we will progress from using keyboards to controllers. 

In PE, we will be spending the entirety of the six weeks playing tag rugby.  The children will work on their ball handling skills and will work in a team to use the pitch effectively to score points.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

Forest School will continue as usual this half term.  6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6NP will continue on alternate Tuesday afternoons.  

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers.  As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Forest School sessions.  

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together.  It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

We also encourage the use of our Learning Hub as well as websites such as MyMaths and Times Table Rockstars.

If you haven't booked an appointment already, we would like to invite you to attend our Video Parents Evenings, taking place on the following dates:

• Tuesday 15th March 3.40pm - 5.40pm

• Wednesday 16th March 3.40pm - 6.20pm

Visit our Video Parents Evening page here to find out more and to book. 

If you have already booked an appointment, please test that your device will work for your appointment.  Click here to see how to test your appointment.

In English, we have had the opportunity to write a variety of extended pieces of writing. We wrote a scary narrative based on a creepy tale called ‘The Hairy Hands’, wrote an information text based upon a hybrid creature we created and wrote a persuasive leaflet, encouraging people to come to Britain after World War 2. All three pieces of writing allowed the children to showcase their fantastic knowledge and ability to write for a range of purposes.

We have enjoyed reading ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ this half term and have had lots of thoughtful discussions based upon it. The book is set during World War 2 and the children have enjoyed learning about this period of time. Next half term, we will be looking at poetry written during this time period and will write our own. 

In Maths, we have been doing lots of work on fractions, decimals and percentages and have recently started learning about shapes and their properties. We have been working hard to retain the variety of different methods taught to us and have been completing weekly arithmetic assessments to improve our pace and confidence. 

In Science, we have been learning all about Light. We have conducted many experiments and discussed in depth how light travels in straight lines, how shadows are formed and about how the eye is formed, functions and therefore enables us to see. We will continue with this during Spring 2.

In YPC, we looked at the Dyche Collection. We were lucky enough to have this exhibit feature for a short while within school. . The Dyche Collection is a series of photographs that were discovered locally in Birmingham. We considered reasons that these people may’ve had for leaving their home countries and immigrating to the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This promoted a lot of discussion amongst the children and they very much enjoyed feeding back to their peers what they learnt about their families’ history, whilst in school.

Our other YPC topic has been fabrics and it has been wonderful to see the children get so involved in something practical. The children have enjoyed looking at functional products, designing their own product, practising different types of stitches and finally, creating their own functional product. Check out our class Twitter for some photos of these wonderful designs. The children will be bringing their products home in due course!

It has been a wonderful half term in 6P and the children have worked so hard throughout it. Have a restful break and ensure you have lots of fun. See you in a weeks’ time!

Miss Perkins x 

Half term already? It only feels like a few weeks ago we were celebrating Christmas!

It has been yet another busy half term with lots of fantastic work taking place. 

In English we have started to show the progress we are making through several extended pieces of writing. We created a hybrid animal from two different species and then wrote an information text based on this. We have also written our own ghost stories, based upon a sinister tale called ‘The Hairy Hands’, looking at building fear and tension in our writing using different techniques.  

Our Reading lessons have focused on developing our ability to answer different types of comprehension questions including: retrieval, inference, vocabulary and summarising. We have also been reading the excellent ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. We are thoroughly enjoying learning about evacuees and about life during World War II through this text.   

In Maths we have been working on angles, drawing shapes from given dimensions and recapping the properties of shapes, such as vertices and faces, and looking at lines of symmetry and angles. We have also continued to consolidate the four operations, practising our arithmetic skills on a weekly basis.  

We have been working very hard in our YPC topics this half term. We were lucky to have a small part of the Dyche Collection exhibited in school. The Dyche Collection is a series of photographs that were discovered locally in Birmingham. We considered reasons that these people may’ve had for leaving their home countries and immigrating to the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We wrote a persuasive leaflet from the British Government based on this as part of our English work, trying to persuade citizens of the British Empire to come and help rebuild Britain following the end of World War II.  

We have begun our new project on textiles, looking at how different fabrics can be joined to one another. Our challenge is to make a functioning holder for a phone or tablet using fabrics and different sewing techniques. 

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye. We have also conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests. 

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term. 

Another half term done and we are now half way through the school year!

In our English lessons this half term, we have had the opportunity to write several extended pieces of writing. We created a hybrid animal from two different species and then wrote an information text based on this. We have also written ghost stories, based upon the story of ‘The Hairy Hands’, looking at building fear and tension in our writing using different techniques.  

As a class, we have enjoyed reading the text ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ this half term and are thoroughly enjoying learning more about life during World War II. 6NP have shown a great level of maturity in their questioning and sharing of ideas when discussing the consequences of war. 

In Maths we have been recapping the properties of shapes, revising familiar vocabulary such as vertices and faces, looking at lines of symmetry and angles. We have also looked at translation and reflection of shape and plotting coordinates. 

We have been working very hard in our YPC topics this half term. We were lucky to have a small part of the Dyche Collection exhibited in school. The Dyche Collection is a series of photographs that were discovered locally in Birmingham. We considered reasons that these people may have had for leaving their home countries and immigrating to the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We wrote a persuasive leaflet from the British Government based on this as part of our English work, trying to persuade citizens of the British Empire to come and help rebuild Britain following the end of World War II.  

We have begun our new project on textiles, looking at how different fabrics can be joined to one another. Our challenge is to make a functioning holder for a phone or tablet using fabrics. We will be learning and making use of many new sewing skills using a needle and thread.  

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye and how they enable us to see. We have conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests using mirrors and torches, investigating reflection and how we can increase the number of reflections we can see. 

In PE, I have been impressed by the level of skill displayed in Netball and Tri-golf. We enjoyed competitively playing against 6H and creating our own mini-golf course. 

I am proud of how hard 6NP continue to work each day and the level of dedication shown to their learning. Keep up the good work and I will see you after the break. Enjoy the rest! 

In our English lessons, we have had the opportunity to write several extended pieces of writing. We created a hybrid animal from two different species and then wrote an information text based on this. We have also written our ghost stories, based upon a sinister tale called ‘The Hairy Hands’, looking at building fear and tension in our writing using different techniques. 

We have been reading Letters from the Lighthouse this half term as our class text and are thoroughly enjoying learning more about life during World War II and will be looking at poetry written during this period before penning our own war poem. 

In Maths we have been recapping the properties of shapes, revising familiar such as vertices and faces, looking at lines of symmetry and angles. We have also continued to consolidate the four operations, practising our arithmetic skills on a weekly basis. 

We have been working very hard in our YPC topics this half term. We were lucky to have a small part of the Dyche Collection exhibited in school. The Dyche Collection is a series of photographs that were discovered locally in Birmingham. We considered reasons that these people may’ve had for leaving their home countries and immigrating to the UK in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We wrote a persuasive leaflet from the British Government based on this as part of our English work, trying to persuade citizens of the British Empire to come and help rebuild Britain following the end of World War II. 

We have begun our new project on textiles, looking at how different fabrics can be joined to one another. Our challenge is to make a functioning holder for a phone or tablet using fabrics. We will be learning and making use of many new sewing skills using a needle and thread. 

In Science, we have been learning about Light. So far, we have learned that light travels in straight lines, recapped how shadows are formed and also learned about the different parts and functions of the human eye and how they enable us to see. We have conducted experiments and pattern seeking tests using mirrors and torches, investigating reflection and how we can increase the number of reflections we can see.

Have a well-deserved break and enjoy your half term, 6L. 

Welcome back! We hope you have all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year.  

We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to as we start the Spring Term.  

In English, we will be moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’ by Emma Carroll. The story is set during The Blitz in the Second World War and we will also have the opportunity to learn about the history of Britain in this time, through new vocabulary and first-hand accounts of what life was like at this time. We will have the opportunity to write descriptions, newspaper reports, diary entries as well as letters, like evacuees would have written to their families during this period. 

In Maths, we will be moving on to shape and space. This topic will focus on properties of 2d and 3d shapes and position and direction, which includes coordinates. We will continue to consolidate our knowledge and application of the four operations through a range of fluency, reasoning and problem solving activities.  To help with this, please continue to practise your times tables at home. Remember you can use Times Tables Rock Stars to help you and we will be hosting a Year 6 weekly battle, so please do join in 

In Science, our new topic will be Light. We learning about how light travels, reflection and refraction, as well as shadows, natural and man-made light sources and how our eyes function. 

In our next YPC topic, we will be looking at North America. We will be examining the physical geographical features, such as mountains, rivers, climate and terrain as well as the human features through map work and case studies. We will also observe changes that have occurred over time and compare and contrast North America with other locations around the world.  

In PE, our focus will be Netball and Tri-Golf. We will develop a range of individual and team skills such as communication and hand-eye-coordination, and learn different techniques applicable to both sports.  

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

Forest School will continue as usual this half term. 6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6NP will continue on alternate Tuesday afternoons.  

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. As the weather is much colder in these winter months, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for Forest School sessions.  

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together. It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. 

All classes are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Spring 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

Please remember, we are also here at the end of the school day if you wish to discuss anything with us.  

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another great half term.  

It’s the end of the Autumn term already – didn’t that come around fast? The children have had a fantastic start to Year 6 and have settled in really. I keep reminding the children that this is the longest stretch of school they have done in two years and they should be very proud of their resilience. Their dedication to learning and progressing has made me one very proud teacher!

In our English lessons, we have produced several pieces of writing based around our class text, ‘Holes’ by Lewis Sachar. We’ve written instructional texts, letters home and emotive diary entries. The children’s ability to write for a range of audiences has been brilliant and they have been avidly including relevant grammar, punctuation and spelling skills as they go. The progression I have seen has been brilliant! In our Reading lessons, we have focused on the skill of inference; making accurate assumptions to answer questions, using evidence present in the text. 

In Maths, we have focused upon Fractions. The children have been comparing and ordering fractions, simplifying, finding equivalents and adding and subtracting them. They have done this with great confidence and determination and have been unfazed by new methods taught. The mathematical vocabulary frequently used by the children has been fantastic and is testament to how much knowledge they have. We will continue the Fractions fun in Spring 1!

In PE, we have been doing break dancing. The children have adored working in teams to come up with a sequence of break dancing moves, in time with the beat of the music. The children have learnt how to transition smoothly from move to move, making for a great break dancing routine. Their teamwork has been impeccable and a joy to observe!

In YPC, we have been learning all about the Romans.  We have learnt about their rise to power, lifestyle and leaders. We have enjoyed a workshop from ‘Professor McGinty’ (which underlined our learning) and made Vindolanda tablets, just like Roman soldiers would have sent to their loved ones during their reign. 

In Science, we have been learning about ‘Evolution and Inheritance’. Amongst many other things, we have learnt how DNA works, how the heart functions (by dissecting a heart) and how insects camouflage to avoid predators. The mature, scientific discussions we have had have been brilliant. We’ve worked well in our Science groups too, conducting many experiments to support our learning. We have learnt a lot in this topic and look forward to finishing it after half term. 

Overall, Autumn 2 has been great. Now, it’s time to have a well-deserved break. If you are celebrating Christmas, please ensure you have a great one! If you are not, make sure you relax and enjoy this time with your friends and family. Have a wondering break, 6P! Stay safe and take care. See you on the 5th January!

Miss Perkins :-)

We have made it to the end of what has felt like a very long term but I am incredibly proud of your hard work and for how far you have come. 

In English we have really enjoyed reading the new text, ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. The story has been both engaging and informative. We have learnt lots of new vocabulary and have written some great pieces of writing including a diary entry from the point of view of Stanley (the main character), an instruction piece about digging holes and our own narrative. Next half term, I am looking forward to reading another new book called ‘Letters from the Lighthouse’. 

In Maths, we have covered a lot more of the curriculum. We have explored the relationships between fractions, decimals and percentages, working simultaneously between the three and solving problems. We have linked this to calculating fractions and percentages of amounts and are now using our knowledge to solve everyday maths problems. In addition to this, we are continuing to secure our understanding of number and working on developing our speed and accuracy with arithmetic questions. 

In Science, we have enjoyed studying Evolution and learning about how plants and animals have evolved and adapted to their surroundings over time. We revisited our learning about fossils from year 3 and their importance in helping us understand how animals have changed over time and where they inhabited. After learning about Charles Darwin, we investigated his theory about finches and their beaks and emulated his study. We will continue this topic for a short while in the New Year before moving on to studying Light. 

Our YPC this half term has been History based and we have learnt a lot about how the Romans impacted our life in Britain. We have a good understanding of Roman legacy and how their life differed to that of the Celts. We thoroughly enjoyed a visit from Professor McGinty who showed us many artefacts including Roman weapons and shields, currency and cooking equipment. In the New Year, our lessons will be Geography based and we will be studying North America. 

In PE, we have perfected our gymnastics skills and enjoyed the opportunity to use the climbing equipment. We also enjoyed putting some of these moves into practice during our breakdancing topic. 

Once again, well done on all your hard work this half term. Enjoy your well-earned rest over the Christmas period, stay safe and have the best time with your loved ones. To all our families, I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year. See you in 2022! 

Miss P x

What a busy half-term we have had!

We have just finished reading the book Holes, by Louis Sachar as our class text. This half-term we have had opportunities to write an informal letter, instructions and diary entries. We really enjoyed reading about Stanley and discovering the reason the real reason the boys had to dig a five-foot hole every day at Camp Green Lake. 

In our Maths lessons, we have learned written methods for division before moving on to fractions, recapping and building upon our prior knowledge and making links between this and our division work. 

We have begun our new Science topic this half-term: Evolution and Inheritance. We have seen how animals have evolved and adapted over periods of millions of years, as well as discussing Darwin’s theory of evolution and our own evolution has humans. We have looked at inheritance and how genes pass on characteristics in animals and humans to their offspring.  

We have continued to study Invaders and Settlers in YPC, focussing on the Romans and their legacy upon modern Britain. We have seen the impact they have had in many ways, such as roads, towns and plumbing, as well as the calendar system we still use today. The idea of recording history also came from the Romans; prior to this, information was usually passed through word of mouth. The Romans wrote down their history, literature and laws. We learned that Latin has given us lots of words and phrases used today. 

6L have continued to work extremely hard this half-term and it has been a pleasure to teach them every day. 

Have a fantastic Christmas all and a very happy New Year. See you when we return to school on Wednesday January 5th.

Mr Lloyd

So, we’ve made it to the end of this term – the last Autumn term at Yardley Primary School. The whole term has flown by and it has been a relief that the learning has not been interrupted. Once again, I would like to express how well the children have settled into Year 6 and the maturity and hard work they have shown. 

 In English, we have been reading the fantastic book ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. The children have been enjoying this quirky text and we have used it as a stimulus for our writing including a letter and a diary entry. The children have had to show empathy with the main character and consider his feelings and emotions at different points of the story. I have seen progress in all of their work and have been impressed with their willingness to act upon feedback to improve their writing.

Our Maths focus continued to be on written methods for the four operations. This has helped to secure understanding and enabled us to catch up from last year. We have now moved onto working with fractions including: equivalent fractions, simplifying fractions, calculating with fractions and converting mixed numbers and improper fractions. The children have quickly realised how important it is that they have a sound understanding of times tables, factors and multiples. Hopefully, the renewed focus on TTRockstars will help with this.

In Science, we have been learning all about ‘Evolution and Inheritance’. We have had lots of interesting conversations about what we inherit from our parents, Charles Darwin and ‘The Theory of Evolution’, and animal adaptations. It has led us to question why animals and plants have the features they do and how these may have evolved.

Our YPC topic this term has been all about ‘Roman Britain’. We have discovered what life was life for the Celts before the Romans arrived, the changes the Romans made to life during their occupation and the legacy of what they left behind. This has included religion, monetary systems, the structure of towns and cities and leisure activities. We even had a visit from the fantastic Professor McGinty.

On top of all this, we have also been studying Computing, PE, RE, Music and MFL!

As you can see, we have had a very packed half term and the children have worked really hard. The Christmas break is thoroughly deserved.

Have a great Christmas everyone. See you in 2022.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr Haigh.

Welcome back to the second half of our Autumn term. We hope you had a relaxing half term break and are ready for the next part of our learning journey!

We have another exciting term to look forward to, so please read on to find out what we will be getting up to in the run up to Christmas. 

In English, we will be moving on to our next class text, which is ‘Holes’ by Louis Sacher. This is a relatively new text in year 6 and we will be linking lots of our future writing with the story. We will be completing speaking and listening activities to support our writing and embedding some of our newly learnt GPS skills. In addition, our reading lessons will continue where we will analyse and engage with a variety of short texts and extracts to continue to develop our reading skills.

In Maths, we will still be using our place value knowledge but linking it with the four operations and written methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. We will be practising the long methods for multiplication and division and applying these to problems and worded questions. In addition to this, we will begin working through the fractions, decimals and percentages element of the Maths curriculum. To help with this, please continue to practise your times tables at home. Remember you can use Times Tables Rock Stars to help you and we will be hosting a year 6 weekly battle, so please do join in! 

In Science, our new topic will be Evolution, where we will study how animals and humans have evolved over time. We will be looking at inheritance and genes and how we inherit features from our family members. We will be studying Charles Darwin and the research he conducted into evolution. 

In YPC, we have moved onto Invaders and Settlers, where we will be looking into how Britain was invaded by the Romans, Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. Our History based topic will focus on the impact these groups of people had on Britain and why they invaded. 

In PE, our focus will be gymnastics and breakdancing. We will be using our bodies to create individual balances, counterbalances and group balances on mats and apparatus. We will also be working collaboratively to create routines in dance. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, staff are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

Forest school will also be continuing this year. 6H and 6L will continue on alternate Monday afternoons, whilst 6P and 6NP will continue on alternate Tuesday afternoons. 

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. As the weather is now getting much colder, please ensure you wear warm clothing and bring a suitable waterproof coat. You may also wish to keep a hat and pair of gloves in school for forest school sessions. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together. It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. All class teachers are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. 

The ‘Autumn 2 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download here soon.

Please remember we are also here at the end of the school day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to another great half term.  

I cannot believe just how quickly our first half term has gone, 6P! I am pleased with the excellent start you have all made in Year 6 and look forward to seeing your progress throughout the year. The children have enjoyed playing together and sitting together in table groups again (which has been amazing to see during this half term).

In English, we have been reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz, which has allowed us to write for a range of audiences. We have written a character description, a police report and a school prospectus, considering the purpose of each. We have welcomed our new ‘Vocabulary’ board which has allowed us to familiarize ourselves with a range of new words which we have learnt and included in each piece. Next half-term, we will be reading ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar (which we are very excited about!).  

In Maths, we have been working on Place Value, as well as the four operations: multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. We have spent several weeks underlining the methods and ensuring we have a thorough understanding of the place value columns. 

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about the human body. We have learned about the functions of the heart and digestive system, learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We are even looking forward to dissecting a heart to learn more about its functions. We have considered what we put into our bodies as part of a healthy diet, looking at food labels and nutritional values.  

In YPC, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist piece. We have begun our new topic on Invaders and Settlers, looking at The Romans, Saxons and Vikings and their influence on Britain and have enjoyed learning about what invaders and settlers are. We will be continuing with this topic when we return after half-term.

On Thursday, we are excited to go on our first trip of the year to Brig House Centre. We are looking forward to taking part in lots of brilliant outdoor activities.

Have a great, well deserved half-term everyone!

Miss Perkins.

I can’t believe we have come to the end of our first half term together already. We have been so busy and the time has flown by.

In English, we have been reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz which has provided some excellent writing opportunities. We have written a character description, a police report and a school prospectus, considering the audience and purpose of each. We have enjoyed becoming familiar with a range of new vocabulary which we have included in each piece. Next half-term we are moving on to reading ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.  

In Maths we have been working on place value and number, as well as written methods for the four operations. We have revised and applied these methods to a range of arithmetic problems, making use of our own number sense to know when it is more appropriate to use a written method or a mental method. We have also be solving problems and reasoning with our answers.

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about the human body. We have learned about the functions of the heart and digestive system, learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have considered what we put into our bodies as part of a healthy diet, looking at food labels and nutritional values.  

In YPC, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist piece. We have just begun our new topic on Invaders and Settlers, looking at The Romans, Saxons and Vikings and their influence on Britain. We will be continuing with this topic when we return after half-term.

On Wednesday we are excited to go on our first trip of the year to Brighouse Centre. We are looking forward to taking part in lots of brilliant outdoor activities.

Well done for all your hard work this half term 6NP. I have really enjoyed getting to know you all and am so proud of how hardworking and resilient you are. Please have a well-earned rest and I will see you all after the half term break!

Miss P x

We’ve reached the end of Autumn 1 already. How quickly has the time passed? 

I just want to start saying how impressed I have been by the maturity and focus all the children have shown since our return, and how caring and supportive they have been of each other. As we move towards returning to a more normal school life, it has also been lovely to see them sitting back in table groups and mixing on the playground.

We’ve been working incredibly hard and the children have adapted well to the increasing level of pace and challenge as the term has progressed.   

In our English lessons we have been reading the excellent ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz (the follow up to ‘Stormbreaker’ which they enjoyed in Year 5).  We have used the text as our stimulus for writing a character description, a police report and a school prospectus. We have also been focusing on extending our understanding of new vocabulary, as well as developing our comprehension retrieval and summarising skills.  Next half term we are moving on to reading the amazing ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar.  

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division. The children have remembered lots of the knowledge and understanding gained from previous year groups and have applied this well during lessons. However, times table fluency is a key target area for all children to focus on throughout the rest of this year.     

We have been learning all about the human body in our Science lessons. We have learned about the functions of the heart, blood, water and the digestive system - learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have also considered living a healthy lifestyle, including the impact of diet, exercise, alcohol and drugs on our physical and mental health.   

In YPC, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist piece. We have begun our new topic on Invaders and Settlers, looking at The Romans, Saxons and Vikings and their influence on Britain. We will be continuing with this topic when we return after half-term.

Have a well-deserved rest everyone.

Our first half-term together in 6L has flown by! 

We have been reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horowitz in our English lessons which has provided some excellent writing opportunities. We have written a character description, a police report and a school prospectus, considering the audience and purpose of each. We have enjoyed becoming familiar with a range of new vocabulary which we have included in each piece. Next half-term we are moving on to reading ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar. 

In Maths we have been working on Place Value, as well as written methods for Addition and Subtraction. We have revised and applied these methods to a range of arithmetic problems, making use of our own number sense to know when it is more appropriate to use a written method or a mental method.

In our Science lessons, we have been learning all about the human body. We have learned about the functions of the heart and digestive system, learning the names of different parts and the role each one plays. We have considered what we put into our bodies as part of a healthy diet, looking at food labels and nutritional values. 

In YPC, we began by looking at Impressionist paintings, first imitating the techniques and reproducing ‘Water Lilies’ by Monet before creating our own Impressionist painting. We have now started our new topic on Invaders and Settlers, looking at The Romans, Saxons and Vikings and their influence on Britain. We will be continuing with this topic when we return after half-term. 

On Thursday we are excited to go on our first trip of the year to Brighouse Centre. We are looking forward to taking part in lots of brilliant outdoor activities.

Have a great half-term everyone.

 Mr Lloyd

Welcome back to all our new, year 6 pupils. We hope you had a wonderful summer and a well-deserved break. We are very much looking forward to getting to know you this half term and working together over the next year. 

We have an exciting curriculum to teach this year and lots to look forward to. Please read on to find out what we are going to get up to this half term. 

In English, we will be reading ‘Point Blanc’ by Anthony Horrowitz. This follows on from the year 5 text, ‘Stormbreaker’. We will analysing the text, the characters and comparing the story to similar texts. We will also use this text as a stimulus for writing and our writing will focus on narratives, report writing and descriptive writing. Alongside this, will be GPS lessons, which will focus on grammar, punctuation and spelling needed for the writing. 

In Maths, we will focus on place value and number. Children will practise their basic skills and number knowledge to secure their understanding. There will also be a focus on arithmetic and times tables. 

In Science, our new topic will be ‘Animals including humans’. This topic focuses on the human body, the heart and keeping healthy. There will be opportunities for investigative work and group work. 

In YPC, we will start with an art focus looking at impressionists. We will be studying the artists, ‘Monet’, ‘Cassatt’ and ‘Adam Ralston’. There will be opportunities to practise the skills shown in this style of art and create our own in the same style. 

In PE, our focus will be Tennis and football. We will be refining racket skills, ball skills and how best to work in a team. 

Please remember, if your child wears earrings, there are three options on P.E. days:

1. Children do not wear their earrings on the day that they have a P.E. lesson.  This is the safest option.

2. Children have plasters put on at home so that their earrings are already covered for their P.E lesson.

3. Send plasters in so that their earrings can be covered.  Children will need to do this themselves, teachers are not able to.

Please come to school in appropriate sportswear on your PE days. 

Forest school will also be continuing this year. 

Please come to school in appropriate clothing suitable for all weathers. Please, as soon as possible, send in wellies to be kept in school. 

To support your child at home, please remember to read regularly, listening to your child where possible and enjoying a book together. It would also help if you could record in the planner and use this a tool for communication with the class teacher. All class teachers are on Twitter so please do follow us for updates. The ‘Autumn 1 Work At Home’ pack will be available to download from the school website soon.

Please remember we are also here at the end of the day if you wish to discuss anything with us. 

Thank you for your support and we look forward to working with you. 

It is with great sadness that I have to say goodbye to such a wonderful class.

I am so proud of all of you. You have been through so much over the past two years and the maturity, resilience, bravery and positivity that you have shown is amazing. 

Since our return in March, you have all shown such dedication to your learning. You are all now in a great position to make a fantastic start at your new secondary schools.  

I hope you look back at your time at Yardley with fondness. I certainly will not forget any of you and will miss you all. I am looking forward to when you are able to come and visit us in the playground and let us know how well you are doing.  

Thank you for making my time this year happy and memorable. I wish you all well for next year.  

Please keep in touch.

Take care and stay safe.

Mr Haigh

How strange to be writing this at home instead of enjoying our final week together. 

I cannot put into words the pride and admiration that I have for every single one of you. You have been through so much over the past two years and the resilience, bravery and positivity that you have shown is incredible. One day, you will look back on this as adults and not be able to comprehend how crazy the world has been and how amazing you were in the middle of a global pandemic.

I know this week is not what we wanted for our final full week together but I am hoping to see all of your smiling faces next week and we will make sure we celebrate our final few days at Yardley together! I am counting down the days!!!

Since returning in March, you have all shown such determination to your learning. It hasn't always been easy, but you have worked so hard to ensure that you have gained the skills needed for your next chapter at secondary school.

I hope you will be able to look back at your time at Yardley fondly in years to come. I certainly will not forget any of you, you have all got me through a strange year in your own little ways. I am looking forward to the day that you are able to come and visit us in the playground and let us know the fantastic things you have accomplished.

Thank you for making my time this year incredibly happy and memorable. I wish you all the luck in the world and I know you will do yourselves very proud! 

Please keep in touch, I will miss you all.

See you next week,

Miss Orford ​

I can’t quite believe that it’s almost time to say goodbye. I know this last week wasn’t what we had planned, but I look forward to watching you all leave in style on Tuesday! We’re going to make it amazing for you and I hope to see you all there.

Regardless of the numerous lockdowns and having to self-isolate, 6P have done themselves proud this year. This academic year has been fabulous, the children have shone brightly throughout and have made good progress across the curriculum. As well as this, the children have gained excellent life skills that will see them well in secondary school. Every child has shown themselves to be resilient, determined and hard-working. I have no doubt that each child in 6P is going to thrive in their new secondary school - they are so very lucky to have you.

This half term, the children have enjoyed writing narratives, underlining their arithmetic skills, learning about Banksy and playing competitive games in PE. It’s been a joy to see so many happy, smiling faces!

I urge you all to spend some time reflecting upon your time at Yardley over the next couple of weeks. Think about all of your wonderful achievements and good times you have had with your friends. I do hope that when you are older, you look back at your time at YPS with a big smile on your face! We will miss you all.

Good luck for the future; you’re going to be FABULOUS!

Miss Perkins x​

Wow, I can’t believe the time has come already to say goodbye. The year has gone so fast and what a year it has been. I’m so sad that we are not spending our final week together.

However, I want you to know just how incredibly proud I am of each and every one of you. In a year that has not been normal, I am proud of how hard you have worked and the resilience and determination you have shown. I know it hasn’t been easy but you have powered through and given it your all each and every day to make amazing progress and gain the skills and knowledge needed for the next part in your chapter. If you can survive the last two years, you can do anything!

I know that the secondary schools you are going to are incredibly lucky to have Yardley pupils who are so hardworking and who will go on to achieve such great things. I look forward to the day when you come back to visit us and tell us of all your accomplishments.

Thank you for a fun year. You have made me laugh, helped me learn new things and given me so many lovely memories. I will miss you all so much. 

I know this week wasn’t how we planned to see out your year but I am looking forward to seeing you next week to have the best celebration ever.

I wish you all the luck in the world. Take care and stay safe,

Miss P x​