Year 6,
You have worked extremely hard this week! In English, you have continued reading 'The Arrival' and have completed writing on it. You have also begun thinking about the creatures that inhabit the New World and what their qualities are. In maths, you have revised square, cube and prime numbers, and worked on written multiplication up to 4 by 2 digits. In science, you considered how characteristics of living things link to their groups and in history you decided whether people were guilty or innocent, and considered their punishments in the context of the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons. You also celebrated harvest with your families today and visited Sky Studios on Monday (photographs below); I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!
Next week, you will be revising relative clauses, planning and writing reports in English. In maths, you will focus primarily on division. Science will involve learning about microorganisms and in RE you will continue to study Yom Kippur. You will also have your next art lesson linked to photomontage.
Home Learning
Grammar pages 4+5
Maths pages 14+15
You also have your half term project to be working on.
500 Words Challenge
I would like all Year 6 children to write a piece that could enter the BBC's 500 Words Challenge. All you need to do is write a story you would love to read in 500 Words or less. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are not marked - it's all about creativity! It is up to you as to whether or not you submit your story officially but you are still expected to bring a copy of your finished piece into class on 20th October to share. We will be participating in a Live Lesson in September which can support this if you are finding it challenging, but feel free to begin writing as soon as inspiration hits you.
For those who enter the competition, 50 finalists will be invited to a star-studded grand final in February 2026, which will be supported by Her Majesty The Queen. If that's not enough, each winner will also see their story be read aloud by a superstar celebrity on TV, which will be shown as part of a special 500 Words programme with The One Show. The official panel of celebrity judges, Sir Lenny Henry, Malorie Blackman, Francesca Simon, Charlie Higson and Frank Cottrell-Boyce will crown the winners.
There are also lots of prizes to be won - each winner will take home a bundle of books and the gold winners also win 500 books for their school library. In addition to the book prizes, each of our winning stories will receive a framed illustrated cover produced exclusively by top children's illustrators.
Children can only submit one story each. There are very few rules on 500 Words but a few points to remember:
All the stories must:
- Be 500 words or less (title is not included in the number)
- Be written by an individual and not a group
- Be a child’s own original idea
- Be prose, not rap or poem
Stories must not:
- Give any personal details of the child, including their name
- Recount an historical event (but they can use a real person or historical character as a source of inspiration)
- Be created, written or developed by AI
In every 500 Words competition, all stories are judged on the following criteria:
- Characterisation
- Plot
- Originality
- Language
- Enjoyment
Reminders
- PGL - you need to be registered on Arbor to be included in our numbers. We will be providing these to PGL shortly so check with your adult that this is done.
You should be:
- Reading 5 times a week and completing a reading journal activity once a week
- Practising spellings each week between the pre-test and test; writing spellings at least 5 times and writing 10 of them into sentences (ensure that these are high quality and make sense) in your Home Learning Journal (set on Monday and completed for Friday)
- Completing the piece of English and piece of Maths set each week (set on Wednesday and completed for Monday)
- Practising maths on Sumdog
Have a lovely weekend.
Mrs Cresswell 😊
