Haylands Primary School
Year 6 half term newsletter
Hand in hand, achieving together
Welcome to the Spring term.
Our first topic for this half term is ‘Were the Vikings always Vicious?’
In this topic we will be studying the Vikings who settled in our country in the 8th–11th centuries. We
will be looking for evidence of what life was like during these times. We will be finding out how
archaeologists and historians have found buried treasure from the past that reveal the secrets from
these times. We will use secondary sources of evidence to help us find out about houses, culture and
leisure, clothes, their way of life and beliefs. We will also explore how the Vikings still affect life
today (names of villages and days of the week) and how Viking culture can still be seen in some
places. We will also be exploring the arguments historians have about what the evidence tells us.
This half term the children in year 6 will be learning........
LITERACY
MATHS
As part of our Literacy, we will explore Norse
myths. We will then write our own exciting
myths in the same style as the ones we have
read. We will also write explanation texts with
which to compile a Dragon Keeper’s Handbook.
As Year 6 writers we must
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As Year 6 mathematicians we must
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Use subordinate clauses to write complex sentences.
Use passive voice where appropriate.
Use expanded noun phrases to convey complicated
information concisely (e.g. The fact that it was
raining meant the end of sports day).
Use a sentence structure and layout matched to
requirements of text type.
Use semi-colon, colon or dash to mark the boundary
between independent clauses.
Use colon to introduce a list and semi colon within a
list.
Use correct punctuation of bullet points.
Use hyphens to avoid ambiguity.
Use full range of punctuation matched to
requirements of text type.
Use wide range of devices to build cohesion within
and across paragraphs.
Use paragraphs to signal change in time, scene,
action, mood or person.
Write legibly, fluently and with increasing speed.
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Use negative numbers in context and
calculate intervals across zero.
Compare and order numbers up to
10,000,000.
Identify common factors, common
multiples and prime numbers.
Round any whole number to a required
degree of accuracy.
Identify the value of each digit to 3 decimal
places.
Use knowledge of order of operations to
carry out calculations involving four
operations.
Multiply:
o 4-digit by 2-digit
Divide:
o 4-digit by 2-digit
Add and subtract fractions with different
denominators and mixed numbers.
Multiply simple pairs of proper fractions,
writing the answer in the simplest form.
Divide proper fractions by whole numbers.
Calculate % of whole number.
Dates for your dairy
Dates For Your Diary
March 27th Break Up
April 13th Summer term starts
May 4th Bank Holiday
May 11th -15th SATS week for Year 6
HOMEWORK
We would appreciate your effort and support in all aspects of school life such as
supporting your child with their homework. It makes a big impact on their progress and
achievement.
Maths homework will be given on WEDNESDAY and will be due in on MONDAY
AN AFTER SCHOOL HOMEWORK CLUB IS RUNNING FOR THOSE CHILDREN WHO WISH
TO COME ALONG.
SPELLINGS/WORD STUDY
Children will be given a spelling list to learn which will be linked to the spelling patterns
and objectives they have been learning in Word Study sessions. Your child will be given
between 10-15 spellings to learn. These will be given on TUESDAY to be tested the
following TUESDAY.
READING
Please would parents sign the Reading Record section of your child’s diary weekly?
Children should be reading at home for 30 minutes on a daily basis. Research has shown
that “children who read books often at age 10 gained higher results in all three tests at
age 16 than those who read less regularly.” (IOE's Centre for Longitudinal Studies, 2013)
TIMES TABLES
A rapid recall of times tables is essential and all Y6 children should know their times
tables up to 10 x 10. Please ensure that your child has regular practice of these.
HEALTHY SNACKS
Please help us to keep Haylands a healthy school by providing healthy snacks for break
time. These could be cereal bars, fruit, vegetables, breadsticks. Chocolate bars and crisps
are not ‘healthy’ break time snacks.
Your child can have a water bottle in the class room. Please ensure that this is washed
regularly and it should contain only water, not squash or juice.
UNIFORM AND EQUIPMENT
Please ensure that your child has the appropriate clothing and footwear for PE. We are
noticing that some children are not wearing the correct kit – white t-shirt, red shorts,
trainers, black tracksuit for colder days.
ALL children should have equipment with which to write i.e. a handwriting pen, a pencil
and additional stationery e.g. a ruler, a rubber and a small selection of colouring
pencils.
In order to prepare the Year 6s for secondary school, it is vital that they take
responsibility for their learning and that they arrive at school fully prepared. Some of our
Year 6 children have no writing implements at all. At the Academy, this would result in a
detention!