St James the Great R.C (V.A) Primary & Nursery School

Year 6 Parents' Night Information Sheet

	Term 1	Term 2	Term 3
Topic	History Tudors/Shakespeare	Science Earth in Space/ Light and Sound	Geography Rivers/map work
RE	Myself/Invitations Birthdays	Journeys/ Thanksgiving	Holidays/ Building bridges

From September 99 as well as a daily Literacy Hour, a Numeracy Hour has to be implemented. These both take place in the morning. It is therefore vital that children arrive at school promptly and appointments outside of school avoided at these times.

Literacy and Numeracy programs allow for each topic to be revisited throughout the year in order to reinforce each area. Therefore if, as parents, you have concerns about your children's understanding of a particular concept, you can be reassured that these will be reinforced later in the year.

Children are grouped according to levels of achievement in Year 5 optional SATs to enable them to benefit from an appropriate level of teaching. There will be opportunities for individuals to move across these groups after assessment at the discretion of the year group teachers.

Children who are supported by the school's SENCO have been allocated time within this structure to enable them to have extra adult help within the classroom environment.

All children who attend school are expected to take part in the full PE programme, which includes swimming. PE takes place in year 6 on Friday afternoon. Swimming/Ice Skating will be, as in the previous year, first thing Monday morning. Full named school kit is expected for both of these PE sessions. No jewellery, including watches, is to be worn (with the exception of girls' stud earrings) during any physical education activities, including watches, for safety purposes. This is an extension of the school policy regarding uniform and jewellery. Girls' shoulder length, or longer, hair must be tied back for PE and is necessary as a daily practice. We expect the children to fully comply with all aspects of the school's dress code.

A copy of the school's Homework Policy will be made available to all parents. Homework requirements for Year 6 are clearly laid out in this. We hope parents will encourage their children to hand in homework on the day it is required. We feel this is most important in Year 6 in preparation for the level and timing of homework required at secondary school.

As outlined in the Homework Policy, children are required to read for 20 minutes per evening with free choice readers. We would like to stress that some parental supervision is required. Children may also be required to follow up their guided reading sessions at home.

Year 6 SATs will take place during the final half of the Summer Term. Whilst this assessment is important for monitoring within the school they are best approached by both parent and child as part of their ongoing education and not as a major hurdle in their lives. The results will be given to parents with their child's final report.

The children will experience a variety of educational visits throughout Year 6. You will be appraised of these as and when they are arranged. Parental helpers will be required on occasion.

The EPR programme is ongoing throughout Year 6 with the main focus taking place in the second half of the Summer Term.