Year 6 - Magpie Class

Welcome to Year 6 Magpie Class​

Class Teacher: Mr Chappell

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Dwyer and Mr Dole

Happy New Year!

Wishing all the families and children of Magpie class a Happy New Year. May this year bring you curiosity, confidence and countless moments to shine both in the classroom and beyond.

Welcome back to Term 3

An exciting start to a New Year and a new term as we finally make the big move to our new school. Over the first few days, we will focus on finding our way around the building, revisiting school expectations and learning new routines. It’s important that we settle into our new classroom environment and become familiar with the rhythm of the school day so that we feel confident and ready for learning.

                                                     

As we begin this exciting journey, we have the perfect opportunity to write about and report on our new school. In English, we will explore our emotions, set our New Year goals, and gather reactions to the school’s opening by interviewing adults and students. We will then bring all of this together to produce a newspaper report capturing this momentous occasion.

Later in the term, we will build on this writing structure by moving into first‑person writing, describing events and reflecting on our personal experiences in the form of a diary.

Last term, we thoroughly enjoyed our book 'The Girl who Speaks Bear' but have yet to finish the final few chapters, so we will continue this text as our end of day class reading.

We will also be starting our new class book, Illegal. This story follows the tale of Ebo, a young boy on a dangerous journey across Africa and the Mediterranean in search of safety and family. The text is told through a graphic‑novel format, combining powerful illustrations with concise dialogue and narration. This structure is very different from the traditional novels we usually study, and it will allow us to explore how images, layout, and visual sequencing contribute to meaning, emotion, and storytelling.

We will also explore a range of comprehension tasks using different texts to strengthen key Year 6 reading skills. This will include developing deeper inference by using evidence to justify our ideas, improving retrieval accuracy through efficient scanning and skimming techniques, and widening our vocabulary by exploring word meaning in context. We will also work on summarising longer passages, identifying an author’s intent, and comparing how information is presented across different text types. These skills will support the children as they prepare for the demands of the Year 6 curriculum and beyond.

This term, our enquiry will focus on our science topic of Animals (Including Humans), with a particular emphasis on blood circulation and health. We will explore the factors that contribute to good and poor health, learn about the role and function of the heart and the circulatory system and investigate how blood transports oxygen and nutrients around the body. The children will also measure heart rate, examine the impact of exercise, and learn how to monitor and manage their own fitness levels. Be prepared as we’ll be working hard to get those heart rates up and that blood pumping during our practical sessions.

In maths, we will continue to split the class into smaller groups, working with either Mrs Pursey, Mr Minton, Mr Chappell or Mr Hopgood, on different areas of arithmetic and reasoning. Mrs Pursey will begin with decimals before moving on to fractions and percentages. Mr Minton will focus on the four operations and reasoning problems, later progressing to fractions and decimals. Mr Chappell will be working on fractions before moving on to decimals and percentages. Mr Hopgood will be working on secure number knowledge facts using Dynamo Maths to support the children's development with number.

In the afternoons, the class will come back together for an additional maths session, where we will focus on converting units of measure and later exploring area and perimeter.

Alongside this, we will continue to build in regular opportunities to practise our times tables, strengthening fluency, speed, accuracy and overall number confidence.

Forest School and PE Days

              

This term, it is Magpies’ turn to attend Forest School, which will take place every Monday afternoon. To ensure the children get the most out of these sessions, we will be splitting the class into two groups.

Group 1 will attend for the first two weeks (12/01/26 and 19/01/26), and Group 2 will attend for the following two weeks (26/01/26 and 02/02/26). The final week, everyone will attend. Please check the Class Dojo page to see which group your child is in.

For Forest School to run smoothly, we need all children to be fully prepared. Welly boots or outdoor boots must be in school and kept here throughout the term. On their Forest School day, children will also need a change of clothes. Please send them to school in uniform, ready to change for the afternoon session. Unfortunately, if a child is not prepared, they will not be able to take part.

PE is an important part of our weekly routine, and we ask that children come to school prepared and ready for their sports lessons each week. On PE days, the children must attend wearing their PE kits.

Our PE day this term is Tuesday (indoors).

This term we will be learning the skills to play badminton. As this indoors, the children will be required to wear either trainers, plimsolls or bare feet. Please ensure they are arriving wearing their full PE kits.

Reminders for PE days:

• Earrings must be removed/covered for health and safety.

• Long hair should be tied back.

• Children may bring deodorant or body spray for personal hygiene (roll-on only).

Home Learning and Reading

All children have access to their TTRockstars accounts to practise timetables regularly. We’ve also introduced a new platform called Twinkl Learner, which can be accessed both at school and at home. It’s packed with learning games, challenges, and opportunities to practise weekly spellings and maths skills in a fun and engaging way. A TTRockstars challenge has been set up to run every weekend where the Magpies can compete with the Woodpeckers for the title of TTRockstars Champions.

Please support us by encouraging your child to use these accounts at home to reinforce their learning. If you’re unsure of any login details or need help accessing the platform, just let me know and I’ll be happy to assist.

Every child will have a home reading record and is expected to read frequently throughout the week. Reading records should be in school every day, so adults can check progress and listen to children read during the week.

We’ve updated how we use Dojo points and Merits to celebrate positive behaviour and learning achievements.

Dojo Points

Each pupil will begin the term with 0 dojo points and aim to reach 30. Once they hit this target, they’ll earn a prize from the class prize box — then their points will reset, ready for the next challenge!

Merits and Golden Coins

Children can earn merits for:

• Demonstrating school values

• Exceptional work in class

• Receiving the weekly Star Award

• Other learning achievements

Once they collect 12 merits, they can trade them in for a gold coin to use in the school book vending machine — a brilliant way to reward reading and effort.

If you ever have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You’re welcome to speak with me or a member of the class team — we’re always happy to help. We’re available before and after school, or you can message me via Class Dojo to arrange a meeting.

We’re looking forward to continuing this amazing Year 6 journey with you and your child — full of growth, curiosity, and memorable moments.

The Year 6 Magpie Class Team

The Term 3 vocabulary sheets below will help you to know more about what your child will be learning this term. 

Teachers can be contacted via Class Dojo if you have any questions or queries regarding home learning. 

Please click here to access extra phonics, reading and spelling resources.

Please click here to access links to other useful home learning resources published online.

If you are unsure of any log-in details, please contact the teacher through Class Dojo or email office@pilgrims-way.kent.sch.uk