Year 6 - Magpie Class

Welcome to Year 6 Magpie Class​

Class Teacher: Mr Chappell

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Dwyer and Mr Dole

Welcome back to Term 4

Just like that ...we are officially in the final half of the school year!

This year is flying by as students prepare for their end-of-year SATS and continue building on their learning, developing new skills and getting ready for the exciting step up to secondary school. As students begin discovering which secondary school they’ll be joining in September, we’re focused on giving every child the strongest possible start for the journey ahead.

We have a fantastic term ahead, with lots to look forward to - World Book Day, Art Week, and the PGL residential trip to Kingswood are all on the horizon and sure to be memorable highlights.

                                                     

This term we will begin by exploring the music video Titanium by David Guetta featuring Sia. The video tells the story of a boy with extraordinary powers who is misunderstood and pursued after a mysterious explosion at his school. As the tension builds, it highlights how fear and misunderstanding can shape the way people respond to things they cannot explain.

To support our learning, we will create a mystery board filled with clues, questions, and predictions to deepen our understanding of the narrative. The children will develop character profiles for both the teacher and the boy, and write vivid setting descriptions of the unfolding chaos. Our writing focus will include figurative language, first‑person perspective, expanded noun phrases, accurate use of tense, and thoughtful vocabulary choices.

In maths, we will continue to split the class into smaller groups, working with either Mrs Pursey, Mr Minton and Mr Chappell or Mr Hopgood, on different areas of arithmetic and reasoning. Our focus this term will be on our arithmetic skills and building on our understanding of fractions, decimals and percentages. Mr Hopgood will be working on securing a number of knowledge facts using Dynamo Maths to support the children's development with a number of separate sessions throughout the day.

In the afternoons, the class will come back together for an additional maths session, where we will focus on exploring area, perimeter and volume. 

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

This term we will be starting our new class book, Letters from the Lighthouse. The children thoroughly enjoyed our previous text – a graphic novel called Illegal – and I hope this new story will be just as engaging.

The book follows Olive and her brother as they are evacuated to Devon after the devastating air raids of the Second World War. With their older sister, Sukie, still missing after one of these terrible nights, Olive takes it upon herself to uncover the truth. A mysterious note found in the pocket of Sukie’s coat suggests she may have been involved in something dangerous — but as Olive searches for answers, it becomes clear that not everything adds up and her sister’s disappearance is far more complex than it first seemed.

Alongside our class text, we will explore a range of comprehension tasks using different sources to strengthen key Year 6 reading skills. This will include developing deeper inference by using evidence to justify ideas, improving retrieval accuracy through efficient scanning and skimming strategies, and expanding vocabulary by exploring word meaning in context. We will also be working 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 learning will focus on our science topic Living Things: Classifying Big and Small. We will explore the key characteristics of living organisms and learn how to use branching keys to classify them into groups such as cold‑blooded vertebrates, warm‑blooded vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and micro‑organisms.

The children will also learn about Carl Linnaeus, whose work on classification helped scientists make sense of the planet’s extraordinary biodiversity by grouping living things according to shared features. This unit builds on the children’s prior knowledge from Year 4, when they investigated classification and changing habitats.

Forest School and PE Days

              

This term, there is no forest school for Magpie class. This will continue in term 5.

If your child is on a provision target forest school session, you will be informed by the class teacher via dojo.

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 building on our gymnastic skills and this will also give us the opportunity to use the new hall equipment. As this is 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 4 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