Welcome letter Year 6 2019 – 2020
Dear Parents, Carers and Pupils,
Welcome to Year 6, I hope that you have all had a restful and enjoyable Summer, and that this will be the start of an amazing year for all of the children as they embark on their final year in Oystermouth. I have tried to put as much information below as I can. Inevitably I will forget something so please don’t hesitate to come and see me or get in touch.
On Wednesday 18th September I shall be giving 2 short presentations at 3.45 and again at 5.30 for parents and children to give some information about the year ahead and answer any questions that you might have. Everyone is welcome. However here are details of the day to day nitty gritty!
On Tuesday 24th September at 5.00 Mrs Burgum from Bishop Gore will be in school to talk to prospective parents and pupils in advance of their open evening.
Mrs Honey will be taking my PPA sessions for the Autumn term on a Friday afternoon where she will be taking gym, reading buddies with Year 2 and RE.
Uniform: Please ensure that correct uniform is worn and that all clothing is named including gym kit. Trainers will need to be brought every day as we shall be running each morning before lessons. Please ensure that your child brings school shoes to change into. (If not, the smell is beyond imagining!)
Gym: Friday afternoon. All children will need:
Shorts: navy, black or white
T-shirt: white (plain with no collar or buttons)
Trainers: In case we go outside
Games: Wednesday afternoon.
Shorts and t-shirt as above, and trainers. Sweat shirt and joggers may also be worn in cold weather
We will be doing some running in the park and possibly some training involving togs. I will let you know details as soon as I have them.
We will be running the mixed groups as last year so that the children get plenty of opportunity to try different sports and to work outside in the park and yard as well as in the gym.
Fruit from the school tuck shop costs 30p per day. Children may pay for the week in advance if they wish.
Water: children may bring in a named bottle of water to keep in class
Film club:
Film club is for Year 6 pupils and runs from 5.00 to 6.30 on the following dates:
Wednesday 2nd October
Wednesday 13th November
Wednesday 4th December
A drink and biscuits will be provided. We select films from Into Film Cymru and a consent letter is attached. All of the films have been vetted and approved by Into film and the majority will be a U certificate. Occasionally we will show a PG certificate film if appropriate. We don’t advertise the name of the film but they are not usually blockbusters and often have a cultural, environmental or literary element. If you have any questions please pop in to see me. Children should be collected from the hall after club by an adult. They are not allowed to walk home, especially as it gets darker. Because there are so many after school activities we change the Film Club night each term so that everyone gets a chance to attend.
Mascot:
I hope that our class mascot will be up and running within the next 2 weeks. Please encourage your child to write a short account of an activity or diary entry on the sheets provided. There are language support sheets in the pack and I am keen for the children to use the patterns that they are familiar with. PLEASE do not let them use Google translate as it never uses the school formats. (And it makes me cry!)
Homework
- Reading: Please continue to read with your child. Books can be brought home from school, borrowed from the library or be your own but please encourage your child to try a variety of genres and authors.
- Mymaths: each week there will be at least one unit of Mymaths to complete. This will either be a revision session of work covered in year 5 or a unit to consolidate work that we are currently doing in class. Please let me know if you don’t have internet access and I can arrange for your child to do their units in school.
- Spelling and tables revision
- This term we will be learning how we learn, developing our awareness of the different ways in which we learn and to help to extend this we are using a homework menu. In addition to weekly spelling and maths, the children will bring home a term menu. They will be required to complete 8 of the 12 tasks but the tasks are designed to give more autonomy to the child over how the resulting product will look. Tasks can be completed in any order. Some tasks require adult supervision and lots of tasks will involve you talking and planning with your child. If you have problems then please let me know as this is a new approach for us and may need to be adjusted as we go. Please make sure that you encourage your child to take the lead in each task but that quality is maintained.
Stationery: Pupils may bring in a pencil case to keep in their tray. Although felt pens and pencils are fine, please don’t send in gel pens or Sharpies as they go through the paper and spoil any writing on the reverse. I will supply handwriting pens and normal pencils.
Bank: One of our first tasks will be to set up a class bank. The children will manage the bank themselves and any money saved may be withdrawn either at Christmas or in July. More details to follow soon.
Visits: Because of the high cost of the residential visit to Brecon in the Spring I am endeavouring to keep the cost of visits this term to a minimum. For details of visits arranged so far please see the attached dates sheet.
Topics: Please refer to the topic web, or come in to see me for more details. In conjunction with our work with Theatr na nOg we will be investigating the weather, sustainable energy and the climate crisis. In science we will be starting with an investigation devised in conjunction with Bishop gore as our first transition project and will be looking at states of matter. In literacy, we will start with writing our Personal Profile before working on some poetry.
Letters
I will endeavour to send out a short letter each week via the website with news, dates, spelling and Mymaths. I have set up our class page at:
https://oystermouthprimaryschool.com
On our class page you will find a copy of this letter, topic web, dates and homework plan for the term. (This will be given out at the parents evening next week.) I have also posted videos of maths topics to give you some idea of how we approach different strategies and to support your child in their homework. (Who would believe I’m a Youtuber!)
If you would like to help out either on a visit or in class then please let me know. If you have a query or problem then please don’t hesitate to get in touch either before or after school or by e-mail:
With Best Wishes
Debbie Webster
