Welcome to Year 6A

Class of 2023-2024

Hi, 

My name is Mrs Bradshaw and I am the teaching assistant in year 6. I have worked at Irk Valley for 10 years and I have had the pleasure of working with all year groups. This year, I will be working with our super year 6 classes. When I am not working, I am a busy mum to five children. In my spare time, I enjoy playing netball, eating out, listening to podcasts and watching cookery shows on TV.

We use ClassDojo as the main sharing platform of our weekly learning, to connect with our families and much more.  Please join to stay connected!

Individual codes can be found on the parent invitation sent out at the beginning of each school year if you require another copy please ask Miss. Azhar.

PE

Year 6A will have P.E. every Wednesday and Thursday

Children should come to school dressed in their P.E kits on these days, they will not be changing back into uniform on days with P.E.

PE Kit and Expectations:

The following are our expectations in all PE lessons to ensure pupils participate in fun, engaging and safe activities:

• Suitable school PE kit should be worn for each lesson. If school kit is not provided, children will still participate in the lesson unless school uniform is not appropriate for the activity - children will then undertake coaching or officiating roles.

• Head scarves should be tightly secured or removed for PE. A specialist, tight-fitting head scarf can be a suitable alternative.

• All children taking part in indoor PE should be barefoot unless the activity requires the wearing of pumps / trainers (basketball, athletics, indoor hockey, indoor football etc)

• All children with verrucas should wear pumps.

• It is important that children have suitable footwear (appropriate to the activity) to minimise the chances of injury.

• As last year, children should arrive at school in correct PE uniform in readiness for their PE lesson that day.

School PE Kit:

• plain white t-shirt
• plain black shorts or plain black joggers
• change of socks - preferably long  black games socks
• sturdy trainers or astro-turf boots (gym pumps offer little protection in games sessions)
• plain black sweater or school sweater maybe worn in colder winter months at the discretion of the teacher
• woolly hats and gloves may also be worn in colder months
• hooded tops or coats shouldn't be worn as they pose a risk in games

All of the above items can be affordably purchased at Sports Direct, Primark, Tescos or online at such outlets as MM Direct.

* For Health and Safety reasons hooded jackets and jewellery including stud earrings are not permitted. *

Homework

Homework will be given out every Friday and is due back in school every Wednesday. Homework is marked on Wednesday so it is important that all homework is completed and returned each Wednesday. 

Children will be given a range of homework: Times table practice, spellings, Arithmetic and topic based homework. In addition to this, children will be expected to read for ten minutes every day. Books should be brought into school daily as your child might be listened to. Some children will be listened to every day. Finally, your child will already be familiar with TTROCKSTARS, Reading Eggs and Lexia so the expectation is that they would use these learning platforms to help develop their skills. 

Spelling

We have spelling lessons every day that cover the spelling rules set out in the National Curriculum.

We learn a new spelling rule every Tuesday. The spellings they are learning will be sent home in the children's spelling book after they are introduced on Tuesdays. We then practise spelling words that fit this rule in class on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and then we have a spelling test on Mondays after having had the weekend to practise them at home.

Parents can support their children to learn these spellings by using techniques below.

Look, Cover, Say Write Check

Look: first look at the whole word carefully and if there is one part of the word that is difficult, look at that part in more detail.

Say: say the word as you look at it, using different ways of pronouncing it if that will make it more memorable.

Cover: cover the word.

Write: write the word from memory, saying the word as you do so.

Check: Have you got it right? If yes, try writing it again and again! If not, start again – look, say, cover, write, check.

Quick Write

Check the child can spell the word correctly. When they can, set a timer and see how many times the child can write the word accurately in a set amount of time e.g. 1 minute.

Picture Words

Help your child to write the word in big lettering and then decorate it with pictures that help to represent the meaning of the word. E.g. if the word is 'climb', the child should write it in big letters and then turn the tall letters into ladders, draw a stick man climbing up onto the silent 'b'. Concentrating on trickier parts of the spelling will help the child to remember them. 

Pyramid Writing

The child should start by writing one word on the first line, then adding a letter each time on the line below to create a pyramid effect. E.g.

s

s h

s h o

s h o u

s h o u l

s h o u l d

If you have any questions about your child's spellings, please speak to their class teacher.