Welcome to Year 6!

Welcome to Year 6! We are delighted to welcome your children into what will be their final year at Underwood West Academy.

This is an incredibly important and exciting year for our children. As well as preparing them for the next stage of their education, we want Year 6 to be a year filled with memorable experiences, creativity, challenge and opportunities for children to grow in confidence and independence.

Our teaching team this year is:

6TJ – Mr Jones

6HJ - Mrs Jones

We will be supported throughout the year by Mr Ellershaw and Mrs Evans, who will be an important part of our Year 6 team.

We are really looking forward to working with you and your children and would like to share some important information to help us get the year off to a fantastic start.

PE

PE lessons will take place every Wednesday afternoon.

Children should arrive at school in their full school uniform and bring their PE kit with them to change into before the lesson. Please ensure that PE kits are clearly named and contain the appropriate school PE clothing.

Staying hydrated

We encourage all children to bring a water bottle to school every day. Staying hydrated helps children to maintain concentration, energy and focus throughout the school day.

Please ensure that water bottles are taken home at the end of each day so that they can be washed and returned ready for the following day.

Healthy eating

We want to promote healthy choices and a positive attitude towards food and wellbeing.

We therefore ask that children do not bring fizzy drinks or chocolate into school. Instead, please encourage children to bring healthy snacks and drinks which will help fuel them throughout the school day.

Reading

Reading will continue to be a key priority throughout Year 6. We want children not only to become confident and capable readers, but to develop a genuine love of reading and see themselves as readers.

This year, we will be using The Reading Journey to document and celebrate the books and other reading materials that children experience. The Reading Journey is a digital reading journal which allows children to build their own personal record of reading over time. Children can add the books they have read to their bookshelf, reflect on their reading, rate books and develop a personal wishlist of books they would like to read.

This means that we can look beyond simply recording how often a child reads and begin to understand what they enjoy, the choices they make and how their reading develops over time. It also provides opportunities for children to recommend books to one another and talk about their reading with their teachers and classmates.

We would like children to read at least three times each week at home. We strongly encourage children to read widely and to make their own choices about what they read. This might include novels, non-fiction books, poetry, comics, magazines or other appropriate reading material.

We would really appreciate your support in encouraging your child to make time for reading at home and talking to them about the books they are enjoying. A few minutes discussing a book can be just as valuable as asking them to tell you what happened!

We are particularly excited to see the children's Reading Journeys develop throughout their final year at Underwood West.

https://thereadingjourney.co.uk/

Uniform

We believe that looking smart and taking pride in our appearance helps children to feel a strong sense of belonging to our school community.

Children should wear full school uniform, including completely black footwear. Black trainers are permitted.

Our school uniform consists of:

Grey or black trousers

White or grey polo shirt

Purple school jumper

Completely black footwear

Please ensure that all items of clothing are clearly named.

Looking ahead

Year 6 is about much more than preparing for SATs. Although academic progress and high expectations remain incredibly important, we also want our children to develop the independence, resilience, confidence and responsibility they will need as they move on to secondary school.

We have lots of exciting learning and experiences planned throughout the year, and we are determined to make their final year at Underwood West one that they will remember for all the right reasons.

We look forward to working closely with you throughout the year. Your support at home makes a huge difference to your child's progress, and we value the strong partnership between home and school.

If you have any questions or concerns at any point during the year, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Here's to a fantastic final year together!

The Year 6 Team
Mr Jones, Mrs Jones, Mr Ellershaw and Mrs Evans

Autumn term

We are delighted to share our Autumn Term Overview, which gives an insight into the exciting learning opportunities planned for our children this term. Across the curriculum, children will develop their knowledge, skills and understanding through a range of engaging topics and experiences, with plenty of opportunities to explore, question and make connections in their learning. We look forward to a fantastic term of learning, discovery and achievement!