In Year 6, the final year of Key Stage 2, students are expected to consolidate and deepen their learning across a range of core subjects in preparation for their transition to secondary school.
English: Reading, Writing, and Grammar
Reading
The objectives focus on developing a love of reading while enhancing comprehension skills. Students are expected to:
🐾 Read various texts, including fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
🐾 Understand and explore themes, structures, and meanings in texts.
🐾 Infer meanings and deduce information from the context.
🐾Summarise critical points and make comparisons within and across texts.
Reading
Reading is a fundamental part of the Year 6 English curriculum, aiming to develop a love of reading while enhancing comprehension and analytical skills. Here's a breakdown of the critical aspects:
Comprehension Skills
Inference and Deduction: Students learn to read between the lines, understand implicit meanings and make logical deductions based on evidence in the text.
Summarising: They practise summarising main ideas and themes.
Comparing and Contrasting: Identifying similarities and differences within and between texts.
Evaluating Author's Choices: Analysing why authors make specific choices in their writing, including language, structure, and style.
Reading for Pleasure
Wide Range of Genres: Encouraging reading a variety of genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and plays.
Book Discussions: Promoting book discussions to deepen understanding and share different perspectives.
Independent Reading: Supporting regular independent reading to build fluency and enjoyment.
Reading Strategies
Skimming and Scanning: Teaching techniques for quickly finding information in a text.
Questioning: Developing questions before, during, and after reading to enhance engagement and comprehension.
Context Clues: Using the surrounding text to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words.
A personal note from Jen: I grew up in London and commuted into central London for a year. Way back then, the only thing to do on a long underground tube journey was to read a book. So, it became a habit that I passed to my kids whenever we would travel by tube, I'd always make them take a book.
Now they are reading chapter books; this generally leads to comments from older generations about how nice it is to see children reading books, etc. I laugh internally; they would be horrified if they knew the contents of my children's books. The Adventure of the Famous Five is too tame for my boys. One time this happened, I told an older couple we were off to Waterstones to see their favourite author at a literacy event. We saw Jamie Smart (author of Bunny vs Monkey and creator of Danger Sausage) describe how to draw fart ghosts.
Writing
Students are encouraged to write clearly, accurately, and coherently for various purposes and audiences.
Objectives include:
🐾 Planning, drafting, and editing written work.
🐾Using a wide range of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
🐾 Writing narratives, descriptions, reports, and persuasive texts.
🐾 Applying spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules accurately.
Writing in Year 6 focuses on clarity, coherence, and creativity. Students are encouraged to write for different purposes and audiences, refining their skills through various forms and styles.
Writing Process
Planning: Mindmap ideas and organise them coherently before writing.
Drafting: Writing initial drafts focusing on getting ideas down on paper.
Revising: Improving content by adding details, rearranging text, and clarifying meaning.
Editing: Correcting grammatical errors, improving word choice, and refining sentences.
Publishing: Sharing final pieces with peers, teachers, or broader audiences.
Handwriting: not necessarily cursive, but that handwriting adds to composition, fluency and spelling.
Types of Writing
Narrative Writing: Crafting stories with straightforward plots, well-developed characters, and vivid settings.
Descriptive Writing: Using sensory details to paint pictures with words, making descriptions vivid and engaging.
Expository Writing: Writing to explain or inform, including essays, reports, and factual articles.
Persuasive Writing: Constructing arguments to convince the reader of a particular viewpoint, using evidence and rhetorical techniques.
Poetry: Exploring different forms of poetry and experimenting with rhythm, rhyme, and imagery.
Writing Skills
Sentence Structure: Varying sentence lengths and types to create engaging and dynamic writing.
Vocabulary Development: Expanding vocabulary to make writing more precise and exciting.
Coherence and Cohesion: Ensuring ideas flow logically and smoothly from one to another.
Audience Awareness: Tailoring writing to suit the intended audience and purpose.
Grammar, Punctuation, and Spelling (GPS)
The curriculum aims to ensure students have a firm grasp of the technical aspects of writing.
Objectives cover:
•🐾 Understanding and using various parts of speech correctly.
🐾 Applying punctuation marks accurately.
🐾 Spelling a range of words, including common exception words and those with complex patterns. Words that they may have had as homework in year 3 or 4 are also included on the list of words they are expected to know, and these can come up in the test.
A solid understanding of grammar, punctuation, and spelling is essential for effective communication. The Year 6 curriculum emphasises these technical aspects of writing.
Grammar
Parts of Speech: Understanding and correctly using nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, and interjections.
Sentence Types: Identifying and using different sentence types, including simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Tenses: Using the correct tense consistently, including simple, progressive, and perfect forms.
Clauses and Phrases: Recognising and using main and subordinate clauses and phrases.
Punctuation
Basic Punctuation: Correctly using full stops, commas, question marks, apostrophes and exclamation marks.
Advanced Punctuation: Mastering apostrophes, colons, semicolons, dashes, hyphens and parentheses.
Direct Speech: Punctuating dialogue correctly with quotation marks and appropriate punctuation within the speech.
Spelling
Spelling Patterns: Learning standard spelling rules and patterns, such as prefixes, suffixes, and root words.
Homophones and Homographs: Understanding and correctly using words that sound the same but have different meanings (homophones) and words that are spelt the same but have different meanings (homographs).
High-Frequency Words: Spelling common exception words and words from the KS2 statutory spelling list.
Mathematics
Maths in KS2 covers a broad range of topics designed to solidify students' understanding and prepare them for the more advanced concepts they will encounter in secondary school.
A personal note from Jen: We have written a free revision guide to help students and parents keep track of everything they need to know and ensure that nothing is missed. This guide can be downloaded and printed out (or used digitally) so topics can be ticked off.
Understanding Large Numbers: Students should be able to read, write, order, and compare numbers up to 10,000,000 and understand the value of each digit.
Negative Numbers: This includes working with negative numbers in various contexts, such as temperature and elevation, and performing calculations that cross zero.
Fluency in Arithmetic: Mastery of the four operations is crucial. Students should be able to perform mental calculations and use formal written methods for large numbers.
Order of Operations: Understanding and applying BIDMAS/BODMAS (Brackets, Orders (i.e., powers and roots), Division and Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction) is essential for solving complex problems.
Equivalent Fractions: Simplifying fractions, finding common denominators, and comparing and ordering fractions.
Operations with Fractions: Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions and mixed numbers.
Decimals and Percentages: Converting between fractions, decimals, and percentages and solving problems involving percentage changes and comparisons.
Understanding Ratios: Students learn to use ratio language and notation, simplify ratios, and solve problems involving proportional relationships.
Proportional Reasoning: Applying knowledge to solve problems e.g. in recipes, scale drawings, and maps.
Introduction to Algebra: Using simple formulae, expressing missing number problems algebraically, and finding pairs of numbers that satisfy equations.
Sequences: Recognising and creating number sequences involving fractions and decimals.
MeasurementUnits of Measure: Converting between different units of measure (e.g., length, mass, volume) using appropriate tools and instruments.
Perimeter, Area, and Volume: Calculate the perimeter and area of various shapes, including triangles and parallelograms, and find the volume of cubes and cuboids.
Properties of Shapes: Identifying and describing properties of 2D and 3D shapes, including types of angles and the relationships between them, circles, their radius, diameter and circumference.
Position and Direction: Plotting points on the coordinate plane, interpreting graphs, and understanding translations, and reflections.
StatisticsData Handling: Collecting, organising, and interpreting data using bar charts, pictograms line graphs, pie charts, and tables.
Key Skills
Problem-Solving
Applying Mathematics: Using mathematical concepts to solve real-life problems and unfamiliar situations.
Reasoning: Developing logical arguments and reasoning skills to explain solutions and justify answers.
Fluency
Efficient Calculation: Performing calculations quickly and accurately mentally and using formal written methods.
Recall of Facts: Having a solid grasp of number facts, such as multiplication tables and key number bonds, to support more complex calculations.
Conceptual Understanding
Depth of Knowledge: Ensuring a deep understanding of mathematical concepts rather than just procedural knowledge. This involves understanding why methods work and being able to explain reasoning.
Communication
Mathematical Language: Using appropriate mathematical vocabulary to discuss and explain mathematical ideas clearly.
Representation: Using diagrams, charts, and models to represent mathematical ideas and solve problems.
Reflection and Self-Assessment
Reviewing Work: Encouraging students to check their work for errors and understand mistakes as part of the learning process.
Setting Goals: Helping students set personal goals for improvement and develop strategies to achieve them.
A personal note from Jen: If your child can recall facts about times tables quickly, this will help them with tests and exams way into the future. Times tables facts are just something they need to remember (not practise like long division), and it will make SATs and even GCSEs much easier for students. When I was teaching GCSE maths, this was a core skill that the students with the best grades could do easily. Students did time tables tests in Y4 here; you can use that to help inform them of their child's ability and what they need to work on in upper KS2.
Objectives of the National Curriculum
Breadth and Balance
The National Curriculum aims to provide a broad and balanced education that promotes spiritual, moral, cultural, mental, and physical development. This holistic approach ensures students are well-rounded and prepared for future opportunities and responsibilities.
Mastery of Core Knowledge and Skills
Emphasis is placed on ensuring students fully grasp fundamental knowledge and skills in each subject. This foundation is crucial for academic success and lifelong learning.
Preparation for Secondary Education
The curriculum is designed to prepare students to transition to Key Stage 3. By the end of Year 6, students should be ready to tackle the more advanced subjects and challenges of secondary school.
Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Across all subjects, students are encouraged to think critically, solve problems, and apply their knowledge in various contexts. This approach fosters independence and resilience in learning.
Cultural Awareness and Appreciation
The curriculum includes opportunities for students to learn about different cultures, traditions, and perspectives. This promotes respect and understanding of diversity, preparing students to thrive in a multicultural society.
Personal Development
The curriculum supports the development of key personal attributes such as confidence, curiosity, and perseverance. It also aims to instil values such as honesty, kindness, and respect for others.
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