‘The happy home of our Year Five and Year Six children.’

Miss Ellis

Teaching Assistant Mrs Smith

Class Teacher

Welcome

Welcome to Kingfisher Class, where learning is fun, engaging and challenging! Your child has many learning experiences to look forward to:

dissecting a heart, building electrical circuits and learning about the sinking

of the Titanic are just a few examples.

Over the coming year, we will ensure that your child feels safe and valued.

As a school, we ensure that all children receive quality first education and

above all love their learning!

Expectations

In Kingfisher Class, we truly do ‘reach

for the stars.’ We expect children to

be driven, dedicated and persevere

when faced with challenges. We want children to develop a growth

mindset and always have a ‘can do’

attitude towards their learning.

We expect children to follow our

school values so that they have every

opportunity to achieve their goals.

We expect them to come to school ready to learn and always try their

very best!

School Values

We encourage children to apply our school values to their learning and in their everyday lives.

Respect: learning about kindness, friendship and equality and are encouraged to be kind to

themselves and to others.

Resilience: the ability to persevere, make decisions, stay focused and be patient.

Reflection: take the time to look around us; to assess and give consideration to where to go

next.

Resourcefulness: to develop the skills they will need to succeed in the future.

TopicsThis academic year, the topics being studied are:

Autumn 1 Blood Heart Learning about the circulatory

system; the heart and how it

works.

Autumn 2 Early Islamic Civilisation The Golden Age of Baghdad – the

city of knowledge, learning and

scholarship.

Spring 1 Victorians Learning about a local disaster and

what life was like during the reign

of Queen Victoria.

Spring 2 Darwin’s Delight The work of Charles Darwin and

The Theory of Evolution.

Summer Titanic New evidence found in 2017 that

informs us of what really

happened on board the Titanic.

Please note that this is an outline and often plans change. We will keep you informed of the learning

in Kingfisher class on the school website.

Class Novels

Our English curriculum is based around reading high quality texts as a

class. Though we have books to share, many children prefer their own

copy. If you would like to purchase class novels beforehand, the books

being studied this year are:

Autumn 1 Blood Heart Pig-heart boy by Malorie Blackman

Autumn 2 Early Islamic Civilisation 1001 Arabian Nights by Geraldine

McCaughrean

Spring 1 Victorians Street Child by Berlie Doherty

Spring 2 Darwin’s Delight Skellig by David Almond

Summer Titanic DK History – Story of the Titanic

Homework• Learning log homework is given out at the

beginning of the half term and one piece is due

in every Wednesday (dates are provided on the

learning log sheet).

• CGP: children will bring home CGP books for

Maths and EGPS. This is to help them structure

their revision and go over topics covered in class.

Parents are encouraged to pay a contribution of £10 for the workbooks and the revision guides are

for children to borrow – they will need to be

returned at the end of the year.

• 20 minutes of reading everyday – they are

checked daily.

• Spellings – children must learn spellings and show

evidence of this in their spellings journals. They

are expected to bring their journals in everyday.

Spellings

• Spelling journals are for your children to use for all their spelling evidence:

spelling lists, spelling practice and spelling tests they might do at home.

• They should bring them in every day so that they can be used in school.

• All activities should be done by Wednesday and this is when a new list will be

given out.

• They do not need to show all strategies – these are just suggestions to help

your child learn their spellings.

• Your children are expected to learn them all to reach the expected standard

at the end of the year.

iDEA

• This half term you will also receive information about iDEA – Inspiring

Digital Enterprise Award. It is an international programme that helps

children to develop digital, enterprise and employability skills for free.

It is available on all modern devices and is flexible and easy to use.

The children receive badges after completing modules on e-safety,

digital literacy, Computer Science etc.

• Parents are asked to sign the children up to the website and

complete majority of the modules in their own time. I would be

grateful if your child could bring in their certificate once they have

gained their bronze/silver or gold award. If you would like to start

earlier, the website address is: https://idea.org.uk

Physical Education

• P.E. is timetabled for Friday. Please bring labelled P.E. kit to school

every day as timetable changes do occur due to British weather.

• Children are expected to wear their house colour t-shirt, black

shorts/track suit bottoms and a hoodie during the winter months.

End of KS2 Assessments

What are the SATS tests?

• Year 6 Standard Assessments Tests (SATS) commences 9th May 2022

• Pupils will complete SATS test papers in:

- Reading

- English Grammar, Punctuation & Spelling

- Arithmetic

- Mathematical Reasoning – 2 papers

• Writing is assessed by the teacher over the year and is not tested. It Is

important that your child learns their weekly spellings and takes their

time when completing handwriting tasks as these are used as

evidence.

End of KS2 Assessments

How do the tests take place?

• The tests all take place in normal school time, under test conditions

with Mrs Smith and Mr Pastore.

• Pupils will not be allowed to talk to each other during the tests.

• The completed papers are sent away to be marked externally.

• Results are returned to school in July.

• The tests vary in length but last no longer than 60 minutes:- Reading: 60 minutes

- Grammar, Punctuation & Vocabulary: 45 minutes

- Spelling: 15/20 minutes

- Arithmetic: 30 minutes

- Mathematical Reasoning: 2 papers of 40 minutes each.

End of KS2 Assessments

How are the tests graded?

• The marked tests will provide the following information:

- A raw score (i.e. number of marks)

- A scaled score (see below)

- An indication of whether the national standard has been met.

• In scaled scores, a score of 100 represents the national standard. The

lowest is 80 and the highest is 120.

• After each test is marked, it will be converted into a scaled score and

that will show whether a pupil is working at the national standard, or

above or below it.

• A pupil will need to achieve a scaled score of 100 to show that they have met the national standard on the test.

• There are no longer separate tests for higher attaining pupils, but they

might expect a scaled score of closer to 120 which would indicate the

pupil is working above the expected standard.

End of KS2 Assessments

End of KS2 Assessments

End of KS2 Assessments

End of KS2 Assessments

Year 6 Boosters

Every year, the Year 6 children are

invited to attend after school

boosters. This is to help children

revise concepts in a relaxed

environment in a smaller group.

We usually start with EGPS and

change depending on the

children’s needs.

What can you do to help your child at home?

1. Ensure your child has the best possible attendance.

2. Make time you hear your child read everyday and discuss their

reading.

3. Spellings form part of the ‘expected standard’ statement. It is

important that children learn their spellings. Please make sure they

are using their spelling journals and weekly tests form the evidence

for this judgement.

4. Make sure they know their times tables.

5. Practise calculations especially if they are tricky!

6. Make time for counting – count in 3s, 4s, 8s etc.

7. Handwriting forms part of the ‘expected standard’ statement.

Even copying from non-fiction books, story books etc can help

improve style and the pace of handwriting. Handwriting must be

legible, fluent and joined.

8. Praise and encourage them even for the small successes – this will

motivate them to make bigger leaps!

Contact me

If you have any questions or notices during the year, you

may catch me at the beginning or end of the school day

or by emailing the school office.

If another adult will be picking up your child or your child

has permission to go home by themselves, please

provide a written note.