Year 6 2025 - 2026
Miss Gradwell
Year 6 Class Teacher
Year 6
In Year 6, our class teacher is Miss Gradwell.
Mrs Hankin, Mrs Lightfoot and Mrs McCartney are our teaching assistants.
Things to remember:
Children do not need to bring lots of things into school with them. Since they wear their tracksuits on PE days, the only items children need to bring to school include their packed lunch (unless on school dinners), a bottle of water with their name on (no juice allowed), their coat if necessary and their bookbag, which is used to carry their home readers and diary. Children can bring a pencil case into school if they wish, but these are not mandatory; all necessary resources will be provided for your child.
Please make sure all of your child's uniform is labelled clearly with their full name. Each year, we have lots of jumpers, cardigans and jackets going missing and they end up in lost property because there is no name on there, so they can't be returned to their rightful owner. We know how expensive uniform is and don't want any of our children to lose it.
The school Levy of £10 per family can be paid via School Money.
Year 6 routines:
Daily:
Children should bring their diaries into school every day. We will use these to record important information and messages. Children will be responsible for sharing any messages with one of the adults in class.
Mondays:
Our homework day is Monday. Homework comprises of a maths / SPaG task (20 questions), a set of spellings and times tables practise. These are all carried out on 'Emile'. Spelling packs will be sent home at the start of each half term containing spelling lists and a resource pack for children to complete if they prefer to practise their spellings on paper. Spelling battles take place on Mondays and are paper based.
Wednesdays:
Wednesday is PE day. Children can come to school dressed in their tracksuits on this day.
Children receive home reading books on Wednesdays, too. These should be returned to school each week so we can monitor the children's reading; new books are given out every other week. Children should complete a book review in the reading record for each home reading book.
Fridays:
Children should come to school in their school tracksuit on Fridays ready for Junior Games.
A little about life in Year 6
Year 6, as you know, is a busy year. Children in this class are the oldest in the school and as such, they have a lot of responsibilities. At St. Mary's, we try our best to ensure our children are prepared for the next step in their educational journey by encouraging them to grow in independence and to become more responsible. Please help your child by encouraging them to be as independent at home as possible (packing their own school bag, being responsible for completing their homework on time, getting their diaries checked and signed by a parent, etc).
Another part of being in Year 6 is SATs (Standardised Assessment Tests), which are mandatory tests for all schools across the country. This is just a small part of Year 6, and while we work hard to do our best on these tests, we constantly remind the children that they are not the 'be all and end all' of life in Year 6. We work hard, but we have fun, too. Year 6 is the year we go to PGL; we put on a fabulous play each year; we fully immerse ourselves in the wider life of our school; we support and look after our reception buddies, and we enjoy spending our final year in primary school with our friends and teachers. Year 6 is a wonderful year for all involved.
Additionally, we have reward systems in place to encourage and reward exemplary behaviour. St. Mary's runs a whole school weekly system, where children earn House Points for their House (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The winning house each week receives a treat from Mrs Martin.
In Year 6, we also have our own behaviour reward system, which involves collecting stickers. Children can earn a sticker for fulfilling our school mission statement of 'Being the Best We Can Be', working hard, using lovely manners, making good progress, carrying out random acts of kindness, living out our core values (respect, celebration, creativity, nurture and integrity) and for generally being helpful, kind and well-behaved. Once certain target numbers have been reached, children can choose a prize. The prizes are all based on suggestions made by the children and the more stickers they earn, the bigger and better the prizes become!
Below, you will find links to some of the websites we currently use at school that your children are encouraged to access at home.
Useful Websites:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize
https://emile-education.com/log-in-to-emile-resources/
https://www.purplemash.com/sch/birchleystm#/