In English, we will start the term by looking at our essay writing skills. We will explore the use of fact and opinion within a piece of writing and the difference between the two. We will also think about bias and how this can be used to influence a reader. The children will then move on to starting a new text “Journey to the River Sea” by Eva Ibottson. The children will build their skills over the term to allow them to write diary entries and letters from the perspective of characters within the story. We will be using the text to develop and improve our grammar skills by focusing on identifying imaginative vocabulary and techniques, as well as thinking about how we can construct complex sentences that create interest for the reader. We will look carefully at the use of adverbials within our writing, as well as the importance of identifying main clauses and subordinate clauses within a sentence in order to add more detail. The children will think carefully about the use of conjunctions to create cohesion within their writing, and we will also be ensuring we develop our accurate use of a wide range of punctuation.

Children will continue to participate in a weekly spelling test with the expectation that they will practice their spellings at home.

In Maths we will be embedding our knowledge of the four operations and taking a look at fractions. We will explore how to add and subtract fractions, as well as how to multiply and divide them. There will be a continued focus on understanding how to solve one and two step worded problems and identifying which operations are needed. We will also continue to explore decimals and percentages and look at the links between these and fractions. Throughout all of this work, we will look at how we can explain the maths that is taking place and how we can apply what we have learnt to solve problems. In addition, we will have a specific focus on preparing the year 6 children for their SATs tests, which will take place this term.

Children will continue to participate in a weekly times table test with the expectation that they will practice their times tables at home. This will help with fluency and automatic recall when solving multiplication and division problems.

Our Science for this term has a focus on biology, looking specifically at the concept of reproduction. We will investigate asexual and sexual reproduction, specifically building on work the children will have completed in previous years. We will discover the differences between the two types of reproduction and think about where we see examples of both in nature. In addition to looking at the processes of different types of reproduction, we will also think about the different growth stages of animals and explore how animals care for their young and how this varies between species. We will have the opportunity for some practical tasks, which will reinforce the theory we will be learning throughout the term. Throughout the whole unit, we will have a focus on building our ‘Working Scientifically’ skills and thinking about what it means to be a scientist and how these skills can help us understand the world we live in.

In Geography we will be studying different geographical issues that affect the UK. We will bring together all of the previous knowledge of the UK that the children have accumulated over their journey through the curriculum so far. We will consider geographical features of the UK and how they have changes over time. We will then focus specifically on the following issues that impact on life in the UK: air pollution, flooding, waste and litter. We will look at how we can use geographical data to study regions of the UK affected by these issues and explore how government departments such as DEFRA (Department for Food and Rural Affairs) use data on these issues to make policy decisions that can impact upon people and the local environment. Throughout all of this, we will also continue to develop our atlas and mapwork skills.

In History the children will build on their study of World War II from last term and extend this knowledge to explore the Cold War. We will consider how the Cold War differed from other wars they have previously studied (such as World War I and World War II). We will investigate how the aftermath of World War II changed the global balance of power, creating a world led by two competing superpowers: The United States of American (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). After a detailed look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, we will explore at how the two superpowers spent vast amounts of time competing not only to see who had the most effective weapons, but also to see who had the greatest technology and scientific discovery. To do this, we will focus specifically on the Space Race. The children will end this unit by looking in more depth at the ‘Proxy Wars’ – a development where the superpowers joined opposing sides of wars being fought in other countries. 

In Art we will be exploring Baman people and how they use headdresses as part of their ceremonial practices. We will look at the Chiwara ceremony and explore the headdresses used during this and the significance of the imagery. The children will look at how relief sculptures are made and use this knowledge to design and create their own headdress pieces, using cardboard to create them as relief sculptures. We will look closely at the use of shape and symbolism and why this is important when representing something through art.



In RE, the children will focus on the significance of the Eucharist to Christians. We will look at the concept of ‘thankfulness’ and ‘thanksgiving’ and the difference between the two. The children will explore The Last Supper and think carefully about the importance of the Eucharist within Holy Communion. We will think about how all of these important ideas are expressed through the way Christian’s live their daily lives and how they try to incorporate Jesus’ teachings into their lives. Finally, we will think about the importance of symbolism and how bread and wine are considered significant symbols of the Eucharist.