Curriculum Newsletter

Parent Presentation

Welcome to Milky Way Class!

The class adults are Miss Clark (Class Teacher) and Mrs Walbrin (LSA / Year 6 Intervention). 

 Earth Shattering  

To inspire the children at the start of this Learning Experience, they will have a day focused around tornadoes and earthquakes. They will begin to understand why these natural disasters occur and develop their shading skills as they create a piece of tornado artwork. Working in teams, they will take part in a fun earthquake challenge before researching some of the biggest earthquakes in history.

In Geography, the children will be looking at different natural disasters including volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. To start the learning experience, they will learn about the different sections of the Earth and tectonic plate boundaries. Following on from this, they will begin to understand how different types of natural disasters occur and explore some of the most devastating events that have ever happened. To finish the half term, they will discuss and begin to understand global warming.

In English, the children will learn and write about the Story of Pompeii. Through this, they will develop a good understanding of the history of this Roman city and what life was like before the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They will explore the techniques that writers use to do this through their reading of engaging texts. From this, they will then look at examples of non-fiction writing in order to create their own explanation text on a chosen natural disaster. The objective will be to inform the reader whilst also entertaining; developing the children’s ability to write in a variety of styles and for a range of purposes. Finally, the children will explore and write ekphrastic poems - poems that are written in response to a piece of visual art.

Hook day will take place on Friday 7th November. During the day, children will be immersed in learning about tornadoes and earthquakes. They will take part in a range of activities including producing a piece of tornado art; making tornadoes in a jar; completing an earthquake team challenge and researching some of the world’s biggest earthquakes.

Take home task:

Choose from one, or even more, of the following. Alternatively, choose something of your own – get creative!

• Produce a comic strip for the story of Pompeii
• Create some art work based around natural disasters
• Produce a PPT about famous volcanoes
• Research a well-known natural disaster
• Create a model of Mount Vesuvius

Hand in date: Friday 12th December 2025

Our PE days will be on a Thursday and Friday.  Please ensure children come to school in the correct kit on these days and that long hair is tied back. We do not allow the children to wear earrings for PE so please can they be removed on these days or taped over. 

Thank you for taking the time to read all the information. 

Miss Clark

Class Rewards 

In order to promote positive behaviour, we reward the children with: raffle tickets, smiley faces, fishy points (house points) and a reading treat. If the class is able to achieve 100 reads, then the children who contributed significantly will be able to choose a reward. In addition, we have a traffic light system for behaviour and if the children are on the star at the end of the day, they will receive a raffle ticket. This allows us to encourage the students to engage in their learning and reward those who are participating and show a positive learning attitude.  

Greater Depth 

To support our Greater Depth children (those working above the expected level), we always try to challenge them within lessons with the work set and our level of questioning.

In Year 6, some of our Greater Depth (GD) children were involved in a Maths Challenge online, where they had to answer a range of difficult problems using their mathematical knowledge and understanding of many different concepts. They enjoyed this, as it made them think ‘out of the box’.