Year 6 Staff
Mr Ward – Class Teacher
Hello, I am Mr. Ward. I am the Year 6 class teacher at St John’s. I work in Year 6 with Mrs. Bennet our brilliant HLTA! This is my third full year teaching at St John’s, or anywhere for that matter! St John’s was one of my placement schools when I was doing my teacher training and I was lucky enough to secure a job here and have been here ever since. After being in and out of numerous schools during my training year, I am 100% sure that St John’s is the best of the best and it is hard to imagine ever working anywhere else!
As well as being the Year 6 class teacher I am also the subject lead for PE which is great for me considering I absolutely love playing and watching all sports.
I am a keen football and Newcastle United fan and I play for my local football team on a Saturday. As well as football, I have been doing CrossFit (I will avoid trying to explain what it is, googling it is much easier!) for just over a year and attend a local CrossFit gym most weeknights.
Mrs Bennett – HLTA
Hello, my name is Mrs Bennett but most of the upper Key Stage Two children and a lot of the parents know me as Mrs B. I have worked at St John’s school for over 20 years, most of those spent in Year 6 with Mrs Pallister and now Mr Ward giving support to any child who needs it so they can reach their full potential.
My favourite subjects are ICT and maths – I really love number crunching!
When I’m not at school I enjoy spending time with my two grown up children and my amazing granddaughter Evelyn. I also enjoy going out for meals.
Year 6 Important Information
I would firstly like to say thank you for getting your children back into school, they have made an excellent start and it is brilliant to see them all again. Hopefully this short document will provide you with any key information you may require and if there are any resulting questions please do not hesitate to contact the school and ask to speak to Mr. Ward.
Homework
Monday – Children will receive a spelling worksheet with their weekly spellings on to bring home. These spellings are to be learnt for the weekly spelling test later in the week (Thursday for some children and Friday for others – depending on the spelling group).
Due to current circumstances, reading books will not be sent home with children. We do not expect spelling sheets to be returned to school either. However, this does not mean children should not continue with their reading and spelling outside of school. Any form of reading at home will be extremely beneficial, whether this be a magazine, newspaper or their favourite collection of books and children will be provided with a Year 5/6 spelling word list that they can practice from.
Very shortly, we will be sending a list of useful websites to access at home to continue developing and enhancing their knowledge especially in core subjects such as Maths, English and Reading.
PE Lessons
Physical Education continues to be a compulsory part of the school curriculum; therefore, all children are required to wear PE kit on the days in which they have PE. Every Monday and Thursday Year 6 children are encouraged to come to school in their PE kit. At the moment children’s PE kit is as follows:
plain white t-shirt or polo shirt
black, grey or navy tracksuit bottoms
trainers or plimsolls
It is also advised that children bring a jumper in the colder months as where possible PE will be done outside due to current circumstances.
Reading Books
Children in Year 6 will not be receiving a regular weekly reading book. However, if this changes a separate letter will be sent home with their reading book. We are encouraging children to become more independent readers. Children will be choosing their own books and reading during our daily in-class ‘Accelerated Reader’ sessions.
Every child will be heard reading regularly in class in our Accelerated Reader sessions and Guided Reading Group sessions where adults regularly assess and monitor your child’s progress.
KS2 Statutory Assessments – SATs
As I am sure you are aware, Year 6 is a very important year in your child’s development and at the end of the year they will be sitting their SATs. I am in no doubt that when the time comes, all of the children in Year 6 will be sufficiently prepared due to their amazing opportunities to learn and their own hard work. It is important that children understand that any work they do from now to then is not only to prepare them for their SATs but is vital for their next steps in education as they go off to secondary school.
Additional Information
Mr Ward is the class teacher for Year 6 and Mrs Bennett is the HLTA that works with us from Monday – Thursday. Finally, if you have any questions about anything this document has covered or anything else please do get in touch at your earliest convenience.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Mr Ward and Mrs Bennett
Click on the link below to view the topics that will be taught this academic year.
