Felsted Year 6 - Transition Information

Welcome to Year 6

Year 5 and 6

The Cloisters Team

Mr D. Maclean Form Tutor Head of DTE

Mr R. Holt Form Tutor Maths and PE Teacher

Mr J. Kenzie Form Tutor Learning Support Teacher

Mrs S. Knightley Form Tutor Head of Languages

Miss S. Mitchell Assistant Head of Cloisters Head of Art

The Cloisters Team

Mr B. Gray Cloisters Tutor Head of Maths

Mrs F. Weston-Myers Form Tutor Assistant Director of Learning

Mrs H. Boroughs Form Tutor English Teacher

Miss E. Goodwin Form Tutor Maths Teacher

Teaching Assistants

Mrs Everitt

Mrs Bird

Mrs Watkinson Mrs Barclay

Mr Kenzie

Ms Dixon

Ms Doyle

Mrs Pickford

Madame Imber

Beginning of the school day • The school day starts at 8.20am • Children can arrive at school from 8am where they can play supervised in the playground.

• When the bell goes at 8:20, the pupils will have registration in their form room with their tutor - known as tutor time. Sometimes pupils will read during tutor time, talk about the day ahead and communicate logistics of music and LAMDA lessons

End of the school day • The school day ends at 5:40pm for Year 5 and 6 pupils except for Wednesday when the day ends at 3:35pm, this is dependant on fixtures • At the end of the day, the year 5 and 6 pupils will sign out at the black gates from 5:30 • Then children are collected from the front of the building at the red doors.

Uniform The children will be fitted for their school uniform at our school Tailor’s shop.

The children should wear their ‘day’ uniform to school, apart from Saturdays. On those days they should come into school in their games kit. This reduces the need to carry heavy bags to school and also lessens the amount of sports kit going astray!

The school coat should be worn everyday - we never know when it may rain! Jumpers and blazers should be in school every day.

A full list of uniform and sports kit can be found on the website.

Please ensure that all items of clothing are clearly labelled.

Prep School Uniform

Lunch time In Year 6 pupils will now continue to eat lunch here in the Prep School Dining Room most days.

There is a choice of a hot meal or jacket potato or a salad. There is a pudding and choice of fruit for dessert.

Staff sit amongst the pupils and pupils are encouraged to drink water and demonstrate good manners and eating habits.

Any dietary requirements are catered for by our catering team.

A menu for the term is available on our school website: www.felsted.org/parents/menus

Timetables and routines

What’s new?

Lessons with subject specialist teachers Classrooms across both sites Games and PE at the senior school Broad spectrum of additional activities

Resources and Kit Some items which your children will require in Year 6: Felsted backpack and sports kit Pencil case Chromebook

Resources - Chromebook In Year 5, children will be required to purchase their own chromebook. School offer a Chromebook Package as follows (prices as at May 2024): 1)

Full bundle - £596.84 includes: Lenovo 500e Yoga Gen4 Chromebook device (Auto Update Expiry 2033) Google Chrome Licence Spare Lenovo Charger Configuration by school 1 set of iClever HS19 Kids Headphones Neoprene Sleeve Lenovo 3 year accidental damage Protection Insurance (This means that the device will be fixed or replaced)

2)

Chromebook + licence only - £415

How do we keep your child safe online?

Keeping your child safe whilst they are in school: If they are logged in with their @felsted.org - school email address we can provide: ❖ A filtering system called ‘Smoothwall’ which filters for inappropriate context ❖ Stops the pupils accessing Social media and Youtube ❖ Keystroke monitoring which alerts staff is the pupil is trying to access inappropriate content (eg typing in an inappropriate word in a search engine) If they are logged in on a personal account whilst in school we can provide: ❖ ❖ ❖

Smoothwall for inappropriate context No access to Youtube Keystroke monitoring

Staying safe at home If your child is using a school managed chromebook at home and are logging in with their school @felsted.org login, we can offer: ❖ ❖

Smoothwall for inappropriate context Keystroke monitoring

If they are logged in on a personal account whilst at home we can provide:

❖

Keystroke monitoring

To protect them from social media or other websites, it is your responsibility to add your safe controls.

If you would like further advice on this please contact Martin White mwh@felsted.org

How will the children be grouped?

As with Year 5 arrangements, the children continue to be grouped into core subject and teaching groups as well as their form.

We understand that grouping children for lessons can feel quite an anxious time for parents, but please be assured that the teachers know the children very well and the transition process is carefully planned. The Year staff will liaise closely to ensure that the children are being placed in the best groups for them.

Our aim is to create supportive and effective working relationships between the children.

We also understand that some children find change challenging and we will also factor this into the transition process.

Academic Overview Each term you will be sent the Learning Pathways document which details the curriculum overview for that Term in all subject areas.

In Year 6, children will have the opportunity to learn alongside many different people; they will be allocated four groups: -

Tutor Group or Form English and Maths sets Wider curriculum mixed teaching group

Maths and English - These are taught in sets. Based on transition meetings, formative and summative assessment, the children will be part of a teaching group that is appropriate for them and although curriculum coverage is the same, the pace and scaffold will be appropriate to the needs of each group Humanities, Science, Music, Art, DT, Spanish RS and PE - These subjects are taught by specialist teachers in a mixed teaching group PSHE - This is taught by tutors within mixed tutor groups

Principles of Data & Reporting

Aptitude

Approach

Positive Pupil Progress

Attainment + External Benchmarking

Approach to Learning Exceptional Above Expectations Meeting Expectations Needs Improvement

Assessment Ongoing assessment points will happen in all subject areas throughout the Year GL Assessment is a national external assessment programme for English, Maths and Science that enables us to measure pupil progress between the Autumn and Summer term

Year 3 - 6 Attainment grades in English Maths and Science are linked to external assessments and relate to National Expected Standards Levels (2023 - 24)

Explanation level Working well above the expected level for the Year Group

Exceeding Working above the expected level for the Year group Above Expected Working at the expected level for the Year Group Expected Secure Working just within the expected level for the Year Group Within Expected Working towards the expected level for the Year Group Working Towards

What does this look like for pupils Reflect on Attainment Grades and Approaches To Learning for each subject

PARENTS MEETINGS

RECEIVE REPORT Talk with tutors and subject teachers

Talk with tutors and subject teachers

Regular checks on progress

Reports / Assessments set the agenda for dialogue / communication with teachers, tutors and other stakeholders The more PROACTIVE and REFLECTIVE you are, the better your academic progress will be!

Maths Maths is planned using the National Curriculum and the White Rose Maths scheme.

The White Rose Maths Scheme adopts the maths mastery approach to learning.

Children will continue to learn times tables every week as well as practising mental mathematical strategies regularly.

The children will have a ‘login’ for Time Tables Rockstars which can be accessed at home as well as school to increase fluency in times tables, as well as Century Tech to consolidate learning independently

English English is taught in set groups and covers the teaching of reading, spelling, grammar, punctuation and writing skills.

Writing is taught through embedding skills and knowledge using key texts. It aims to provide a solid context and purpose for writing so that children understand the impact of their skills on the audience they are writing for.

Children will have a ‘login’ for Spelling Shed which can also be accessed at home and school and is a fun and engaging way for children to practise their spellings - they be set spellings to and rules to learn at home.

Children will become more independent readers in Years 5 & 6 and the teacher will not listen to your child read aloud as often as you may have experienced before. Teachers will be carefully monitoring reading in different ways and one of the methods we use is the Accelerated Reader Scheme.

Accelerated Reader Scheme This is the system used for reading in Year 5 and beyond: Pupils choose a book from the library which is suitable for their reading level.

Once they have read the book, they log into the AR system and take a quiz on the book contents. This might be 5, 10 or 20 questions.

They receive a score and this is all recorded on their profile.

At regular intervals throughout the year, pupils sit a STAR reading test which determines their ZPD which is Zone of Proximal Development.

Further details and information on this system will be explained at the settling in mornings in September.

A love of Reading Very much at the forefront of our teaching of Reading and Reading Skills is instilling a love of reading.

Whilst children experience texts which are selected through the AR system and are appropriate in terms of language and themes for their reading level, we try to encourage reading of all kinds at home. This could include: Newspapers and magazines, articles and digital media (kindles and audio books).

In line with this, we teach explicit reading skills through our STRIVE reading lessons to encourage and embed critical thinking and text analysis skills.

Further details and information on this system will be explained at the settling in mornings in September.

PSHE Health & Wellbeing

Relationships

Living in the Wider World

Healthy lifestyles, keeping safe, growing & changing, personal identity.

Healthy relationships on/off-line, feelings and emotions, valuing difference,

Rights & Responsibilities, Environmental Care, Economic wellbeing, employability, careers

Mindfulness

Relationships & Health Education (Primary)

A subject firmly placed within our School values of ‘Developing Character, and Making a Difference.’

Sessions that help pupils to manage their daily-lives in/outside school, but also to help prepare for life after school.

Relationships and Health Education - A spiral programme, part of PSHE, which we offer to our Year 6 pupils.

- An age-appropriate, progressive Growing-up curriculum which the pupils have already begun in Year 4. This continues to follow through with them into Year 5 and 6.

- Further information about this will always be communicated in advance to you by the Head of PSHE. - Please feel free to attend one of our popular PSHE Parent Drop-ins to learn more, or contact Mr Manley (ajlm@felsted.org).

Games and PE Pupils will have both PE and Games sessions: PE lessons each week will include swimming, health related exercise, gymnastics and team sports.

Games lessons by Term: Autumn Term: Boys - Rugby Girls - Hockey & Netball Spring Term: Boys - Hockey Girls - Hockey & Netball Summer Term: Boys and Girls - Cricket and Athletics The following Sports Kit is required for PE and Games lessons

Independent Learning We realise that our children have a long day in school and may be very tired by the time they return home.

Our independent learning, set as Prep is therefore kept to a minimum and it is expected that it should be completed in set Prep sessions within the school timetable.

This will include 30 minutes English and 30 minutes Maths designed to consolidate prior learning or pre teach new concepts

Musical Opportunities In Year 6 there are lots of opportunities to be involved with music.

Each week the children have a Music lesson led by Mr Rees or Mr Taylor .

There are many opportunities for your child to be involved in choirs, groups and orchestras.

Each year there will be a concert when you are invited to watch your child perform.

If you wish your child to learn an instrument contact musdept@felsted.org Any queries please email Mr Rees ocr@felsted.org

Mr Taylor

Mr Rees

Mrs Clarke

Activities Details of activities and signing up for these will all be sent to you via an emailed letter. Some activities are seasonal and subject to change each term.

Some of the activities we currently offer: Horse riding

Football

Tennis

Squash

Karate

Public Speaking Yoga

Maths

Art

Golf

Dance

Performing Arts

Seasonal Sports Cheerleading

Cookery

Quiz club

Cross Country

DT

Football Swimming

Scholarship Opportunities In Year 6, children have the opportunity to elect to sit for a Scholarship Award or MSA.

Applications can be made for: Scholarships: Academic, Music and Sport MSA: Art, DTE, Drama, Sport and Music Further details can be found on the website and will be communicated at the beginning of the academic year.

Other opportunities LAMDA & music lessons.

Learning support group and 1-1 lessons if needed.

Trips and/or Experience days .

Year 6 Summer production Opportunities to be leaders - as well as roles in the wider school community such as Planet Protectors.

Music concerts to perform to parents and an audience.

Wide choice of activities for the pupils to try different things.

Sports matches, fixtures and tournaments

Hamilton House and Boarding

Boarding Team Mr David Paine (House Master)

Mr Fincher (Leadership Link)

Mrs Camp (Day Matron)

Mr Rees (Assistant Houseparent)

Miss Irons (Resident Matron)

Hamilton House Children may begin to boarding from Year 6 in our homely Prep Boarding House. After a taster session children may opt to board for a couple of nights a week or choose our weekly or full boarding option. Hamilton House has a range of bedrooms sizes with relaxation and recreation areas for boys and girls.

With the encouragement of our committed and caring team, we aim for all the children in our care to feel at home and contribute to house life through joining in, enjoying being with their friends, eating and sleeping well and learning to manage and organise themselves.

Leagues As in previous years, in Year 6 all the children will belong to a league. Every 2 weeks there is a league meeting and there are lots of competitions during the year when the leagues compete against each other.Events include league music competition, league cross country, league reading race, hockey/netball/rugby matches At the end of the year, the league with the most points is awarded the Hopton Cup The Leagues are:

Gaselee Lord Riche Cromwell Grignon Smythies

Rewards and Praise We are a relational school which has positive noticing and strong relationships between all members of its community at its heart.

Plus points are awarded to pupils through the iSAMs system and shared with parents and carers for demonstrating attributes such as: positive learning behaviours, resilience, growth mindset engagement and kindness Values certificates and commendations: Pupils are noticed and celebrated for showing our values of: Welcoming, Fun, Adventurous, Inspirational and Respectful through our values certificates and awards which are celebrated in assembly and shared in the newsletter.

Rewards and Praise We are a relational school which has positive noticing and strong relationships between all members of its community at its heart.

Head’s Commendation Children can also receive Head’s Commendations for actions and attitudes which co above and beyond expectations in school.

This could be for taking part in charity events, assisting in school events outside of the school day, being external ambassadors for the school.

These are awarded by the Head at end of term assemblies and children then attend a hot chocolate morning with Mrs Norris.

Conduct and Consequences As in preceding year groups we have consistent, high expectations of behaviour and conduct in Year 5.

As a relational school, expectations are consistently modelled by all and pupils are given support, scaffold and guidance as to how to meet them.

When issues arise or situations occur which are not aligned with these, pupils are given specific opportunities to reflect and discuss their behaviours and their impact on others.

Conduct and Consequences The iSAMs system logs any incidents with conduct and behaviour and this is communicated with parents and carers.

The escalation of this process can be found in our behaviour policy: Behaviour Policy At each stage of the escalation process, pupils are given time to reflect on their actions and the impact that they have had on others

Conduct and Consequences Operating under this pedagogy creates a culture in which: Pupils feel safe and listened to Forms mutually respectful relationships Has clear expectations leading to long-term changes in behaviours Reinforces effective teaching and learning Pupils develop emotional literacy and empathy Opens pathways for powerful dialogues about wider issues

Key members of staff

Mrs Norris is our Prep School Head.

Mr Fincher is Deputy Head of the Prep School.

Mrs O’Brien is Director of Safeguarding and DSL.

Safeguarding All children have the right to feel safe and secure and our safeguarding team is on hand to support all of our pupils and their families.

The Director of Safeguarding is Nicola O’Brien and she can be contacted at nfsob@felsted.org or on the number 01371 822507.

Wellbeing Located at the Senior school is our Wellbeing Centre, a calming hub where all members of the Felsted community can access resources to support their mental health. The decor is natural, the furniture comfortable and the atmosphere calming, with a focus on a sensory experience.

Sometimes pupils have times when they would benefit from play therapy. If this is something you would like to discuss further, our Head of Wellbeing, Mrs Jane Miller, can be contacted to discuss your child’s needs wellbeing@felsted.org

Medical Wellbeing Our School nurse is Mrs Machell. She leads a team of wellbeing assistants.

Please contact fpsnurse@felsted.org should you wish to discuss your child’s health.

We call Mrs Machell ‘Nurse Vikki’

Support for Learning Teachers Mrs Clifford-Smith

Mrs Rassmussen

Head of Support for Learning and SENCO

Ms Murphy

Mrs Barker-Smith

How do we keep in touch during the Year?

Each term, there is an opportunity for families to come into school as follows: Autumn Term Settling in meetings Tutor emails Back to school day Reports Spring term Parent Meetings Book look Cloisters Concert Summer Term Reports Year 5 Concert Year 5 and 6 production We also have a number of other events throughout the year such as fixtures, Open Day, Sports Day, the Fete and Concerts.

Communication If there is anything you need to let us know, then please call Ms Taunton in the school office: 01371 822613 or email your child’s tutor.

If you wish to email a specific subject teacher directly, please do so copying in your child’s tutor for information.

You can also find out what is going on in school by: • • •

The weekly newsletter The online school calendar Our class reps

Year 5 and 6 Contacts You can contact your child’s class tutor or myself whenever you need to.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Mrs Paine Miss Mitchell Mrs Weston Myers Mrs Boroughs Miss Goodwin

gp@felsted.org slm@felsted.org fkwm@felsted.org hjb@felsted.org eng@felsted.org

We look forward to welcoming you and your children to Year 6 in September