what is Year 6?

An important transition year here at BIS HCMC, Year 6 readies our children for the move from the Junior Campus to the Secondary Campus. In the National Curriculum, Year 6 is the final year of Key Stage 2.

Meet the Team

What our children say

Communication with parents

Here at BIS HCMC, we take communication very seriously. We look at this aspect of school life as an opportunity for you, as parents, to gain a greater understanding of what is happening in each classroom, across the year group and of course the wider school. We utilise a number of methods to keep you in the loop, with the main tool being a wonderful new initiative called Seesaw. 

Seesaw is essentially social media for the classroom and gives you a insight into the daily life of your Year 6 child. Photos, learning and messages will all be broadcast through Seesaw and the associated Blog page. 

Other important communication tools are of course:

• Homework Diary, which each child collects on the first day of the school year and is a quick and easy method of getting in touch with the class teacher, as well as being your first stop for the weekly timetable. This also forms an important tool for the children with respect to organisational skills and homework, in readiness for the transition to Year 7.

• Email is used regularly as a means of getting messages quickly to the class teacher, and vice-versa. 

• Weekly updates, which were emailed previously, are a peek ahead at what will be happening over the next week in the year group. These will come to you every Friday on the Seesaw platform. 

The weekly update from the Head Teacher is also a wonderful collection of highlights from the week just completed and are available on the News and Updates section of the school website here. Go back regularly as these pages are updated throughout the week. 

What will your child be learning?

At BIS, we teach the National Curriculum of England and Wales for Maths, English and Science. Other subject areas are taught in a cross curricular approach through the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). Children are also taught by specialist teachers in: Music, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Physical Education (PE), Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) and Vietnamese Culture.

In our teaching, we use a variety of methods to meet the learning styles and needs of each child. Lessons are fun, interactive and enjoyable, and not taught from a text book.

Everyday classroom activities include:

• Practical hands-on activities

• Speaking and listening activities

• Paired and group work

• Drama / role play / debates

• Research and presentations

• Interactive computer and tablet-based tasks

What will your learning environment look like?

In Year 6 we aim to give the children real life experiences. Linking the wider community with your child’s learning in the classroom is an integral part of the learning process both socially and academically. A key part of expanding learning beyond the classroom is through technology where Year 5 and Year 6 children bring their own devices. Platforms such as the Google Suite and Seesaw will provide opportunities for online sharing of learning. Children will also have the opportunity to go on day trips and excursions to: Minh Long Pottery and Cat Tien (Year 6 Residential Trip). See below for photos...

Age related expectations

Our Age Related Expectations, or AREs for short, outline our end-of-year success criteria for what a child who has been through each phase at BIS HCMC should expect to achieve. As your child progresses from year to year, so to will the AREs become increasingly more complex. This allows teachers to target areas of development within individual pupils. 

Progress through the AREs will be shared with parents throughout the year through Parent Teacher Student Conferences (PTSCs) and written reports or updates. At the end of the year these will be explained using the statements Support (S), Developing (D), Meeting (M) and Exceeding (E). All AREs for Year 6 can be found on the following document. Click on the arrow to open out the whole page.

Assessment, Tracking and reporting

At BIS we use both formative and summative assessments to meet the needs of the students. 

Formative assessment refers to a wide variety of methods that our teachers use to conduct in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs, and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Formative assessments help our teachers identify the next steps in a child's learning.

Summative Assessments which are used to evaluate student learning progress and achievement at the conclusion of a specific instructional period—usually at the end of a term.  We use the GL suite of assessments to support teacher judgement at the end of every  Academic Year for students in Year 1 to Year 6. 

Reporting effort, progress and attainment to parents is extremely important and an integral part of what we do as a school to ensure that we are working with parents to meet the needs of the students. There are two written reports each year in Term 1 and Term 3. There are also two Parent Teacher Student Conferences (PTSCs) each academic year where there is an opportunity to meet the teachers to discuss progress and what parents can do at home to support their child. At BIS, we have an open door policy and parents are welcome and encouraged to make further appointments throughout the academic year with their child's class teacher should they want further updates or have any concerns about their child. 

Specialist Lessons

PE

Physical Education is a fundamental part of the curriculum at BIS with every pupil having two lessons a week with a specialist P.E. teacher. The curriculum covered is broad and balanced allowing pupils to grow physically, mentally and socially. The lessons will develop motor skills, tactics and strategies, assessing performance, and sportsmanship. 

Physical Education at BIS allows pupils to learn about a healthy, active lifestyle in a fun and dynamic way, and is delivered through a range of different sports such as basketball, athletics, swimming and outdoor pursuits. 

Pupils are encouraged to try new activities and stay as active as possible. There are a large number of clubs on offer to accommodate all age ranges and abilities, focusing on skill development and enjoyment. For our elite athletes we also run a range of squads and teams, giving them the opportunity to play in a competitive environment and with a greater emphasis on performance, whilst still having fun!

As a department we have high expectations, and expect all pupils to participate at all times, and in the appropriate full kit. This includes bringing a hat and water bottle to every lesson. 

Music

The Music Department at BIS HCMC believes strongly that the Performing Arts play a significant role in your child’s educational journey from FundinoTots to Year 6 and beyond, and every child should be able to fulfil their musical potential. Our overall aim is for the students to develop a lifelong love of music through an enjoyable, immersive and challenging musical curriculum. The curriculum focuses on singing, movement, the playing of different instruments and introducing music theory. During their music lessons students will learn about the elements of music such as pitch, dynamics and tempo, through a variety of practical activities. All students will have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument for at least one year through our whole-class band programme. 

Our collaboration with the world-renowned Juilliard School allows us access to their innovative Creative Classroom, through the exploration of 12 core works and specially-designed creative activities to complement these. This supplements our already rich musical curriculum which features a balance of performing, composing and listening. The Juilliard Creative Classroom encourages the children to develop confidence in the three main areas of ‘ways of doing’, ‘ways of being’ and ‘ways of thinking’ and visits from Juilliard alumni allow the children to see and hear world-class musicians.

In addition to our thriving curriculum music lessons, at BIS HCMC Primary we are able to offer a wide range of extra-curricular musical activities designed to engage as many students as possible and to further extend their creative learning. This includes multiple choirs, orchestras and ensembles. We are also able to provide access to individual instrumental lessons at the school through a team of highly qualified and experienced musicians. Children can start lessons from Year 1 upwards and are strongly encouraged to do so. Many children take advantage of our link with ABRSM to further their progress through this established and respected examination system. 

ICT

In Year 5 and 6 students work in a 1 to 1 bring your own device environment and integrate the use of technology across all subject areas. They also have 60 minutes of designated ICT teaching each week and learn a range of skills they can apply to all learning areas as well as getting the opportunity to investigate future focused technology areas like digital design and advanced robotics.

Year 5 and 6 students continue to develop their game design and coding skills, but they also begin to look at physical coding and technology design through the use of micro controllers like the MakeyMakey and the Micro:bit. Robotics becomes even more complex with the use of Lego EV3 robots that have a greater range of sensors, such as sound, touch and infrared and give students an opportunity to program robots in a greater range of scenarios. We also introduce digital design at Year 5 and 6 and we use CAD software to prototype digital objects then print them on our 3D printers. In addition to all of this we look at collaborative ways we can work together to create digital artifacts such as film, websites, presentations and text.