Transition continues to be incredibly important to us at Simon Balle all-through school, so throughout upper KS2 (Phase 3) we will support the children with their smooth journey into KS3 by continuing to build their independence and awareness of responsibility. Students will increase their use of the whole all-school site: for example, science labs, music block and the school’s main library. They will, for the first time, be responsible for their own equipment in a pencil case. We will also slowly increase the homework for the children, when they are ready, to support their organisational skills and the responsibility they will need when managing the homework they will receive from Year 7.

During upper KS2, we understand that most children will need less fluency support with their reading; however daily reading is incredibly important and is something that will continue in KS3. To give them more ownership of their reading, they will be introduced to new reading records, which they will fill out when they read. To support them with their comprehension skills, the children will respond to a daily prompt in their reading record in the form of a short question or task linked to the reading strands. For example, predict what will happen in the next chapter. During whole class reading, we will continue to focus on different reading skills/strands with children recognising when they need to put more information into their answers, such as evidence and quotes from the texts and recognising where a one word answer is sufficient. 

After learning Spanish since Reception, students in Year 5 will move to learning French. This will give them a good foundation in both subjects in preparation for KS3, KS4 and beyond. It will support their growing knowledge of language skills, grammar and a cultural understanding of the world.

In maths and fluency sessions, the children will work with numbers up to and including millions and numbers with up to 3 decimal places. A large focus will be developing their reasoning skills further by building their confidence in explaining their processes, discussing what they noticed and demonstrating how they know the answer whilst using mathematical vocabulary accurately. 

In English we will introduce new grammar terminology and skills to make students’ writing more complex and cohesive, whilst exposing them to higher level vocabulary. We aim to build the children’s stamina in writing at length over longer periods of time, whilst maintaining quality. The children should show pride in their work and present their books, in every lesson and subject, to a high standard.  

Our focus continues to be on a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum. Please refer to our high expectations in all subjects through the curriculum maps for each term below. 

Chloe Evans, Phase leader for Phase 3 

Teachers

  • Miss E Blackman
  • Mr G Gregory

Teaching Assistants

  • Mrs A Downing
  • Mrs K Pedder

Year Group Overviews

Autumn Term
Spring Term
Summer Term