Year 6

An exciting year for young people, Year 6 is jam packed with opportunities and challenges to soar into secondary school and begin the transition into adolescence and adulthood.

Challenge is the focus of Year 6 with students being encouraged to step out of their comfort zone to take up leadership positions as School Leader, House Captain or SRC roles, with a number of special ceremonies to mark and celebrate their graduation from Junior School. Our students are supported to attend a range of leadership workshops to expand their skills to grow as future leaders.

In the classroom, the single year level classes are managed by highly qualified teachers, and dedicated Home Group teachers who teach a differentiated curriculum with a mix of flip and face-to-face teaching to cater to a variety of learning preferences.

A suite of core subjects is presented through rigorous, explicit teaching with many opportunities for Year 6 students to be challenged and achieve to their fullest potential. Civics and Citizenship is an important part of the final year of primary school and students enjoy an engaging program culminating in a study tour to Canberra.

We focus on agency-based learning encouraging entrepreneurship. These programs include the student-agency focused ‘MiSpace’, an elective program called ‘Triple E’, and ‘Clinics’, a series of lessons prepared and taught by students.

Wellbeing is important in Year 6, both to ensure a smooth transition into secondary school and to model sound practices for younger students. Year 6 students are buddied with Year 2 students to solidify connections throughout the School and ensure the wellbeing of our junior students transitioning into Middle Primary. The dedicated lesson for Wellbeing further explores the foundational competencies achieved to date and provides a grounding knowledge of strategies to take into secondary schooling.

The technological capabilities of our Year 6 group are nurtured with a dedicated lesson each week, exploring topics such as advanced coding challenges and hands-on initiatives such as making seismographs and mini villages. CANVAS is our Learning Platform where we share content and offer real time assessment feedback, diary organisation and parent communication portal. CANVAS also allows students to access classroom support and extension, where they can work to their abilities. Additionally, 1:1 computers, completing their Digital License training and participating in social media programs, cybersafety and ergonomics training are all part of the experience.

Creatively, students create a legacy piece in Art, Science investigates aspects of Environmental Science, geology, chemistry and sustainability, and Health focuses on change in teenage brains and the role neurotransmitters.

St John’s Grammar School connection with Belair National Park continues into the classroom through natural inquiry learning. In partnership with the Belair National Park rangers, students use a series of 360-degree photos to develop a VR experience of a trail through Belair National Park.

Our Year 6 students graduate as independent, confident learners with a strong spirit and drive to succeed, ready to soar into secondary school.

Structured, natural inquiry in Belair National Park

As the campus is adjacent to Belair National Park, there a structured natural enquiry program which sees our Year 6s create a kid-friendly guide for an adventure trail for the Park. Building on their sound knowledge of the Park, the Year 6s use 360-degree photos to develop a VR experience of a special trail in Belair National Park. Deepening their understanding of flora and fauna in the Park, students enjoy the opportunity to learn from Park Rangers and to share their special piece of the Park in a meaningful way with others.

This opportunity to learn in the Park adds a richness to our learning by providing unparalleled opportunities for children to learn; not only from an Environmental Science perspective but also opportunities for calculated risk taking and resilience as they traverse and play amongst the natural environment.

Five lessons per week are dedicated to student agency programs. The increased focus on enterprise and agency learning upskills students with learning principles of creating, innovating, problem seeking, and communicating to real audiences. As well as providing the chance to test and refine inventions and new ideas, we also provide the connections to industry and funding opportunities for students to develop their concepts or prototypes with experts. The programs offered in Year 6 include MiSpace, Clinics and Triple E.

The agency learning programs of MiSpace, Clinics and Triple E encourage entrepreneurship and develop important skills in creativity, problem solving, communicating. The connection to industry and experts, coupled with access to funding sees many students develop inventions and prototypes that make a real difference.

MiSpace

MiSpace allows students to develop a project on a topic or issue that interests them. It provides a chance to test out theories and enterprise experience.

Clinics

Clinics allows students to become the teachers as they plan, organise and teach a lesson in an area of their personal interest to small groups of their peers.

Triple E

Triple E is offered only in Term 4 but allows students to discover new areas of learning in exciting electives such as Sports Science, innovation challenges, advanced animation and Flinders University Lab visits.

Interstate trip

Civics and Citizenship is an important part of the final year of primary school and students enjoy an engaging program culminating in a study tour to Canberra.

This immersive civics and citizenship learning experience sees students exploring the role of Parliament and the rights and responsibilities of Australian citizens. This offers a chance to explore exciting places such as Questacon helps fires up the students’ creative and scientific thinking while traversing the nation’s capital.

Formal and informal leadership opportunities

Leadership roles encourage students to step out of their comfort zone to take up positions as School Leader, House Captain, ambassador roles, and all students enjoy our Badge Day Ceremony, our formal Valedictorian Ceremony celebrating their Junior School learning journey, and a Social Dance to celebrate their graduation from Junior School.

We work extensively throughout the year to develop leadership skills in all students to demonstrate that anyone has the potential to lead, regardless of whether they hold a leadership role or not.

Preparing for the move to Secondary School

The transition to Middle School is an important feature of Year 6 and there are several initiatives throughout the year that see our Year 6s visit our Secondary Campus to take part in lessons, special events or activities as well as for buddy programs with the Year 11s. By the end of Year 6, the students are well prepared for the move to Middle School.