Four ways to start the new school year on a positive note

When learners return for the start of a new school year their feelings may be mixed. Some may regret that their break is ending, but there will also be much renewed enthusiasm for you to tap into from day one. For Year 6 learners, this particular school year may also begin with a sense of apprehension - I return to this later in the article.

1. Back to science

Seize the opportunity of a new school year to forge forwards with new work rather than trying to ‘finish something off’ or ‘revise what you did last year’. Learners who come back to school refreshed from their break will be looking for new challenges. They are a little older and are also perhaps missing the structure that science lessons in particular will provide. That said, do bear in mind that even the most able learners will have forgotten some things. However, just a few minutes’ quick fire question and answer session(s) at the start of relevant lesson(s) is all that should be needed to help bring any buried knowledge or skills to the surface in a new context.

2. Be positive in your recaps as you focus on new content and skills

Set out to enable learners to apply their existing knowledge and skills to this term’s new situations.

For example, if your new term’s lesson content involves observing and drawing, start with:

• Who remembers what ‘observing’ means in science? (looking carefully)
• What equipment might help us look at small details? (hand lens)
• Who can tell me some rules for drawing in science? (use pencil; draw straight, not fuzzy lines; turn your paper to draw into a curve to make it smoother; use label lines that are straight with the label word written at the end, etc.)

Or, if your lesson involves measuring, start with:

• Who remembers the name of this equipment?
• What do we measure with it? What are the units?

Then for older learners, continue with:

• Who can tell me anything important to do when measuring? (read the scale at eye level, keep a thermometer in the liquid to read the temperature, etc.)
• Why do we repeat measurements? (to see if they are similar/check them/to make sure they are reliable)
• How should we record the results? (in a table) 
• Can anyone suggest column headings for the table we should use today?

Apart from developing this higher order skill of knowledge application, you are also showing these learners that you have every confidence in them. By being positive you imply to them that you are confident that they are a group who will easily be able to tell you these things, but you are ‘just checking’ to reassure them that they can. In contrast, just telling them these same things over again is more negative – it suggests to them that you doubt their ability so much that you need to tell them the same things that they were told last year.

3. Foster group cohesion for support and to build self-confidence

Learners have had some time away from one another. In the above activities, you were taking them forward as a group. In reality, a few members of your group may not have remembered much of what they learned last year, but they have now been carried along by their peers. So these weaker learners also feel positive about building on what they already know, with the added bonus that they have just been, somewhat covertly in this instance, reminded about it all. There will be plenty of other opportunities to focus on any gaps in knowledge, but you have started everyone off into the new school year feeling good about themselves.

4. Particular challenges for Year 6

Do not underestimate the pressure that some Year 6 learners may put upon themselves regarding success, especially if they need to achieve a particular standard to move on or are being expected to reach a particular level in either internal or external assessment at the end of this year. There may be parental expectations, which may have been voiced to them before they returned to start the new school year.

As their teacher, you are also aiming to ensure that each learner fulfils their potential in this important year. Therefore, learners need one another for support much more than for competition. Provide as many opportunities as you can for them to work together and thus to support one another. More able learners really do benefit from having to put their own knowledge into words clearly and concisely to explain something to a less able partner or to answer their questions; they never need to do this if their partner already knows it all.

There is a lot of further guidance on preparing Year 6 for assessment in the Year 6 text book and work book that are part of the Pearson International Primary Science series. As this series was only published in 2023, you may not have used it with these learners. However, these Year 6 publications can still be used as a stand-alone resource, particularly for revision and structured tasks in preparation for assessment.

In conclusion

The new school year is a time to move forwards, as a group, with positivity. A time to focus on building on previous knowledge and skills rather than their repetition. Put the onus of recall on your learners, thus enabling them to reinforce their own achievements. This is likely to motivate them to set higher personal goals and they are likely to achieve more by doing so. You are developing a group of increasingly independent learners and are now steering them upwards by motivating them to be part of the driving force.

Further reading

Learn more about Pearson International Primary Science, download samples and access free science passports.