KS2 · Ages 10–11
What should my Year 6 child know?
Year 6 is the last year of primary. It consolidates rather than introduces: algebra and ratio appear, but most of the year is about applying what came before with accuracy and independence.
First, the bit that takes the pressure off
If you home educate in England, the National Curriculum does not legally apply to you. You are required to provide an education suitable to your child's age, ability and aptitude — not to teach a particular list in a particular order. Your child does not have to be "on track" with anything below.
The list is here because it is genuinely useful to know what most children this age are doing, not because you owe anyone a match.
The step up from Year 5
For school pupils this is the SATs year. Home-educated children in England do not sit SATs, so the pressure that shapes the school Year 6 simply does not apply to you.
Milestones you can actually check
Not exhaustive, and not a test. A child ahead in one area and behind in another is the normal case, not a warning sign.
English
- Use formal and informal registers deliberately
- Use semi-colons, colons and dashes
- Précis longer passages
- Argue a point with evidence from a text
Maths
- Long multiplication and long division
- Four operations with fractions
- Ratio and proportion
- Simple algebra and unknowns
- Area and circumference of circles
Science
- Classification of living things
- The circulatory system and healthy living
- Evolution and inheritance
- Electricity: voltage and circuit symbols
The full subject list for Year 6
Most UK children in Year 6 cover these 14 subjects. You do not have to teach all of them, and plenty of home-educating families deliberately do not.
- English
- Maths
- Science
- History
- Geography
- Art & design
- Computing
- Design & technology
- French
- PE
- PSHE
- Religious education
- Critical thinking
- Islamic RE (optional)
If it is the planning you are dreading
Knowing what a Year 6 child covers is one thing. Deciding what to do on a Tuesday morning, every week, for a year, is the part that actually wears people down.
StudyDen sequences Year 6 into 845 lessons across 14 subjects, week by week, built on Oak National Academy's curriculum. You open it and the day is already planned.
See how it works — 7-day free trialEngland-focused. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own curricula and their own home-education rules. This is information, not legal advice.