The Year 4 Team are Miss Hinton, Mrs Allmark, Mrs Smith, Mrs Mathews, Mrs Tolley, Mrs Clifford, Mrs Morris and Miss Hirst. We have 56 children in two classes and The Pod. 

Year 4 Learning 

Mantle of the Expert 

We are always involved in creating a story in our class where we use drama, inquiry and tasks for the responsible team to increase our curriculum knowledge and understanding.

In the Autumn term we were to Animal Heroes again - just like we were way back in Year 1!

HOWEVER, we travelled to different places and there were different problems for us to tackle!

Here is the curriculum we were learning along the way:   

 Check the classes for more details. 
 

In the spring term we are protectors and collectors of precious things. We are being asked by a museum to find some objects which will attract more visitors, but should we move them from where they are now…?

Here is our curriculum for the term:

Check the classes for more details. 

In the summer term we are locators and makers of pop up shops. We are being asked by Redditch Council to ask show off the town to visitors to the upcoming carnival by filling some empty shop spaces with something a little bit different... 

Here is our curriculum for the term: 

Guardians of the Wild at Slimbridge WWT

We had a great day meeting Ava - half girl, half bird in her giant nest at Slimbridge. We completed a trail of challenges and look forward to following her migration and completing more challenges. 

Writing Curriculum

We follow the Year 4 curriculum to learn the technical aspects of writing. We use "The Write Stuff" to learn how to stack sentences into meaningful paragraphs in narrative, story and poetry writing. We use the same approach to learn how to organise our writing to produce non fiction texts about what we are learning - for instance a report about digestion. 

Our writing is often linked to the work we do in Mantle; we write to entertain, inform and persuade as described by Michael Tidd on his website. 

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We are constantly developing our vocabulary and handwriting using the Spelling Shed programme. Children are taught how to join their handwriting when they can form their letters correctly. 

Children can practice spelling at home by using the free Spellingframe website. They also use the website Spelling Shed.

Reading Curriculum

In Key Stage 2 children read a whole class text and develop their reading skills by discussing and summarising the text.  We also use " Fred's Reading" resources which link to a wealth of quality extracts so that we read and learn from a wide range of texts.  

Summer first half term 

We read non fiction texts as part of our Mantle work [for instance reading about digestion or about the Romans] and often research using websites such as DK Findout. 

 This was the favourite story of last year's class and they hope S.F. Said finishes his new book soon!

We started the autumn term 2023 with "The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown and enjoyed it so much that we carried on with the sequel “The Wild Robot Escapes”!

All KS2 children choose a book from our library which they can read during reading time. Additionally, there are daily story times where the teacher reads to the children. 

Some children need extra 1:1 or small group reading practice and do this as part of our school Little Wandle programme with Mrs Morris and Mrs Smith. 

Maths Curriculum

In Key Stage 2 we use the White Rose Hub Maths plans. We follow a concrete, pictorial and abstract approach to learning in maths.

Children work on times tables everyday and should practise regularly at home too. 

Science

Sometimes our science learning learning is part of our Mantle story and sometimes we just do science! Whichever way, we always do lots of working scientifically - testing our ideas, making observations and measurements and trying to find patterns and explanations. 

These are the National Curriculum areas of study we focus on:

RE

We follow the Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus for RE. 

RSE

We follow the PSHE Association Programme Builder plan to structure our teaching in this area. We use the resources recommended in the plans such as Discovery Education and NSPCC Share Aware. 

Computing and Online Safety

We are working towards becoming a verified National Online Safety school. We will be following their plans to teach online safety as well as the Google Internet Legends programme. We are also updating our training in this area through the "Teach Computing" programme and trialling the use of their plans. 

We have loved learning about music with the Rock Steady Music team. Also Miss Capron Tee teaches the whole school during singing lessons - our turn was in the autumn term and we will have a chance to learn to play the recorder with her in the summer term. In the meantime, we are using Kapow’s music units to make a Roman themed composition to be played in our museum in Mantle. We will also be using body percussion to make compose music linked to the rainforest which we hope to also use in Mantle. 

Year 4 have the chance to go on a residential trip in the summer term. Please see below for a copy of the presentation shown at the Bell Heath parents meeting last year. If you require any further information please see Mrs Allmark.

We had a fantastic Year 4 Celebration assembly in July 2023 with singing, poems, certificates, T-shirts, candy floss, balloon hoop, selfie frames, lots of photos and lots of fun! 
For anyone who couldn’t make it, we are sharing our rehearsal from the end of a very weary Thursday, so please excuse the yawns!! 😉