Autumn Term Welcome Meeting Year 4

Year 4 staff: Year 4 Willow: Mrs Carter – teacher on Mondays (am), Tuesdays and Wednesdays Ms Potts – teacher on Mondays (pm), Thursdays and Fridays Mrs Butler – TA Year 4 Oak: Miss George Mrs Manlove – TA PPA staff: Mrs Spring Miss Stephens

What the children will be learning this year:

All our subjects are part of the National Curriculum and are planned by all of the class teachers in your child’s year group. The curriculum overview details the topics covered over the year and is on the website. More detailed information about year group expectations can be found on the website under Curriculum.

Main topics Autumn term – Achievements of the earliest civilizations – Ancient Egypt Spring term – The Roman Empire & its impact on Britain; Local study Summer term – Human & physical geographical features in the UK & Europe; map work Please let us know if you have any special interest/knowledge in these areas and would like to come and talk to us!

Mastery What does it mean?

Mastery Teaching for mastery keeps the class working together on the same topic, whilst at the same time addressing the need for all pupils to master the curriculum and, for some, to gain greater depth of proficiency and understanding. Challenge is provided by going deeper rather than accelerating into new content. More time is spent on teaching topics to allow for depth and sufficient practice. Carefully crafted lessons provide a scaffolded, conceptual journey, encouraging pupils to reason and develop mathematical thinking. Achieving mastery is not just being able to memorise key facts and procedures and answer test questions accurately and quickly. It means being able to use one’s knowledge appropriately, flexibly and creatively and to apply it in new and unfamiliar situations. For each year group, the Mastery English curriculum is built around high quality, whole-class texts which the class spend a half term exploring and enjoying. The texts are carefully chosen to link with other areas of the curriculum, particularly humanities. The mastery approach includes a belief that all pupils are capable of understanding and doing mathematics, given sufficient time. With good teaching, appropriate resources, effort and a ‘can do’ attitude all children can achieve in and enjoy maths. The mastery curriculum is one set of mathematical concepts and big ideas for all. All pupils need access to these concepts and ideas and to the rich connections between them. There is no such thing as ‘special needs mathematics’ or ‘gifted and talented mathematics’. Mathematics, its key ideas and building blocks, are important for everyone.

Maths Fluency Children will take part in daily sessions (up to 15 minutes a day), rehearsing core facts from their curriculum, covering key areas which require increased practice. Regular rehearsal allows children to access the maths curriculum more confidently and easily. Time is provided to allow them to assimilate facts that they have learnt and see these applied in a range of contexts. Over each half term the areas and question types stay constant but increase in complexity, gradually allowing the children to become more secure and confident.

Science This year we are continuing to use an exciting scheme called Empiribox It is based on fun, practical activities, demonstrations and investigations The children will learn about areas of Physics, Chemistry and Biology on a four year programme

Spellings There is more emphasis on spelling and grammar in the current curriculum. We are following a spelling programme across KS2: ‘Read Write Inc. Spelling’. It uses a proven approach underpinned by phonics. Children will be encouraged to use their knowledge and skills in all lessons, particularly English. Parents will be informed of the spelling rules and patterns in order to support practice at home.

Enrichment activities for the year All visits organised by the school are important for your child's learning and development. They may not necessarily be a trip outside of the school, but could be a ‘day of enrichment’ provided within the school. Autumn Term Falconry display Spring Term Roman workshop Summer Term Theatre visit Please make sure you: Return permission slips on time Offer to come and help if you can!

Reading Bengeo Primary School places a lot of importance on reading, both at school and at home Children are given many opportunities for reading and talking about books at school. We expect them to read at home and out loud to an adult as well as discussing the text Please fill in their reading record if they are still on the reading scheme At school, we teach reading and comprehension skills daily as a whole class In Year 4, our assessment focus is on comprehension rather than decoding

Homework Homework helps to develop essential skills such as time management, organisation, task completion as well as responsibility. It also contributes to the mastery of key skills and knowledge Homework will be given out on Thursdays and should be handed in on Mondays In Year 4 we expect daily reading and book discussion Weekly learning of number facts and spelling patterns Fortnightly grammar, punctuation or composition tasks Holiday homework – all research based and optional

PE PE days – Oak: Indoor PE – Wednesday; Outdoor PE – Friday Willow: Outdoor PE – Tuesday; Indoor PE - Friday PE kit: navy blue shorts, white round-necked T-shirt, trainers for outdoor PE, tracksuit bottoms in cold weather. Bare feet for gymnastics/dance, trainers for Zumba In addition to PE lessons, we will be including other active sessions throughout the week

Break Time Snacks As part of our Healthy School’s status, we are trying to promote healthy snacks at break time We have children in the School with severe allergies so we would appreciate your support by giving your child a healthy snack of fresh fruit or vegetables

Wet weather Please ensure children bring in coats every day as they will be expected to go out at playtimes, whatever the weather! If possible children should have plimsolls in school to wear in the classroom if the weather is wet and the ground muddy.

Attendance and punctuality The doors will open at 8.45, registration is at 8.55 Please ensure children are supervised before entering the classroom, not running around and playing on equipment Please try and aim for an 8.45 start as lessons start immediately on entry into the classrooms The nature of mastery means that the children learn together at a similar pace – it is not easy to catch up if many lessons are missed

Thank you for coming! Our partnership is essential to your child's education. We value your help and support.