Year 4 Summer 2 Curriculum Information

Wow—we can’t quite believe we’ve reached the final term of Year 4! This year has absolutely flown by, and the children have made such fantastic progress—both academically and personally. We’re incredibly proud of the effort and enthusiasm they continue to show, and we’re looking forward to a brilliant final term packed with exciting learning, new challenges, and memorable experiences.

One of our biggest milestones this term is the Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). The children have worked so hard on their times tables this year, and this will be their opportunity to demonstrate just how far they’ve come. We’ll continue to support them with regular practice in school, and homework will remain focused on consolidating accuracy and speed.

In maths, we will continue to strengthen our understanding of the four operations—addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division—through targeted practice and application. As the term progresses, we’ll move on to focus on money, and then shape, including angles and symmetry, before exploring statistics and interpreting charts and data. We’ll conclude the term by working on position and direction, developing our skills in describing movement using coordinates and compass points.

Our English work this term will be inspired by the thought-provoking narrative Bike Boy. This story follows a young boy whose dreams of flying spark both wonder and worry. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to reflect on character development and explore themes such as independence, risk, and hope. The children will build on their narrative writing skills, using a range of sentence types, descriptive techniques, and structured planning to write their own imaginative versions of the story. We’ll also continue to encourage the use of grammar, punctuation, and vocabulary choices that enhance the clarity and impact of their writing.

This term, we will be reading The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival—an incredibly powerful and timely book that explores the reality of childhood poverty and financial hardship in the UK. Told through the eyes of Will, a boy who feels he stands out for all the wrong reasons, the story offers a deeply moving account of what it’s like to navigate life when you feel unseen, unheard, and out of place. Will’s shoes, his appearance, and his family circumstances make him a target for bullying, and while he tries to keep everything “fine” on the outside, we learn how much he is carrying on the inside.

Despite the challenges he faces, Will finds a safe space through his love of art and the support of a trusted teacher, Mr Prince. A pivotal moment occurs when Will paints a majestic owl he sees one night—this becomes a symbol of hope, freedom, and self-worth, and gradually Will finds the strength to keep going and begin to accept help. Through stunning illustrations and thoughtful storytelling, The Wrong Shoes encourages powerful discussions around empathy, dignity, and resilience. It asks readers to reflect on the value of money, the impact of kindness, and the importance of truly understanding the children around us. This book links beautifully to our PSHE curriculum this term as we explore themes of identity, friendship, and change. We hope the children will not only be inspired by Will’s journey, but also feel empowered to support one another and see the value in every individual, no matter their circumstances.

For our 'Everyone’s Welcome' focus we will be reading King and  King - a fantastic and inclusive picture book that celebrates love in all its forms. Through its story of a prince who finds happiness not with a princess but with another prince, it gently challenges traditional gender expectations and promotes acceptance and respect for different relationships—making it a perfect choice for us this term.

In science, we’ll be investigating the topic of ecology, seeking to answer the Big Question: “How does our ecosystem impact living things and the environment?” We will look at the key life processes shared by all living things, including movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, excretion, reproduction, and nutrition. The children will also learn about the interdependence of living things in food chains and ecosystems, and consider how environmental changes affect the balance of nature.

Our history learning will continue with the Stuart period, as we tackle the Big Question: “Why do we remember certain events of the Stuart period?” We’ll explore major historical events such as the Gunpowder Plot, English Civil War, and the Great Fire of London, using a range of sources to understand causes, consequences, and historical perspectives. We’ll also discuss the lives of key figures such as Oliver Cromwell and Sir Christopher Wren, linking our study to Fundamental British Values, particularly democracy and individual liberty. The picture book The Great Fire of London by Emma Adams will help us bring the era vividly to life.

To enrich our understanding of world faiths, we also have a very exciting trip planned to a synagogue, where the children will have a first-hand opportunity to learn more about Jewish worship and community life.

In music, we are approaching the final six weeks of our guitar lessons. The children have made fantastic progress in their playing skills this year, and we’d like to say a huge thank you to Ms Harmson for her encouragement and expert teaching. We’ll be focusing on consolidating our understanding of chords and performing some familiar songs with growing confidence. Weekly singing assemblies will also continue, offering joyful opportunities for collective performance and musical appreciation.

During our DT days, the children will put their creativity and practical skills to the test by planning, adapting, and baking their very own biscuit recipes. We’ll explore how to work within a budget, measure accurately, and evaluate the end product—tasty and educational!

In PE, we’re building on ball skills and we’re lucky enough to have an expert cricket coach coming in to work with us! The children will develop agility, coordination, and tactical awareness through games and friendly competitions. Our weekly swimming lessons will also continue, helping children improve their stroke technique, stamina, and water safety skills.

Finally, we have lots of exciting events coming up, including Sports Day, Transition Day, and the ever-popular Summer Fayre. Keep an eye on Class Dojo for weekly updates and photos celebrating all the wonderful things happening in our classroom.

Thank you for your continued support this year. We are so proud of what your children have achieved, and we look forward to finishing the term on a high as we celebrate all their successes.

Year 4 Summer 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome to an exciting new half-term in Year 4! We have a jam-packed curriculum full of engaging topics, creative experiences, and opportunities to explore and discover together.

✏️ English – Exploring Non-Fiction

This term in English, we’ll be focusing on non-fiction writing, specifically creating newspaper reports. Our unit is titled ‘The Creature’ – an exciting and mysterious stimulus that will challenge the children to write in a formal tone, use journalistic language, and structure their writing effectively. They’ll become reporters as they piece together clues and write their own engaging front-page articles!

📚 Our Reading Journey

We’re also exploring some wonderful texts this term, each chosen to deepen our understanding of the curriculum and broaden our thinking:

- The Wrong Shoes by Tom Percival
  A touching and powerful story about identity, confidence, and finding your place in the world. This links beautifully to our Geography learning and our exploration of environments and individuality.

- Around the World in Eighty Poems by James Berry
  A vibrant and thought-provoking collection of poems  from across the globe. This book complements our Geography unit by encouraging global awareness and appreciation of different cultures through poetry.

- Beegu by Alexis Deacon
  A heartwarming tale of a small alien lost in an  unfamiliar world. This supports our Science topic on communication and sound, and resonates with the theme of navigating the unknown.

- The Buildings that Made London by David Long
  A fascinating non-fiction text that explores the rich architectural history of our capital city. This book is the perfect companion to our Geography topic, bringing to life the human geography of London.

➗ Maths – Building Strong Foundations

In Maths, we are continuing to develop our Times Tables knowledge – a key skill that underpins so much of our learning. We will also be focusing on place value to strengthen our problem-solving and reasoning abilities.
Alongside this, we’ll be working on fluency with fractions, decimals, and percentages, and deepening our understanding through reasoning challenges that require us to apply what we’ve learned in real-world contexts.

🔬 Science – What is sound and how do we hear?

This half-term’s Science topic is Sound! We’ll be investigating how sounds are made, exploring vibrations, and discovering how these vibrations travel through different mediums to reach our ears.
We’ll also explore patterns between the pitch of a sound and the features of the object producing it. Our key question driving this learning is: What is sound and how do we hear? – and we’re looking forward to lots of hands-on experiments to help us find out!

📍 Geography – What makes London a great capital city?

This term, we will be diving into the fascinating topic of London and the Southeast. Through this unit, children will explore the key question: What makes London a great capital city? We’ll be naming and locating counties and cities across the United Kingdom, investigating geographical regions and learning about their unique human and physical characteristics. We will examine topographical features such as hills, mountains, coasts, and rivers, as well as land-use patterns – and how some of these have changed over time. This learning will help us understand what makes our capital city so special and how it has evolved.

🏊‍♀️ PE – Making a Splash!

We are thrilled to begin weekly swimming lessons this term as part of our PE curriculum. Swimming is a vital life skill, and we’re excited to build confidence in the water, improve technique, and develop stamina through regular sessions. Please ensure your child brings the correct kit every week.

🎸 Music – Guitar Lessons

Every Tuesday, our class continues to enjoy learning the guitar. We’re building on our skills by focusing on performing and playing together as a group. These sessions are a wonderful opportunity to develop confidence, rhythm, and teamwork.

📸 Stay Connected!

Please keep an eye on Class Dojo for updates, photos of our learning journey, and important information. There’s so much more to look forward to this term – including trips, sports events and CLS visits!

Year 4 Spring 2 Curriculum Information

As we begin a new term, on our first day back we will be having our Behaviour Boost and focusing on the importance of wellbeing as part of our PSHE curriculum.

This term we will be reading Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell. The novel blends fairytale and history, and focuses on friendship, love and resilience – linking with our school values and PSHE topic, ‘Healthy me’

In English, we shall be looking at the narrative ‘Float’ by Daniel Miyares. This is a thoughtful picture book about a boy and his paper boat. It's a rainy, gloomy day and he decides to head out to play in the water with his paper boat. We will be submerging ourselves in the story to develop our own narrative-writing skills. The narrative compliments our new science topic ‘The Water cycle’, where we shall be delving into states of matter, thinking about our Big Question: ‘How does the water cycle recycle?’

In history we are continuing our studies into Roman Civilisation, with a focus on causation, thinking about what factors led to the fall of the Roman Empire. We will be exploring the Roman Empire, building on our knowledge of Julius Caesar, the Punic wars, and the ultimate fall of the Empire. We will be looking at Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, to help deepen our understanding.

In PE, we will be developing skills in teamwork, ball control and agility in hockey and netball.

In maths we will be continuing to focus on fractions, decimals, and percentages with a huge focus on times tables before our upcoming MTC in June.

In geography this half term we will be moving west across Europe by focusing on Northern Ireland, looking at landmarks such as the Giant’s Causeway, The Marble Arch Caves and thinking about our Big Question – ‘What are the physical and human features of Northern Ireland?’

In computing, we will be developing our programming knowledge by looking at patterns and algorithms.

In Modern Foreign Languages, we will be developing our conversational skills and looking at how to talk about where we live in French.

In RE, we will be once again returning to Christianity by making links between the story of Noah and how Christians live in school and the wider world. We shall also look at Jesus and the Easter story, examining the Big Question: ‘What is it like for someone to follow God?’

In Music, we will be continuing our weekly singing assemblies, and we will also be starting our guitar lessons! We will also be attending the Leicestershire Music Festival where we meet and celebrate music with other schools.

In DT, we will have a full two days designing and constructing when we look at fastenings and cross stitching by creating our own book sleeves, and in Art we will be looking at design, creating our own compositions inspired by expressionism.

Additionally, to reinforce our promotion of reading, we will be celebrating World Book Day on the 6^th March. We will also be having a CLS museum session on Art Rocks! As this is only a small insight into what we will be learning in class, please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. 

Thank you for your continued support.

Year 4 Spring 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome back Year 4, I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New year. Let’s tell you all about the new and exciting things we will be learning about this half term!

This term we will be having another interactive assembly by the Library Services team, this time all about Shakespeare, which builds upon our class novel – the thrilling ‘Julius Caesar’. In this text, Shakespeare tells the story of the conspiracy against Caesar, his assassination, and the great defeat of his conspirators. The well-known play links to our history unit on Ancient Rome, and we will be encouraged to look at the historical inspiration for the play and the chronology of the events during this period.

Shakespeare’s tragic tale will focus on hardships, friendships, and the betrayal of others. Thus, encouraging the acceptance and help from others to reach your goals – which links in with our school values and Personal, Social and Health Education topic, ‘Dreams and Goals’.

A second book we shall explore is ‘Dreams of Freedom’. This book is a celebration of champions of freedom throughout history, and introduces children to the importance of human rights, freedom, and the history of these concepts. It also has a collection of words from Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Anne Frank, Malala Yousafzai, and many more!

Marching into Maths – we will be working hard to continue developing our times tables knowledge, and build on our understanding of place value from last term, focusing on fractions and decimals.

In English we shall be looking at the wonderful world of our own microbiome – looking at how microbes help us stay healthy. We will continue to use our sentence stacking lessons to support our independent writing. This ties in nicely to our new science topic ‘The Human body’, where we shall be delving into cells, nutrients, teeth, digestion; even creating our own science experiments using egg shells to develop our understanding. We will be thinking about our Big Question: Why and how should we look after our bodies?

In PE we will be starting gymnastics and outdoor adventurous activities. We will be utilising some of the skills we explored last term, and will be developing character muscles of courage, resilience, perseverance and teamwork as we try new things and work together to overcome problems and take sensible risks.

In history, we will be thinking about the question: Why does Pompeii hold the richest source of archaeological evidence in ancient Rome? We are exploring life in Ancient Rome, looking at the monarchy, the Roman Empire, and the sort of lives Roman people lived. We will be able to use our new library artefacts to handle and explore which really helps bring our history lessons to life! These include pottery and an Ancient Rome project box, as well as building on our topics from last term on Ancient Greece and Mediterranean Europe.

We will also be celebrating Local History Day, by venturing out into our town and following a heritage trail around Melton to explore some of our historically significant buildings.

Meanwhile in geography, we will be travelling east from the Mediterranean and looking at Eastern Europe, asking: How do physical features differ across different locations? We will be looking at the difference between the Baltic countries and the Balkan peninsula and comparing the landscapes across the region.

In music this term we will be continuing our weekly singing assemblies and looking at some new songs as part of unit: ‘Compose with your Friends’.

In Art, we have a two hour ‘Take flight’ art session with the library service, which will get the children’s creativity flowing, ready for our Art Days. During our Art Days we will be looking at the meaning of design in art, the elements of art, composition, cut-outs, expressionism, colour and line to create emotion, and complementary colours, creating our own compositions based on Munch’s ‘The scream’.

Finally, in RE we will be returning to Judaism, examining the question, ‘how important is it for Jewish people to do what God asks them to do?’

Now this is just a whistle stop tour so please keep a look out on Class Dojo and Weduc for photos of our learning, information, and updates, as we will continue to keep you updated along our learning journey.

Thank you for your continued support.

Year 4 Autumn 2 Curriculum Information

I’s time for a new and exciting half term! This half-term we will be reading the spectacular ‘Oliver Twist’ by the marvellous Charles Dickens. Oliver Twist is a young, innocent boy who runs away from the brutality of the workhouse, only to find himself taken in by a gang of thieves. The devilish Fagin runs the show alongside his violent side kick, Bill Sikes, and the irreplaceable Artful Dodger. Rescued from London’s dingiest and darkest dens, but then forced to help in a violent burglary, Oliver’s chances of survival are slim and his chances of happiness is almost nil. Will he survive? This novel will focus on hardships, friendships, and the understanding of others. Thus, encouraging compassion, teamwork, and acceptance of each other – which links in with our Personal, Social and Health Education topic, ‘Celebrating Differences’. We have completed our unit on Judaism for now in R.E., and we now move on to looking at the nativity story as part of Christianity – just in time for Christmas!

Our ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ book this half-term is called The Flower by John Light. It is a beautiful book about how we can turn the dull in to the beautiful. Always seeing the positive and overcoming adversity through what we can learn and change.

In English we shall be looking at the remarkable story of ‘The Iron Man’ by Ted Hughes. This story includes a gigantic metal robot who appears out of nowhere, crashing onto the beach and shattering into many parts. He is discovered by a young boy called Hogarth, who becomes his friend. The Iron Man proceeds to devour farm machinery, until the farmers rise up against him and threaten to bring in the army. Hogarth comes to his rescue and suggests that the monster should be left in peace to feed from the scrap metal yard. But is the Iron Man the only strange creature to visit Earth?

We are also excited to have a special author event in school in November. We will be live streaming with the author Joseph Coelho who will be talking to us about his new book called Relic Hamilton – Genie Hunter!

In maths we will continue developing our timetables knowledge, looking at multiplication and division, as well as geometry. We will continue to practise our times tables daily using our special counting stick technique – this term we will focus on our 7s, 8s and 9s.

In science, we will be learning all about electricity, and thinking about our Big Question: How do we make a light shine? This will include circuits, switches, and lots of electrifying fun, including creating our own circuits using batteries, wires and bulbs.

We will also be continuing our Ancient Greece topic in History, looking at Greek art, architecture, legacies, and the Olympic games. In Geography, we will look at Mediterranean Europe and be asking, ‘How has it impacted Britain?’, using our map work from last term to help us to locate different places in the Mediterranean region.

Following the success of our Art Days last half-term, we have two Design Technology days where we will be designing and constructing a pavilion as part of our topic on Structure, using our knowledge from Ancient Greek architecture to inspire us!

As well as our PGL residential trip, we also have a Creative Learning poetry session, a Water Workshop and a special Christmas assembly with the Creative Learning Team.

We have lots of exciting experiences planned for this half-term, so please keep a look out on Class Dojo and WEDUC for photos of our learning, information, and updates.

Year 4 Autumn 1 Curriculum Information

Welcome to Year 4 – I hope you’re ready for some new and exciting learning!

This term, we will be reading ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ by Onjali Q. Rauf. This is a compassionate story about a boy that joins a school as a refugee from Syria, based on the author’s own personal experiences of working with refugees in London. The novel explores and encourages compassion, teamwork, and acceptance of one another – which links in with our PSHE topic, ‘Being Me in My World’.

As part of our ‘Everyone’s Welcome’ initiative we will also be reading a book called ‘The First Slodge’ which opens discussions about sharing and kindness and how our world is for everyone.

In English, we shall be looking at the Ancient Greek myth, ‘Theseus and the Minotaur’ – we will meet kings, a ravenous beast, and a brave hero. According to the story, King Minos ruled Athens and forced the people to sacrifice their children every nine years to keep the beast’s hunger at bay, until Theseus decides to take on the vicious minotaur! We will be unpicking the rich vocabulary from this novel to use in our own narrative writing. Who will win, beast or boy? 

To support our understanding of Ancient Greek mythology, we will be learning about the Ancient Greeks in history. We will be exploring the question – how has Ancient Greek culture influenced the Western world? We will be learning about city states, and looking at the birthplace of democracy which will help to develop our understanding of the British Values - Democracy and Individual Liberty.

In geography we will be expanding our knowledgebase by looking at spatial sense, asking – where is our local area and how has it changed over time? We will be identifying and locating tropics on a globe, looking at scales and grid references to help us. We will also be using our map reading skills to identify where we live and look at our local area - perhaps you already know some famous facts about Melton Mowbray... cheese and pork pies come to my mind!

In Maths, we will continue developing our multiplication knowledge and focusing on place value and how this can aid our problem solving and reasoning skills. We will be developing our fluency by practising written addition and subtraction methods.

In Science, we will be learning about the classification of plants and animals, developing our grouping skills and looking at different classes of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. We will be learning about the scientist Carl Linnaeus, and working scientifically in our new science room!

In RE, we will be building on the British Value of tolerance by looking at Judaism and thinking about beliefs and practices and the relationship Jewish people have with God. We will be marking the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, in class with some apples and honey, and exploring why these foods are symbolically eaten.

In Computing we will be looking at collaborative learning using Google, and also looking at how we can use technology to enhance our learning. Music this term will be looking at musical structures and listening to some fantastic tracks – we may even have a go at playing some of the pieces! Choir will continue for any children that would like to join us as we begin preparing for our Young Voices concert!

During our curriculum Art Days we will be looking at the artists, Caravaggio, Vermeer, Goncharova and Begum as part of our topic on light, exploring the concepts of tone and shade and how they can help create form.

PE this term is really exciting! We will be having a special visitor from the Leicester Tigers to teach us tag rugby for 5 weeks!

Please keep a look out on Class Dojo for photos of our learning, information, and updates. We have lots more exciting experiences planned for this half-term such as Roald Dahl Day, our curriculum Art Days and many more.