The next step in your child’s educational

journey…

Welcome to Year 4

● Learning should excite and inspire through a stimulating environment and

an engaging curriculum. It should allow all children, regardless of

background or ability, to succeed. Learning should promote independence

and curiosity.

● All children should feel safe, valued and happy. They should be encouraged

to have self-belief and resilience. They should be listened to and respected.

● Parents need to be valued and listened to. It is in the child’s best interest

for their parents to be engaged in their learning and wellbeing.

● Staff should feel respected, valued and listened to. The well-being and professional growth of staff are both paramount to ensuring the best outcomes for children. There should be an ethos of mutual respect between all staff, children, parents and visitors.

Our School Values

The Darras CodeIn Year 4 and throughout school we promote,

encourage and reward behaviours and qualities that

will benefit children, not only during their time in

school but beyond, as life-long learners. We achieve

this by following The Darras Code.

In Year 4 we aim to provide experiences and develop the curriculum

in order to excite, engage, inspire, nurture and challenge ALL

children.

We, as teachers, adapt our teaching to suit the children, their

capabilities and their needs in all areas of of the curriculum, taking

into consideration their stages of development.

We want our children to be excited and inspired

about the next stages of their education.

We aim to ...

In Year 4, children continue to follow the National Curriculum.

We will be adapting our normal Year 4 provision to take account of

experiences and aspects of the curriculum that children might

have missed during the summer term.

Year 4 teachers continue to nurture children’s natural desire for

learning through the subjects of the National Curriculum and build

on all skills and knowledge previously learnt.

Transition ...

The National Curriculum involves teaching a variety of skills in a

creative and purposeful way through different subjects.

English Maths Science History

Geography Art French RE

Music PE Computing PSHE

Design and Technology

Like all year groups, Year 4 has government statutory schemes of

learning to follow. The children will be assessed regularly

throughout the year to ensure they are working at the expected

standard. All children are supported in order to achieve this and are

given extra support and guidance if needed.

Children will take the multiplication tables check towards the end of

Year 4.

The National Curriculum...

We adapt the curriculum and our teaching as the year progresses.

Lessons are structured and include many opportunities to discuss,

question, debate and challenge.

The teachers and support assistants continue to support, nurture

and challenge children throughout Year 4.

How do we teach?

Children continue to be assessed in phonics in Year 4 and those who are not working at the expected standard for KS2 will be supported through interventions to address any gaps.

Spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) skills are developed and refined on a daily basis through English and discreet SPaG sessions. Their skills are then applied during all aspects of the curriculum.

The curriculum, phonics and SPaG provision will be adapted over

the year depending on children’s needs.

Phonics and SPaG

In Year 4, your child continues to explore maths in a practical, hands-on way. Working individually, in groups, or as a class, they will be investigating, counting, playing number games and using everyday objects to help them solve problems and do calculations.

They will build on their skills from Year 3 and continue to develop the language used in maths, being expected to talk about theirmethods for solving problems and presenting their results.

Children will be given opportunities to deepen their learning by using their logic and reasoning skills in a range of real life contexts and problems.

Maths

Children will explore and develop their English skills through all sorts of wonderful stories and texts, usually linked with the topic they are learning about during that half term.

Children will develop a deeper understanding of prediction. They will continue to increase their vocabulary and understanding of new words. They will also refine their questioning and summarising skills.

Children will refine sentence writing skills and use exciting vocabulary, whilst also improving their cursive handwriting and presentation skills. They will plan and write their own imaginative stories, create wonderful poems and look at more formal pieces of non-fiction writing such as reports.

English

Story time is a crucial part of the daily routine in Year 4.

There are numerous benefits of story time and the stories provide shared contexts for rich, natural language

development . The 'magic' lies in the way stories engage children's hearts and minds, as people and as thinkers, with

issues that are relevant, real and important to them.

Story Time

Children will explore the other subjects of the curriculum through both focused activities and independent work.

The foundation subjects of the wider curriculum include...

Science History

Geography Art

PSHE RE

Music Computing

Design and Technology PE

French

The Wider Curriculum

Things to look forward to in Year 4…

Our topics are fun, exciting and imaginative. They include …

Biomes Vikings Ancient Egyptians

Rivers USA Local Mining History

This year ...

Reading

Reading books are changed on a weekly basis. Your child will get a

day assigned to them for book change.

They will get 3 books per week. Those working within the phonics

phases will continue to receive a book linked with their phonics

ability. The other books will aim to improve comprehension skills

and promote other reading behaviours.

We continue to encourage daily reading at home.

Homework and Reading

Topic based Homework

This is sent out on a half termly basis and is linked with the topic

of the half term.

Spellings

Children are given a spelling rule to learn at home. We also look

at the rule in school over the week and then have a spelling

challenge on a Friday.

Maths

Maths homework is assigned to children via My Maths. It looks at

consolidating the skills they have learnt over the week in maths.

Homework and Reading

At Darras Hall Primary School, we recognise the importance of

working in partnership with our parents.

We are always keen to hear about your child’s achievements

outside of school, as well as any concerns you may have about

your child.

You will be invited to discuss your child’s progress at Parents’

Evenings in October and March.

Keep up to date with us on Class Dojo and Twitter

Parent Involvement

Teachers:

Mrs Reynard Mrs Pulham Mr Cowan Mr Glendinning

Teaching Assistants:

Mrs Jefferson Miss Day

Year 4 Team

Darras Hall Primary School uniform (including outdoor shoes)

Coat

Indoor shoes (a pair of plimsolls would be suitable)

Water bottle

Year 4 children will also need:

PE Kit in a bag - to include an indoor (shorts and t-shirt) and

outdoor PE kit (jogging bottoms, jumper and trainers)

Flat Book bag

*Please name all of your children’s clothing and belongings!

What does my child need?

Attendance- Please remember that every day counts, so if your child needs to be off school for a genuine reason this must be reported to the school office on the first day if absence.

Medical- If your child has any allergies or needs medication, please fill this out in your data packs and let us know if person too! School need two inhalers/epi pens.

Head lice are common, so please check your child’s hair regularly and treat as soon as possible.

PTA- Mrs Bunting is the head of our dedicated PTA group. They work alongside school, helping to raise funds and provide resources and experiences to benefit the children of our school.

If you would like to be a part of this team then please contact the PTA- darrashallpta@gmail.com

School Information