Year 4
What does learning in year 4 look like?
Year 4 completes the journey through Lower Key Stage Two, building incrementally 
on the learning undertaken in Year 3 and moving us towards the next steps in Year 5. As such, the children enjoy increased challenge across subjects, from spelling to mathematical reasoning and work hard at developing their ability to recall automatically what they have learned so far. During their time in Year 4, children will make good use of their reading and comprehension skills to investigate subjects independently or with their partner. Because of the crucial role of reading as key to our learning, we work hard to ensure that all children have the skills and comprehension necessary for success. Partner work, mentioned previously, is a large part of Year 4. Not only do we look to develop collaboration skills by this shared approach but we also use our learning partners as an aide to enhancing and embedding our learning, quizzing and challenging each other across subjects.
One of the key highlights of the year is the ongoing theme of ‘Invaders and Settlers’, where we follow chronologically the history of Britain from the Roman invasions, through the Anglo Saxon era to the appearance of the Vikings. Interwoven with this is our RE syllabus which follows both Judaism and Christianity. As part of the journey, we investigate the beliefs and ancestry of Jewish people, from the Old Testament stories of Noah, Abraham and Moses to observances of food laws (kashrut). In the Christianity units, we consider the big question about what it is like as a Christian to follow God and reflect on the concept of forgiveness. These strands not only add depth to the children’s understanding of MSJ’s worship times but also, interwoven with their historical knowledge, give them a solid understanding of the context of the world into which Jesus was born. Geography sees us linking again with our history as we study the Scandinavian country of Norway, adding context to the Vikings’ motivation in invading our shores. Alongside all of this, Art and Sport play a significant role in our year, culminating in our visit to Hengistbury Head, to link our geographical learning about rivers with our sketching skills as we depict the estuary, followed by invasion games and team sports, such as rounders and cricket. In our music, Year 4 continue their journey into learning to play the recorder and moving on to apply these skills to learning a new instrument, the clarinet. Further to this, developing our ability to write short phrases and sentences, talking about healthy or unhealthy eating choices and, in true British fashion, discussing the weather are all part of our French learning journey.
Why we enjoy learning in year 4?
Finn 'I like when the teachers energise us when they are teaching us. Often we do ‘head shoulders knees and toes’ as a brain break.'
Domi 'Whenever we do PE it’s always organised and it’s great fun! The Romans were interesting learning and we got to learn how to make a ‘testudo’!'
Troy 'I like when teachers make every activity a fun thing.'
Oliver 'The geography is fun because we often get to research on laptops.'
Isla 'Designing and making our mini-greenhouses is really exciting. When we were learning about Andy Warhol, we did the blotted-line technique and that was really interesting.'
Israel 'I like it when we challenge our brains in RE. Learning about which foods are kosher and which are trefah was really interesting.'
Shania 'We got to learn new stitching techniques when we made our stockings at Christmas. That was great.'
Curriculum Evening
year 4 curriculum evening 2023.pdf
Termly Curriculum Statement
Summer Term Curriculum Statement